In the coming year, more than half (52%) of email marketers said increasing customer loyalty was a top email marketing goal. Overall, 51 percent of respondents want to drive incremental revenue with their email program; 65 percent of those with larger email budgets says that’s that their top goal in 2010.

"When consumers’ purse strings tighten, savvy marketers remain respectful but attentive, so their brands are top of mind when their customers are once again ready to buy," said Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop.

"Today’s marketers are mindful of the important role relationship building plays in a successful marketing strategy, and they understand the unique ability of email to engage customers."

While marketers remain positive about the role email will play in meeting their goals in 2010, they are also prepared to face related challenges. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said the biggest challenge in the coming year will be "inbox clutter.

Overall, more than eight out of 10 (84 percent) plan to include social media into their email programs in the coming year, and 38 percent will add SMS. Marketers with budget increases are even more likely to add these to their programs; 89 percent will incorporate social media and 44 percent SMS.

"Linking email to popular social networks can be a very successful strategy," Nussey said. "If the messages are timely and relevant, recipients will share them with their networks, and the opportunity for additional exposure increases exponentially. And as customers become more mobile, their marketing must reach them in more timely ways and through channels such as SMS."
 

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 The study "Emails Gone Viral: Measuring ‘Share-to-Social’ Performance," found that shared emails delivered an average increase in reach of 24.3 percent and this is set to increase as sharing becomes more mainstream.  On average, social sharing leads to an additional 1 percent of opens.

The majority of opens and clicks of shared emails took place in the first couple of days following posting on a social site. On average, the last click on shared emails occurs about seven days after the initial share, with activity ranging from 1 to 44 days.

While specific creative elements did not factor heavily into emails shareability, emails most frequently shared were more likely to feature a brand name or product in the subject line rather than a specific offer.

Links to Facebook, Myspace and Twitter were included most often in email messages, Bebo, Delicious and LinkedIn had a higher percentage of shared link clicks among the networks.

"Combining email and social networking can be very powerful," said Loren McDonald, vice president of industry relations for Silverpop.  "Research tells us that ninety-two percent of adult Internet users send or read email.  And social network users are, on average, connected to between 150 and 200 friends, so developing an email that is socially shareworthy can turn messages viral very quickly and reach a new group of customers very similar to the ones you already have.

"This first benchmark study establishes a baseline for future studies that will examine whether sharing activity changes as the practice spreads from early-adoption to a mainstream marketing practice. "

Coverage of the ACCM conference continues at WebProNews Videos.  Keep an eye on WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.)

Landing pages serve a number of functions and can be used for branding, lead generation, education and ecommerce. Landing pages drive revenue with 6 out of 10 used to sell specific products or services.

Branding starts with a readable URL. A readable URL reinforces branding. Seventeen percent of companies send clickers to the homepage instead of to a landing page that is uniquely relevant to a specific campaign. Nussey said, " Visitors must know immediately they’re in the right place and their time won’t be wasted."

Forty-five percent of landing pages don’t repeat email promotional copy, while six out of ten landing page designs matched the look of both the email and the company’s site.

Popular landing page designs differ from top email designs. Landing page designs should focus on controlling the visual path consumers take. Simple designs help lead a page visitor directly to a call to action.

Remember to think about the impact of resolution settings, different computer resolutions render designs differently. Design for low resolution so all customers can see the copy immediately.

You only have 8 seconds to grab a customer’s attention so keep scrolls to a minimum. Images grab attention during the critical 8-second window. Nussey said, "Simplicity almost always wins."

He added, " Computers are going to go from enablers to enhancers in the next couple of years."