Is Your E-mail Optimized for Best 2019 Performance?
E-mail marketing is constantly evolving, and AccuList USA tries to keep our e-mail list and e-mail marketing services clients up-to-date on the latest tactics and best practices. A good overview of trends for 2019 was recently supplied in a Business2Community post by Rohit Munipally.
Targeted, Segmented and Automated Marketing
The value of e-mail targeting and list segmentation is so clear that it will be a given for smart marketers in 2019. Munipally cites HubSpot research showing that e-mails that are relevantly segmented and targeted account for 58% of all e-mail earnings and increase profits up to 18 times more. When combined with automation, e-mail content power is further enhanced. Munipally gives examples of how e-mail marketers can track behavior to boost response and conversion. For example, if a contact hasn’t opened an e-mail for an extended period, the contact can be dropped from deployments, while a contact who has visited a web page several times or opened multiple e-mails can receive relevant automated e-mails prompting action. In fact, global automated e-mail marketing alone is expected to account for $2.7 billion in spending by 2025, Munipally reports.
Text-Only, Interactive & Story Content
Watch for acceleration of the trend away from graphics-heavy e-mail designs in 2019. Research shows e-mail users prefer plain text over HTML-style e-mails because plain text e-mails resemble a personal message that would be sent by a family member or friend. So marketers now use plain-text e-mails to create a more personable, sincere and less sales-oriented brand. Also expect to see interactivity dominate over product display and sales pitches in e-mails next year. Response data favors interactive e-mails that encourage engagement through quizzes, surveys, games, contests, GIFs, and call-to-action messaging that lets recipients shop, edit an order, update a wish list, send a shipping confirmation, etc. Story-telling also has proved itself as another content-engagement tool. E-mails that begin with a story that grabs the reader and then leads into the value and services/products offering have been shown to be highly influential–if delivered to a relevant audience (again underscoring the value of targeting and segmentation).
Focus on Mobile, Personalization and AI
Mobile optimization of e-mail will be essential for success in 2019, with 53% of e-mails opened via mobile devices and 75% of gmail users viewing accounts on mobile devices. Meanwhile, consumers demand content that is relevant and personalized whether they view it on a computer or mobile device, which means using data to go beyond the first name in the second paragraph to delivery of information unique to the reader’s account or buyer persona. Plus, next year should see growing use of AI for everything from targeting, subject line choice, image selection, unsubscribe prevention and more. To illustrate the power of AI, Munipally reports that Adobe recently developed an AI technology with a series of sophisticated algorithms based on e-mail campaigns and audience behaviors, resulting in e-mail users opening nearly 80% of work and 60% of personal e-mails.
For the complete post, see https://www.business2community.com/email-marketing/7-email-marketing-trends-for-2019-02120824
