Email marketing continues to be a key tool for businesses that want to reach out to new and existing clients. But, with so many businesses deploying frequent email campaigns, consumer CTRs continue to fall. As a result, email marketers are shifting tactics for the coming year.

Top 2019 Email Objectives

The new Email Marketing Summary Survey Report from Ascend2 includes input from over 270 businesses. This year, the top objectives for email campaigns will be:

• Increasing engagement 67%
• Improving brand awareness 59%
• Increasing lead generation 47% 
• Increasing conversions 39%

Currently, 66% of survey respondents say that their email marketing strategy is somewhat successful in achieving these objectives. About 21% rank themselves as best-in-class. 

Top 2019 Email Challenges

These stats may be realistic, but the competition for consumer attention with respect to the email inbox has never been more intense. The surveyed companies note that critical challenges in using email correlate pretty well with the objectives they’ve set. Specifically, they say the following challenges are most critical:

• Increasing engagement 50%
• Increasing lead generation 42%
• Increase conversions 40%

Top 2019 Email Strategies

To achieve the email goals they’ve set for 2019, at least 60% of marketers will allocate moderately more spending to the effort. And, 12% will spend significantly more. 

Your clients will be trying to increase engagement by sending out the types of email messages they consider to be most effective:

• Personalized messaging 62%
• Single-​topic/​dedicated email 57%
• Multiple-​topic/​e‑newsletter 35%
• Milestone/​birthday email 29%

These email messages aren’t easy to create, especially when the goal is to improve effectiveness of the format. The personalized messaging (47%) and multiple-​topic/​e‑newsletter (39%) style are the most difficult types of email to develop. 

Do you know what your clients’ plans are for email marketing in 2019? You can start a conversation with them by sharing profile information on email responders. Find the data in AudienceSCAN, available at AdMall from SalesFuel.