Email marketing has been written off many times, as social media and other emerging marketing channels gain prominence.

But email has proven time and time again that it’s a marketing powerhouse, often earning the highest rate of return, and widely acknowledged as delivering the best bang for your buck.

As we look towards 2015, here are some of the key trends to help refine and build upon your email efforts.

Google innovation

Gmail is the world’s most popular free email marketing service, used by millions of businesses globally. Google has shown it's not afraid to try new things to shake up the traditional role of the inbox.

In 2014 we saw Google introduce Grid View, and more recently a new smartphone app simply called Inbox.

In 2015 we will continue to see Google reshape how we subscribe, read, interact, optout and manage our email messages.

As a marketer it's crucial that you’re aware of your Gmail contacts, and how these innovations will continue to change the way they read your messages.

Screen size

In the past few years we have come to understand the importance of optimising emails for the smartphone audience, with readership continuing to increase year-on-year.

We're now seeing some clients reporting smartphone readership outnumbering desktop by a factor of 2:1, so it’s clear that screen size is a key priority for email design and interaction.

Apple’s impending release of the Watch will no doubt have further implications into how we optimise email marketing campaigns.

Automation

Email will continue to become deeply integrated with other marketing channels, increasing the need to email smarter, faster and (usually) more often.

Trigger-based email marketing will help save time and money, but require investing in quality data segmentation and lead-nurturing tools to achieve the best results.

For automation to be truly successful, marketers need to improve their data collection that allows for advanced personalisation and improved one-on-one messaging techniques.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Scott has over 12 years digital marketing experience and is currently Co-founder of The Orchard, a Melbourne based email marketing agency. The Orchard work closely with some of Australia’s best known brands in developing tailored email marketing programs focused on delivering solutions based on three core principles: Growth, Conversion & Retention.

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