Do You Lead the Race or Struggle to Keep Pace?
Are you an early adopter? A laggard? Or somewhere in between? Before you take pride or insult, this isn’t personal, though it is about personality. These categories represent the difference between those who rush out for the latest innovation (think of folks you might see in line at the Apple store at 12:01 a.m. on the day of a new product launch) and the ones who wait till the last minute to join in (think flip-phone users in a smartphone world).
Whatever your comfort level with the latest and greatest may be, you can’t argue with this: Technological tools are advancing with a high-level suction power that’s tugging on the laggards every day, while also prompting early adopters to stay on a never-ending spending spree just to keep up.
So, how do you make sound choices – particularly as it applies to your marketing and communication plans? Stick to this main principle: Marketers need to communicate with customers and prospects in any medium they use to communicate.
For example, your customers are using smartphones, so you have QR codes on your pieces that send them to your landing pages, and you employ responsive designs in email and websites so that they can be read on any size device.
Speaking of which, stats from emailisnotdead.com say that there are currently 4.1 billion email accounts sending 122+ billion emails per hour. More than half – 53% as of the latest data – are being opened on a mobile device. And even more change is ahead.
For example, the current shift is with email service providers (ESPs) that sort user emails for them. Google took its 800-lb.-gorilla lead on this with Gmail accounts, which now sweep emails into subfolders – updates, social and promotion. Bundling could decrease click-through rates but also improve response through email that is more personal and visually appealing.