Given the incredible staying power of email in the world of digital marketing, it’s easy for complacency to set in and for marketers to keep using the same old tactics. As top email marketing professionals such as dot Mailer will tell you, online activity is evolving all the time, and while email marketing is still going strong, this is down to the resilience of email as a communications tool rather than the marketing methods of several years ago still being relevant.

Marketing to the mobile

The way in which people conduct their business online has changed beyond all recognition in the past decade, and much of this is down to the incredible rise of mobile devices. Nowadays most email is checked by people on the move, using their iPhones, Androids and tablets, and an ever-increasing amount of e-commerce is taking place this way as well. Email marketing needs to be in touch with this and promotional emails need to be compatible with all mobile devices and browsers.

Know thy smartphones

It’s not just about compatibility and email design, however – it is equally vital that your market research and your online surveys keep an eye on exactly what mobile devices your customer base is using. This is because it has recently been revealed that response rates to email marketing vary greatly from device to device. One piece of research found that rates among iPhone users were almost double what they were for Android users and an unbelievable 73 times greater than with  BlackBerry owners! Know your customers’ choice of gadgets and you can market to them far more effectively.

Hold a dialogue, not a lecture

Once customers sign up to an email list or subscribe to a newsletter, it can be tempting to sit back and bombard them with promotional material. This is a mistake – by opting in to receive marketing emails, a customer has not declared their willingness to be “broadcast at”. With social media making it easier than ever for consumers to have a “conversation” with their favorite brands, more and more people want to feel they are in a dialogue. Show your support for this approach by tailoring emails to specific customers and seeking feedback, via such methods as online surveys. This also has the beneficial side effect of increasing your store of customer data.