Essence of Email Weekly - Valentine's Day 2020: Top shopping insights

People are not falling out of love with Valentine's Day. The latest report from Bloomreach reveals the top shopping insights from Valentine's Day 2020. You can download the full report here.

Mobile commerce was the biggest driver of sales (65%) this year and accounted for twice as much Valentine's Day traffic as desktop (35%).

Additionally, with the accessibility of mobile devices in mind, consumers have been postponing their shopping until the very last minute; the buying spike occurred pretty late – on February 13.

US consumers placed their orders earlier this month, whereas the UK shoppers left it all for the Valentine's Day week. This reflects the advanced delivery options in the UK, where it's common to order at the last minute and have the package delivered the very next day. However, it also suggests that UK shoppers may need a bit more marketing to get into the Valentine's shopping mood earlier.

The report also indicates that purchasing less expensive gifts is becoming more popular. Luxury gifts, including things such as jewelry and expensive lingerie, have been replaced with less expensive options – most notably chocolate. What is more, the good old Valentine's Day cards are so two-thousand-and-late.

Altogether, eCommerce brands need to keep in mind that convenience is the key. Shoppers today grab their mobiles at the last minute and expect to find a gift quickly with last-minute delivery options. Investing in mobile experience and smart merchandising, as well as creating a slick and personalized mobile shopping experience, should be the aim for 2020.

Be your customers' chosen one!



RETENTION MARKETING PLATFORMS


What's new in companyland?



The sales and marketing SaaS provider Benchmark Email acquired MarketVolt, a St. Louis-based email marketing company, for an undisclosed amount.

With the acquisition, MarketVolt customers will be able to remain on the MarketVolt platform; in addition, they will gain access to the industry-leading email marketing and CRM tools. Benchmark's powerful yet simple drag-and-drop email builder enables businesses and marketers to build professional emails in a matter of minutes.

"This is just one of many exciting announcements in the year ahead for our employees, customers, and shareholders, and a big step toward fulfilling Benchmark's global mission of helping businesses everywhere ignite relationships with their customers," said Benchmark Email CEO Jonathan Herrick.



AUTOMATION


How can automation drive B2B growth?



As Darth Vader once said, "I find your lack of automation disturbing."

Marketing automation relates to using software to automate marketing activities. Those activities follow a strategic order based on customer analytics and triggers in customer behavior. Many companies automate email marketing or social media posts – the aim is to provide customers with a more personalized experience.

Either B2C or B2B, businesses have one main end goal: to generate more leads and more sales.

This article, published by CioReview, provides you with 5 tips for optimizing the automation process:

1. Set the right KPIs2. Keep an email workflow3. Utilize personalization4. Use proper segmentation5. Set lead scoring system and sales notifications

Take a look at the full article to learn more. Additionally, Essence of Email has the right tools to help you automate your emails.

May the automation force be with you!



EMAIL DESIGN


Email design inspo of the week



Interactive content includes anything that your subscribers click on, swipe, or interact with in any other way. According to Martech Advisor, interactive email content increases the click-to-open rate by 73%; adding videos to your emails can boost click rates by up to 300%.

In this article, our friends at Email on Acid reveal a few amazing ideas on how to use the ordinary elements in an extraordinary way:

1. Image Rollover Effect and how it can be used to create product teasers and product descriptions2. Radio Buttons and how to code them3. Regular Buttons and their code in different email editors4. Surveys and how to embed a simple Google Form inside an email5. Gamification Elements and how to deal with their complexity

What is more, you can check which email clients support these techniques.

Take a look at the full tutorial here and prepare to be one with the force of interactive emails.



VIDEO AND EMAIL MARKETING


Have you ever used video in email?



You can't stop the rise of video, any more than you can stop the suns from setting. This medium has become increasingly successful and popular over the past few years. Adding videos to your email marketing could significantly increase conversions, grow brand awareness, entertain your subscribers, and show off your products and services.

Additionally, videos in emails will differentiate brands from their competitors – the emails containing them will stand out and definitely receive more attention. Here are a few additional benefits:

1. Videos are attention-grabbing, as people find them more engaging than plain text and images2. They are time-effective, as information is communicated way faster and it's easier to digest3. Videos boost SEO by grabbing more attention and getting more social shares, which positively affects your rankings

But, where to start?

Obviously – shoot a quality video. Additionally, here are a few more best practices to consider when planning on including video in your email marketing.