Email marketing trends for 2019
2018 has been an interesting year for the world of email marketing. The introduction of the GDPR across Europe brought with it a huge amount of conversation about the power of the consumer in today’s email-game. It also asked the question of whether email as a channel has as much influence, and as much bang-for-its-buck, as it once had.
But, with email as a channel continuing to provide the highest ROI for marketers, and email is 46% more effective at converting customers than Facebook or Twitter, email marketing is well and truly here to stay.
Hello 2019
A new year doesn't just mean a ‘new you’, it means new trends, too. So before you put down your pens and pick-up your pigs in blankets, let's see what's in store for 2019:
Trend 1: Strategy is King
Consumers want relevancy, and strategy is the key to keep focus.
The importance of an email marketing strategy in 2019 will not falter. Remaining as important as ever, developing your email strategy has become even more poignant in light of the changes to data protection we’ve seen over the course of this year. The competition is higher than ever and your consumers now know it — to grab their attention, you need to be relevant. To be relevant, you need to be well thought-out, focussed, strategic and customer-centric.
Developing and implementing a marketing strategy will give your activity direction, pairing-up your tactics with clear goals and objectives, which are aligned to your wider business plans but most importantly aligned to your customers needs. Ask yourself “what is the value to the customer in receiving my email marketing campaigns?”. If you find this question difficult to answer or it is all aligned to your business needs and not the customer, then you need to reevaluate your strategy. This type of thought-out activity is imperative in ensuring you gather the data you need to power your work, instil trust within your audience by providing email campaigns of value that is aligned to their needs and, ultimately, improve your performance.
To help you get started with developing your strategy for 2019, take a read of our latest planning blog.
Trend 2: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
The introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning into our day-to-day world is not a new concept, but it’s still an emerging trend for email in 2019 because it’s yet to be adopted by the masses. That means there’s still an opportunity for you to future-proof your email marketing strategy by embracing and adopting AI into your user’s journey.
AI isn’t scary! Far from our roles being taken over by AI-yielding robots, the introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning for email marketing means enhanced efficiency and improved productivity across your teams.
Don’t back away from adopting it into your email marketing - albeit at a cost, developing genuinely value-adding AI in 2019 will enable you to stay competitive in the ever-crowded inbox. It also allows you to tap into intelligent data pots that manual-resource just doesn't allow for. For example, AI-written email copy and subject lines is proven to increase engagement with your email recipients, by optimising your content based on their trends & behaviour — and in a fraction of the time it takes to send an email. However, there is a word of caution, AI is not a silver bullet, a robust and solid email strategy is required first for AI to be successful.
Trend 3: Accessible Email Design
Ask yourself: how accessible is your content?
According to DMR’s email statistics report, the average office worker receives around 121 emails per day — would your emails stand-out in such a crowded inbox?
Staying true to your brand will help your email design prevail in the coming year. But going beyond just the elements of your email’s template or modules, considering the wider email experience is what will ensure you differ from the rest.
Our consumers are intelligent and savvy. The rise of the ‘always on’ consumer leaves our email recipients demanding more from their communications , alongside ico prevail in the coming year. What's the value proposition for the email you're sending them? Experience-led creative iis what it takes to cut-through.
Thinking further about the AI discussion around in trend number 2, think about how well your email’s content will read on a Google Home device or by Amazon’s Alexa? What would it sound like? This is the new-age of email design, and to stay at the front of the line you need to start icorptaying this new-age of technology into your designs.
Thinking beyond the basics
For a brand striving to survive in the competitive landscape of the upcoming year, it’s important to get a headstart on the trends we've identified.
To be successful, it's not enough to keep doing what you’ve always done — adopt new trends & technologies for an extra bite of the market in 2019.