Looking back is a good practice in digital marketing. But looking ahead is even more important, if we want to reviewing our email marketing efforts and anticipate for changes in the (near) future.

The last years have been spectacular for email marketers. So let’s see what these marketing thinkers currently have to say about the future of e-mail marketing.

Have a look at the latest trends and future gazing in the latest (2023) edition of email marketing trends.

7 Trends to Watch in 2012
Loren McDonald and Laurie Hood share their 7 marketing trends the email marketer should be watching in 2012. Are we going location based? And should you be paying attention to the use of different screens and screensizes? Remarketing, behavioral rules, email as a dynamic platform it’s all in there.

Your inbox has changed forever
The inbox is ever evolving and looking at the last year Wikus Engelbrecht sees three mayor changes to the Inbox that will last. We are happy to learn that less Spam is one of them.

Digital marketing trends 2012
Dave Chaffey was early with his predictions this year. He sums up the favourite 12 trends in digital marketing. Including Content aggregation, Mobile marketing and gamification. As presented at AdTech London in September.

Email Marketing In 2012: How To Stay Ahead Of The Pack
This pack of email marketing well-respected email marketers Andrew Kordek, Chad White and Dave Walters give some good basic advise on whatyou should be doing in 2012. Noting that email is thriving, mobile devices are something to take care about and social is a good thing to invest in, but wisely.

While Dave hasn’t numbered his list of things, you shouldn’t skip his part, some smart things in there.

Update: 2012 Email Marketing Predictions
David Daniels looks at what 2012 has to offer for e-mail marketing. Think attribution and behavioral segmentation. It being a US election year, David also sees cyber security becoming a big issue for politicians.

Update: Four Unpredictions for 2012 Matt Blumberg, the CEO of ReturnPath gives us some Un-predictions for 2012. The things that are Not going to happen. Glad he was so kind to mention it upfront. Read through the part “about engagement and blocking” (point number one) twice.

Email marketeers with Jetpacks
Scott Hardigee gives us A Look at Email Marketing’s Future, as seen by an Email Agency. A thought piece about why we won’t be calling it e-mail marketing and what the Digital Messaging Providers (DMPs for short) will be doing in 2017. Will the future marketeer be a craftsman or a technician?

5 predictions for email in 2012 on the DMA blog
Consumer approval ratings for email will go up, mobile urges us to think and 3 more. Most notable is the quote James Bunting ends with: “How many will become reality in 2012? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure, if marketers continue with the progress they have made with email this year, 2012 promises to be a very good year.” You have to love that.

Your email to-do list for 2012
Lets get a bit more practical. Loren McDonald presents us with a list of things to do. Included are topics like: list growth, automation, deliverability and email measurement.

DMA2011: 9 Digital and Direct Marketing Trends for 2012
Will this year finally be “the year of data”? It is according to Bruce Biegel who spoke at the DMA2011 Conference & Exhibition. But also naming the new black for 2012 (it’s content) and the rise of cross-digital media buying.

The future of Email marketing software
What are the trends in the added features of email marketing software? What will we see coming out soon? What are the most important or new features? Beginning of these year I talked with some of the Email service providers and this is what they said.

Innovations in Email
Now don’t get carried away, this post doesn’t talk about bionic email projecting contact lenses. Oh no, it does do that. David Daniels states the obvious for email marketers, but not so obvious for everyone else points of email innovations, and augmented reality contact lenses.

Don’t forget the latest Future of email marketing insights

Final thought
These are wild times for e-mailmarketeers. A lot of things changed, but the game, for the biggest part, stayed the same. Prediction is a good excuses to take a serious look around and see what is happening already, a thing we should all do more often. If you read all of the articles above, you will surely find one or two gems of insight. And even if none of the predictions come true, let’s make 2012 the best year in e-mailmarketing ever.