The words 'email' and 'dead' in headlines have been overused but email is an essential tool in a multichannel world

As the hype around what social media could do for marketing erupted, for a time ‘email’ developed something of a bad name. The arguments went along these lines: ‘millennials don’t use it’; ‘people see it as spam and don’t engage’; ‘It’s dated’. The implication was that with the arrival of social media, email no longer had relevance. EyeforTravel’s recent research tells us something quite different. If anything, email marketing is growing in popularity and is delivering ROI and this is particularly supported through the mobile channel. In fact today, 38% of emails are opened on a mobile versus 33% on a desktop.

Ahead of our free webinar Next Generation Email Optimisation on December 10, EyeforTravel’s editor Pamela Whitby heard tips from two of our expert presenters on how to make email a central – and successful – part of the multichannel, cross-platform marketing mix.

1.     “Stop being magpies” and develop good discipline

“On the one hand you have people saying it's all about social media and on the other hand that it’s just email that drives sales,” says Sholes, who until October this year was senior director for cross-channel innovation, Travel Impressions/American Express Vacations. “This is where I get a little crazy and say ‘stop being magpies’ and instead develop good discipline to leverage the multichannel, cross-channel experience.”

Frankly, it doesn't matter if millenials today don’t use email. “If they are not the one’s buying your travel products today, let’s worry about that when we need to,” he says, adding that it is people with money - from the baby boomers to Gen X and Gen Y – who do use and respond to email about travel products. This doesn’t mean to say that social media is not relevant, or that you should ignore other channels. But since email is the easiest, most agile and customisable channel for one-to-one marketing, then you need to get that right. “If you can’t do this correctly, how in the world are you going to be able to do anything else properly?” says Sholes.

2.     Create imaginative, inspiring campaigns and content

For Casey Swanton, Director, Response Consulting, Return Path, email campaigns and content should be created to help move the subscriber out of the more analytical assessment mode that occurs during inbox processing “to a state where the imagination and emotions are activated”. While some verticals and brands can rely on left-brain thinking to drive the sale, brands where sales require deeper commitments and longer sales cycles need to forge a stronger connection with subscribers. 

By creating meaningful, inspiring and interesting content, brands can help break subscribers out of processing mode, encouraging them to think beyond logistics of the purchase and towards the experience and how it can benefit them, their business or their family.  

For Casey, the following techniques can be effective tools to capture the subscriber’s imagination:

Segmentation and relevance

Accessibility and rendering in mobile devices

Current trends in email (polls, GIFs and videos, imagery and design, etc.)

3.      Think multichannel and cross-platform and work all the ‘cool’ tools and new technologies available

Brands should be thinking about local, social, mobile and email in their campaigns. While there have been huge developments in email technologies, studies show many marketers are still not leveraging data personalised marketing communications. “This is not your grandfather’s technology anymore, it’s a new way of doing things,” stresses Sholes. “Yes, you need to be cross-channel and multi-channel and all these things but email can be focal point for the workforce of all that activity.” In fact, local and social integration coupled with new email technologies, like those being offered by New York-based Movable Ink, are making email an increasingly attractive platform for delivering ROI. Here are some examples of how the technology has evolved.

·         Dynamic real-time testing: It’s now possible two send out multiple versions of an email and then as one is trending with better response rates, switch everybody who hasn’t opened it to the more successful version.

·         Dynamic personalisation with a variety of imagery and content: Whereas email images used to be fairly static, today they can be personalised on the fly and relate to different aspects of the user experience. When and where the customer opens a message, can determine what the customer sees.  For example, if they open it on open on a mobile, it will show a map with the nearest location relevant to the email content.

·         Device rendering: Content can also change according to the device being used. If opened on a mobile it will, for example, give you a call to action to download the app, whereas that won’t happen on a desktop.

·         Social content: Emails can also pull in and display social content such as relevant tweets or Instagram feed about a certain event or something that is happening in the area.

·         Cross-platform: It is also possible today, with technologies like those from Live Intent, to place advertisements in the emails of another brand. Just as has been done with web site display advertising, you can now target your audience by geography and demographics by inserting dynamic ads into other people’s newsletters, including on mobile devices.

4.      Ditch the batch and blast campaigns

When Google introduced Gmail tabs, which automatically sorts email into buckets, some brands complained they weren’t hitting their numbers. But a study by Return Path found that open rates for airlines actually rose. Open rates are based on previous experience of the subscriber and the compelling nature of subject line. This is your shop window and if you don't get it right customers won’t open it. So make it relevant, compelling, personal, interesting and dynamic.

The aim is for brands to assess the customer journey throughout the site, looking at all different touchpoints and sending timeous, targeted and relevant information.

If a customer opts into your website, they should start receiving targeted messaging immediately. Based on what a customer clicks on, you then move them along the funnel. A lot of email marketing for travel is ‘batch and blast’ on a particular day of the week. But research shows that people are far more engaged when they first arrive on a website, so timing is crucial.

5.     Find a good technology partner

With email applications you can do all of the above. The problem is that many travel companies are dealing with legacy systems. It is hard to automate and do data driven marketing when dealing with a 20-year-old system. Even so, good email tools still allow you to set up all these rules and then you can have an API connection backend booking engine so it all works together. “You need a good tech partner,” says Sholes, “and most leading email marketing engines do this and do it all the time. And even some of smaller, inexpensive ones have some types of functionality built in.”  So there really is no excuse.

6.     Don’t be afraid

The mantra has been has been to be targeted, be relevant and don’t send too much mail. However, according to Sholes there is a growing view (and data to support it) that given the new life being breathed into email technology, brands can make more money by sending more email. Yes it has to be relevant, and interesting and there will be a saturation point, but most brands aren’t near that yet.

Join us for our free webinar Next Generation Email Optimisation on December 10 where Dwight Sholes, formerly a senior director for cross- channel innovation at Travel Impressions/American Express Vacations & Casey Swanton, Director, Response Consulting, Return Path will be sharing more detailed insights.