Email marketing is still a reliable advertising medium for over ten years now even with the introduction of newer digital advertising technologies. According to a recent analysis by Vertical Response, about 72 per cent of consumers say that they prefer to hear from businesses via email. Email marketing still continues to be one of the most cost effective ways to reach potential clients and customers.
Not only that but it has a flow on effect to social media as well. ‘Email subscribers are three times more likely to share content on social media than leads who came through another channel,’ QuickSprout tells us.
Not everybody who engages in email marketing gets it right and with so many businesses competing for inbox space, sending lacklustre emails isn’t enough to make the desired impact. Keeping up to date on the best practices ensures email communications stand out and offer a successful campaign.
Fortunately, email marketers develop new ways to make EDMs even more powerful every year to stay on top of their game. To ensure that you stay on the cutting edge, here are some of the email marketing trends for 2019.
Make personalisation and segmentation a priority
2019 is set to be the year that email personalisation will be a significant player in email marketing campaigns. Personalisation within the email marketing context means creating uniquely tailored experiences which make users feel valued by your business. For example, one of the most common forms of email personalisation is using the recipient’s name instead of the standard “hello” or “dear customer”. But now, more than ever, it’s up to you as a marketer or business owner to enhance personalisation even more. By implementing comprehensive list and client segmentation, email marketing will be able to reach new heights of personalisation that extends beyond addressing your clients by name.
People are more likely to respond to emails which have been tailored specifically to them than to generic emails. By creating a personalised experience for your customers, you can also boost continuous engagement through dynamic content.
Segmentation is simply the process of carrying your personalisation efforts further by segmenting your mailing and contact lists into customer groups based on various distinctive criteria ranging from birthdays to time zones to when the last time they opened your emails were. This provides acutely relevant content to your recipients and its importance cannot be overestimated. According to a 2017 DMA report, about 79 per cent of email marketing ROI came from segmented and targeted campaigns. By segmenting your mailing lists by age, gender, geography, interests, education level and so on you can provide more relevant emails and boost engagement. And customer service is consistently refined and implemented through email marketing.
Create interactive content
Have you come across an email message with an embedded GIF image or a survey attached to it? This is interactive content. Interactive content allows users to interact with the email interface keeping the digital content interesting and unique. Additionally, they also help companies increase customer research, engagement and even retention. Email marketing interactive content may include:
- animations, GIFs and videos
- integrated forms and surveys
- navigation bars or menu options
- social sharing
- countdown timers
- email search
- banners and carousels.
By giving your customers everything they need right in their inbox they will be more likely to interact due to less effort needed to complete tasks.
Marketing Sherpa data reveals that the use of GIFs in email can increase click thru rates by 42 per cent, conversion rates by 103 per cent and revenue rates by 104 per cent.
Erica Stacey from Scout Digital Marketing and Training says:
‘While social media understandably continues to be the bright, shiny marketing tactic for many businesses, email marketing activity is increasing year-on-year and studies show that email marketing has an average return on investment of 122 per cent. That’s four times higher than other digital marketing activities!
Huge consumer trust is involved when someone decides to subscribe to receive emails. It is a piece of contact information that you own, far more valuable than a like or a follow and it should be treated as such.
Additionally, a comprehensive email marketing strategy, that sits within an overall digital marketing strategy should be a key consideration for most businesses.’
Want upskill in email marketing? Scout Digital Training can help.
A new marketing funnel
Also, there will be shifts in the traditional marketing funnel and it won’t appear as linear as we are used to. Emails will need to be of higher value and automated campaigns will need to be ramped up as this is where the revenue comes from. Remember the timeless customer process:
- attract
- nurture
- and then delight.
The world is constantly evolving and new email marketing strategies are being implemented every day. It has, therefore, become important to seek out and integrate the latest trends into your email marketing strategy to achieve the best results in 2019. Email marketing is still one of the strongest assets in your marketing arsenal!