We may be in the midst of a social media boom, but email marketing is holding strong. Not only has email continued to be one of the most cost-effective ways to reach customers, but 72 percent of consumers say that they prefer to hear from businesses via email. The channel’s longevity can be ascribed to innovation: Every year, marketers develop new ways to make email even more powerful.

Wondering what 2018 has in store for your email marketing program? Here are five trends that we have our eye on:

Improved personalization and segmentation

We’ve explored the power of personalization and segmentation here before. Together the two tactics increase engagement by providing readers with messages that are relevant and timely.

Now marketers are collecting more data about their audiences to improve their targeting capabilities. In a recent Econsultancy report, 80 percent of respondents said they were segmenting their contact lists into customer groups. Where personalization once meant addressing email readers by their first name, marketers now divide their contact lists based on everything from birthdays to time zones, enabling themselves to create messages that resonate with specific segments on a deeper level.

Interactivity

Fifty-three percent of marketers now integrate interactive content into the buyer’s journey. Running the gamut from embedded surveys to quizzes to GIFs, interactive content brings emails to life. It also encourages readers to engage with a brand, generating twice as many conversions as passive content. Not only is a quiz or slideshow attention-grabbing, but businesses have discovered that elements like these can be easier for subscribers to consume. In some cases (such as product releases), an image carousel or three-second GIF may convey a message more effectively than a block of text.

Creative typography

Want to make sure readers hone in on a specific offer? Decorative typefaces make the most important information in marketing emails stand out. And, when used judiciously, creative typography makes emails vibrant, adds a compelling element and can showcase a brand’s personality.

Spread of automation

The emergence of accessible automation tools is enabling small business owners to reach their audiences at the right time with the right messages. Not only is automation a time-saver — making it possible to create and schedule messages when it’s most convenient — but it also improves email performance. According to Epsilon research, automated emails boost click-through rates by 119 percent.

Making the most of transactional emails

Transactional emails can be more than just receipts. Since they deliver eight times as many opens and clicks than any other type of email, they also can provide businesses with a great opportunity to market to customers. Savvy business owners use the emails that are automatically triggered after a purchase or other customer action has taken place to present special, relevant offers to customers.

Email marketing is constantly evolving. To achieve your best results in 2018, start integrating these latest trends into your email strategy today.

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© 2017 – 2018, Amber Humphrey. All rights reserved.