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2. Consumers continued to become more technologically savvy in 2012. Tablets,smartphones and even traditional computers all worked in tandem to helpcustomers shop. Todays digital marketers must adapt and evolve theirmessages to speak to this customer across multiple channels or devices.The Marketing Strategists from Brontos Professional Services team are on thefront lines of digital marketing; they help clients drive sales by optimizing andevolving email, mobile and social programs. Each strategist looks into the futureand shares his or her predictions for upcoming trends and the tools that will beessential in 2013.1Website Activity Influencing EmailAs a marketer, you know that it is vital to understand and track how your customer is engaging with yourbrand. For years, marketers have primarily relied on open, click and conversion data from their emailservice providers to segment subscribers and target offers. Website data, such as browsing, clicking andcarting can be out of reach for many marketers or disconnected from their email platform. Accordingto a New York American Marketing Association report, 39% of marketers say data is collected tooinfrequently or it is not real-time enough. 42% of marketers say they are unable to link data together atthe individual customer level. Fawn predicts that these barriers will continue to lower in 2013, making theactions customers take on websites a key data component for email marketing.I predict that this is the year marketers will pay more attention to wheretheir subscribers are visiting on their website. Data from pages shoppersvisit and which products they view will be used more frequently in 2013 tosend targeted messages based on that users interaction on the website.Some brands have already launched automated campaigns using thismethod and I believe we will see even greater adoption in 2013.Fawn YoungMarketing Strategist1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com 3. Q&A with Fawn YoungIf abandoned cart messages will evolve by going further up the purchase funnel, whats next?Why havent we seen more of these campaignsYou want me to predict beyond my prediction? Well,in the past? the importance and accessibility of data for activity onWhether it is budget, resources or technical knowledge,social networks and usage of mobile devices would bemany marketers are missing part of the puzzle. Somea logical extension. Using this data to trigger messagesstill struggle with the challenges of launching an that influence purchasing decisions will definitely helpabandoned cart email program. Marketers understand gain sales.the value of these highly targeted and automatedmessages and are ready to enhance the experience Are there any conflicts with running these campaignseven further, yet struggle with connecting all the dots. and abandoned cart messages simultaneously? This is worth testing. The goal is to drive sales whileCan this data benefit both automated emails andproviding a positive customer experience. Look at thestandard promotional emails? timing between the messages and potentially suppressSure. I was recently shopping for bedding online browser recipients from abandoned cart messages ifand after I left the site, the brand triggered an emailthe two are overlapping to see if this has positive results.containing the bedding I had browsed. They couldhave alternatively used a categorical data approachto associate the product category with my profile. Clickdata from emails is easily accessible and many brandsuse this data now. Tying this data with the web sitebehavioral data could be a key to driving sales in 2013.For example, a clicker may always click on shoes in anemail but shops skirts once on the site. Knowing this willmake email even more relevant for shoppers.What are some pitfalls marketers should avoid if theyare interested in launching a program based oninteractions with their sites?Be mindful for people who are shopping for themselvesversus those who are buying gifts. After I bought myhusband a video game on Amazon.com, I receivedvideo game related content in email and on their site.Look at longer term data trends not just a one-timeinteraction.Also, include constraints to make sure messages are notrepeated. This will help these emails maintain maximumimpact. You dont want to train subscribers to expect anoffer just for clicking on a product, or frustrate them bysending them too many emails from you.Whats the best way to get started?The best starting place would be to speak to yourwebsite analytics provider to see what services areavailable for consolidating and aggregating this data.If they cant provide the service, they may be able torecommend a partner. This data can be imported intosome marketing platforms and used to trigger messagesbased on site activity. This OneStepAhead.com email was received after clicking on a product link in an email.1-888-BRONTO1bronto.com 4. 2 Adaptive & Responsive Design Will Be Used to Optimize Email Content for All Devices Multi-tasking across multiple devices is not just for the office anymore. Shoppers have integrated and coordinated their devices into their shopping patterns. According to a Google study of consumer intentions for the 2012 holiday season, 80% of shoppers planned to use multiple devices simultaneously while shopping. Not optimizing content for specific devices in 2013 may be shortsighted as your message travels from one screen to another in the hands of your customer.We will start to see more responsive and adaptive web design in theemail space, specifically with regard to tablets and smartphones. In thissame vein, we will start to see more messages that interact with apps thatconsumers have on their smartphones. Anna Pfeiffer Marketing StrategistQ&A with Anna PfeifferWhats the difference between responsive andadaptive design?A simple way to distinguish the two is that responsivedesign changes in response to the size of the screen orviewing area. Adaptive design is design that changesbased on the viewing device.Lets look at the desktop view for Sony.com and the BBC.co.uk. If you decrease the size of your web browser, theelements of Sony.com will respond to the window size asit changes. The site will adjust itself based on the viewingsize of the device used.1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com 5. BBC.co.uk contains many content sections when viewedWhat are some best practices?on a computer. When the same URL is visited on aGet away from optimizing for each device. The custommobile device, the site adapts to that device and showsdesign for iPhones, various Android devices, tablets,a mobile version of the page with fewer sections thatlaptops, etc. is not worth the time and resources inare easily visible on a smaller screen.most cases. With adaptive and responsive design youcan have the promotion speak to the device. You cansend a subscriber on an iPhone a pass to add to theirpassbook. You can send smartphone subscribers areminder for their calendar to alert them when a salebegins. This will be how mobile optimization of offers willevolve in 2013.Why not just send the offer to everyone? Willsubscribers learn how to adapt to content that is lessthan optimized for their device?Adaptive and responsive design decreases the time ittakes to create one version for each possible viewingoption versus creating one unique version that worksfor all devices. As far as going deeper, like making theoffers different, it may take more work and it is a matterof testing to see if the results are worth it. Fragmentationof the offer for too many devices could take too muchtime and not pay off. Finding that threshold can be keyto 2013 sales.How will the mobile inbox connect with apps to drivenot only engagement, but sales as well?Apples Passbook is definitely one way this will happen.You can give someone a pass for passbook in his orher inbox. You can generate a pass, which is a link thatWhy is a mobile optimized email not enoughyou can include in the email. There are also apps thatin 2013?can add other coupons to a mobile device than canI have seen some brands significantly decrease thethen be redeemed at a physical store location. Reallywidth of their emails to make sure the email is viewableexciting things lie ahead for reaching out to the mobileon mobile devices. When you do that you are basically subscriber.trying to get a one size fits all design. A responsivedesign can scale depending on the device andchange the layout all together, creating an any size forall design.Do you need a mobile site to benefits from responsiveor adaptive designed emails?You dont have to. One of the basic advantages is thatsubscribers use mobile devices for email triage. Theymay view an email on their mobile device and comeback to shop later on their computer. If you have anemail that is not optimized for mobile and its opened ona mobile device, the message may be abandoned inthe mobile inbox and you lose the sale. Even if you donthave a mobile site ready to go, at the very least youdont want them to pass over your email. Sephora gives their Beauty Insiders the option of adding their cards to Passbook.1-888-BRONTO1bronto.com 6. 3Automated Lifecycle Messages Will Targetthe Mobile ConsumerThe continued adoption of smart mobile devices will make it essential that marketers integrate mobile-focused messages into the customer lifecycle. Not only will the creative need to display and functionproperly, but the timing of these messages and the promotions they contain need to speak to thecustomer who is not just on the go, but viewing your offers across multiple devices.Customer-centric retailing will continue to be a hot topic in 2013 asshoppers will control how and when they would like to interact with retailbrands. This plays into allowing interactions with the brand anytime,anywhere and on any device of their choice. Retailers must figure outways to get customers engaged and inspired in order to build long-termrelationships. This is where the lifecycle campaigns become essential.Retailers must manage all of this data in a way that can easily be used tocreate a more 1:1 experience for customers. Emily Keye Marketing Strategist1-888-BRONTO1bronto.com 7. Q&A with Emily KeyeHow can marketers gain insight into their mobile population?What are the most effective lifecycle messages and Start looking at the devices subscribers use to openhow will they evolve in 2013?your emails. Bronto customers, for example, can use aThe most effective ones are the basics such as a segmentation tool that lets them segment based onwelcome series, lapsed purchaser message and the browser and device. Or just ask! Include an option topost-purchase series.select a preferred mobile device in your preference center to start collecting some data.Opt-in source will become even more important tomarketers in 2013. For example, a custom welcomeseries based on where someone signed up, whether in-store, online or a social media site, will speak directly tothe shoppers experience in a timely fashion. An onlinepurchaser can be different than someone who alwaysbuys in-store. Introducing your brand in a welcome seriesthat extends that first interaction with your brand couldhelp get that first purchase.Lifecycle messaging triggers will also evolve in 2013.Rather than a website or form being the only triggers,walking past a store, being inside a store or a shopperscanning a code could be triggers that send messages.Kenneth Cole customers can use their mobile devices toshow emails and receive discounts in-store. You mention marketers needed to manage all of this data so it can be easily used What do you say to the marketer who feels overwhelmed with the amount of data they have to mine? It comes down to taking a look at the data points that lead to the most revenue. Just because you have the data doesnt mean you have to use it. A lot of marketers may have to invest in third party solutions to aggregate and consolidate data so its accessible and easy to use. Conversely, how can a marketer with limited data build a better data profile that can help their program CVS uses QR codes in their email to help connect mobile evolve to speak to their subscribers regardless of their devices to the purchase process. devices? A few sources to focus on would be your email serviceWhat is the role of mobile devices in lifecycleprovider, site analytics data or a third party. Start bymessaging from both the consumer and marketerscollecting engagement data and finding ways to mergeperspective? that data into a holistic view of the customer across channels and devices. Keep in mind that its not justLooking at messages on mobile devices is already important to have the data but you also need to becommon behavior. It will become more of a norm for able to use it.shoppers to connect their mobile inboxes to the in-storeshopping experience. In addition to linking to a store How does message timing change based on theirlocator and having the option to print an email, Kenneth device?Cole tells subscribers they can also show the emailin-store on their mobile device to receive a discount. Its more of where they are in the lifecycle, not just theShoppers will also continue to compare prices whiledevice. Acquisition source can help with the timing ofshopping in store. Marketers need to connect to thethe message because you have an idea of the deviceconsumer while in store. they are using and the location.1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com 8. 4ISPs Will Enable More Technology forthe InboxAs we have seen general web technologies expand over the years, the inbox has been locked outof most of them. That is starting to change. Marketers and their design teams continue to push theboundaries for creating rich, dynamic inbox experiences for subscribers. One email may be viewedon multiple devices, and finding ways to provide a compelling visual experience in addition to yourpromotional message will help your message stand out in the evolving inbox.More ISPs will start allowing HTML5 and video to be seen directly inmessages. Compelling video and rich media will continue to grow as away of engaging with your audience. Kestrel Lemen Marketing Strategist1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com 9. Q&A with Kestrel Lemen How can a marketer get started or test some of these concepts?Which technologies have been impacted the most byThere are only a few email clients that support HTML5.limitations in the inbox?Test a video across different ISPs (Internet ServiceI think that people still struggle with the art of mastering Providers) and devices. Try repurposing existing videosbasic HTML email. I still get messages that are not codedfrom other channels. If you arent doing it now, testcorrectly from major brands - image files are broken orwith animated gifs. Research your mobile customers.not sliced correctly and tables are not aligned. So thereAdaptive and responsive design could help you makeis still that bag of cats to deal with. Beyond that, forms sure your messages are rendering correctly based onare sometimes used but do not render consistently or the device used.function properly across various email clients. I believe HTML5 will simply be another tool to make theIt would be great to use video in email, but you cant.user experience in an email more exciting and personal.HTML5 is an emerging workaround. Animated gifs can Video is its big seller but think about what you could dobe used, but when compared to video, they fall flat. with video and segmentation! I look forward to workingTheres no audio in animated gifs for example. Audio willwith more clients on that prospect.need to be treated like audio on a website. You will needto be conscious of when it starts playing or if subscribersBy 2015, I wonder if emails will become more likewill need to press play. Be careful of interruptingtelevision commercials? Televisions will be giantsomeones day. The last thing you want is to check yourcomputers and the experience gap between theemail in public and have a loud ad play without anytwo devices will close. There is a huge opportunitycontrol. for the inbox to step up to the plate and provide that advertising opportunity that seems to be closing forHow have marketers and designers combated thosetelevision ads.limitations?Its a bit of a bait and switch where the video ismimicked in the email to encourage the click. Its thesame with forms. While the mimic can be engaging, itsimportant to not frustrate your subscriber.What are some strategies for using video in email?Keep the user experience in mind. You can give theexperience of having the product in their hands like theywere in the store. By using video in an email you can getthem one step closer to having that physical experienceand interaction with the product at home.For example, I buy a ton of beauty products. If you canshow me right away how those products will look andhow to apply them, I am way more likely to make thatpurchase. The health and beauty industry is one of thebiggest industries I see already adopting video in emails.Bare Minerals mimicked video playback in this emailgiving openers a visual call-to-action to see how theirproduct can improve skin hydration.1-888-BRONTO1bronto.com 10. 5Behavioral and Profile Data Make it PersonalBam! Ka-Boom! Pow! Data can pack a punch. It doesnt take a massive customer database to make itpersonal. One data point can hold massive amounts of revenue generating opportunity. From birthdayto purchase related data, marketers will need to harness the power of behavioral and profile data toensure success in 2013.My prediction is that data collection and customer behavior are goingto be key for 2013! This year I believe marketers will spend more timesurveying their audiences to really find out what products their customersare interested in and then theyll use this data to send more targetedcontent. Quality data leads to more effective lifecycle messaging and Ipredict that more retailers are really grasping this idea!Kellie BoggsMarketing Strategist1-888-BRONTO1bronto.com 11. Q&A with Kellie BoggsWhich pieces of data hold the most value?This year I have seen more clients using purchase datato target promotions like Thanks for purchasing lastyear. heres $10 off. These messages can scale fromreally basic, such as only knowing whether someonehas purchased or not, to really advanced and targetedusing data about the specific product that waspurchased. For example, Bronto client, Shar Music, sendsautomated string reorder reminders to past purchasers,and their conversion rate is 26%! Not bad for acampaign that uses just a few pieces of purchase data.Look for data points that will provide a positive shoppingexperience for your customer, increase opportunity forautomation and drive sales. Collecting birthdates will Brookstone combines a customer service check-in and agive you an opportunity to send automated messages product review request in this post-purchase email.that have proven to drive a lot of revenue. Anotherexample, I have a comedy club client who collects How and where should marketers ask for thiszip codes to send targeted emails about upcominginformation?shows and ticket promotions. Product interest data likeWith the new year, send out a survey to ask customersthis will help marketers segment and tailor content towhich products they are interested in hearing aboutencourage a first purchase and subsequent purchases.in 2013.Ask previous purchasers to review products and thenuse that data in emails to prospects.Daily deals on social networks will be used to acquireemail addresses as well as Facebook followers. Limitthe data that you ask for on these social forms to thehighest priority data. Social followers may not want tospend much time filling out your form.Shar Musics automated string reorder reminder receivesa 26% conversion rate1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com 12. 6Localization and Real-Time ContentBecome CommonNo matter where you go, there you are! Clearly the inbox will become more dynamic in 2013 toaccommodate the consumer on the go. Consumers use traditional computers and various mobiledevices to read product reviews and browse for the best deals. Optimizing content and timingpromotions will be essential but there is another layer to add to the mix. Real-time and localized contentwill give consumers the most current and relevant information that will significantly enhance and informthe purchase process.A cool trend you will see in 2013 is that more companies will leveragethird party services that replace email content in real-time based onpreferences or location. The concept of traditional dynamic contentis going to evolve to mean so much more to both consumers andmarketers.Steve DuBoisMarketing Strategist1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com 13. Q&A with Steve DuBoisHow was this technology used in 2012 and how doyou think it will evolve in 2013?It was touched on in 2012 but it was a prematuretechnology in the marketplace. I think that as we goforward, more brands will look at the bigger players asa bellwether to see if adoption continues. Then brandscould see if there are ways to mimic the technology to2013 could be the year emails containing store-specifictest whether it would work well for them. information are triggered when customers walk bya location.There are ways to replicate real-time and localizedcontent without using the full approach. For example, an Are there ways to test these strategies beforeimage showing the number of days left in a sale could investing?be overwritten each day. This process is manual andhas shortcomings, such as the image caching for some Animated gifs and overwriting content are practicalopeners and new openers still seeing an old image. ways to get started. Animated gifs continued to evolveThis could still be tested to measure the impact and this year and become more sophisticated. They showdetermine if further investment should be made.multiple products rather than just a pulsating button, but there are limitations. With an animated image withWhich uses do you think have the most impact for multiple products, you cant click through on the thirdsubscriber engagement and for driving sales? product in the animation. An animated countdownHeres an example to illustrate the concept of will not show the exact amount of time left but canlocalization. Imagine your customer opening an email evoke the urgency for a customer to start shopping. Youwhile walking by your store. What if you could use profile can test these strategies to see if theres an uptick inand behavioral data you have on that customer to engagement and sales.populate the best offer? How amazing would that be tohelp drive sales and encourage your customers to visityour stores! Even if you arent ready to launch somethingthat advanced, start gaining insight into which devicesand platforms your subscribers are using to open yourmessages.Real-time content will take relevant content to the nextlevel. Lets say I browse a sofa on a site, and then go tomy favorite news site and theres a display ad for a sofa.The same could be true for an email where I view a sofaon a site and then when I check my inbox, an emaildynamically updates to show the sofa based on mybrowsing behavior.Horchow used an animated gif to mimic a dynamiccountdown.1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com 14. 7More Resources Will Be Dedicated to EmailIt is important to remember the fundamentals when looking into the future. Advancements intechnologies can overwhelm marketers but many of these tools have made the complex and time-consuming tasks of the past more accessible and streamlined. This doesnt mean that every emailneeds to involve tons of levers and mounds of data. Getting back to the basics can save time, drivesales and provide subscribers with engaging content.Segmentation and sending more relevant emails is something I hearmore and more about every day. However, I feel many companies willstruggle with how to implement it. I think the all-too-common shortage ofpersonnel resources hinders the ability of many companies to effectivelytarget all audiences with messages tailored to their needs. So althoughthey all want to send targeted messages, most will need to devote moreresources to it to be able to do this successfully. Greg Zakowicz Marketing Strategist1-888-BRONTO1bronto.com 15. Q&A with Greg Zakowicz Is there a way to test and measure the impact of delivering more relevant messages that can convinceYou said you hear a lot about segmentation andthe higher-ups that its worth the resource investment?sending more relevant emails yet folks arent doing it. Yes! Take a basic data value that you already have, likeWhy? gender or product category of interest, such as shoes,It comes down to time. From what Ive seen, folks want skirts or pants, and test sending specific messagesto use data that they have but they dont have the timeto those audiences against a batch and blast. Thisto create the messages. Dynamic content, for example,shouldnt be a one-time email but measuring success intakes time to create multiple pieces of content, but terms of conversion rates and revenue over time will givemarketers may have other priorities and it becomes you some convincing information on the value of usingcumbersome and overwhelming so they revert back to that data.what they know. That needs to change in 2013. Last year you predicted that VIP & loyalty programsSo how do you see this changing in 2013? would be a valuable way to keep customers who were saturated with offers interested and coming back forSome brands are already making the shift. The more. Do you still think that is important?challenge will be for the smaller companies todetermine how to best use their teams and technologies I do think they are important. Balancing cost ofto streamline these targeting efforts. Collecting data has acquisition to the cost of keeping subscribers can bebeen a priority and now many marketers have a deerchallenging. Free shipping is so common and expectedin the headlights moment. Identifying opportunities toby consumers. The value of discounts could decline forautomate messages will put marketers on the path tobroad audiences. Keeping and catering to the mostease overwhelming workloads, provide an enhanced valued customers will help keep average order value up.customer experience and increase sales. Educationabout how to use this data in a streamlined andautomated fashion will be vital to holding a relevantconversation with customers.Do you think companies may be shifting resourcesfrom previously hot topic efforts with social media andmobile, back to email marketing?There may be some of that. I have seen a few brandsmake those organizational shifts. Its important to notlose sight of those channels. Marrying the channelshas been proven to generate sales. Finding how mobile,social and email compliment and influence each otherwill make messaging that speaks to the multi-deviceand multi-channel customer. One thing is for certain the different channels should not be managed in silos.Bronto Software provides a cloud-based marketing platform for retailers to drive revenue through their email, mobileand social campaigns. The platform is used by more than 1,000 organizations worldwide, including Party City, ArmaniExchange, Timex, Samsoniteand Gander Mountain. Bronto is listed as the leading self-service email marketing provider tothe Internet Retailer Top 1000. Bronto is headquartered in Durham, NC with an office in London, UK. For more information,visit bronto.com.1-888-BRONTO1bronto.com