future of email marketing 2013

Email newsletters are the single biggest factor in driving people to your website aside from the search engines. Jacob Nielsen reported recently that when users were asked why they were visiting particular websites, the most common response was, "I was reminded to do so because I received an email newsletter from the site."

Research from from McKinsey & Company shows that when it "ccomes to attracting new customers – email works almost 40 times better than Facebook and Twitter combined”. And people are three times more likely to make a purchase when they click on links in emails, compared to social media.

Four key areas to consider

1 Emails need to be more targeted and segmented to increase the effectiveness of the newsletter. Make sure your newsletter programme allows you to segment by interest and geographically, personalize and engage your audience

2 Get through the clutter. We all get volumes of emails everyday. There are lots of hints and even seminars around on how to manage your emails and decrease what you receive but the most important aspect of your newsletter is the subject line. Focus on the candy not the wrapping or your emails will not only not be opened but potentially deleted or blocked. Naturally, make sure it focuses on what your target is interested in! And personalise your emails.

3 Jazz up the info you want to share with links to photos and video where people can leave comments, survey your readers, and find other ways to integrate some action into your emails. Really focus on your target and how they are going to use the info, not so much on what you want to tell them

4 Make sure your newsletter programme can deliver. We love Campaign Monitor - it's right up to date with all the latest apps and whizzy things (eg RSS to email), enables you to manage your database with ease, segment your audience in a number of ways, top notch delivery (relationships with ISPs, authentication), and is pretty cost effective when it comes to distributing your emails - certainly much more so that many of the others out there. Best of all you can have as much or as little to do with sending the newsletters as you want, totally in-house, collaboration or get your designer to do it all. Check out all Campaign Monitor's features here.

5 Do the work on segmenting your clients by location, gender and interests. Even keep records of what they purchase and segment based on their buying trends.

6 Help make your customers feel in control - ensure your email programme allows them to edit their own details and preferences including the frequency with whch they wish to receive them.

 

The five big trends for email newsletters generally for 2013 onwards are

• Design if your newsletter was designed last year it's time to redesign it, freshen it properly and mix it up a bit. You need to decide on what components to include, gather together a selection of newsletters you really like and have a professional designer redesign it, load it into your newsletter programme then test it. Be prepared to invest - it's important to get this right and for today.

• Social If you have icons linking to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other social media profiles that's great but you also need to make sure they're easy to find, encourage interaction between the newsletter and social media pages eg have a pic which enlarges leading to your Pinterest PIN, ask a question where replies are directed to your Facebook page etc.

• Mobile All newsletters must now be tablet and smartphone compatible, no doubt.

• Videos These are becoming a great way to add value for your audience. Think about what your target might want in a video and add them to your blog or Facebook. Never try and embed the video in the newsletter and make it short and interesting - an interview perhaps.

• Coupons More and more people are looking for savings. If you currently run coupons, specials and giveaways on your website or social media pages but not in your e-marketing, you need to start this year. If you don’t currently run coupons, specials or giveaways and it's right for your business.... start!

If you would like assistance in developing your newsletter here's our email.