As 2011 comes to an end, rather than reflecting on what has been a good year for the email channel (adoption, sophistication and key metrics continue to rise), it is time to start looking to the future. What should the forward thinking email marketer be considering as part of their email programme for 2012?

Here are my five predictions for the email channel in 2012:

1. More emails will be sent than ever before
Okay, I don’t think I’ll win any prizes for this prediction but it will happen! The DMA/fast.MAP Email Tracking Study this year revealed that consumer approval ratings of email marketing has surged over the last 12 months and that consumers are signing up to receive emails in greater numbers. Savvy email marketers will send more email messages than ever before in 2012, while continuing the focus on relevancy that has seen consumers gain even greater trust in email in 2011.

2. Responsive design comes to email
With the continued adoption of smartphones and tablets, website designers now need to consider numerous different screen sizes when designing websites. The technique available to them is responsive web design – a concept that helps the site layout change, according to the user’s computers screen resolution. With mobile devices expected to have an important part to play in last-minute Christmas purchases this year, I think email designers will adopt responsive design in 2012.

3. Marketers will take greater control of ALL the emails their businesses send
Many marketers don’t currently control some of the most powerful emails their businesses send. Order confirmation emails are still sent out by legacy “booking engines”, registration emails are controlled by the IT department and email signatures are looked after by the HR team. Yet these additional emails are important elements of a business’s contact plan. In 2012, marketing departments will begin to take control of all the emails their business sends ensuring a consistent message at all touch points.

4. Sales recovery emails will become prevalent
In 2011, Listrak reported that only 14.6% of the Internet Retailer 1,000 companies sent a shopping cart recovery email. This is despite shopping cart abandonment rates continuing to rise. This type of email is simple to set up and, from my experience, is one of the most powerful emails a business can send, delivering a near instant return on investment. In 2012, more businesses will be turning them on.

5. Best practice will become bad practice
Well not quite, but it made a good title for my bullet point! For a long time now, many email marketers (including me) have focused on best practice. The correct format of an email, things like the right balance of images to text and where to place your unsubscribe link. In 2012, if you want your emails to really perform it is time to rip up the rule book and try something different. Don’t be surprised to see emails that scroll horizontally, contain audio clips, utilise only graphics or contain no company logo, as marketers strive to break the rules to stand out from the crowd.

How many of the above predictions will become reality in 2012? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, if marketers continue with the progress they have made with email this year, 2012 promises to be a very good year.

James Bunting, Director of Strategy & Research, Communicator Corp

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