Trends come and go - email marketing remains as solid as a rock. The marketing tool is still accepted by customers because email marketing has become increasingly dynamic and personalized. With modern marketing automation systems, e-mails address the needs of their recipients and promote dialogue in a variety of ways. In a nutshell, current email trends are automation, personalization and real-time content.
More mobile, less desktop
Mobile optimization will soon replace desktop computing in email marketing. Already today we read about half of all emails on mobile devices. Email is among the most-used applications on mobile phones. This trend will surely continue with improved mobile internet access. That is why responsive newsletters have become an absolute must. This also applies to all content linked in the email such as landing pages.
The future belongs to personalized real-time content
Thanks to tracking, individual users' preferences are no longer a secret. Only a few years ago, it was a novelty when recipients were addressed individually by name or received emails on their birthday. Today, we are able send out content flexibly according to to individual users' interests via an automated marketing tool. New live content systems go one step further. Dynamic live profiles not only handle the click history, they also access real-time data such as device, location, weather and time of day to send the receiver better, situation-related offers. The dynamic content varies every time the newsletter is opened. Such agile email marketing campaigns increase the incentive to open and interact with emails tremendously.
Types of live content:
• Live images
• Web scrapes
• Live countdown
• Live videos
• Feeds
• Live cards
E-commerce platforms have the opportunity to remind customers of incomplete check-out processes or to suggest products similar to what a customer previously viewed in the online shop. Temporary incentives in the form of vouchers are intended to stimulate the completion of the purchase. Depending on how a recipient reacts to the presented content, an evaluation process takes place in the system through evaluation algorithms. These insights influence the content of the next mailing. If the customers feel the brand understands their needs, they will be more involved and open as well as click rates and purchases will increase.
E-mail marketing connects offline with online
Emails work as a connecting communication medium between stationary and online shops in the marketing mix. Newsletters with integrated live content systems can encourage time-limited discounts on the products previously viewed in the online shop directly at a nearby shop.
Emails are owned media
The increasing dependency on visibility indexes and algorithms of external platforms such as Facebook or search engines like Google will lead to a stronger emphasis on owned channels in customer communication. If all customer data is stored in the database, campaigns can be realized without additional advertising costs caused by online providers. The e-mail is an excellent tool to achieve this.
Plain text messages for wearables
Smartwatches are just about to conquer the markets. It is foreseeable that the so-called Wearables will gain greater market shares in the coming years. What does this mean for e-mail marketing? The small display on the arm will create a new email design: smaller number of characters in the subject line and content, no images. On-point messages, user-friendliness and legibility will be more important than ever.
Read more: Content Marketing.
