Email Marketing – Recipients Rule!

If there is one thing that businesses should have learnt by now is that social media channels are transforming user behaviour. The user is king and they will decide when and where they make and receive messages.

If consumer attitudes really have changed, with the growing feeling that control of content is an entitlement, this begs the question, how can businesses ensure their email marketing messages reach consumers in the right manner?

Most recent research has shown that the momentum which had been escalating with the social media messaging explosion of Twitter, Facebook and group networking sites has finally reached a critical mass of enthusiasm for the power of the individual over content.

Surveys confirm that those companies who continue an online marketing policy of sending generic communications risk alienating consumers, 53 per cent of whom state they would opt-in to a service which allows them the choice to select the type of email messages received from their preferred brands.

This reveals that eCommerce businesses could be limiting the marketing potential of tactics such as “share-with-a-friend” (SWAF), by not giving them a choice over content.

The coming introduction of two-way realtime applications will bring email functionality up to date, and further sizeable increases in the volume of e-mails consumers receive are predicted. This means businesses are going to have to work harder at their marketing strategies, not just to gain the attention of the consumer, but even simply to ensure their marketing messages are not left discarded at the inbox.

Nearly a fifth of those surveyed feel that email has become more relevant in the past year as a result of opting out of emails which are not of interest or no longer wish to receive. This implies that where consumers have control over the frequency and type of email they receive, engagement and interest increases.

Ironically, this in itself presents a challenge, as consumers are much less likely to give brands a chance to get it right if they are able to unsubscribe or alter their preferences after one or two inappropriate messages.

Businesses who do not take action and overlook customer’s right to choose will, in the long term, suffer a detrimental effect on their brand identity.

Customer preference can be easily collected through an ‘online preference centre’ or ‘customer outreach’. If registration is required to access a service, then it is a simple process to collect a little more data at this stage.

New platform channels such as iPhone are providing a huge opportunity for businesses to engage with consumers through their increased desire and inclination to share content and use different channels to interact with a brand. Giving the consumer control of email frequency and content guarantees they genuinely do need and want to receive the all important messages.