A new study from Campaigner is shedding light on trends within the email marketing industry and is making predictions for 2016.
The marketing trends study found that although marketers have been benefiting from social integrations for a few years, a shift in the use of social tools, such as direct buy buttons, is trending – and for good reason. For instance, 36 percent of marketers report seeing an increase in sales from direct buy button integration in their email campaigns. Because of this, close to 60 percent more marketers are forecasted to leverage buy buttons in 2016.
Additional data shows that the investment in buy buttons and other social integrations is paying off, with more than two-thirds of marketers reporting higher referral traffic from social media in 2015. What’s more, almost half of them attribute this increase to higher social spend.
It is also important to note that the study found marketers are turning away from big data and are seeking “little” data. In fact, two-thirds of marketers believe smaller, segmented data provides better insight for marketing strategy and execution. Marketers are specifically looking for segmented data on their target audience (34 percent), industry verticals (19 percent) and existing customers (13 percent).
“This idea around ‘little data’ will be crucial to marketing success in 2016,” said EJ McGowan, general manager, Campaigner. “Every marketing strategy should not only be based on data, but based on analysis of the right data, directly relevant to your audience. The industry is moving from a macro-data outlook to a more segmented and targeted approach to metrics, and I believe this will provide significant benefits across the board.”
In addition to little data, Campaigner forecasts that predictive analytics will become a bigger focus in 2016, with a nearly 50 percent increase in usage by marketers. Both little data and predictive analytics help marketers gain deeper insights into customers and garner more effective relationships to accomplish their top two goals for this year, which include attracting new customers (74 percent) and retaining current customers (40 percent).
The study also reveals that email marketers see their role evolving, with a focus on customer relationships. For example, 46 percent see an increase of ownership of the customer experience, while 31 percent see their role changing into more of a marketing technologist.
“Just as marketing strategies and technologies are evolving, so are marketers’ roles and responsibilities,” McGowan said. “Adapting to new innovations is key to maintaining, and increasing, business success. Seeing that marketers are preparing for a role shift in 2016 is not surprising, but, rather, promising for the future of the industry.”
Other noteworthy stats show that email marketers think that earning new subscribers will be their biggest challenge in 2016, with the biggest challenge in 2015 being increasing open rates. Moreover, data shows that newsletters are the most used form of content in email marketers’ content marketing strategies, while email is the top priority for marketing methods in 2016.