As we move into a new decade, let’s take a look at how email marketing will change. 

Image courtesy of Pixabay

A new decade is upon us. While it’s hard to believe the 2010s are gone, as marketers, we have a lot to look forward to in the coming years. With advancements in technology, artificial intelligence, and getting to know our customers even better — this new year, and decade, look very promising for eCommerce companies. 

While it may seem like one of our older marketing tools, email will continue to be an important communication method in 2020. When you consider that 61% of people use email on a daily basis, it’s safe to say that email marketing isn’t going away anytime soon. 

In fact, we should expect to see the use of email marketing continue and improve as we move into the new year. With the help of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and improved segmentation you can take your email marketing to the next level. 

In this article, we’ll discuss three email trends you should keep your eye on in 2020. Here’s the quick rundown. 

• The rise of user-generated content and how your customers can help improve your email marketing
• How adding interactive design to your emails can help boost conversion rates
• Understand how artificial intelligence and machine learning advancements will impact email marketing

 

This Year’s Email Marketing Trends

Learning from the last year helps us develop the strategy moving forward, but knowing what the upcoming trends are will help build an innovative and forward-thinking plan. Each year there are new advancements and popular styles that customers are interested in and by using these as a basis for your email marketing, you can tap into the hype. 

Each year the trends are a little different. Some years we’ll carry a trend over, while others will have entierly new trending topics. 2019 was all about data privacy, personalization, and mobile-friendly design. 2020 brings a new year, with new tactics to consider. Let’s jump into what email marketing trends you should expect to see this year. 

 

1. User-Generated Content 

Letting your customers and subscribers do the talking for you. User-generated content is going to continue to be a big trend in the coming years, and for good reason. 88% of consumers trust user-generated online reviews just as much as a recommendation from one of their personal contacts. 

That means they are willing to trust others who have used the products and provided their feedback and experience. The great thing about that? You know who your customers are, from the most loyal to the brand new, and have the ability to interact with them to develop user-generated content. 

At first glance, user-generated content may seem difficult to obtain, but getting and sharing real and valuable feedback from your customers is easier than you think. Email can help you on both ends of the process. You can ask your subscribers to share their stories and reviews, from there, you can build those real experiences into your email marketing campaign. 

Share raving reviews and promote the products that have a 5-star rating. Even better, if your customers are willing to share photos of themselves using the products in their daily lives, share these to let others see the products in action. 

User-generated content can help customers see what your products are like on others who are similar to them. It also adds a more personal and realistic touch to your marketing efforts. Image courtesy of Pinterest. 

The other great thing about user-generated content is that it can span multiple marketing channels. You have the ability to build a comprehensive campaign that is consistent across your email and social media platforms. The most customers you can get engaged with the campaign, the better the user-generated content you’ll get — and the better return on investment you’ll see. 

 

2. Interactive Design

An email’s design can really make the campaign stand out. This year, interactive design is a big trend in email marketing. There are a few different ways that emails can be interactive and let customers experience a less stagnant email experience. 

One of those options is to embrace the use of video. While you may not be able to embed videos since most email providers do not support it, there is still a huge opportunity to include video in your email. 

Video is a big trend in marketing as a whole right now. It offers marketers great results when it comes to engagement and overall metrics. Provide videos of your products to see the full picture or show them different ways they can use products to entice a sale. 

Using changing images, GIFs, and animated call to action buttons can also be a great way to incorporate interactive design into your emails. You don’t have to spend tons of time and money finding out of the box ways of building new and exciting design elements. 

Another option when it comes to interactive design is allowing customers to engage with the content within the actual email. This could be through surveys and polls. Putting the content within the email and making it simple for the user to complete the action you’re asking them to do will result in a positive experience. 

 

3. Artificial Intelligence

The last trend we will talk about is advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) in email. In the coming year, AI is expected to help improve email marketing by automating processes, improving content relevance, and improve A/B testing options. 

Marketing automation has been a conversation for a while, but with advancements in AI and machine learning, it will continue to be a trend in the coming year. As systems continue to get smarter and learn how customers are interacting and shopping, emails can become even more targeted. 

AI offers a variety of positives when used in email marketing. You should expect to see improved metrics including revenue, click-through rates, open rates, and more. If you haven’t already made the investment in AI, now’s the time to jump on the bandwagon. Image courtesy of Business2Community. 

These types of programs can now predict what actions a customer will take next and serve them content that is relevant to their place in the sales journey. This also allows for advanced segmentation — the better you know your customers, the better you can market to them. 

In addition, automation and AI allow marketers to stretch their responsibilities. We no longer need to spend hours mining through data and calculating all of the different metrics we want to report on. Now, all of this information is readily available for use at the touch of a button. The heavy lifting is done by the technology on the backend. 

Having the ability to better A/B test and use AI as a tool will allow you to improve your email marketing. Test different designs or copy options to learn what your customers want to receive and how they are interacting with your content. The program will generate the A/B test and tell you what the results and findings are. 

 

Improve Your Email Marketing in 2020

Email marketing will continue to be an important marketing tactic for eCommerce companies in the coming year. If you plan accordingly, you can optimize your email strategy to include these trends and put your company in the position to knock your email metrics out of the water. 

By getting your customers engaged and sharing user-generated content, improving email designs to incorporate interactive elements, and taking advantage of available technology, 2020 has the potential to be a big year.  

No matter how many articles you read that want to kill email off, it’s here to stay. You just have to know how to stand out and give your customers what they want.