The belief that email marketing is dead and social media has taken its place is an erroneous thought. While it is true that social media use is still high, trust in these platforms is declining.
Back in 2018, a poll found that half of all people plan on deleting at least one of their social media accounts in the next year. In 2017, 40% of people claim to have deleted a social media account. Because of these statistics, today marketers cannot fully depend on social media to reach consumers. So, if you can’t rely on social media alone, what other venues are there out there? Well, good old email is still hanging in there! Email marketing is still one of the top channels for marketers. Why?
Most consumers prefer to receive offers through email from the brands they are interested in. Another plus for email marketing is that costs don’t scale significantly when your list grows. It’s also a well-tested method of marketing, but there are still new twists on it that marketers are using to get an edge. That’s what we’re going to explore today.
From personalization to utilizing AI in your email campaigns, there are a lot of things to try and trends to track. Here are some that we are looking forward to.
AI is Going to Be Huge
Spam is still a problem in 2020 despite Bill Gates predicting the end of spam in 2006. One way that email providers are fighting spam is by developing AI systems to filter out spam emails. If you are not following current best practices, your emails may be sent straight to spam folders.
There are also experiments for using AI to generate emails on their own. Right now, AI is being utilized primarily for subject lines, but if that becomes a viable tactic expect a lot of research into generating entire emails.
Use Automation
When it comes to optimizing click-through rates, marketing automation is where it’s at. 75% of marketers are making use of at least one marketing automation tool. Automation is also beneficial for mapping the consumer journey and creating personalized content.
As long as you are doing it right, email marketing does not have to become spammy. Six times as many customers respond to personalized emails than those are generic. Your customers do want to hear from you. In this case a great option is to check out email follow-up tools to schedule your follow-up emails and control your interactions with customers.
When it comes to securing deals, 60% of consumers will sign up to an email list for the benefit of sales, special offers, and freebies.
Considering that the majority of consumers check their email before doing anything else online, email marketing is something you can’t afford to avoid. If you haven’t been using it or you haven’t revamped your campaigns in a while, it’s time to look at them with fresh eyes using these tips.
Optimize For Mobile
Depending on the industry, up to 60% of all emails are opened on a mobile device. Further, 75% of Gmail users access their email using a mobile device. If you fail optimizing your campaigns for mobile, nearly half of people will delete them.
This means companies need to go easy on data-heavy graphics and use text-dominant calls to action to attract business. Those companies will show recipients that they care about their mobile experience and gain favor with audiences.
Content is Crucial to Engagement
Traditionally, email marketing has been about volume. Batching and blasting have been the accepted marketing practice for email campaigns, but no longer. The public responds better to targeted, automated, and relevant content, not blast campaigns. Email providers also prefer personalized messages, even automated ones, over mass email.
If you’ve been using the same standard form messages for years, it’s time to look into some personalization options to make your emails more engaging.
Balance Personalization and Privacy
60% of people surveyed believe that the U.S. government should be able to regulate how companies use customer data. The same number of people are uncomfortable with companies buying and selling their data.
Also, a third of consumers say that repeatedly recommending products that are not a match to their interests is a prime reason they unsubscribe to campaigns. The takeaway here is that customers want their data used to benefit them rather than exploit them. Marketers need to be smarter about using the data they gather to create genuinely personalized offers.
Author bio: Michael Habiger is a marketing enthusiast and content marketing specialist, a frontier of marketing automation, currently head of marketing at FollowUpFred.