Email Marketing Industry
Trends For 2015
Written by Rob Lane.
1. Overview
The email marketing industry will continue to evolve in 2015, as this bedrock channel for ecommerce shifts to keep up with a growing consumer appetite for quality, ubiquitous digital messaging. More companies will learn how to send personalized email which serves up interesting content and speaks to individual wants and needs. The opportunities for revenue generation are multiplied when consumers can pick up great promotional content with whatever device they happen to be on.
2. Responsive Email Marketing
It’s no secret that we like to check our email using smart phones, tablets and a host of other mobile devices now arriving on the scene. By Q3 2014, 53% of total email opens occurred on a mobile phone or tablet.
At the same time, email has become the favored digital marketing channel to receive promotional material among consumers today. In January 2015, Marketing Sherpa commissioned a survey of over 2000 Americans and concluded that across a dozen traditional, and new media channels, email was the leading channel of choice for consumers to receive messages from businesses:
“We discovered that a large majority of U.S. adults — 72% — prefer communication with companies through email.”
Those companies that can quickly get on board with responsive email marketing will lead the way on this frontier in 2015. At Rare, we’re pleased to work with such digitally in-tune ecommerce companies as Kaufman Mercantile to achieve real results through responsive email:
“Rare has also made it easy for Kaufmann to deliver responsive email. With over 50% of its messages being opened on mobile devices, rich and responsive email that displays perfectly everywhere makes all the difference for conversions.”
Last year, only about 1% of marketers sent email that could properly respond to various screen sizes and layouts. Things are changing in 2015.
Salesforce.com’ s 2015 State Of Marketing survey of over 5,000 global marketers found that:
- 73% of marketers agree that email marketing is core to their business
- 41% of marketers will increase spending on automation and mobile integration into their email operations. Business 2 Community
3. Consumers Expect Personalized Content
When consumers do open their email, they now expect personalized content that appeals to their individual tastes. This doesn’t mean that their name is inserted in the header of a static blast email. It means that the email originates from a source they trust… maybe they’ve made a purchase there before, or remember signing up to receive promotional material, and offers them something they are interested in.
Dynamic, personalized content generation in email campaigns, powered by predictive analytics is clearly an emerging email marketing trend for 2015:
“Email Consultant Jordie van Rijn from ‘Email Monday’ and’ Email Vendor Selection’ based in the Netherlands explains: ‘I’m seeing more use of predictive intelligence to suggest offers and content based off of a combination of profile and interests and behaviours within segments.”
4. Real Time Triggered Email
Smart automation principles are also being applied to triggered events such as sign-ups, confirmations, new item purchases, shopping cart abandonment and a variety of other actions consumers are taking, at various digital touch points in the sales process:
“From July 2014 to September 2014 Epsilon sent approximately 340 million triggered emails across multiple industries. Triggered open rates were 76.7% higher than business as usual (BAU) messages in Q3 2014.”
5. Email Trust Can Be Fostered Or Foiled At Sign-up
A consumer’s right to choose extends to the email sign up process and has a strong influence on the trust that consumers grant email senders. Look for “double opt-in” signups to continue gaining ground in 2015 as both a means to gain clear and explicit consent for email signups, but also as a way to repeat and re-enforce branding and promotional material. Every email, including a triggered welcome or signup confirmation, represents an opportunity for the sender to further the customer relationship with the right messaging.
If consumers buy in at the signup stage, they are more likely to open offers down the road, by virtue of the social consent they previously gave: “yeah I remember signing up with those guys… What do they have for me?” Competition is heating up for signups where a person consents and opts in. Expect more pop-up ads for signups as companies seek that critical first opt-in as early as possible in the engagement process.
6. Email Is Integrating With The Omni-Channel Mix
Finally, companies are now seeking to pull email, along with other major marketing channels, from isolated silos out into the broader mix of marketing efforts; where, consistent messaging can strengthen brand awareness and invite additional sales opportunities:
“Among the more than 1,100 email marketers who took part in Econsultancy’s eighth annual Email Marketing Industry Census earlier this year, 85 percent stated that they believed email would become fully integrated with other marketing channels within five years.”
7. Conclusion
If you’re an ecommerce merchant and don’t have automated email marketing campaigns setup for your store, you’re losing money. Right now.
Rare.io makes it easy to start using automated email campaigns for common challenges like: Welcome Series, Abandoned Carts, Order Follow-up emails and more! You can learn more about our powerful email marketing automation features here or go ahead and get started right away by using Rare.io for FREE.
And if you’re one of the thousands of merchants who are already using Rare’s Smart Email Marketing software and want to see how our Customer Success Team can work with your brand to grow your revenue – feel free to book a call at your convenience here.
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