Here are some of the strategy and customer trends, stats and industry tidbits we learned at this year’s Email Evolution Conference in Miami, January 31 – February 2, 2011. (Twitter hashtag #eec11).

Email is Going Interactive

There was a lot of talk about the future of email, much of it focused on more interactive, dynamic email content.

• Online marketing is going more one-to-one and more multichannel—at the same time. More on the “Convergence Clash” in this recent post on the InfoCenter.
• Email, while the lingua franca of the Internet, is not very interactive. Facebook and social media have given customers different, broader expectations.
• Email is becoming more like a website—interactive, content updates, dynamic.
• What’s coming to your email client? Video email, geo-targeting, and interactive elements within the email. You won’t have to leave the email; you take action, comment or reply inside the email.
• HTML5, java and other technologies are improving the customer experience and enabling video and interactivity.
• Hotmail recently rolled out  Active Views platform. Yahoo is doing the same thing, allowing dynamic content w/ user permission.
• When you open a dynamic content email, the server pulls content from a server, so that the email is updated w/ new content. (You can’t change the subject line, but you can update/replace the body elements).

Email is Part Art, Part Science

Go with what works. For some that means rigorous testing and poring over tracking results. For others the key to success is more artistic inspiration. I guess the solution is: both. Create emails like an artist, test them like a seasoned lab technician.

• Travelocity: Always test unique and creative ideas to determine what’s best for your business.
• Stephen Epple: Let the data drive your email triggers and plans, not your personal opinions or those of upper management.

Customer Focus is More Valuable Than Ever Before

With a plethora of social media, customer choices, channels and noise, customer service becomes a huge differentiator for marketers.

• As Gary Vee puts it, “Doing the right thing for the customer can never be wrong.”
• As channels and marketing objectives become more complex, it’s important to have customer data accessible. So even if there are multiple databases, as is often the case with big companies or entities that are a single company to the customer but many internal companies (like FedEx), sales and marketing folks need a single view of the customer, all in one place.
• And the customer is going to want an integrated, easy experience. As the Aprimo team advises, figure out how customers are interacting with your brand across channels and where you would like them to be.

Ready, Set, Email

We’ll continue to post more lessons and followups from the EEC conference. Look for a tech and tactics wrap up at the end of the week, and more about mobile and iPhone email design and coding soon.

In the meantime, if you attended and have any key takeaways, please share them with us. If you didn’t attend and you have questions, please ask us.

Tags: active views, design, EEC, Email, email evolution conference, interactivity, Mobile, strategy