Email marketing will continue to connect in 2018 but you’ll have to employ a few new tricks to keep engagement levels high.
Ah, the New Year. The turkey is history and the ‘new you’ is hitting the gym or treadmill after a calorie-laden holiday season.
Well, that’s the scenario that many people are familiar with – along with the unavoidable return to work. Groan.
Before you get stuck into your content needs for 2018, it’s worth taking stock of some key emerging trends.
This year, the world of email marketing will continue to evolve and you’ll need to constantly shift your email techniques and tactics to cater to an ever-changing, more sophisticated audience.
In 2018, one of the biggest email trends will be the use of interactive emails. If you want to overcome the problem of ‘inbox overload’, you’ll need to box clever.
So how can you tailor an email to catch and hold someone’s attention? Many email-marketing experts claim that the only way forward is to make emails interactive.
Email interactivity pulls some of the activity from the landing page into the mail itself. By making your emails interactive, you can reduce the barriers to engagement. In other words, every piece of info you want to share can be expressed via email, rather than asking readers to click external links.
Here are five simple ways to add a bit of interactivity (and a bit of excitement) to your campaigns.
1. Countdown timers create a sense of excitement
If you’re running a promotion or a launch you can add countdown timers to your emails, so the recipient can see the duration of a promotion, or the exact number of days until a launch.
2. Integrated forms increase potential conversion
Instead of driving email readers to a landing page via a link, you can encourage them to act within the email by embedding an integrated form. Reduced additional steps can potentially lead to higher conversion rates.
3. Image carousels command attention
Emails often look plain and static, but a carousel of images can add a bit of sparkle. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase more products in a single email.
4. Polls and surveys lead to increased customer data
Creative polls and surveys can increase your chances of gaining more customer data. The more data you have, the more personalized emails you can craft. If you go down this road it’s important to keep the email engaging. Well-designed email templates and animated gifs are good.
5. Video, video, video!
Videos can provide mountains of useful content in a short exciting burst. Short videos of about 15 to 30 seconds can be embedded in an email. However, it’s important to note that some email software cannot display embedded videos. But as a key trend for 2018, it’s something to start planning for. Just remember, before sending out any video emails it’s important to check that your recipients’ email provider can run the files. There is nothing worse than sending out incompatible emails. In the meantime, for good impact, you can use animated gifs.
Right, it’s back to the gym. But don’t forget to bring a bit of that ‘new you’ into your email marketing. Let’s get interactive!.