With a new decade upon us, the importance of identifying, developing and implementing a digital marketing plan cannot be overstated, and a key component of this – despite dissident voices to the contrary – is email marketing.
Indeed, it is essential for business owners and entrepreneurs to be aware of the latest email marketing trends and the impact that they can have, as well as understand how it can lead to a more significant return of investment (ROI).
Email Marketing Trends in 2020
To illustrate the direction that this platform is taking in 2020 and beyond, we have compiled a list of the key trends that you should know about. Hopefully, this will enable you to finetune your overall strategy, and create campaigns that generate interest and, eventually, conversions.
These are the latest e-marketing shifts to pay attention to:
1. User-Generated Content
Promoting user-generated content is an increasingly popular marketing technique that consists of reviews, images and videos of customers using your products. Generally, companies highlight this on their social media channels, but it is also now serving as a free email marketing campaign of sorts, too. In your newsletters, you can showcase the latest that your business has to offer without paying for a professional photoshoot or write-up.
To truly stand out from the crowd, use a combination of various forms of media. You will captivate your audience and encourage them to engage with the newsletter, resulting in a higher number of click-throughs and, ideally, with the implementation of an effective sales funnel, more sales conversions.
2. Personalisation
If it's awareness that you're seeking (and why wouldn't you — that is the point of understanding new trends, after all), then you need to reach out on an individual level. Of course, this does not mean that you must send emails to every person on your contact list one by one; instead, you need to create categories and tags to sort readers (a process known as segmenting) and send content that they will appreciate. Make suggestions based on previous purchases or subscriptions and reach out to them on a first-name basis to keep things personalised.
For more generalised newsletters, send emails during seasonal holidays with unique discounts to spark interest and invite customers to shop with you.
3. Being Innovative
One of the most critical email marketing trends to master in 2020 is the ability to think in innovative ways. This is particularly important when working to capture the attention of younger segments, such as millennials and Generation Z. Capturing these generations is vital for market growth, as they represent the highest-growing consumer bases – particularly online.
This means going beyond black text on a white background, and paying more attention to design; incorporate various forms of media (such as videos and gifs), out of the box colours and fonts, and striking and engaging layouts. If you want to get eyes on your products, then don't ignore the aesthetics of your emails.
4. Short and Simple Messaging
Regardless of who your target audience is, you will benefit immensely by keeping your e-marketing campaigns short and sweet. However, in doing this, you must become aware of how to convey all the essential details of your newsletter in fewer words. To do this, use ‘punchy’ headlines, teaser captions, and images to summarise everything you need to discuss.
In creating these clickable taglines, readers will be more inclined to engage with the email and then follow the links to your website. Thus, they will be able to gather more details outside of the newsletter itself, while the email stays interesting and on-track.
5. Adapting For Technology
The value of a structured marketing plan becomes evident when you consider the long-term connotations of your campaigns. Because the way we send and read emails is continuously evolving, you need to stay updated on new trends in design, coding, and overall best practices for emails. This includes making yourself knowledgeable on how your readers are accessing their emails by reviewing your data and making adjustments as needed.
Marketing trends point towards an increasing tendency for mobile readership, too, meaning that your subscribers will more frequently be opening emails on electronic devices (such as smartphones and tablets), rather than on desktop computers. With this in mind, it's important to consider mobile-friendly email content going forward.
6. Automating...
Like many emerging business technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly impacting operational practices – and email marketing is no different. You can capitalise on this by taking advantage of marketing automation platforms such as Mailchimp to help make your campaigns more efficient and less resource-heavy. As part of these services, you can then create automatic email responses to welcome new subscribers, thank customers when they make purchases from your website, and follow-up on emails when previous notes go unopened.
Indeed, 61% of business owners claim that AI is the most critical aspect of their data strategy, meaning that this should be a crucial consideration for your company if it is not already.
7. …But Staying Personal
As beneficial and timesaving as AI can be, however, it's vital for business owners and entrepreneurs to remember the significance of human warmth and personality. Even in 2020, automated services are not yet foolproof in the creation or editing of content, meaning that the presence of human beings is still necessary to ensure that your emails are ready for distribution.
Indeed, we are generally better at understanding our fellow humans' psychology, as well as forming content that leads to customer loyalty and trust. Therefore, it's about striking a balance between creative energy and the automation of time-intensive processes.
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When considering the various ways that you can reach out to customers in the digital age, it is crucial to be aware of what email marketing can achieve. Part of this lies in understanding the latest trends and developments in this niche, and being able to identify where your business can benefit the most. In doing so, you will be able to better design content that your readers will engage with and share, leading to clicks, conversions and, ultimately, success.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for more guidance, then why not take a look at our comprehensive list of email marketing tips?
Which of these email marketing trends will you adopt in 2020? Let us know your plans and thoughts in the comments below.