The Evolution of Email – Similar to the Evolution of WCM

February 3, 2012By Morgan Stewart Comments

Just as your website is the first place customers look when they want to learn more about your company's products and services, email is the first place they expect you to send them updates and/or promotions about those products and services.

Both are critical. Both are experiencing similar evolutions as social media and mobile devices become increasingly prevalent.

Both website and email designers are faced with the challenge of properly presenting content whether the viewed on a large screen or a mobile device
Both are faced with the challenge of interpreting context depending on what device is used to view our content
Both need to adjust what information is prioritized (or displayed) depending on that context
Both are now expected to deliver increasingly relevant and personal experiences
Both have new opportunities presented to them through the social graph
Both risk becoming irrelevant if they don't evolve with the times

At Trendline Interactive, we often talk to our customers about Email+. The concept is simple. Email does not live in a vacuum, it is part of a larger marketing and technical ecosystem that requires consideration of, and integration with, other marketing channels. Email may be the most common way that customers request information from our brands online, but that doesn't mean it can operate in a silo.

A myriad of "best practices" have been developed for email, just as they have been developed for designing and implementing web sites. I see two problems with this:

If everyone follows best practices, then you have merely redefined mediocrity—we all become average.
The pace of change in digital marketing, executive pressure to deliver immediate ROI, internal politics, and a daunting list of priorities stand between the reality of our current programs and the promised utopia best practices will provide.

Creating great user experiences, whether on your site or through email, is not about best practices. It is about leveraging extensive, real world experience in order to identify which best practices apply to your situation and where innovation is needed to deliver content in a way that will engage customers and, ultimately, improve your bottom line. Fortunately, as new channels emerge, these provide us with new opportunities to innovate within more "mature" digital marketing channels.

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