Until recently email marketing has been pretty static; a campaign would be designed and sent off, then analysts had to wait for their targets to open the mail and interact with it before any usable data on the campaign’s success could be generated. The process paled in comparison with the fluid nature of social media campaigns, until now.
Movable Ink, a small start-up company launched by Vivek Sharma, is radically changing the nature of email marketing. Think live content, agility, context and social feeds. Should Sharma’s current success continue, we’re all entering into a brave new world.
Agile Email Marketing
In an increasingly interconnected digital world were Social Media, Virtual Desktops and Google Glasses are becoming commonplace, email marketing hearkens to the stone ages of advertising.
Movable Ink is working hard to change this with its innovative approach, as Sharma explained to TechCrunch: “Most email campaigns are run on a cycle of two to three months from conception to production. It’s very different from social companies like Facebook, which are pushing live code every day”, he believes that the Movable Ink platform now offers the same agile / speedy development process to email marketers.
According to PandoDaily the platform allows marketers to; “pull live content into emails, including social data such as how many of your friends have opened the same offer, and widgets to detect things like local weather and instant open rates on subject lines”.
Live Content
Static content is a thing of the past as the company’s system allows users to embed live content from their websites with videos opening directly in a receiver’s inbox. RSS and API feeds can also be pulled into the emails.
Context
Arguably the coolest feature of the platform is the fact that it can target offers based on a receiver’s location, even changing the content based on the weather conditions, time of the day etc (in real time). Offers can be varied according to the time of day and the platform adapts the content for desktops, tablets and smartphones.
Historic Data
Movable Ink’s agile email marketing allows the integration of 3rd party databases and audience measurement tools.
Analytics
The platform provides advanced metrics that measure engagement as well as context, offering insight into recipient's content absorption, location and views by devices.
Optimization
Movable Ink believes in offering marketers the opportunity to optimize their campaigns mid-send. Using the platform marketers can also conduct A/B split tests and simulate the context before sending the emails.
Social
The ability to embed live Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram feeds into email campaigns signifies a giant leap forward in terms of making email marketing more interactive and 'social' friendly.
The Rise and Rise of Movable Ink
By the end of 2011 the company had a staff of 5 people; they’re now employing 24 with plans to increase staff by another 36 people by the end of the year. Their plan seems feasible as they’ve managed to raise $12.3 million to date and now serve customers like Barclays, Starbucks, RadioShack and Electronic Arts.
Sharma told PandoDaily that they currently have 119 brands on board and are having to turn away prospective clients as they simply don’t have the capacity at the moment. As the company grows, so too will the quality and appeal of email marketing; advertisers will increasingly be able to tap into this new kind of marketing, whilst those on the receiving end can look forward to more relevant and engaging email adverts.