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Center For Media Research
Targeting, Video and Social Networking Keys For Small Business Promotion in 2010
According to according to The "2010 Email Marketing Trends Study" by GetResponse. 53.8% of respondents, said they intend to focus on Email personalization and targeting in 2010. 52.4% of respondents plan to improve message titles and subject lines in 2010. Other responses included increasing customer loyalty with special offers and gifts, identifying the best time to send emails, and using split testing. Only 10% of respondents plan to take no specific Email action.
|
Email Activities Planned to Improve InBox Performance (% of Respondents) | |
|
Planned in 2010 |
Percent Implementing |
|
Increased personalization & targeting |
53.80% |
|
Improved message titles, subject lines |
52.40 |
|
Increased customer loyalty special offers |
37.70 |
|
Identification of best times to send emails |
23.80 |
|
Using split testing to send best content |
25.90 |
|
None |
10.40 |
|
Other |
2.40 |
|
Source: GetResponse, March 2010 | |
Nearly 75% of respondents think behavioral targeting of email recipients, such as sending messages based on open and click behaviors, can cause a significant or moderate increase in email marketing effectiveness.
|
Perception of Behaviorial Targeting on Email Marketing Effectiveness (% of Respondents) | |
|
Perception |
% of Respondents |
|
Can result in significant increase in effectiveness |
44.8 |
|
Can result in moderate increase in effectiveness |
31.1 |
|
Not sure |
21.2 |
|
No effectiveness observed |
2.8 |
|
Source: GetResponse, March 2010 | |
The study found that consumers believe that targeting messages based on a combination of customer preferences and previous behaviors is the most powerful technique in terms of improving email relevancy. "Getting personal" based on these two factors is more effective than demographics, purchasing history, or subscription date segmentation, says the report.
Techniques Planned To Implement In Upcoming Email Marketing Campaigns? (% of Respondents)
- Interest-based preferences... 59.40%
- Recent open or click-rate activity... 34.90%
- Demographics... 32.50%
- Purchasing history... 29.70%
- Subscription date... 17.90%
- None... 8.50%
- Other... 5.70%
Exploring the trends and technologies impacting the email marketing activities of SMB marketers in 2010, most SMB marketers see the benefits of incorporating video into their email messages. Over 80% of respondents plan to use video emails in 2010, while in 2009 only 15.7% of responders used video in their email campaigns.
Use of Video Email Marketing in 2009; Plans For 2010 (% of Respondents):
- Didn't use it, and do not plan to use video email this year... 19.5%
- Didn't use it but plan to use video emails this year... 64.0%
- Used it and plan to decrease the number of video emails this year... 0.8%
- Used it and expect to send about the same number of video emails this year... 3.8%
- Used it and plan to increase the number of video emails... 11.9%
Over 65% of marketers believe that video email marketing can have a moderate or significant influence on conversion rates. In particular, marketers who have already used video emails recognize the benefits on overall email marketing results. Almost 64% of those marketers claim that it results in significant rate increases!
Anticipated Influence Of Video Emails On Conversion Rates (% of respondents):
- Significant increases... 45.5%
- Moderate increases... 20.4%
- No influence... 5.1%
- Not sure... 28.9%
|
Expected Influence Of Video Emails On Conversion Rates, Based On 2009 User Type & 2010 Plans | ||||
|
User Type |
Significant Increase |
Mod Increase |
Not sure |
No Influence |
|
Didn't use and do not plan to use it in 2010 |
12.8% |
15.4% |
59.0% |
12.8% |
|
Didn't use and plan to start in 2010 |
50.7% |
22.1% |
25.7% |
1.5% |
|
Used video e-mails in 2009 and plan to use in 2010 |
63.9% |
25.0% |
5.6% |
5.6% |
|
Source: GetResponse, March 2010 | ||||
Considering the different uses of video email by small businesses, 28.8% of SMB marketers consider training courses as most effective use of video email, with Product Demos, Product Offers, and Customer Testimonials taking the next 3 places respectively. Branding came in at a far away 5th position!
Considered To Be The Most Effective Uses Of Video Emails By Small Businesses:
- Training courses... 28.8%
- Product demos... 22.0%
- Product promotions... 19.1%
- Customer testimonials... 17.8%
- Brand image messages... 5.1%
- None... 4.7%
- Other... 2.5%
In 2009, the most popular social media integration tool used in email marketing was placing "follow us" links into email messages. But only one of every 4 marketers was placing links to email campaigns and newsletters on social media pages, or including a "share" option in their online communications. Over 37% of responders didn't use any social media integration tools last year. It appears that this result could change dramatically in 2010, concludes the report.
Over 90% of respondents claimed that they planned to integrate social media into their email campaigns in this year. The most popular use of social media integration tools in 2010 will be adding sign-up forms on Facebook and other social media sites. Nearly 65% of marketers surveyed hope to gain new subscribers via social media subscription forms.
