78% of marketers surveyed as part of Econsultancy and Adestra’s Email Marketing Industry Census 2014 predicted that within five years, all email will be integrated and personalized, though not necessarily automated. The report also found that “one in three companies are already engaging in content personalization, a 27% increase from last year, with 37% planning to include this as part of their email marketing activities.”
Not surprisingly, this consensus on the direction of email marketing has shifted priorities for many marketers, so that issues such as automation and mobile optimization are not the most important focus areas anymore (although mobile considerations will heavily influence content strategy). In 2015, targeting, personalization, and content optimization are the key topics.
For example, David Moth, Deputy Editor at Econsultancy, emphasized some of the more noteworthy findings from Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing: 2015 Digital Trends, including the fact that targeting and personalization are the highest priorities for marketers this year, followed closely by content optimization and social media engagement.
This information is also supported by the Forrester Research Q3 2014 report, the results of which were summarized by independent email marketing consultant Jordie van Rijn. Key findings include the fact that marketers’ most anticipated email innovations going forward are micro-segment targeting (66%) and open-time personalization (61%), two areas which speak directly to the need for and desire to provide relevant content within emails.
It’s easy to see all the benefits that email personalization brings, and clearly the desire is there, so why aren’t more businesses doing it already? According to a 2014 study by Conversant Media and Forrester Research, 97% of marketers in B2C companies acknowledge the desire for long-term implementation of highly personalized content, but most admit that they use limited techniques. That same study also found that 66% of marketing executives struggle with affording personalization technology, while 65% have found it too difficult to build or integrate on their own.
Let’s compare statistics with reality. A few days ago, KISSmetrics came out with yet another helpful blog post called “6 Email Personalization Techniques That Go Beyond a Name.” Consistent with the KISSmetric content approach, the post is very practical with examples and meant to immediately help readers get going. Despite this, here are a few things the author advises: ask questions and do surveys, create customer personas, segment your list by location and time, and set up an automated email scheme with behavioral triggers.
All of those activities sound really promising. No question, they add value. However, they also require a lot of work. Surveys need unbiased questions, a significant sample size, and a statistical conclusion to have true (versus imagined) relevance. A behavioral triggering scheme needs an architecture and then someone to build it. And usually, an investment in a marketing automation platform is required.
It’s pretty obvious that’s where the problem lies. Historically, the barriers to adopting personalization have been significant. Fiscal, technological, and human constraints are nothing new to the email marketer. And therefore, better personalization has been regarded as out of reach.
