It’s clear that 2006 will be another growth year for email marketing. All trend reports indicate marketers plan to increase their use of email rather dramatically this year!

More importantly, it appears the market has reached a critical ‘tipping point’ across all company sizes where email has begun the fundamental shift from “Should I use email marketing” to “How can I use email marketing most effectively”.

This is an important shift because now companies are beginning to focus on strategy, rather than just on simple utilization. Over the last few years it has been okay to simply use email as a tool to deliver newsletters, send occasional promotions or keep in touch with prospects and clients. But as we begin 2006, it’s clear that companies are now more interested than ever in enhancing their email marketing efforts….the shift has been slow, but it’s beginning to take hold, which will make 2006 a very exciting year!

One of the key areas that companies will focus on is their email lists. Email marketing offers an opportunity to leverage company databases in some very powerful ways. The technology is available to allow companies to quickly and easily segment data based on an almost unlimited number of criteria. Bigger companies have focused here for a while, but now more and more smaller companies are beginning to see the ease (and low cost) with which they can target prospects and customers on a more individual basis.

Targeted marketing, as it’s often called, is quickly becoming a requirement rather than a luxury with email marketing. And as the dbase management tools become easier to use, and priced at levels suitable for those not in the Fortune 1000, the popularity will continue to grow.

Here are some interesting stats from eMarketer in relation to the useage of email. Look at the way things have changed over the years. 44% of people state they monitor their email constantly. Where do you fit into the mix? The data is here scales between peoples personal and professional lives. I wonder how many people monitor their email “constantly” after they return from home from work. It’s amazing to see that some folks still only check their email once a week. I have been in the “constantly” column for the last 5 years. If you want to get me quick - email is always the fastest way. Email continues to be an increasingly expanding channel to reach consumers and business professionals. Thanks eMarketer for the great article.

Bill McCloskey writes about some of his email predictions for 2006 in this weeks Email Insider. His top predictions include:

Prediction 1: My No. 1 prediction is that we are going to see a renaissance in e-mail marketing.

Prediction 2: It’s still too early for RSS. We may see the Year for RSS at some point, but 2006 is not it.

Prediction 3: Spam is not going away, but nobody will care.

Prediction 4: E-mail will surpass search in the battle for marketers’ hearts and minds.I would have to agree whole heartedly with Bills predictions, the signs are evident on all 4 predictions. Email has evolved and is now about to mature as a medium. The renaissance that Bill predicts is very much about marketers getting smart about their data, their analytics, which allows them to get to know their customers even better and hence communicate with them on a powerful one to one basis.RSS is indeed on the rise and will no doubt play a key role in marketing communications. It is though as Bill states, still a “geeks toy”

Spam will still indeed be with us. However I believe deliverability will improve, and email marketing will continue to grow and become a powerful arsenal for every smart marketer.