Ah, the beginning of another year is right around the corner.
With the holiday chaos nearly behind us, it's time to look ahead and make plans to get the most out of 2016. For a marketer, the New Year is the perfect time to evaluate your overall strategy and determine what's working and what's not. Just as people promise to volunteer and hit the gym to better themselves, marketers should create New Year's resolutions to better their brands as well.
To help set yourself and your brand up for success, here are the top five email marketing resolutions that you should consider for a successful 2016:
Own the Omnichannel: Many people will kick off the New Year by downsizing and getting rid of all of their old junk. As a marketer, take the same approach and consolidate marketing channels to create a more streamlined communication process. This is especially helpful for marketers who wear multiple hats in their organizations because it offers consistency across multiple channels. This approach will reinforce brand strength and provide a seamless experience to contacts, whether they are interacting with a brand's website, social media pages or emails.
Move Mobile Beyond Responsive Design: By now, the majority of marketers have already jumped on the mobile-responsive design bandwagon, but with consumer mobile activity increasing every day, it can't stop there. For 2016, marketers will need to take the next step into Responsive Design 2.0 witnh specialized calls-to-action for mobile users and by leveraging data to achieve more effective interaction. Consider implementing new strategies like geo-targeting to deliver more targeted and personalized messages with mobile users.
Dive into Data: The term "big data" received a lot of hype in 2015, and isn't showing any signs of slowing down. For marketers, data analysis is the most effective way to gain insight into what contacts like and dislike in their emails. This understanding allows for micro-personalized messaging and increased engagement with contacts. In 2016, aim to leverage order entry, point-of-sale or customer relationship management (CRM) systems to find new ways to segment customers and prospects.
Return to Quality Content: In 2015, the industry saw traditional Internet service providers (ISPs) become more and more selective with the type of mail they allowed in the inbox. This year, we can expect increasingly stringent criteria and more obstacles to overcome in order to reach our users. To make sure a message arrives in the inbox safe and sound, brands must distribute content that is useful, interactive and interesting for users. Consider employing new and exciting types of content such as videos, quizzes and contests to drive engagement and build stronger relationships with contacts.
Evolve with Emojis: With texting and instant messaging solidified as the new universal form of communication, emojis have become much more than a passing trend. Because they are already a familiar part of our everyday conversations, emojis in email resonate well with contacts and establish a sense of ease and recognition with a brand and messaging. Emojis can also help a message stand out from a crowd of monotonous, text-heavy emails. Marketers should make it their 2016 resolution to test out emojis in subject lines to give them more of a punch and increase overall interaction with users.
If your marketing tactics aren't garnering the results you want, the new year is an excellent time to regroup, reevaluate and rejuvenate. Committing to these email marketing resolutions will help you and your brand prosper in 2016.
EJ McGowan, general manager of Campaigner, has more than 25 years' experience in the software industry with expertise in building highly available, scalable SaaS-based solutions.
