Given the complex business and commercial landscape in which we live today, many authorized voices consider primitive marketing techniques such as email marketing to be obsolete. Strategies structured around this tool seem to be of little use to companies, despite the fact that the digital channel continues to be the one that generates the highest return on investment. As they try to explain from Acrelia, an email marketing platform, each euro invested in this channel and in said medium contributes 39 euros of average return, which shows that the future of this methodology can be promising.
This last year, the entire sector ended up suffering the latest consequences derived from the European Data Protection Regulation (RGPD / GDPR). Its entry into force, back in 2018, meant a decrease in the size of the subscriber lists, coupled with a significant improvement in their quality. This obligation to collect data in a more transparent way has increased audience confidence, as subscribers have become more aware of the use made of their data. Ultimately, all of this has translated into better delivery, open, and click rates.
On the other hand, 2019 also allowed us to start seeing new technologies that will pose a great challenge for the marketing industry, and that will be very present in the immediate future. We are talking about voice assistants, and Google’s “Accelerated Mobile Pages”. In both cases, we are looking at tools that represent a change in the way of designing and coding emailing, as well as in the way of measuring user interactions.
Taking this context into account, Acrelia has thought it convenient to point out which trends will prevail in 2020, which currents the world of email marketing will follow during the next 12 months, and have listed a series of aspects to assess for the new year.
1. It’s time to think [seriously] about mobile devices
The importance of mobile devices lies in the 53% of the total traffic they register in navigation. Every day more people access the internet through their smartphone, which forces us to create “responsive” campaigns adapted in content and design. However, there is still a substantial difference between mobile browsing and mobile trading, as 56% continue to shop from their PC or laptop. Even so, purchases in this field grow 23% annually, so in 2020 it will be necessary to create strategies specifically aimed at mobile users.
2. Interactivity
It will be important to keep an eye on the progress of Google’s “Accelerated Mobile Pages” (AMP) project. Supposedly, this system allows you to create interactive and updated messages in real time, which opens up a wide range of possibilities, such as confirming attendance at events, completing questionnaires, interacting with image carousels, seeing real-time prices of products, etc.
3. Gamification
This concept will begin to make its presence known in mailings this year, with the aim of encouraging user interaction and speeding up conversions. At the same time, it will allow for the addition of some interactivity, incorporating, for example, the mechanics of games, either by offering the user incentives such as discounts or special promotions, or encouraging browsing the web, as well as responding to surveys and questionnaires.
4. Personalization with dynamic content
Not only do brands seek to get more and more loyal users, but users themselves seek a personal relationship with brands. Therefore, marketing departments have to work with an infinity of data, segmented according to users, and designing specific campaigns for each segment. For this 2020, the safe bet will be emails with dynamic content, such as newsletters that vary depending on the recipient and the information we have about them. This strategy also allows to improve the metrics considerably, especially the opening rate (29%), the CTR (14%) and the conversions (10%).
5. Images that convert
Graphic resources are a powerful tool that allow us to communicate in a really effective way, in addition to increasing user interaction and facilitating the purchase decision process, creating trust in users. In this way, the bet will be directed to personalized creativities, through illustrations without going any further. Animations in APNG format are also a good resource, as are animated 3D images.
6. Minimalist design and copy
It is clear that recipients have less and less time to consume the information they receive, so their attention span is reduced. In this situation, the trend for 2020 is to design minimalist emails, as long as they encourage the increased use of smartphones. They should be concise, clean, easy to read, eye-catching, and monochrome to be effective and efficient.
7. Mobilemarketing
Another of the beneficiaries of the arrival of 2020 will be the SMS, which will return with force. Its popularity has grown again due to the high interaction rates it offers for what is little exploited commercially speaking. The new Enriched Communication Services (RCS), designed to improve the features and benefits offered by sending SMS messages, will help companies to communicate in a more dynamic, personalized and fluid way.
8. User Generated Content
This type of content has always worked well on any channel, increasing subscriber confidence. At the same time, it allows us to create more content with fewer resources and in less time, thanks to using our own community as inspiration. In this area, a good starting point is the use of real reviews and testimonials, something really valued by subscribers. According to 3d Cart, 83% of users find the opinions included in commercial emails very valuable and 70% admit to searching the internet for this type of evaluation before making the purchase decision.
9. Voice assistants
Smart speakers like Amazon Echo, Google Home, etc. have seen their popularity increase exponentially, reaching 100 million units installed in homes by the end of 2018. There is still time to be able to perform more complex and advanced actions with our emails, such as subscribing to newsletters or pressing buttons, but the increasing use we make of them requires rethinking the way they are designed, written and accessed by email.
10. Accessibility
Improving the conditions of use and accessibility of our email promotes inclusion and increases ROI, depending on the scope of the email marketing strategy. It is not so much a trend as a commitment to adopt to ensure that we all access electronic content under equal conditions
