Downtown Marketing Trends 2023 | Email

Email marketing is the natural extension and progression of direct mail, a vetted marketing practice going way back into the 20th century. And as other, newer technologies emerged (e.g.  social media, digital advertising, influencers, etc.), many marketers preferred to chase the bright, new and shiny, in favor of what can and should be your number one performance marketing channel. 

 

We’re not going to posit that email marketing is “making a comeback”, because frankly it never went away. And during the pandemic, the value of custom communications to your most loyal and supportive user bases offered a socially-distanced lifeline for your organization or business. And while successful email campaigns are both part art and part science, the numbers don’t lie. A well-crafted email campaign can and should be part of your media mix for any events, activations, merchant news, and more. 

 

We love email for several reasons:

• As mentioned above, email should be your number one performance marketing channel, and the proof is in the pudding
• Email Lists are technically “owned media”, meaning that your lists should contain your most hardcore supporters 
• Email is literally a digital call-to-action, and should be brief, to-the-point, and oftentimes merely a “single subject” (yes, we’re wagging our fingers at those of you who send “30-scroll websites” full of content to your lists) — especially for district event promotion

 

According to market and consumer data resource Statista, “In 2020, the global e-mail marketing market was valued at 7.5 billion U.S. dollars and the source projected that the figure would increase to 17.9 billion by 2027,” and that’s nothing to sneeze at.⁷ To make your email campaigns successful and legally compliant (and that’s a big one in 2023!), here are some things you should consider:

• Data privacy should be a top concern for your organization. We’ve been talking about GDPR or the EU’s “General Data Protection Regulation” for years now. It went into effect in 2018 and has far-reaching implications — even in the US.⁸
• The State of California also enacted its own stringent regulations in 2018, with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) with several amendments and expansions in provisions as recently as 2020.⁹ Enforcement began in earnest in 2022 with beauty brand Sephora paying out a whopping $1.2 million USD settlement to the state, with promises (or threats) of many more big brands coming under fire.¹⁰
• Develop an automated drip campaign for new subscribers that consider their customer journey:
  • When and where they first sign-up (most likely that’s your website)
  • Sending a verification/opt-in email
  • Thank the subscriber by sending an authentic “thank you” email, perhaps with a gift like a $5 “Downtown Dollars” incentive
  • Set expectations for how frequently you’ll send emails to them
  • Provide contact information for your organization
  • Sending from a staff member’s name is a great way to break through to stakeholders

 

Some trends which have been around for a while now, but are expected to sizzle in 2023 include:

• Engaging and intriguing headlines still matter
• Inclusion of emojis in subject lines increase open rates and engagement
• Personalization and authenticity matter. Most modern email services like MailChimp, Emma and Constant Contact offer personalization functionality
• Marketing leader HubSpot put together a nice primer on email personalization with 23 case story examples you may want to consider.¹¹
• User Generated Content (UGC) can help fill the gaps if you’re deficit on content (although we don’t advocate simply blasting for the sake of blasting if you have no news or a compelling CTA)
• Artificial Intelligence seems to be popping up everywhere these days, so from managing your customer service threads, to most commonly answered questions to even developing content, the use of AI is on the rise and only expected to become more pervasive
• Animated or interactive content within e-blasts continues to grow in popularity
• Authenticity is still key. Don’t feel compelled to write in an overly formal manner, even if you are promoting the district. E-blasts, website copy and social media should all have an approachable, authentic, humorous or even vulnerable tone of voice, depending on the content. Write like you’re speaking to a friend, not the mayor

 

To opt in or opt out — that is the question. While we marketers typically aim to grow our numbers, followers, subscribers and metrics, a case can be made for giving subscribers the boot.

 

In general we recommend numerous points of entry for new email subscribers on your website; from static footers, to dynamic pop-ups sprinkled throughout the web experience, as best practice. 

 

Partner promotions and/or cascade promotions work extremely well. Perhaps you team up with your local CVB, chamber and a popular venue, park or business in town to collectively grow your lists with prizes or incentives. We developed one such sweepstakes promo in Tempe, AZ years ago and the list attrition was near zero years after the fact. 

 

Don’t overlook “owned sources” for list acquisition. For example, if you’re selling tickets to an event, grab the emails from EventBrite (or whichever platform you used), of those who purchased/participated and segment them as an event-specific list (you know there’s intent and affinity for future events, corollary content…etc.), and offer them an opt-in to your main list (segmented, of course).

 

Consistent list hygiene is imperative though. Most email providers tell you who’s unsubscribed or bounced, so be sure to remove those from your distro. Dead email addresses may even be costing you money, depending on your service plan.

But one of the bigger trends we’ve seen in the past year is an “opt out strategy”. Yes, you’re literally asking folks if they’d like to unsubscribe, proactively. As many as 68% of emails get deleted automatically, and for whatever the reason — maybe they’re just not that into you anymore.¹² NBD. Show them to the door. If someone no longer opens or engages with your e-blasts, they’re technically dead weight that’s just pulling down your numbers. So be kind and offer them a way out that’s not uncomfortable, and aids you in the long run. Not sure how to do that?  Check out this overview from Ann Gynn for the Content Marketing Institute on developing your unsubscribe strategy.¹³