Email has always been the go-to channel for businesses, thanks to its staggering ROI and high market penetration. But, in the last couple of years its popularity has witnessed a meteoric rise. Due to the onset of the pandemic, as many as 70% of brands increased their email marketing workload. And with that, the trends dictating the dynamics of this channel have undergone a massive overhaul as well. As email sets its glorious foot in 2022, let us look at the trends we think will define it this year.
Domination of Automation
Automation is a boon to email marketing and has been touted by many to have an increasing impact on the medium in 2022. The virtues of email automation aren’t simply confined to allowing brands to send relevant messages at the right time to their customers. It also takes a significant load off your employees. Automation takes care of several time-intensive tasks such as lead nurturing, eliminating duplicate data and leads, and creating segments based on customers’ activities and interactions among others. As a result, it enables your staff to focus more on strategies and tactics to boost bottom-line performance. Further, automation also facilitates greater collaboration and synchronization between your marketing and sales departments, paving the path for higher conversions.
Greater Focus on Email Deliverability
Earlier, a large number of companies regarded open rates as the most reliable metric to measure the success of their email marketing programs. Now, with Apple announcing the changes to its iOS 15’s privacy features, that’s not the case anymore. In 2022, senders are expected to look beyond metrics such as opens and first clicks to assess their campaign’s performance. Instead, they are expected to dwell more on what their recipients are doing after clicking on an email. This will lead them to paying more attention to email deliverability.
Diving deep into email deliverability will help marketers understand:
- The requirement of inboxes
- The working of spam filters
- What blocklists impact them
- The flaws in their existing sending behavior
All of these insights will culminate in brands restructuring their email marketing frameworks, resulting in customers receiving improved emails.
Increased Spotlight On Dark Mode
Over the last few years, Dark Mode has prodigiously shot through the ranks to become a highly popular design trend. It is very likely to stamp its authority over 2022 as well. Besides minimizing the strain on our eyes, emails rendered in the dark mode are aesthetically pleasing too. Hence, if you want your emails to taste success this year, ensure they read well in both the light and dark mode.
Leveraging Zero and First-Party Data
Subscribers collect zero and first-party data directly from subscribers with their consent. Email marketers will look to identify and leverage the patterns in this collected data to improve their email program’s performance. The better a business will be at using this data to deliver personalized and targeted experiences, the higher the returns they will rake in this year.
A More Customer-Centric Approach
In 2022, you need to be more careful with how you go about your promotions. With as many as 306 billion emails being exchanged on a daily basis, it is safe to assume that your recipients’ inboxes are already flooded with plenty of boastful emails. So, rather than highlighting the virtues of your offerings, highlight the value it will add to your customers’ lives. A customer-centric email marketing approach will let you cultivate strong and loyal customer relationships, setting you on a path for definite success.
Including More Value In The Email
Of late, the practice of writing brief emails that offer a teaser of content has been rapidly losing favor among marketers. This year, marketers are expected to include more value in the email content itself, rather than the external links that are attached within it. The value of your newsletter lies in the original content and opinions you provide; not in a compilation of curated links (no matter how insightful they are).
Rise of Predictive Analytics
With personalization holding the key to the success of email campaigns, marketers are expected to make predictive analytics a core component of their strategies. With predictive analytics, brands will be able to anticipate customer behavior with extreme accuracy. As a result, they will be able to provide them with highly relevant recommendations. Additionally, a predictive engine will enable businesses to optimize their email copy for greater engagement and conversions.
A Mobile-First Design Approach
With the number of mobile email users increasing with every passing day, it has become absolutely crucial for brands to practice a mobile-first design approach.
This means:
- Using larger fonts that are easier to scan and read
- Using clean, single-column layouts
- Ensuring emails are not too large
- Ensuring your links and buttons have a sizable target area
Wrapping It Up
To learn more about other trends, read this infographic by Email Uplers that contains the predictions of 41 of the finest minds in the email industry.
Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest-growing custom email design and coding companies, and specializes in crafting professional email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion, and free responsive HTML email templates in addition to providing email automation, campaign management, and data integration & migration services. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz, and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.
Email stock image by garagestock/Shutterstock
