What is the first thing that pops up in your mind when you hear the word “Email marketing”? As a digital marketer, we tend to think of email marketing as an outdated technique for promotion of products and services or as a marketing approach that no longer works as well as it used to in the past.
Even companies who are still relying on email outreach fail to get the desired results. Their email doesn’t get opened let alone read. Even if the emails are opened by the receiver, they don’t take the desired action businesses want them to take. This forces you to question, Is email marketing really worth the effort? Does it have a bright future in the automation age? Is it still relevant in today’s social media, content, and influencer marketing landscape?
Before you dismiss email altogether, here are some email marketing statistics that proves you wrong.
- There are 3.9 billion email users in the world
- 293 billion emails were sent and received every day
- For every $1 you spend in email marketing, you can get an average ROI of $42
- 90% of marketers still use email to distribute content organically.
- 81% of small and mid-size businesses use email as a primary customer acquisition channel and 80% use it for customer retention.
In this article, you will learn about what the future of email marketing looks like in an AI driven world.
Email Marketing Has Come of Age Again
Few years back when the social revolution was at its peak, many experts pointed towards the slow death of emails. Despite this, e-commerce businesses are heavily relying on email marketing and some even buy virtual private servers. As email matured and evolved over time, we saw it being used as a content distribution and promotion medium. Today, it is at the heart of mobile strategies and rightly so as reading emails is the top activity performed by smartphone users.
Thanks to responsive email designs. Businesses can boost their conversion rate and users can read and respond to emails easily. With support for integration becoming a reality, businesses can now integrate email into customer relationship management systems and enterprise resource planning systems and convert them into a data source for analytics. Data generated by email marketing can propel other marketing initiatives and boost their effectiveness.
Hyper-Targeted Emails Is the Way To Go
When it comes to email marketing, one size does not fit all. If you are sending the same email to your entire list, your email marketing initiative will fail. You will have to send hyper targeted emails according to the user preference and behavior. Analyze the interaction a prospect has with your brand, craft a targeted email, and send it to them.
The more context your emails have, the better they will perform. As the number of integrations and triggers grows, it will allow email marketers send targeted messages and completely customize the email according to individual users.
Personalization
Your prospect receives tons of emails every day. If you send them an email without personalizing it, it can easily get lost. A personalized email has a better chance to stand out from other emails and users are more likely to click, open and read personalized emails as compared to non-personalized ones.
That is why conversion rate from personalized emails are much higher than traditional emails Additionally, personalized emails significantly reduce unsubscribe rates. Email marketers will take personalization to the next level which will take us to the era of hyper personalization. Their main objective would be to deliver personalized messages and experience through their email marketing campaign.
More Control with Email Template
Few years ago, modular email design was all the rage. It was just like a Lego block where you can pull in components and elements, rearrange, and use them based on the type and content of email you are sending. The best thing about these designs is that readymade components are available which saves you from the hassle of starting from scratch so you can get started quickly.
As automation became widely prevalent, marketers found the need for editable alternatives to increase simplicity and minimize complexity. Not only are modular design templates more convenient and cost effective but it also offers more control to marketers. Thanks to WYSIWYG editor, marketers can not only edit content manually or tweak it to dynamically suit the segment or purpose. Moreover, the editor also allows you to change the modules for every email you send. You can change the header and footer and other elements based on your requirements. This allows email marketers to deliver personalized email in a timely manner.
Interactive Emails Uplift Brand Experiences
Email marketers have long been looking for a way to make their emails more interactive. With the rise of animations and other forms of motion graphics, we will make their way into emails to give them a livelier and more dynamic feel.
Kinetic emails enable brands to show their brand identity and philosophy in full glory. Additionally, it will go a long way in keeping the prospects engaged. Don’t be surprised if your inbox is filled with interactive emails a few months from now as email marketers will ramp up efforts to attract customers with interactive and immersive emails.
End of HTML Emails
With the rise of interactive emails and modular email templates, we will see the end of HTML emails. Easy drag and drop interfaces will make coding HTML emails irrelevant for email marketers. Just like web, emails also need to adopt a responsive design that can fit perfectly irrespective of which device, size or email provider user might be using. With devices of all shapes and sizes being used to read emails, coded HTML emails are no longer relevant. The key to success would be to send personalized emails at the right time to deliver relevant information to users when they want it.
What will the future of email marketing look like in your opinion? Let us know in the comments section below.
About The Guest Author
Imran Thayani is an SEO specialist with more than 6 years of experience in promoting and marketing brands in the digital world. He loves to read and share his digital marketing experience with the rest of the community. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling to exotic places, plays badminton, and goes swimming. Youtube Linkedin Twitter Instagram
