• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 15, 2014

According to the Campaigner Marketing Trends Survey detailing key industry insights and identifying specific areas of focus for 2015, marketers across the board are confident in their strategies with no plans of adaptation to meet the growing technology demands. And, are inclined to invest resources into email marketing, along with the rising popularity of social media as a marketing channel.

EJ McGowan, general manager, Campaigner, notes that “… for marketers to stay up-to-speed… they should regularly monitor consumer reactions to new innovations… adjust strategies accordingly… email will remain a significant investment in overall planning (in 2015)… with added emphasis on the mobile commerce movement…”

According to the report, while technology advancements are increasing, only 10% of respondents believed they would have a definite impact, 36% said they expect no effect, and 39% are unsure and still researching the effects of the new technologies. 87% of respondents believe the m-commerce channel will have little impact on their New Year strategies.

The survey found that email remains to be the best digital channel for marketing ROI in 2014. Over 62% of respondents rank email marketing as one of the top ROI generators, followed by:

• Social media (26%)
• SEO (25%)
• Offline direct marketing (20%)

Respondents aim to leverage the leading ROI producers with 76% planning to invest in email marketing and 33% in social media for 2015, Additional marketing resolutions revealed, says the report, include: 

• 53% of respondents report that higher click-through rates and email interaction are the number one email marketing priorities for 2015 
• 20% prioritize a more holistic marketing plan (integrating email with mobile and social components)
• 41% claim that click-through rates are the most important metric in defining email marketing success, while 38% rely on email opens

The report concludes with a list of New Year Resolutions that all top marketers might wish to follow in order to have their campaigns thrive and produce an ROI enviable by all:

• Marketers should take advantage of social media and really quantify what they’re getting back by using click-through tracking, email collection and click-through sales among other metrics
• Marketers should be more concerned that only10% of respondents think technological advances will have a definite impact, and be ready to accommodate tech innovations as they develop, monitoring how they alter consumer interaction with their brands
• Marketers should expect a wave of m-commerce as mobile emails and websites continue to become more responsive, and the purchasing processes become intuitive and streamlined. Incorporate mobile into 2015 strategies by using responsive design templates and an integrated overall plan
• Considering that only 14% of respondents are prioritizing improved data collection and management for 2015, marketers should dig into data and gain more valuable insights in order to build a better strategy. Using segmentation and A/B testing to learn from the data will provide the best results to bolster campaigns
• Targeted emails will prioritize above competitors in the long run, says the report. Marketers should tap into transactional emails, which notoriously show the largest rate of interaction with users to achieve an early advantage with the new advancement

For charts, data and more information from Campaigner, please visit here.