Email marketing and marketers have been going steady for years. Decades, even.
There have been ups and downs. Chain emails, the lack of an opt-out function, and spam can be safely qualified as “downs.” But there have been good times, too.
After all these years, email marketing still remains the most valuable digital marketing tool. It’s a direct connection with customers and there’s no doubt that it works. In 2014, companies attributed 23% of their total sales to the email marketing channel, compared to 18% in 2013.
But something is missing. A recent report from Adobe found that two-thirds of marketers are less than satisfied with their email marketing efforts.
As we approach Valentine’s Day this year, it’s clear that the magic between marketers and email has fizzled. But what could rekindle the flame? Adobe found three things marketers want from email above all.
Bringing Back the Magic
Adobe’s research found that email marketers are growing frustrated, because there are three things missing from most of their email campaigns today:
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44% want real-time integration with their organization’s analytics tools
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45% want to tap into a single view of their content library to build personalized content and messaging
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44% want to act in real-time on an individual’s behaviors
Marketers know that the world has gone mobile in a big way. The majority of email is now opened on mobile devices, but most email campaigns are still static – no matter where a customer is or what he/she is doing, the content in an email is going to be the same.
Maybe that’s why 78% of customers don’t trust emails anymore. They know that whenever they get an email, there’s a good chance it’s going to be contextually irrelevant and blind to what they need in the moment.
In short, Adobe’s research shows that marketers want to build emails that respond to each individual’s context.
Rekindling the Flame with Context
What if customers looked forward to each email? What if the emails were useful and helpful to the recipient, no matter when, where, or how they opened them?
By building emails that change content dynamically after send – showing different messages depending on the weather, the time of open, or customers’ location – marketers can change how subscribers feel about email and start incorporating the real-time analytics and tactics that they feel are missing today.
Contextual marketing doesn’t just help restore the magic to every email campaign, it can help reimagine what we think of as “marketing” across any channel.
When content can be personalized in the moment, marketing becomes much more about customer experience and utility than interruption and mass messaging.
Want to learn more about how to use context in your emails and your marketing? Watch out our recorded webcast “The Definitive Guide to Contextual Marketing.”