When Ray Tomlinson sent the first email in 1971, not he or anyone else could have predicted that email will grow into an effective marketing channel for businesses.
There is a constant and consistent change in the way people run their businesses, with changes becoming evident across the board. Just ten years ago, people would make sure that they snug it out over in-person office meetings. However, that has changed now. Even the most challenging meetings and the most sensitive matters are discussed over a video call. More people are waking up to choose to become more digital in their approach to business. Adaptation is key to the survival of any business strategy.
While email marketing is critical and effective as a marketing strategy, it is also susceptible to changes. The constantly changing trends can determine the effectiveness of your marketing campaign for that period. If you’re looking to take advantage of this trend to make your sales strategy more convincing, here are ten email marketing trends that you should maximize to boost your sales.
1. Personalization
Personalization in emails is fast becoming a norm than an exception. There was a time when personalization meant that you use the receiver’s name in your subject line. However, that isn’t enough anymore.
A good email personalization will ensure that the segmentation is right, the sending time is optimized for the recipient, the content is dynamic and based on the receiver. It also ensures that you can create personal connections and match engagement levels with email frequency.
2. Mobile experience
We are in the world of mobiles now, and almost everything seems to be done from a mobile device. This is why most services ensure that they deliver the best mobile experience or risk losing their clients to other people that provide an excellent mobile experience.
Emails are no different. Very few people still sit behind a desktop to read their emails. Everything is done from a smartphone and other similar mobile devices. Therefore, it has become imperative to ensure that you provide the best mobile experience to win more people over. If your mobile experience is low, people will be less likely to commit to your business or brand.
3. Automation
Like personalization, automation has also planted its root very deep into email marketing. This is even more effective for people that have an extensive email subscription list. Automation can make their work much more comfortable, even if it requires a lot of work on its own.
With automation, you’ll have to analyze the statistics, create segments for your receivers, choose the right frequency and make sure that the timing is right to send your email. It is also worth mentioning that it helps to create hyper-personalized content.
4. Customer appreciation emails
This is an aftermath of COVID-19, and in a lost Covid world, we expect to see more customer appreciation emails. Mostly, this is because customers demand it. Customers expect empathy and sympathy from the brands they patronize, and this will cause the brand to send more of these types of emails.
Also, there’s a rise in birthday emails (which is a type of customer appreciation email) because brands have discovered that it can fetch more revenues than the regular promotional email. Customers are moved to make purchases because a brand wished them a happy birthday and provided them with a personal discount. It’s a very effective strategy.
5. Minimalist email design
Billions of emails are sent every day, and you can be sure that everyone on your list gets emails from other brands as well. With an inbox of emails seeking their attention, you must stand out so that you can be seen.
For instance, many people believe in using bright colors and images to attract attention; imagine being the only email that’s plain? It will appear more original and will stand out from the rest. This is why minimalist email design seems to be on the rise, as it is more authentic.
6. Social media integration
With the global number of social media users increasing daily, everyone seems to be on at least one social media platform. Brands already take advantage of social media to reach their audience and deliver their message. Social media integration ensures that you can maximize your email marketing campaigns so people can read customer reviews and discover new products.
7. Video content
Video content has become more popular in the last few years, and many people now spend most of their time online consuming videos. While it’s not easy to create, it is the preferred content type for many audiences. This is why many brands have included video content in their email marketing campaigns.
Videos help brands to show off their product better than text, and they can also show how customers can use it. For customers as well, video ensures that they understand how a product works better and can also help their decision-making.
8. Brand storytelling
Storytelling is something that is now gaining ground with more brands. Brand authenticity is now essential to the success of a brand. Overall, brands were created to be overly polished and too mechanical, so they lacked authenticity. Even though that worked for a long time, modern customers now seem to want more.
Customers now want a genuine and authentic brand that has a human feel to it. Now businesses have to take the U-turn to humanize their brand and make it more authentic. One good way to do this is through storytelling, and email campaigns allow brands to share their story and engage their subscribers.
9. Re-engaging inactive subscribers
Whether in sales or marketing, targeting new customers is usually more expensive than targeting old or existing ones. For email marketing, it goes the same too. Rather than trying to win over new subscribers (which brands still do actively), they tend to try and engage existing subscribers because they already know about the brand. They are also easier and less expensive to target.
Every email list has its bunch of inactive subscribers that don’t engage with emails from the brand. Re-engaging inactive subscribers and getting them involved again is like having two new subscribers who could refer the brand to other people if you do right by them.
10. Exclusive email content
One email strategy that brands now capitalize on is exclusivity. This is an age-long marketing tactic, but it seems to be coming to the fore once again. A company like Apple understands exclusivity and uses it to its advantage, making it the world’s most valuable company.
Creating exclusive content and offers for your email subscribers will allow you to get more email subscribers and make more sales.
Conclusion
Email marketing is a powerful digital marketing technique when you do it well. With these email marketing trends, you can be sure that your emails will reach your subscribers and be more effective with them than before. This will then lead to more sales for your business.