Written by: Joyce Wells
2009 was definitely a tough year for many organizations but I am predicting that 2010 will be a better year for all. I reached out to a few of my closest colleagues here at Informz to come up with our top 10 eMarketing predictions for 2010 and here is what we think you will see in this year to come.
1) Technologies that innovate social networking and text messaging will continue to grow, while email will remain the strongest vehicle for audience interaction. While the emerging technologies still suffer in the signal-to-noise ratio, email has broad acceptance and utility; usable in a variety of ways and for almost any purpose.
2) Social media and email will strengthen their partnership in 2010. Organizations will continue to adopt both closed and open social sites as a way to communicate, educate, and foster collaboration but email will increase as the key way to drive subscribers to social sites and keep them engaged.
3) ISPs will increase their security and anti-SPAM measures (like DKIM and SPF). Reputation will continue to be a key influencer in the ISP world, but we will also be introduced to engagement blocking in 2010. Scrubbing lists will become necessary if 50% or more of your list is not doing anything with your email and inactivation campaigns will become more important as a way to get subscribers to become reengaged.
4) With that being said, click rates will become even more important as engagement blocking increases. You will see an increase in call-to-actions like webinar registrations or links to online content on relevant topics as a way to engage your subscribers and get them to interact with your emails.
5) Yes, this means that there will be an increase of video in emails this year. We have seen a few attempts to integrate video and email and it has been a long time coming, but I have been waiting patiently. In 2010, we will begin to see them start to emerge through more complex animated GIFs or links to videos hosted on websites and social networks, but video embedded in email is not yet ready for prime time. Embedded video will still get stripped out or trigger SPAM filters, so embedded video is not on the prediction list this year.
6) There will be a bigger emphasis on preference centers, giving your subscribers a better way to determine what they are interested in and what they are not, as well as how frequently they would like to receive your emails. This is all about relevancy, so it is more important than ever to provide your subscribers with compelling content.
7) Organizations will increase their testing of emails in an effort to improve open and click rates. While 2009 focused on mere survival, 2010 will put everyone back on track with engagement, segmenting, and targeting. A/B splits will also become second nature as eMarketers continue to work on boosting their results through testing, testing, and more testing.
8) More and more people will view their emails via mobile devices, so the need to have a mobile version of your email will also increase. In 2009, Informz subscribers viewing emails on mobile devices grew by 40% over 2008. In 2010, this will increase to an even higher percentage.
9) In 2010, you will see more advertisements appearing in email. As many organizations continue to work with smaller budgets, the need to sell advertising space on eNewsletters will increase dramatically. This will help to subsidize eMarketing costs, while the costs associated with e-advertising will decrease in an effort to get affiliates to advertise.
10) Finally, more organizations will seek outsourced professional services in order to maximize their eMarketing investments. With all the organizational restructures and downsizing that happened in 2009, outsourced full service eMarketing is an option that will continue to grow in 2010.
Here’s to a prosperous and successful year!
