Last year was a very good year for email marketing. With more than 225 billion emails sent every day (a 5% increase from previous years), email continues to play an important role in brands’ marketing strategies.
As we advance into 2018, there are no guarantees that the email tactics and strategies that worked last year will deliver the same results. To make the most of your email marketing investments consider this trends that will impact email in the upcoming months!
Make emails more human!
Artificial intelligence continues to be a hot topic in marketing circles. Content optimization is an obvious target for AI solutions. This technology enables marketers to evaluate audiences and generate content using language and emotion tailored to specific segments while learning as more data comes through.
A major benefit of AI technologies is that they make emails feel more human. By providing more personalized user experiences through data, AI can help create deeper connections with your subscribers and invoke more emotion with its language usage.
Personalization will drive customer experiences
In addition to using AI to create more tailored user experiences, this year we’ll see marketers increase their efforts to personalize content in real time across channels. Expect next-generation personalization to appear more frequently in emails, websites, and even products.
As this level of detail migrates to larger brands, it could lead to a seismic shift in the way consumers interact with brands and products across a range of industries.
Change customers experience with kinetic email!
Designed to make emails look and feel more like a website experience, kinetic emails introduce a new layer of interactivity to the email experience.
The best examples of kinetic email include hover buttons, hotspots, add to order carts, image carousels, and other features. These emails are not only more attractive than traditional email, but they’re also more effective for encouraging subscribers to engage with the brand and its products.
Although marketers are still working out the kinks, you can expect for more and more of these emails to land in your inbox in the coming months.
Keep subscribers engaged!
Marketers are sending more emails than ever before. But with so many emails filling inboxes, it’s becoming difficult to keep subscribers engaged, and some marketers are struggling with declining KPIs. In 2018, some marketers will continue to struggle, while others will take the initiative and implement strategies to stem the trend of passive opt-outs.
To reduce opt-outs, email campaigns should engage audiences quickly, using offers and content that are relevant to individual subscribers’ opt-in path. Early welcome touch points, personalization and other tactics can go a long way toward retaining subscribers at key points in the customer lifecycle.
Mobile shopping will reach a tipping point!
Mobile purchasing is rapidly closing the gap with desktop purchasing as consumers and B2B buyers embrace smartphones and other mobile devices as primary conduits for brand connections.
Even though marketers are aware of the trend toward mobile purchasing, many brands continue to struggle with the basics of mobile optimization. Instead of delivering seamless mobile and cross-channel experiences, brands continue to stumble when it comes to making images, call-to-action buttons, content and other features more appealing to mobile audiences.
For brands who say their email marketing is “responsive already” and have put mobile on the back burner, it’s time to develop a comprehensive mobile strategy. We’re reaching a tipping point, and the marketers who stay serious about optimizing emails and purchase experiences for mobile will continue to win out.