The email marketplace is strong and highly competitive. Email is probably the most widely used online marketing channel and better measurement and analytics have helped companies to understand the value of this channel. In terms of growth, email is going to become even more popular over the next few years as it's cheap, effective and ROI can be very high in relation to initial spend.

We have compiled some of the Strengths, Weaknesses and Tip's & Pitfalls which we believe affect email marketing today.

Strengths:
The strength of email marketing really lies in retention, as well as up-sell and cross-sell. This is because it is a one-to-one communication channel where you can ensure the content is highly relevant to the reader which makes it more likely to be digested and ultimately acted upon. It should be a communication requested by the reader and therefore that reader is immediately more engaged.

• Cost & ROI - email is one of the cheapest digital marketing channels available to marketers and can yield extremely good returns for your business
• Relevance - the ability to target the right customer, with the right content or offer based on their demographic profile and purchasing behaviour and at the RIGHT time is what makes email so highly effective. Just look at how Amazon does it!
• Speed & reach - email is an extremely fast channel to utilize if you need to get a message or offer out the door quickly and before your competition
• Measurement - the ability to track what happens with your email campaigns, allows marketers and businesses to easily test and learn from the success or failure of a campaign
• Integration - email integrates with many other digital marketing channels, such as web analytics tools which can be used to drive behavioural campaigns; or SEM [search engine marketing] campaigns which can be linked to new customer trigger email campaigns

Weaknesses:
Not following email best practice guidelines is an industry weakness. Many marketers simply send mass untargeted blasts to their entire customer base, which can be more detrimental for a brand than beneficial. When used incorrectly (i.e. not following opt-in/opt out best practices or sending irrelevant messaging), email can frustrate and stimulate negative word of mouth from customers. Be sensible and follow email best practice guidelines to ensure your customers don't turn on you!

• SPAM - one of the biggest weaknesses and therefore concern is the continued impact of spam both on user experience and willingness to participate in email, alongside the negative reaction of ISPs to spam, that will limit effective communication to the inbox.
• Data Hygiene - data cleanliness is vital. It's important to update company email databases with bounce backs; unknown email addresses; or email suppression lists etc, otherwise ISP's could potentially send all your emails to SPAM folders or even worse blacklist your from address
• 3rd Party lists - while some organisations have become more enlightened, there is still too much emphasis placed on acquisition (e.g. through the use of third-party lists), when a focus on retention and customer experience would be more appropriate. Many email campaigns are suffering from unclear objectives, ineffective creative and a lack of a clear call-to-action

Tip's and Pitfalls:
Companies are fighting for attention in readers Inboxes and if your message is not relevant to the targeted reader then you are going to lose valuable Inbox 'real estate' as consumers will unsubscribe from your emails. The email journey is also a long one and it's important to get each step right:

• Delivery into the Inbox - follow best practice guidelines and delivery techniques; sign up to ISP white lists; and ensure DNS and SPF records are set
• Subject lines - which influence open rates and are often over-looked as unimportant. It is very important to be constantly A/B testing your subject lines
• Relevant & appealing content - which influence CTRs [click-through rates] and ensure you're that much closer to making a conversion
• Landing pages - links up your email campaign with additional content on your website. You further have the ability to cross-sell more products and services via your landing page
• Testing and learning - test EVERYTHING! You should be testing your subject lines; time of day/week to send your emails; different offers .etc etc. You can never be doing too much testing, but try not to test too many things at once as you won't know what worked