Here is an interesting newsletter from the folks at Constant Contact, a well-known email marketting system vendor.

This year had a lot to teach us

by Martin Lieberman, Constant Contact Managing Editor

It’s safe to say that this past year had its ups and downs. The challenges of the economy required that we take a good, hard look at which marketing methods were the most effective, and new ways of building relationships with customers and members presented attractive options for businesses and organizations with limited time and resources.

Before we close the book on 2009, let’s look back on some of the major trends in email marketing from the year gone by. Use these lessons to guide the planning of your 2010 campaigns.

Email is alive and well

There was much discussion this year about the value of email in a world where social media is quickly gaining relevance. Driving the short-lived “Is email dead?” debate was the idea that social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook are supplanting email as the marketing platforms of choice. Well, I think it’s safe to say the world has now come to realize that email is still very much viable as a marketing medium.

Anyone who has used social networks for business or personal use knows there’s a lot of noise in social media. The sites are great for making and keeping loose connections with scores of people you may or may not know, but they do not allow for that one-to-one, more personal communication that you as a small business or organization are looking for with your customers and prospects. Email marketing helps take those relationships to the next level.

The inbox is as personal a place as there is on the Internet. When a customer or member gives you permission to send communications to him, she is saying she wants you to provide content and information that is worthy of an open and click through. Social media may increase its presence, but it will never replace the more individual communication that email allows.

Social media does hold value

That being said, social media does indeed have a place in the digital marketing world. In reality, it shouldn’t be thought of as a separate entity. Rather, it should be used as part of an overall marketing strategy to reach people where they want to be reached. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are simply more touch points through which businesses and organizations can connect with customers and members.

Email marketing, social media networks, and other marketing strategies each make the others more valuable, particularly for businesses and organizations working with limited resources. For instance, a blog post can act as content for a newsletter, while links from Twitter and Facebook can drive newsletter signups and provide website traffic. Content can and should be shared across all your marketing efforts to reach as many customers, members, and prospects as possible. Give people as many ways to connect with you as they would like.

More competition in the inbox

According to one recent study, by 2014, consumers will receive about 25 email marketing messages per day, double the average that they receive today. That means there’s going to be even more competition for readers’ attention than ever before.

This summer, Gmail implemented a new Unsubscribe option that gives users greater control over which of those messages they receive and which get filtered out. Similarly, AOL has recently been discussing an enhanced way of filtering out unwanted emails from users’ inboxes that’s based on “user engagement.” Essentially, this means that if a sender’s emails are requested but unopened, or clicked-through infrequently, they could be declared spam.

Moving forward, it’s going to be even more important that email content remains engaging and relevant, and that subject lines are as compelling as possible, so that open rates and click-through rates stay consistent or grow.

Down economy means more attention to relationships

This year’s economic challenges served up some hard lessons that will hopefully make your business or organization stronger as things improve. Chief among what we learned: Communication is essential, particularly when the chips are down.

The tough times forced people — your customers or members — to cut back on expenses, and that meant they had to cut back on their relationships with the places they do business with that no longer fit their strained budgets. However, even businesses that deal with so-called “luxuries” saw continued success because they were smart enough to see that spending time building stronger customer relationships would keep them relevant in customers’ eyes.

One key for marketers was to broaden the dialogue with customers and members by offering more personality and empathy in their email campaigns, and to constantly seek feedback. Adding polls or short surveys helped engage audiences while simultaneously giving businesses and organizations the chance to respond to changing economic pressures.

While we can’t be certain about what 2010 holds (hopefully it’s something good), learning from the lessons of 2009 will set you up for greater success in your email marketing efforts.