Current Email Buzz

The current buzz in the email industry

HTML vs. text
Consider this the topic that will always be relevant. For years, companies have debated the pros and cons of sending in HTML versus text only. HTML has always been the runaway favorite for its branding power, merchandising capabilities and ability to track open rates. The debate has taken a new angle with the increasingly complex issues related to rendering, deliverability and preview pane usage. I suspect this will be one of the constants for 2007. I suspect this subject matter is also popular as it touches all aspects of an email team: creative, analysts, production, copywriters, strategy, et cetera.

Deliverability
Speaking of hot button issues, deliverability is all the rage these days.  Fewer than 50 percent of marketers create emails that render appropriately (according to a recent Email Experience Council study). The Outlook 2007 threat for B to B marketers this gets its own fair share of email water cooler talk as well.  I expect deliverability related issues will get more mind share as change resistant marketers see their campaigns trend downward and are compelled to finally address the issues.

Usage
According to a recent Forrester Research study, email has reached almost universal penetration, with 97 percent of consumers and 94 percent of marketers using the channel. With this staggering number, how many marketers could be left on the fence deciding if they should dive into the email space?

The big takeaway from the interest in this type of research and related metrics is hopefully that CMOs and CFOs finally begin to invest in email accordingly. Most email teams are stretched thin as it is and as this channel becomes near ubiquitous, marketers should use this to their advantage as they fight for more marketing resources and dollars.

Frequency
Twenty years from now, I suspect this will be a top five email conversation piece as well. However, it amazes me that as much noise that surrounds the number of emails sent by a company, there is little action or change to correlate with this key topic. First and foremost, try asking your subscribers how often they want to get messages from you. Also, test segmenting your non responders with a roll up of your messages that lightens the frequency of emails they receive.

Authentication
My guess is this area is misunderstood and well trafficked as marketers seek information on what authentication really means, who should be utilizing it and how. This could be positive news for those offering services in this area as there is at least a curiosity in this relatively new niche of email marketing deliverability services.

What's not on email marketers' minds?
Just as telling from my research was the least viewed category: spam. I would like to think this is because all marketers are fully compliant with CAN-SPAM but with 81 percent of marketers unaware of CAN-SPAM (WebSurveyor Corp.) I am afraid this is not the case. Let's hope we see a trend in CAN-SPAM compliance for all email marketers.