Email marketers reaping rewards of automation and personalization

The number of marketers who claim to have been 'very' or 'quite' successful in implementing automated email marketing programmes has risen from 62% last year to 67% this year, according to the Econsultancy/Adestra email report.

Furthermore, the number of companies that claim to be able to send emails based on an individual's preferences and activities throughout the funnel at scale has almost doubled - from 8% to 15%. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of those companies report an 'excellent' or 'good' performance from such programmes, compared to just 35% of those companies who claim they are 'not yet working towards this'.

However, personalization is something most respondents (30%) said they need to focus on during 2017, more so than automated campaigns (28%), which was the number one priority last year.

"Email continues to be one of the most effective marketing channels and it's encouraging to see that marketers are looking beyond standalone campaigns by embracing marketing automation and personalization," said Monica Savut, head of Research Services at Econsultancy.

"However, this year's Census shows that marketers need to adopt a more rigorous approach, keeping a sharp focus on both technology and strategy while never losing sight of the customer. The rewards are there for the taking, but reaping maximum value is dependent on two key success factors: investment that is proportional to any potential returns and a comprehensive strategy that focuses on continuous measurement, testing and optimization."

Tags: automation, email, marketing, research