Wow. Somehow, 2021 feels on track to steal 2020’s title of “Wackiest Year on Record.” Now’s the time to prepare for anything that may come our way. We asked six of our email experts from around the globe to join host Guy Hanson on our first State of Email Live webinar of 2021.
As usual, I won’t spoil what is a strong 45 minutes of content you really shouldn’t miss, but here are a handful of takeaways I got from the broadcast to whet your appetite for more. The full video can be found at the very end.
Data didn’t disappoint
Late last year, Greg Kimball, our email data genie, told us email volume was on the rise, with no real indication of stopping. Guy provided an update on Greg’s behalf during this episode to prove he was absolutely right: Volume is consistently higher than before, and it’s growing. In fact, there was a 25-30% year-over-year increase in volume on Black Friday from 2019 to 2020. Email marketers would be well-served to believe this is “a new normal” rather than a trend. Keep planning your content as though it’ll face record competition in the inbox. Chances are, it will.
A few predictions stood out
- LoriBeth Blair from the USA expects Gmail to become even more dominant in the mailbox provider space.
- Guy Hanson expects more email marketers to move from using both an email service provider and a CRM to a more comprehensive customer data platform (CDP). Why? CDPs allow users to combine the data knowledge they have and transform it into more personalized, meaningful email communications seamlessly.
- Sandra Schubert from Germany thinks authentication will be a must-have, rather than a nice-to-have, as senders become more aware of customer data privacy legislation and increased spoofing and phishing attacks on email brands.
The group also shared their thoughts on privacy legislation, the kinds of email resonating with subscribers today, and more. Check out the episode below: