Email Evolution - The Future of Marketing
Emails are a vital part of our daily lives, from registering at a new online business to getting the latest global news. But, have you ever stopped to think how far email has evolved over time?
This infographic shows a timeline of significant events that have shaped the evolution of our favourite mode of digital communication. From the first intra- network emails sent over ARPANET in 1971 to marketing automation platforms enabling 1-2-1 messaging, this timeline highlights just how far the email industry has come in the past half-century.
In the early 90s the internet really took off and along with it modernised email, making it much more useful for businesses to use. Microsoft released Internet Mail which would later evolve into Outlook, and AOL launched, marking the beginning of the commercial email providers we know and love today. Email also started to become more interactive as marketers began using behavioural marketing techniques and responsive HTML email templates.
As the decade went on, marketers started to recognise that their emails had a real opportunity to be more than just a promotional channel, and this led them to introduce triggered campaigns, reacting to user behaviour, and creating highly relevant messages. It was this shift in focus that saw email reputation and engagement become key factors for success, and paved the way for today’s sophisticated customer-centric email marketing strategies.
After the turn of the millennium, spammers became smarter and more efficient at targeting users with the goal of infecting their computers with malware and generating money through fake ads. As a result, phishing attacks and spoofing increased in frequency, causing the evolution of email security to be essential to the continued success of the medium.
The 2000s saw technical advancements with MIME and HTML protocol adoption, allowing emails to include images, videos, tables and more, which opened up a whole host of design possibilities for email. With the rise of mobile device adoption, responsive HTML email templates were introduced in this decade, as well as a move towards a more modular design approach.
By 2015, email had shifted from developments to disruptions with interactive and personalised emails becoming more commonplace and the development of automated and behavioural led programmes. In the coming years, we will continue to see email evolve as it moves away from mass marketing communications and embraces the concept of ‘customer-centricity’; ensuring that the experience is a valuable one that nurtures and grows brand loyalty and advocacy.
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