How Can We Make Email Fashionable Again?

“Ooh look! My sexy new email campaign,” said no-one, ever. We might not be talking about it but we are doing it. According to the DMA* 92% of us still use email as ‘the bedrock’ of our marketing programmes. But somehow it’s lost its pizazz in favour of the new kids on the shiny social media block. How can we make email fashionable again?

Great results are always in style and email campaigns still generate higher responses than their trendier social sisters. By chasing better response rates, content quality and relevance are falling as some companies abandon email best practise. A recent article in Marketing Week suggests that people opt in to marketing communications from 80% of the brands they interact with regularly but only read 20% of the emails they receive.

With its low price tag, bulk personalisation ability and easy transition to mobile, email marketing has long been the new black. However, over-frequency has fatigued our audiences and bulk email blindness has set in. Customers begin not to ‘see’ messages coming in, hence lower open and click through rates. We’ve persevered, tried to find ways to cut through the competition and given our marketing emails a coat of many colours. But what about our everyday email? Frankly, our daily business communication remains positively naked!

Nude is rude as far as some top UK brands are concerned. The Ritz, Leyton Orient FC and the British Red Cross are dressing up their everyday business email and are getting better results by displaying perfectly branded, interactive messages with every communication. And let’s face it, building brand awareness never goes out of fashion. With the right resources it’s an area where Social Media is made-to-measure, though another finding from the DMA report suggests that email budgets are a bit more ready-to-wear. Whether you’ve got deep pockets or not, the opportunities to clothe your naked, everyday business emails are too good to miss. Email branding is the new way to improve brand awareness and get heads turning.

Click here for more information on how to have the best dressed emails in business!