Email Marketing is Antiquated? Think Again!

May 3rd, 2010 | Posted by Greg Miller

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Except for Microsoft trying it hardest to take us back to the dark ages of email with Outlook rendering, I believe email IS slowly creeping forward in technology advancement. Maybe even at the perfect pace.

The fact is that email marketing is still ranking second behind SEO in ROI (Return on Investment) for digital marketing tactics… NOT Social Media.  NOT Direct Mail.

This strong ROI can be attributed to the sustainability of the medium because it allows for all generations to participate and not feel “awkward.”  This can be contrasted by the awkwardness is shown by those people new to Twitter and Facebook (for reference, just pay attention to posts from new users of these services).  Since email is used by all generations of people and is the predominant form of electronic written communication, it doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.

Perhaps it’s difficult to remember how much email has evolved over the years.  Back in 1993, we had UNIX based email systems, and very simple POP clients that made for fairly basic email layouts of mostly text.  As time went on, we incorporated graphics to the point of emails becoming 100% images. Then came the day of image blocking and email marketers everywhere were forced to look for other methods to maintain or improve open and click rates while images were hidden. For the past few years, most marketers have settled into their own mixture of text and images within their emails.

But change is once again imminent and we are on the cusp of moving forward into the future with the following innovations in email.

Embedding Video in Your Email Inbox

The latest tech talk among email marketers is something that has been only dreams until now; video in email. Some report 20% lifts in metrics using it.  However, email marketing is still bound to the rules of the ISP’s and email clients. True video is not supported in the majority of email systems.  When I say “video” in email marketing terms, it refers to three technologies:

1. The Video Cap, or still image. One frame is placed in an email as a call-to-action for a video on the subject. It looks like it might play in your email, but really just a link to a landing page with the video.
2. The Video GIF. This is much like the animated gifs of old, but with higher frame rates and better color pallets. This is widely supported across most platforms (minus Outlook 2007).  Think of it as a “preview” of the video you really want to see. It can also be used as just an eye catching graphic in the email.  Unfortunately, these Video gifs have no sound.
3. Embedded Video. Gmail does it with YouTube, and GoodMail has developed a system to allow for other video clips to be played.  These videos have sound, giving the user the true video experience right in their Inbox.  The only negative is that embedded video has yet to become widely adopted across platforms.

Browsing without leaving your inbox

Can you imagine surfing the Sears website for lawn tools without having to click a link, wait for your browser to open up and then wait for the page to load?  Of course you can; this is how links are currently handled within email messages.

Gmail has started offering up limited use of its “Enhanced Email” service, which is a technology that embeds a module that can serve up real-time information and products within the email.  This opens doors for many marketing options, and also leads me into the next big technology arising, Real-time content optimization.

Real-time Content Optimization

The current process of delivering the most optimized content (outside of dynamic content) is through testing; send out a small sample, and see how the audience reacts.

Next, send out a larger blast based on the findings of the smaller send. This system works, and it is used to gain the best results by the most seasoned email marketers.

But, what if you could send to your entire database, and have the emails change copy, images, and subject line during the launch based on what is happening during the send? Technology is out there that sends test emails out periodically throughout the launch, and optimizes the rest of the emails based on actions taken.  This process could automatically optimize an email in real-time instead of taking days to send, test, modify, re-send an optimized email.

Change is coming to email marketing

As you can see, there is a lot of change taking place in the world of email marketing. There are many other technologies such as Google Buzz and SWYN (Share With Your Network) that are also helping to advance email inboxes into the future, and integrate with other interactive media streams.

In the end, it is still up to the ISP’s and email clients to adopt these technologies.

Email is not dying, but instead morphing into and advanced marketing tool.

Now, if we can only get Microsoft to join in…

Related posts:

1. Delta Airlines Email Marketing Had Me and Lost Me
2. Making Social Media and Email Work Together
3. MIMA Summit 2011: Re-Thinking Email Innovations