Email marketing isn’t going anywhere and is still one of the most effective ways for brands to reach current or potential customers. Let’s take a look at the current trends.
First, did you know that email has been around for more than 40 years now?
Part of the reason email has stayed a resilient marketing channel for so long is that it’s adaptable. Marketers have had plenty of time to innovate as well. With recent advancements in technology and changes to data privacy laws, email marketing has gone through a wave of changes like never before.
Let’s take a look at the most recent trends.
Email Marketing Trend #1 – Changes to Opt-ins, opt-outs, and data privacy
There has been some concern in the past couple of years about how data privacy would impact email marketing. Now the time has passed, and it seems like data privacy isn’t going to be affected on the scale we all anticipated.
Lately, we’ve seen a huge push towards a more simplified opt-in and opt-out process. With the current data privacy laws, such as CAN-SPAM, marketers are required to make the “unsubscribe” button a lot more noticeable than before. The whole point of this is to not only be in compliance but also to make the user experience a more enjoyable one.
It’s Best to Simplify the Process
Many companies are simplifying and cleaning up the opt-in process. For years, getting email list opt-ins has been done in popups and aggressive calls to action. While those may work well, they can also annoy the user. Keeping the opt-in process simple and well-timed will make the consumer’s interaction with your brand positive.
In connection with email and data privacy, an opt-in is direct permission from a consumer to market to them. Looking ahead toward a cookieless world, email will become one of the most effective ways to communicate with consumers. Therefore, take the time right now to build your email list and to fill up your CRM.
Email Marketing Trend #2 – Personalization
Email personalization is divided into a few categories, general personalization, list segmentation, and accurate retargeting.
Personalizing Your Emails
The key to general personalization is leveraging First-Party Data effectively. Whatever information you have about a customer should be used whenever possible!
For example, if a customer has purchased an item from you more than once, you could email them a coupon the next time there’s a sale, just to let them know you’ve got their best interests in mind. Target stores are great at this! They also personalize their weekly communications to highlight products or types of products that you’ve bought in the past. For example, after an individual buys a Lego set, Lego ads started showing up in weekly sales flyer emails.
Think of the power behind this messaging from the user’s standpoint. They recognize that the store wants to give them the things they’re interested in, and they’re more willing to keep coming back.
Segmenting Your Lists
The second part of email personalization is list segmentation. In a lot of ways, this is connected to the changes in opt-ins and opt-outs. Many companies are making it easier for consumers to choose what type of emails they want to receive from the company. And not just marketing but even more specific topics.
List segmentation can also be done on the CRM side. Contacts and records can be tagged and filtered down by just about anything these days. Email campaigns can be adapted for very specific groups.
This level of personalization can help make a customer feel both seen and heard.
Now, it is possible to segment your list too much. In order to achieve desired results when email marketing, the message does not need to be altered overly much. If you have a clear message and call to action, then it’s just about A/B testing things to see what works best for your audience. Hyper-segmenting can cause confusion, and a confused mind always says “No!”
Using Email for Retargeting
Using email as a tool for retargeting has been a trend for a while. Why? Because it’s very effective! For example, the average open rate for abandoned cart emails is almost 45%! Another effective type of retargeting email is the “We haven’t seen you in a while” or the “We miss you.”
Email Marketing Trend #3 – Keep it simple
Keeping emails simple is key if you really want to get results. It’s important to keep the text minimal but to make your call to action clear at the same time. Simply put, whatever action you want the user to take, make it the only action available, and make it obvious.
Keep in mind, users are reading their email on their mobile devices far more than on desktops these days. Make sure your email is designed responsively. This means making sure your email looks good on all devices and adapting wherever necessary.
Use simple images, minimal text, and big buttons – whatever ties in with your brand, conveys the offer and urgency, and gets the message across.
