Email has come a long way from its early days as a simple blasting tool that lacked any personalized content or targeting. It since has evolved into a sophisticated marketing discipline recognized for its powerful ability to cultivate lifetime customer relationships and truly fantastic ROI. But despite email’s many advances, it still must operate within the context of a greater digital landscape, and it faces no shortage of challenges as it continues to mature and evolve.
The biggest of these is the proliferation of channels beyond email. People no longer live solely in their inboxes; they’re communicating via social, mobile, across websites and in CRM tools. Savvy marketers recognize that customers are moving in and out of different channels throughout their day, and that they, too, need to work across channels just as seamlessly.
But accessing these channels is only the beginning. Integrating messaging across channels, and understanding their combined impact, makes the challenge even greater. But in a multichannel world where consumers are talking to brands and to each other in multiple places, running email in a silo is no longer an option.
The good news is that new technologies are enabling marketers to more easily interact with a variety of channels in one platform. Marketers can create a more complete picture of each customer with data from all channels to influence messaging and ultimately strengthen customer relationships and increase ROI beyond that of email alone. Despite what can seem a daunting challenge, the opportunities have never been greater, and there’s never been a better time to be an email marketer.