Many consumers still consider email to be their preferred channel for receiving brand communications. Much of the data suggests that email has become more important, not less, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

While email may not be changing as rapidly as some other digital disciplines, it evolves nevertheless. Gone are the days when a best-in-class marketer could rely on batch-and-blast techniques, where 100% of a brand’s email distribution list received emails that were 100% identical. Opportunities abound particularly in the realms of personalization and testing.

Having a strong understanding of an email program’s return on investment (ROI) remains a competitive advantage. It might be surprising that given how great an ROI email can provide, many brands don’t actually have a good handle on how to measure its success or lack thereof.

One thing marketers are thankful for in 2020 is that it’s almost over. Marketers did not have much of a chance to proactively take a thorough look at their email marketing programs to see what’s working and what isn’t—a critical miss, considering many marketers cite it as the channel offering the best ROI.

When asked about their priorities for the year in SEMRush’s “State of Content Marketing” report, the most popular answer, with 79% of marketers agreeing, was generating quality leads.

Nine in 10 internet users in the US rely on email, and many say it’s a preferred channel for receiving brand communications. Email also still plays a central role for marketers looking to maintain and nurture relationships.

SMS's Relationship to Email Marketing. SMS marketing is frequently used to reinforce oft-overlooked email marketing messages; in this way, SMS is clearly a complement to email. It’s important for marketers to understand that text messages are not emails and should not be treated as such.

In fact, consumers increasingly expect email marketing to take the lead on communicating brands’ stances on important issues. A strong email marketing program conveys what a brand is and isn’t, as opposed to being just a vehicle for offering deals and discounts. Not sure if your company subscribes? You can find out here.

Invest in email marketing. Email marketing was one of the success stories of 2020. Open rates soared during the early days of the pandemic. Acoustic, a marketing tech firm, found a 23.8% jump in open rates worldwide between February and March. In 2021, marketers will build on this growth in an intentional manner, improving in areas such as personalization, testing, measurement, and acquisition.

The strategy will focus on developing multiple online channels to promote its webinars and on email marketing, to follow up on leads generated in the digital sphere. “LinkedIn is where we’ve seen the most significant increase in our following. The fact that we’ve been able to grow our organic following by over a thousand followers a month is pretty amazing,” Broad said.

eMarketer principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Jeremy Goldman and Nicole Perrin discuss how the pandemic changed email, what consumers want from it, and how to build a best-in-class campaign. They then talk about Nielsen's new ID graph, measuring digital video ads, and how out-of-home advertising is doing.

Tried-and-true channels, especially email marketing, are a powerhouse for B2Bs, but it is worthwhile to consider cutting down on frequency, turning off irrelevant automations and being more targeted (more on that later). CPMs are down, so now might be a good time to spend (if budgets allow). For example, paid search tactics will help capture intent from buyers.