No matter how much direct marketing you do (or how long you’ve been doing it), it takes some effort to stay on top of trends — they simply move too fast. That’s why we frequently review and share the research of folks like Jay Schwedelson. As the president and CEO of Worldata and founder of subjectline.com, Jay always has interesting — and relevant — information to share.

Note: this blog is not a promotional piece for Jay and his email series; however, we do find them very helpful and so do our clients. You can learn more from his website https://jayschwedelson.com/. Here’s a summary of one of his recent emails that ties in nicely to our marketing offers miniseries.

As we’ve hinted at in our previous blogs, Jay agrees that offers are uniquely and individually different. Each one should have specific expectations and goals. Jay recently reported on current performances of B2B and B2C email offers. And, how the offer is described is as important as what the offer is.

For B2B offers, the top five offers that corresponded with higher percentage increase of click-through action (compared to a generic product offer) included:

• 2023 Outlook
• Top # List
• ‘Most Read’ Content
• Checklist
• On-Demand Video

You’ll note that offers that hint at projections for the end of the year are trending particularly well. These include forecasts for the New Year (as ranked #1), but we can also assume that offers that are linked to something along the lines of “2022, A Year in Review” should also perform well in these final two months of the year.

The top five list for B2C offers includes:

• Early Black Friday
• Most Popular
• Almost Gone
• Sitewide
• Back-in-Stock

These offers are pretty generalized and broad. B2C marketers (many of which are retailers) are encouraging the audience to look at multiple items and — hopefully — make a larger purchase, rather than just one single item.

What you offer — and how you position it — can make a big difference in email open rates and click-throughs. When you run your next campaign, be sure to follow the sacred rule of direct (test, test, test, and then … test). And, the next time you clear out your inbox, take a moment or two to review the offers you’re receiving.

You never know when a good idea will show up. (And now, with apologies to Ferris B.) “Direct marketing trends move pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss them.”