How will 2013 Unfold? Predictions and Premonitions for the Digital Marketer

Consumers continued to become more technologically savvy in 2012. Tablets,
smartphones and even traditional computers all worked in tandem to help
customers shop. Today’s digital marketers must adapt and evolve their
messages to speak to this customer across multiple channels or devices.

The Marketing Strategists from Bronto’s Professional Services team are on the
front lines of digital marketing; they help clients drive sales by optimizing and
evolving email, mobile and social programs. Each strategist looks into the future
and shares his or her predictions for upcoming trends and the tools that will be
essential in 2013.

1
Website Activity Influencing Email
As a marketer, you know that it is vital to understand and track how your customer is engaging with your
brand. For years, marketers have primarily relied on open, click and conversion data from their email
service providers to segment subscribers and target offers. Website data, such as browsing, clicking and
carting can be out of reach for many marketers or disconnected from their email platform. According
to a New York American Marketing Association report, 39% of marketers say data is collected too
infrequently or it is not real-time enough. 42% of marketers say they are unable to link data together at
the individual customer level. Fawn predicts that these barriers will continue to lower in 2013, making the
actions customers take on websites a key data component for email marketing.

“I predict that this is the year marketers will pay more attention to where
their subscribers are visiting on their website. Data from pages shoppers
visit and which products they view will be used more frequently in 2013 to
send targeted messages based on that user’s interaction on the website.

Some brands have already launched automated campaigns using this
method and I believe we will see even greater adoption in 2013.”

Fawn Young
Marketing Strategist

1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.com

Q&A with Fawn Young If abandoned cart messages will evolve by going
further up the purchase funnel, what’s next?
Why haven’t we seen more of these campaigns You want me to predict beyond my prediction? Well,
in the past? the importance and accessibility of data for activity on
Whether it is budget, resources or technical knowledge, social networks and usage of mobile devices would be
many marketers are missing part of the puzzle. Some a logical extension. Using this data to trigger messages
still struggle with the challenges of launching an that influence purchasing decisions will definitely help
abandoned cart email program. Marketers understand gain sales.
the value of these highly targeted and automated
messages and are ready to enhance the experience Are there any conflicts with running these campaigns
even further, yet struggle with connecting all the dots. and abandoned cart messages simultaneously?
This is worth testing. The goal is to drive sales while
Can this data benefit both automated emails and providing a positive customer experience. Look at the
standard promotional emails? timing between the messages and potentially suppress
Sure. I was recently shopping for bedding online browser recipients from abandoned cart messages if
and after I left the site, the brand triggered an email the two are overlapping to see if this has positive results.
containing the bedding I had browsed. They could
have alternatively used a categorical data approach
to associate the product category with my profile. Click
data from emails is easily accessible and many brands
use this data now. Tying this data with the web site
behavioral data could be a key to driving sales in 2013.
For example, a clicker may always click on shoes in an
email but shops skirts once on the site. Knowing this will
make email even more relevant for shoppers.

What are some pitfalls marketers should avoid if they
are interested in launching a program based on
interactions with their sites?
Be mindful for people who are shopping for themselves
versus those who are buying gifts. After I bought my
husband a video game on Amazon.com, I received
video game related content in email and on their site.
Look at longer term data trends not just a one-time
interaction.

Also, include constraints to make sure messages are not
repeated. This will help these emails maintain maximum
impact. You don’t want to train subscribers to expect an
offer just for clicking on a product, or frustrate them by
sending them too many emails from you.

What’s the best way to get started?
The best starting place would be to speak to your
website analytics provider to see what services are
available for consolidating and aggregating this data.
If they can’t provide the service, they may be able to
recommend a partner. This data can be imported into
some marketing platforms and used to trigger messages
based on site activity.

This OneStepAhead.com email was received after
clicking on a product link in an email.


2
Adaptive & Responsive Design Will Be Used
to Optimize Email Content for All Devices
Multi-tasking across multiple devices is not just for the office anymore. Shoppers have integrated and
coordinated their devices into their shopping patterns. According to a Google study of consumer
intentions for the 2012 holiday season, 80% of shoppers planned to use multiple devices simultaneously
while shopping. Not optimizing content for specific devices in 2013 may be shortsighted as your
message travels from one screen to another in the hands of your customer.

“We will start to see more responsive and adaptive web design in the
email space, specifically with regard to tablets and smartphones. In this
same vein, we will start to see more messages that interact with apps that
consumers have on their smartphones. “

Anna Pfeiffer

Q&A with Anna Pfeiffer
What’s the difference between responsive and
adaptive design?
A simple way to distinguish the two is that responsive
design changes in response to the size of the screen or
viewing area. Adaptive design is design that changes
based on the viewing device.

Let’s look at the desktop view for Sony.com and the BBC.
co.uk. If you decrease the size of your web browser, the
elements of Sony.com will respond to the window size as
it changes. The site will adjust itself based on the viewing
size of the device used.


BBC.co.uk contains many content sections when viewed What are some best practices?
on a computer. When the same URL is visited on a
Get away from optimizing for each device. The custom
mobile device, the site adapts to that device and shows
design for iPhones, various Android devices, tablets,
a mobile version of the page with fewer sections that
laptops, etc. is not worth the time and resources in
are easily visible on a smaller screen.
most cases. With adaptive and responsive design you
can have the promotion speak to the device. You can
send a subscriber on an iPhone a pass to add to their
passbook. You can send smartphone subscribers a
reminder for their calendar to alert them when a sale
begins. This will be how mobile optimization of offers will
evolve in 2013.

Why not just send the offer to everyone? Will
subscribers learn how to adapt to content that is less
than optimized for their device?
Adaptive and responsive design decreases the time it
takes to create one version for each possible viewing
option versus creating one unique version that works
for all devices. As far as going deeper, like making the
offers different, it may take more work and it is a matter
of testing to see if the results are worth it. Fragmentation
of the offer for too many devices could take too much
time and not pay off. Finding that threshold can be key
to 2013 sales.

How will the mobile inbox connect with apps to drive
not only engagement, but sales as well?
Apple’s Passbook is definitely one way this will happen.
You can give someone a pass for passbook in his or
her inbox. You can generate a pass, which is a link that
Why is a “mobile optimized” email not enough
you can include in the email. There are also apps that
in 2013?
can add other coupons to a mobile device than can
I have seen some brands significantly decrease the then be redeemed at a physical store location. Really
width of their emails to make sure the email is viewable exciting things lie ahead for reaching out to the mobile
on mobile devices. When you do that you are basically subscriber.
trying to get a “one size fits all” design. A responsive
design can scale depending on the device and
change the layout all together, creating an “any size for
all” design.

Do you need a mobile site to benefits from responsive
or adaptive designed emails?
You don’t have to. One of the basic advantages is that
subscribers use mobile devices for email triage. They
may view an email on their mobile device and come
back to shop later on their computer. If you have an
email that is not optimized for mobile and it’s opened on
a mobile device, the message may be abandoned in
the mobile inbox and you lose the sale. Even if you don’t
have a mobile site ready to go, at the very least you
don’t want them to pass over your email.

Sephora gives their Beauty Insiders the option of adding
their cards to Passbook.


3
Automated Lifecycle Messages Will Target
the Mobile Consumer
The continued adoption of smart mobile devices will make it essential that marketers integrate mobile-
focused messages into the customer lifecycle. Not only will the creative need to display and function
properly, but the timing of these messages and the promotions they contain need to speak to the
customer who is not just on the go, but viewing your offers across multiple devices.

“Customer-centric retailing will continue to be a hot topic in 2013 as
shoppers will control how and when they would like to interact with retail
brands. This plays into allowing interactions with the brand anytime,
anywhere and on any device of their choice. Retailers must figure out
ways to get customers engaged and inspired in order to build long-term
relationships. This is where the lifecycle campaigns become essential.
Retailers must manage all of this data in a way that can easily be used to
create a more 1:1 experience for customers.”

Emily Keye


Q&A with Emily Keye How can marketers gain insight into their mobile
population?
What are the most effective lifecycle messages and Start looking at the devices subscribers use to open
how will they evolve in 2013? your emails. Bronto customers, for example, can use a
The most effective ones are the basics such as a segmentation tool that lets them segment based on
welcome series, lapsed purchaser message and the browser and device. Or just ask! Include an option to
post-purchase series. select a preferred mobile device in your preference
center to start collecting some data.
Opt-in source will become even more important to
marketers in 2013. For example, a custom welcome
series based on where someone signed up, whether in-
store, online or a social media site, will speak directly to
the shopper’s experience in a timely fashion. An online
purchaser can be different than someone who always
buys in-store. Introducing your brand in a welcome series
that extends that first interaction with your brand could
help get that first purchase.

Lifecycle messaging triggers will also evolve in 2013.
Rather than a website or form being the only triggers,
walking past a store, being inside a store or a shopper
scanning a code could be triggers that send messages.

Kenneth Cole customers can use their mobile devices to
show emails and receive discounts in-store.

You mention marketers needed to manage “all of this
data” so it can be easily used… What do you say to
the marketer who feels overwhelmed with the amount
of data they have to mine?
It comes down to taking a look at the data points that
lead to the most revenue. Just because you have the
data doesn’t mean you have to use it. A lot of marketers
may have to invest in third party solutions to aggregate
and consolidate data so it’s accessible and easy to use.

Conversely, how can a marketer with limited data
build a better data profile that can help their program
CVS uses QR codes in their email to help connect mobile evolve to speak to their subscribers regardless of their
devices to the purchase process.
devices?
A few sources to focus on would be your email service
What is the role of mobile devices in lifecycle provider, site analytics data or a third party. Start by
messaging from both the consumer and marketer’s collecting engagement data and finding ways to merge
perspective? that data into a holistic view of the customer across
channels and devices. Keep in mind that it’s not just
Looking at messages on mobile devices is already
important to have the data but you also need to be
common behavior. It will become more of a norm for
able to use it.
shoppers to connect their mobile inboxes to the in-store
shopping experience. In addition to linking to a store How does message timing change based on their
locator and having the option to print an email, Kenneth device?
Cole tells subscribers they can also show the email
in-store on their mobile device to receive a discount. It’s more of where they are in the lifecycle, not just the
Shoppers will also continue to compare prices while device. Acquisition source can help with the timing of
shopping in store. Marketers need to connect to the the message because you have an idea of the device
consumer while in store. they are using and the location.


4
ISPs Will Enable More Technology for
the Inbox
As we have seen general web technologies expand over the years, the inbox has been locked out
of most of them. That is starting to change. Marketers and their design teams continue to push the
boundaries for creating rich, dynamic inbox experiences for subscribers. One email may be viewed
on multiple devices, and finding ways to provide a compelling visual experience in addition to your
promotional message will help your message stand out in the evolving inbox.

“More ISPs will start allowing HTML5 and video to be seen directly in
messages. Compelling video and rich media will continue to grow as a
way of engaging with your audience.”

Kestrel Lemen


Q&A with Kestrel Lemen How can a marketer get started or test some of these
concepts?
Which technologies have been impacted the most by There are only a few email clients that support HTML5.
limitations in the inbox? Test a video across different ISPs (Internet Service
I think that people still struggle with the art of mastering Providers) and devices. Try repurposing existing videos
basic HTML email. I still get messages that are not coded from other channels. If you aren’t doing it now, test
correctly from major brands - image files are broken or with animated gifs. Research your mobile customers.
not sliced correctly and tables are not aligned. So there Adaptive and responsive design could help you make
is still that bag of cats to deal with. Beyond that, forms sure your messages are rendering correctly based on
are sometimes used but do not render consistently or the device used.
function properly across various email clients.
I believe HTML5 will simply be another tool to make the
It would be great to use video in email, but you can’t. user experience in an email more exciting and personal.
HTML5 is an emerging workaround. Animated gifs can Video is its big seller but think about what you could do
be used, but when compared to video, they fall flat. with video and segmentation! I look forward to working
There’s no audio in animated gifs for example. Audio will with more clients on that prospect.
need to be treated like audio on a website. You will need
to be conscious of when it starts playing or if subscribers By 2015, I wonder if emails will become more like
will need to press play. Be careful of interrupting television commercials? Televisions will be giant
someone’s day. The last thing you want is to check your computers and the experience gap between the
email in public and have a loud ad play without any two devices will close. There is a huge opportunity
control. for the inbox to step up to the plate and provide that
advertising opportunity that seems to be closing for
How have marketers and designers combated those television ads.
limitations?
It’s a bit of a bait and switch where the video is
mimicked in the email to encourage the click. It’s the
same with forms. While the mimic can be engaging, it’s
important to not frustrate your subscriber.

What are some strategies for using video in email?
Keep the user experience in mind. You can give the
experience of having the product in their hands like they
were in the store. By using video in an email you can get
them one step closer to having that physical experience
and interaction with the product at home.

For example, I buy a ton of beauty products. If you can
show me right away how those products will look and
how to apply them, I am way more likely to make that
purchase. The health and beauty industry is one of the
biggest industries I see already adopting video in emails.

Bare Minerals mimicked video playback in this email
giving openers a visual call-to-action to see how their
product can improve skin hydration.


5
Behavioral and Profile Data Make it Personal
Bam! Ka-Boom! Pow! Data can pack a punch. It doesn’t take a massive customer database to make it
personal. One data point can hold massive amounts of revenue generating opportunity. From birthday
to purchase related data, marketers will need to harness the power of behavioral and profile data to
ensure success in 2013.

“My prediction is that data collection and customer behavior are going
to be key for 2013! This year I believe marketers will spend more time
surveying their audiences to really find out what products their customers
are interested in and then they’ll use this data to send more targeted
content. Quality data leads to more effective lifecycle messaging and I
predict that more retailers are really grasping this idea!”

Kellie Boggs


Q&A with Kellie Boggs
Which pieces of data hold the most value?
This year I have seen more clients using purchase data
to target promotions like “Thanks for purchasing last
year…. here’s $10 off.” These messages can scale from
really basic, such as only knowing whether someone
has purchased or not, to really advanced and targeted
using data about the specific product that was
purchased. For example, Bronto client, Shar Music, sends
automated string reorder reminders to past purchasers,
and their conversion rate is 26%! Not bad for a
campaign that uses just a few pieces of purchase data.

Look for data points that will provide a positive shopping
experience for your customer, increase opportunity for
automation and drive sales. Collecting birthdates will
Brookstone combines a customer service check-in and a
give you an opportunity to send automated messages product review request in this post-purchase email.
that have proven to drive a lot of revenue. Another
example, I have a comedy club client who collects How and where should marketers ask for this
zip codes to send targeted emails about upcoming information?
shows and ticket promotions. Product interest data like
With the new year, send out a survey to ask customers
this will help marketers segment and tailor content to
which products they are interested in hearing about
encourage a first purchase and subsequent purchases.
in 2013.

Ask previous purchasers to review products and then
use that data in emails to prospects.

Daily deals on social networks will be used to acquire
email addresses as well as Facebook followers. Limit
the data that you ask for on these social forms to the
highest priority data. Social followers may not want to
spend much time filling out your form.

Shar Music’s automated string reorder reminder receives
a 26% conversion rate


6
Localization and Real-Time Content
Become Common
No matter where you go, there you are! Clearly the inbox will become more dynamic in 2013 to
accommodate the consumer on the go. Consumers use traditional computers and various mobile
devices to read product reviews and browse for the best deals. Optimizing content and timing
promotions will be essential but there is another layer to add to the mix. Real-time and localized content
will give consumers the most current and relevant information that will significantly enhance and inform
the purchase process.

“A cool trend you will see in 2013 is that more companies will leverage
third party services that replace email content in real-time based on
preferences or location. The concept of traditional dynamic content
is going to evolve to mean so much more to both consumers and
marketers.”

Steve DuBois


Q&A with Steve DuBois
How was this technology used in 2012 and how do
you think it will evolve in 2013?
It was touched on in 2012 but it was a premature
technology in the marketplace. I think that as we go
forward, more brands will look at the bigger players as
a bellwether to see if adoption continues. Then brands
could see if there are ways to mimic the technology to 2013 could be the year emails containing store-specific
test whether it would work well for them. information are triggered when customers walk by
a location.
There are ways to replicate real-time and localized
content without using the full approach. For example, an
Are there ways to test these strategies before
image showing the number of days left in a sale could
investing?
be overwritten each day. This process is manual and
has shortcomings, such as the image caching for some Animated gifs and overwriting content are practical
openers and new openers still seeing an old image. ways to get started. Animated gifs continued to evolve
This could still be tested to measure the impact and this year and become more sophisticated. They show
determine if further investment should be made. multiple products rather than just a pulsating button,
but there are limitations. With an animated image with
Which uses do you think have the most impact for multiple products, you can’t click through on the third
subscriber engagement and for driving sales? product in the animation. An animated countdown
Here’s an example to illustrate the concept of will not show the exact amount of time left but can
localization. Imagine your customer opening an email evoke the urgency for a customer to start shopping. You
while walking by your store. What if you could use profile can test these strategies to see if there’s an uptick in
and behavioral data you have on that customer to engagement and sales.
populate the best offer? How amazing would that be to
help drive sales and encourage your customers to visit
your stores! Even if you aren’t ready to launch something
that advanced, start gaining insight into which devices
and platforms your subscribers are using to open your
messages.

Real-time content will take relevant content to the next
level. Let’s say I browse a sofa on a site, and then go to
my favorite news site and there’s a display ad for a sofa.
The same could be true for an email where I view a sofa
on a site and then when I check my inbox, an email
dynamically updates to show the sofa based on my
browsing behavior.

Horchow used an animated gif to mimic a dynamic
countdown.


7
More Resources Will Be Dedicated to Email
It is important to remember the fundamentals when looking into the future. Advancements in
technologies can overwhelm marketers but many of these tools have made the complex and time-
consuming tasks of the past more accessible and streamlined. This doesn’t mean that every email
needs to involve tons of levers and mounds of data. Getting back to the basics can save time, drive
sales and provide subscribers with engaging content.

“Segmentation and sending more relevant emails is something I hear
more and more about every day. However, I feel many companies will
struggle with how to implement it. I think the all-too-common shortage of
personnel resources hinders the ability of many companies to effectively
target all audiences with messages tailored to their needs. So although
they all want to send targeted messages, most will need to devote more
resources to it to be able to do this successfully.”

Greg Zakowicz


Q&A with Greg Zakowicz Is there a way to test and measure the impact of
delivering more relevant messages that can convince
You said you hear a lot about “segmentation and the higher-ups that it’s worth the resource investment?
sending more relevant emails” yet folks aren’t doing it. Yes! Take a basic data value that you already have, like
Why? gender or product category of interest, such as shoes,
It comes down to time. From what I’ve seen, folks want skirts or pants, and test sending specific messages
to use data that they have but they don’t have the time to those audiences against a batch and blast. This
to create the messages. Dynamic content, for example, shouldn’t be a one-time email but measuring success in
takes time to create multiple pieces of content, but terms of conversion rates and revenue over time will give
marketers may have other priorities and it becomes you some convincing information on the value of using
cumbersome and overwhelming so they revert back to that data.
what they know. That needs to change in 2013.
Last year you predicted that VIP & loyalty programs
So how do you see this changing in 2013? would be a valuable way to keep customers who were
saturated with offers interested and coming back for
Some brands are already making the shift. The
more. Do you still think that is important?
challenge will be for the smaller companies to
determine how to best use their teams and technologies I do think they are important. Balancing cost of
to streamline these targeting efforts. Collecting data has acquisition to the cost of keeping subscribers can be
been a priority and now many marketers have “a deer challenging. Free shipping is so common and expected
in the headlights” moment. Identifying opportunities to by consumers. The value of discounts could decline for
automate messages will put marketers on the path to broad audiences. Keeping and catering to the most
ease overwhelming workloads, provide an enhanced valued customers will help keep average order value up.
customer experience and increase sales. Education
about how to use this data in a streamlined and
automated fashion will be vital to holding a relevant
conversation with customers.

Do you think companies may be shifting resources
from previously hot topic efforts with social media and
mobile, back to email marketing?
There may be some of that. I have seen a few brands
make those organizational shifts. It’s important to not
lose sight of those channels. Marrying the channels
has been proven to generate sales. Finding how mobile,
social and email compliment and influence each other
will make messaging that speaks to the multi-device
and multi-channel customer. One thing is for certain –
the different channels should not be managed in silos.

Bronto Software provides a cloud-based marketing platform for retailers to drive revenue through their email, mobile
and social campaigns. The platform is used by more than 1,000 organizations worldwide, including Party City, Armani
Exchange, Timex, Samsoniteand Gander Mountain. Bronto is listed as the leading self-service email marketing provider to
the Internet Retailer Top 1000. Bronto is headquartered in Durham, NC with an office in London, UK. For more information,
visit bronto.com.


How will 2013 Unfold? Predictions and Premonitions for the Digital Marketer

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How will 2013 Unfold? Predictions and Premonitions for the Digital Marketer