According to a recent GetResponse survey, small and medium business (SMB) marketers are increasing their use of video e-mail, social media and personalization or targeting.
More than 80 percent of respondents plan on using video e-mails in 2010, while more than 90 percent of SMB marketers plan on integrating social media into their e-mail campaigns this year, according to the “2010 Email Marketing Trends Survey.”
Meanwhile, nearly 64 percent of SMB marketers who use video e-mails said it significantly boosts conversion rates.
“According to our 2009 study, video emails delivered close to a 100 percent increase in click through rates, so we know it works and expected the increase in use,” said Simon Grabowski, founder of GetResponse, in a press release. “But the 480 percent increase in planned video email use surprised even us!”
Additional findings from the survey of more than 200 SMB e-mail marketers included more than half of respondents saying that video e-mails can increase CTR, while a third say they think video can “enhance brand image and/or increase customer loyalty.”
More than 20 percent believe that video e-mails can reduce support and training costs, while 4.7 percent did not see any benefits from using video e-mails in their campaigns.
With regards to social media usage, there was a 113.2 percent increase in the use of links to new messages on social media pages, while there was a 109.1 percent boost in the use of sign-up forms on social media fan pages (i.e. Facebook). According to the survey, 88.8 percent of respondents plan on increasing sharing options, while 71.6 percent plan on placing a “follow us” link in their e-mail messages.
More than half of the respondents plan on increasing targeting and personalization this year, while 52.4 percent say they’ll try to improve e-mail titles and subject line personalization.
Almost 75 percent of SMB marketers say behavioral targeting can lead to significant or moderate increases in e-mail marketing effectiveness.
In other e-mail news, Responsys reported that the top online retailers sent their subscribers an average of 2.5 promotional e-mails during the week ending Feb. 26, 2010, which was a 2 percent drop from the week ending Jan. 29.
However, year-over-year retail promotional e-mail volume increased 13 percent, as the average was 2.2 promotional e-mails back in February 2009.
Sources:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/getresponse-study-reveals-top-smb-email-marketing-trends-85806317.html
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=123347
http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/retailers-slightly-decrease-feb-email-volume-12112/
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