In today’s age, the speed of doing business and the level of competition are so intense, that if you don’t know what you’re doing, your company can nosedive into oblivion in a matter of months. In the first
year alone, 30% of small businesses fail in the first two years. This escalates to 50% by year five and by year 10, two out of every three businesses will have closed their doors. One growing tool marketers are using and perfecting to gather this information is email marketing. If for no other reason, the vast
majority get online to check their email. What better tool could there be to learn how well you’re doing than by using a method that 19 out of 20 people are going to at least see? The trick then is to get them to look at your email and respond to it. Four recent trends for marketing your product and knowing how well it’s being received:
User-generated content
User-generated content UGC is basically any information or response created by the customer regarding your product. It could be a survey or picture, interview, or endorsement. The point of this type of marketing information is that it comes from the outside. Therefore, it’s valid, or at
least people think it’s valid and believable. Most customers base their buying decision on what other users and other customers say about it. That’s why internet service companies like Angie's List are so effective. It’s full of customer reviews and endorsements of companies that you might use. Reading what other people experienced is authentic. That makes marketing with user-generated
content effective.
Responsive interactivity
Ten years ago, people sat at their PC and opened their emails. Next year, most emails are going to be opened on mobile devices like an iPhone or Android. If your email doesn’t immediately capture the interest of the customer, it will be deleted. Have you ever wandered through a grocery store looking for a can of soup and can’t find it unless you walk up and down every aisle until you find the item you want? Or how many emails are you getting now that require you to get involved, possibly by asking you to simply press a “call to action” or CTA button like “Get Started”?
Accessibility
If you can read a sign one hundred feet away, then everyone can. Unfortunately, it’s not true. Sending emails only works if people can read them. Almost 20% of the world has a visual impairment. Smart speakers are becoming prevalent worldwide and capable of reading emails to you. Now you can simply listen to it and marketers are finding that it’s not just the people with reading problems. Siri has been around for years and now Amazon has come out with Alexa to read your emails.
Automation
It’s difficult to even speculate where the next 10 years are going to take us. Look at what email was like in 2010 and what it’s like now. The use of the cloud is changing not only how customers handle their own information but how marketers are introducing their products. In the next ten years, machines will be able to learn and artificial intelligence is going to affect every aspect of life and will completely change the way emails are used by customers and by marketers.
