One of the biggest challenges that email marketers face is simply making their emails interesting enough to be opened. This problem is often exacerbated by marketers not being able to adequately do all the things they want with their emails. In a survey of more than 200 marketers, Econsultancy and Upland Adestra found that personalization, cross-channel insights and segmentation were just a few things they would like to do better.
Much as been said about personalization and its benefits. For example, a majority of marketing professionals say that personalized email messaging is effective. This is likely because consumers tend to act on messaging that is personalized. However, personalization isn’t easy and many marketers give their general personalization efforts a poor ranking.
In line with that finding, the study from Econsultancy and Upland Adestra reveals that two-thirds (67%) of respondents would like their email marketing to have better personalization. This result has not materially changed from last year, suggesting that the issues is not getting better (or worse).
There were some trends that became apparent when comparing this year’s survey results with those from the same survey carried out last year. When asked what they would like to do with their email marketing that they “cannot currently do to their satisfaction”, more respondents said this year than last (62% in 2019 vs 55% in 2018) that they would like cross-channel data insights in order to see the bigger picture. Respondents also were more likely this year to be hoping for improved marketing automation (53% vs. 49%), better integration with other marketing platforms (46% vs. 41%), and more social integration (33% vs. 29%).
Optimization Across Devices Lagging
This year’s survey finds a decline in the percentage of marketers who want improved mobile-friendliness for their email programs. This is a slightly surprising result given other findings from the research. To wit, two-fifths (40%) of the marketers surveyed say their companies’ strategy for optimizing email across devices is still basic. What’s even more surprising, 10% say they do not have an email optimization strategy at all.
In fact, only two-thirds (66%) of respondents say they have created a responsive email template in order to optimize email across devices, a figure that has remained static year-over-year. This is despite past data indicating that responsive emails have a higher click-to-open rate than non-responsive emails.
Meanwhile, other ways marketers are attempting to optimize their email marketing across devices include: adapting email design to have a simpler template that renders well on all devices (56%); using shorter subject lines (55%); and and having responsive landing pages (55%).
About the Data: Results are based on a survey of more than 200 company marketers.
