Marketing best practices are always changing. That may seem daunting to business owners who are just starting out, but in actuality, the influx of new trends every year is an opportunity to improve and refine your marketing strategy. Email marketing is consistently one of the most cost-effective and preferred ways to promote a business. Its superpower lies in its ability to constantly adapt to fit the market. This year, we expect to see these five trends:

1. Mobile-responsiveness

Because over 50% of emails are opened on mobile globally, it’s vital to get it right. Make sure your messages are mobile-friendly by checking that your text and call to action buttons are visible, readable and clickable. Think about how the different aspects of an email will layer on a small screen, and how long it will take users to scroll through the message for information. And always remember to test before you send.

2. More text, fewer images

The new year could usher in an image change: Image-heavy emails aren’t being opened at the rates they once used to be. Instead, lots of imagery can make your message look like spam. What that means for your business is that there should be an emphasis on the actual message. However, that does not mean you should create dry, long letters to customers. Keep your voice consistent, conversational and to the point.

Check out three types of emails below to see the difference between image-heavy messages and their cleaner, clearer cousins.

Image-heavy:

Better:

Best:

3. Targeting methods

With an average ROI of 3,800 percent, email marketing is always a smart investment. The only thing smarter? Stronger targeting. With the large amounts of data available, we expect even better strategies for maximizing email’s reach. And with email automation, revenue will continue to grow while time investment shrinks. Your marketing automation solution should allow you to segment contacts based on factors like location or age, so you can send only to relevant recipients.

4. Personalization

To connect with customers, companies are going to have to go the extra mile to stand out and communicate effectively. Personas and customer journeys will likely have extra importance this year, as will having the resources to create smart emails and filter contacts based on behavior. Not only does personalization make email beneficial to customers by giving them the information they want, but it also benefits the sending company’s finances. Ever-better artificial intelligence technology will help make this possible by analyzing what works and continually tailoring emails to fit each consumer individually.

5. Privacy

With laws like the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and the General Data Protection Regulation implemented in 2018, it is clear that privacy and security are at the forefront of people’s minds. So, when creating emails, it’s important to comply with regulations while ensuring that what you send out is respectful of your customers’ time and privacy. Data should be used to personalize a reader’s experience, not to exploit trust.

Transparency is especially important when it comes to privacy. Make sure you communicate regularly about any changes to security, as Visa did in this email:

With all the potential 2019 holds, it’s going to be a big year for email marketing. Are you taking advantage of all it has to offer?

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© 2019, Lindsey Bakken. All rights reserved.