The basics of email marketing aren’t so basic to everyone.
According to a new report from Lyris, the shift from print to digital has “transformed the publishing industry, but many publishers are still struggling with the basics of email marketing.”
That’s the revelation from a recent FOLIO survey sponsored by Lyris.
The survey of more than 175 publishing professionals found that they are still grappling with the fundamentals of digital messaging to drive increased subscriptions and advertising revenue.
Despite the proven effectiveness of email marketing, the survey results point to key areas of email marketing weakness among publishers:
- List building and maintenance: Publishers cite list growth as their number one pain point. As a result, list growth and improving subscriber data quality are their top priorities for next 12 months.
- Mobile optimization: In spite of the fact that most email is viewed on mobile devices, only 34 percent of survey respondents said their emails are fully mobile-optimized. While many have plans to expand their mobile design efforts, 16 percent of respondents are not even sure where to start.
- Personalized messaging: Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents said they don’t analyze audience behaviors, including subscriber and browser abandonment, to create personalized messages. Personalization based on behavior was also low on the list of email marketing priorities for the next 12 months, with only 30.7 percent of responses.
- Strategies for engagement: Nearly 79 percent of respondents said they don’t have a strategy to engage with inactive subscribers, leaving a significant revenue opportunity untapped.
“Publishers are well-known for having a deep understanding of their audiences. However, the survey findings reveal that they have yet to apply those experiences to email marketing,” said Alex Lustberg, CMO at Lyris. “This represents a significant opportunity for the industry to apply email marketing best practices to better engage their audiences to increase advertising and subscription revenue.”
