Yesterday concluded MediaPost’s Email Insider Summit. It was a snowy, content-filled, fun three days in Park City with the dialog (and the beverages) always flowing.
I really enjoyed FINALLY meeting several of the email marketing folks that I’ve been chatting with over Twitter for months, including (but not limited to) Dylan Boyd and Alex Williams (eROI), Loren McDonald (Silverpop), Chad White (Smith-Harmon), Morgan Stewart (ExactTarget), Andrew Kordek (GroupOn), Greg Cangialosi (Blue Sky Factory), and Fred Tabsharani (Port25).
With that said, to keep this somewhat brief, here are some key takeaways I had from the summit. Feel free to chime in and give me yours.
Key Takeaways:
- In terms of personal communication, email is not necessarily a preferred method of communication, but definitely a strong contender. In contrast, email is definitely the preferred method of receiving communications from companies (to the tune of 89%).
- Many people have different email inboxes for different purposes–i.e. Hotmail for junk mail, Gmail for personal communications, Yahoo for business communications. (I personally fall into this category. I have a lot of inboxes and use each of them differently.)
- Preference centers are becoming increasingly important, particularly with the rapid increase in mobile web and email users and the corresponding rise in mobile marketing. It’s crucial to manage all digital touchpoints with customers (and allow them the control to manage it themselves).
- All calls to action must be actionable on mobile devices.
- There’s a solid branding argument for email. Even if it doesn’t drive immediate engagement, the mere fact that it’s sitting in the inbox has been found to increase ultimate engagement with the products and services of the brand.
All in all, it was a great event. If you weren’t able to attend, try to either budget for the April summit in Florida or next year’s summit back here in Park City. You won’t regret it.
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Chad White has an excellent recap on the Summit here ->
Kara Trivunovic explores the “Sh*t Folder” here ->
The Email Guide goes full circle on the Summit here ->
