"The convergence of mobile and social, and the shift in how people receive information, will augment the experience between brands and users. People will always have a reason to receive information via email. But for marketers trying to find new ways to leverage channels together, they need to know the differences between the channels. Years ago, marketers just duplicated print ads or what's on their website into their emails. But there are different experiences with different calls to action. Making sure you cater to users is really important.”
“Marketers must pay more attention to deliverability. Is their email landing in the inbox or in a spam folder? And if they know which, they should know why. Marketers need to track complaint rates. Also, companies will have to do more brand management, meaning assuring that their domain is not being spoofed or used for phishing messages. A lot of big brands are being targeted by phishing campaigns, and that can have a detrimental effect on your brand.”
“To evolve further, email will require some concessions by inbox providers like enterprises, Google, Yahoo, etc. These err on the side of caution, of course, and limit the type of content that's received. It's not that a marketer can't include a video in an email, but rather that the recipient can't get it on the other end. While inbox providers want to keep their customers within their environments as long as possible, there are some glimmers—for example, connecting directly with customer service within the email experience. That could take the form of live chat from within the inbox. Some services already allow that to happen.”
“What we're seeing is email getting more intelligent in understanding the fundamentals of marketing automation. A lot of rigor and measurement is coming to marketers who previously had been content with batching and blasting. At the end of the day, campaigns are getting smarter, click rates are going up and marketers are stepping up to the challenge of what recipients are interested in and not just shoving deals.”