Email Marketing Evolved

I've been doing some research on the new challenges of email marketing.  People just don't read anymore. This is nothing new.  But now, people don't even look anymore.  More and more email marketing campaigns are having trouble with click rates.  So, there are some developing trends to help personalize and segment the email marketing experience in order to increase click through.   It's pretty amazing how specific companies are getting just to tailor your email marketing experience. For example:

• Including First Name Personalization. (Hey Trisha, you need to buy shoes)
• Reference Past Activity on that site.  (Like "Hey remember when you looked at these shoes?  Don't you want to buy them?")
• Personalizing by Location (check out what's happening by you)
• Reward Subscribers (Just plain bribery, VERY effective. Once people see that you have deals in you emails, they are more apt to open the next one looking for a new deal)
• Making it social (adding sharing links in emails so that you can be the first of your friends to post on Facebook about some new product or discount)