This time, we are doing it with the participation of very prominent professionals who have wanted to share their points of view with all of you.
In 2020 we have seen how the Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the digitalisation of many aspects of society, with mainly analogue activities joining the digital wave (in the US, in the first three months of the crisis, 250 million students went from attending classes in person to receiving them remotely), or increasing the mass of online users of many businesses (Disney+ reached in 5 months what it took Netflix 7 years in terms of users)¹.
In a context like this, I believe that Email Marketing teams
will have to optimize campaign production processes if they want to be efficient. With short timeframes and a high level of demand (qualitative and quantitative) from marketing ceo email lists management, Email Marketing teams will be forced to implement agile management models and take full advantage of the potential of current project management, team collaboration and digital asset management tools. On the other hand, the need to justify the ROI of marketing technologies will push Email Marketing teams to delve deeper into content personalization, segmentation and automation.
Jordi Puig
CEO – Digital Response
In the last 9 months of 2020, Covid-19 accelerated the pace of online shopping up to 5 times. However, we must differentiate between buying online (Ecommerce) vs. buying with mobile devices (Mcommerce).
Ecommerce companies, usually the larger ones, have capitalized on Mcommerce by improving the user experience via app, leveraging push notifications as the primary channel to attract consumer attention and achieve a higher level of participation. However, as ecommerce takes a great leap forward, many companies will rely on email marketing (as the channel with the lowest cost and highest return on investment) to improve customer experience and Customer Lifetime Value . As MarTech becomes easier to use, its capabilities increase and its prices fall, the excuse for not establishing a Customer Journey that uses both email marketing and any other channel that customers use to interact with the brand disappears .
The real challenge for marketers — who will face a whirlwind of chaos in 2021 — will be to pursue those activities that have the most consistent growth.
Alex Abbott
Managing Director – MKTGmanago
If in 2020 we had to learn to work remotely in order to remain effective, in 2021 we will have to do things even better, with a very high level of quality, in order to compete and stand out. This, applied to email marketing, means that small errors that perhaps until now were overlooked will now be penalized. Email marketing will have to be even more relevant to consumers, and to achieve this we will have to be experts in segmentation, personalization and automation. We will have to send each person only what they may find interesting, and make the inbox a help instead of a waste of time for the consumer.
My prediction for email in 2021 is the adoption of AI-powered prediction technologies. 2020 has taught brands that communicating in a personal way with consumers across digital channels is not simply a “nice to do,” but a must-do. The biggest challenge here is for prediction and personalization to go hand in hand. However, AI-powered prediction technologies alleviate this problem, helping marketers quickly create personalized email experiences that use more data (CRM and real-time interactions on the web, for example) and deliver better results than they can achieve on their own. In 2021, these technologies have already matured. The prescriptive “black box” adoption of AI technology from the past has slowed down and has been replaced by easy-to-use, quick-to-deploy solutions. There are challenges that arise when adopting new technologies, however, if we take into account the potential benefits and time savings they offer, we see that we must get to work.
Henry Ross
Sales Manager – Kickdynamic
For years, we heard: “Email is dead… long live email.” However, 2020 accelerated the process of digital transformation in companies and email marketing was one of the most relevant channels for many.
More email campaigns were sent than ever before (25% more than before Covid-19), but at the same time, trying to be as relevant as possible.
Email marketing has evolved a lot over the last few years, adding different technologies and trends that we will see in 2021:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) will continue to evolve, optimizing sending times, analyzing segments, content, etc.
Hyperpersonalization will have to be greater and more precise, as the global volume of email is increasing. Understanding, highlighting, inspiring the customer… will be the great challenge for everyone.
Interactive Design will be a trend that will allow content such as videos, surveys or interactive CTAs to be implemented directly in emails, providing more creativity to companies and capturing more of their customers' attention.
After so many years, email marketing is still a very relevant channel and has had a surprising 2020. 2021 will also be very interesting.
Thierry Nguyen
Marketing Cloud Sales Lead – Oracle
When I started working on email marketing campaigns, I never imagined their potential. I thought that their effectiveness was ephemeral and that over the years they would stop being used. This has not been the case. In fact, we have been surprised by a digital revolution in which emails have been involved more than ever and their participation on the big game board has been decisive.
This 2020 has taught us that we must be cautious.
We need to maintain a close and constant relationship with our clients through an organized and forward-looking email marketing plan. Segment and create attractive content that helps us to build loyalty in the face of emerging competition and, above all, know and take care of our database to create communications in line with their interests.
In short, absolute focus on customer centricity.
Emilio Ramos
Head of CRM & Customer Care – Merkal
2021 is going to be a great year for the email marketing sector. Data consumption is emerging as the long-term solution for companies in their loyalty strategy or to accompany the data in their lead journey. To do this, it will be essential that the data, the oil of the 21st century, be actionable. That is, training users to draw conclusions from the information received to make useful decisions intuitively. The new maxim will not only be to have a good amount of data, but to have the people trained and the necessary tools to get the most out of it.
