A global pandemic can really upset the order of things in the world of marketing. In 2020 we have seen some big changes in digital marketing and 2022 is likely to bring even more changes. As a digital marketer, it’s important for you to pay attention to trends so you can stay on top of changing best practices, without disrupting your entire marketing strategy. For this reason, we’re sharing eight email advertising predictions for 2022. With these predictions, you’ll have the tools you need to keep your brand ahead of the curve — and ahead of your competitors — in 2022.
Email advertising may be 40 years old, but it’s stronger than ever. It may be even stronger as brands have shifted to digital marketing channels as we navigate the ever-changing marketing landscape of COVID-19.
If you’re new to email marketing, now is a great time to get started. Check out ourguide to email advertising foreverything you need to know about this top marketing strategy.
8 Email Marketing Predictions to Drive Engagement and Revenue in 2022:
1.Hyperpersonalized
If you’re familiar with email advertising, you already know that personalization is important. According to Campaign Monitor, emails with personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened. On the other hand, Experian found that personalized emails get 6x higher transaction rates.
That’s huge. But just adding the recipient’s name toemail subject linesand the body of the email won’t be enough to influence the majority of customers in 2022. Customers are now looking for hyper-personalized content that gives them information relevant to their business. them and make it seem like it was meantjustfor them. In fact, according to Lucid, nearly 20% of people will unsubscribe from a newsletter if the content or promotions don’t match their interests.
Can you afford to lose 20% of your email marketing list?
Fortunately, you can start sendinghyper-personalized content through the use of dynamic content and segmentation.
Email list segmentation is the process of grouping email subscribers into smaller segments based on certain criteria. This can be location, purchase history, interests, behavior, and many more. Using these segments, email marketers can create specific content for each segment instead of sending the same message to everyone.
This process is made much easier if you have an email marketing service that allows the use of dynamic content. Dynamic email content is any personalized part of a marketing email that changes based on different segments of your email list. You can create hyper-personalized emails by adding variables to your mailing list and segmenting your list.
Take a look at ouremail personalization best practicesfor more ways to create personalized emails.
2.Text-only emails
Coming to number two on our list of email marketing predictions for 2022, you can expect to see a lot more text-only emails.
Of course, this does not mean that you cannot send emails withattractiveGIFs and images.It simply means that it is not necessary. In fact, going with the hyper-personalization trend, this new love for text-only emails is likely because they look more personal, like an email you’d send to a friend (because let’s face it, most people don’t send picture-packed emails to friends and family).
Sending users a text-only email can be a nice change of scenery for your subscribers. For maximum effect, you can mix your text-only emails with your other designed and templated emails. To get the most out of your less flashy emails, use them when you want to get a little more personal or try to connect with your subscribers on a deeper level.
As you can see, the use of text in this email makes it seem much more personal and important than it would be if it were filled with GIFs and images.
3.Interactive email
For interactive emails, AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) technology is very important. With the use of AMP, you can add interactive content directly into yourmarketing emails. So if you want to display different products, you can add a carousel ad and checkout options right in the email, instead of linking to a landing page.
This means that your subscribers will be able to, among other things, view and purchase your products directly from your email. Without continually clicking to get to the right page, just to click one more time to complete a purchase. Any time you reduce friction, making it easier for subscribers or buyers to complete an action, you increase the chances that they will actually complete it.
You will notice that you can choose the color of your Google Pixel Buds headphones and add your choice to your shopping cart directly from the email. This makes it much easier for users to complete their purchases right away.
Unfortunately, not allemail advertising service providerssupport AMP. Try to convince your provider or find a new one to take advantage of this amazing marketing strategy.
4.Bright colors
Granted, this 2022 email advertising prediction might seem contradictory to other predictions on our list (specifically, our recommendation to send text-only emails). However, we are not saying thatallyour emails should be text only. So, if you’re going to send emails usingtemplates,layouts, and images, make them bright and eye-catching.
Magic Spoon is a brand that fully embraces bold colors in its email advertising:
Color is excellent for evoking emotions and prompting action. For example, in the United States, the use of the color black in marketing has a strong association with luxury, power, and status. Blue is related to trust and security. Yellow represents happiness and youth. And so on.
Beyond the psychological aspects of colors, using bright and strong colors in your email advertising can boost engagement and conversions. Color can increase brand recognition, sell your products, and even increase your click-through rate. According to Kissmetrics, 93% of consumers consider color to be the most important thing when making a purchase, and 85% of shoppers say color is themain reasonthey buy a product.
5.Increased investment in email advertising
As companies continue to navigate the context of COVID-19 and what it means for their businesses, marketers are looking for less expensive, higher ROI marketing options. At 4200%, or $42 return for every $1 spent, email advertising has the highest ROI of anymarketing strategy, so it should come as no surprise that spend on email advertising is on the rise.
But, email advertising is a pretty broad marketing strategy. Where should you focus your email marketing dollars?
dynamic segmentation
Dynamic targeting is one of the most important things you can do to increase the engagement of your email advertising. We’ve already talked about personalization, so we won’t dwell on that point, but segmenting your subscribers and then sending them the content that really interests them will generate a higher return.
Re-engagement
Another great place to spend your email marketing money is re-engagement campaigns. This includes sending abandoned cart emails to encourage shoppers to complete those purchases, recommending personalized products to previous customers, sending exclusive promotions to inactive subscribers, etc.
6.Automation
As you can imagine, customization can be quite labor intensive. And that brings us to position number six on our list of email marketing predictions for 2022: automation.
When you combine analytics with email advertising, you can trigger hyper-personalized email marketing campaigns that are based on user behavior. This could be similar to allowing your subscribers to choose what information they want to receive and how often, or sending personalized purchase recommendations based on the user’s purchase history.
- Create series of welcome emails. You can send a single email if you want, but we’ve found that short seriesof welcome emailshelp onboard your new subscribers, build anticipation, and increase engagement.
- Send better transactional emails. Transactional emails are confirmation messages that you send to your users after they have performed an action on your site. They have up to 8x higher open rates than any other email and can generate up to 6x more revenue (Campaign Monitor). You can use them to sell, upsell and increase engagement.
- Send anniversary or birthday emails.Anniversary or birthday emails let your customers know you’re thinking of them. Add a special discount and you will increase your income.
- Send emails based on website activity.There are manyemail marketing automation toolsthat you can integrate into your website to launch email campaigns based on the actions that users take on your website.
These are just a few of the ways you can automate your email advertising. There are literally an unlimited number of options.
7.Marketing omnicanal para lead nurturing
Leadnurturingis not done only through email. For that reason, omnichannel marketing is so important. Omnichannel marketing is the process of using traditional and digital marketing channels to deliver relevant marketing messages to your customers, regardless of the marketing channels you use to drive engagement.
Omnichannel marketing works because it meets customers where they are. Buyers will not just visit a site and make a purchase. Today, buyers visit various sources before deciding to make a purchase. Omnichannel marketing helps brands engage with buyers and potential customers across different marketing platforms and channels. Through this cross-channel engagement, brands can ensure that questions have been answered, removing barriers to completing the purchase.
- Organic Searches
- Organic traffic from social networks
- Remarketing ofsocial media ads
- Programmatic ad remarketing
- Online e-commerce markets
- Youtube videos
- Podcasts
- Sales reach through email, LinkedIn, cold calling, and other inbound and outbound marketing tactics
- Reviews
- …and more
8.Privacy
The GDPR privacy regulation has become even more important than it was. For this reason, some email marketers are concerned that stricter privacy laws mean their marketing efforts won’t be as effective, or that they won’t be able to continue email marketing at all.
This is not the case.
Anti-spam regulations have been in place for a long time and as a result, brands have had to work to improve good email advertising practices. This hasn’t reduced the effectiveness of email marketing as much as it has created a better email advertising experience for marketers and consumers. In fact, 56% of marketers view the impact GDPR is having on their email marketing as positive (UK DMA Email Marketer Tracker).
- 41% of email marketers saw a decrease in opt-out rates
- 76% report increased open rates
- 55% report fewer complaints regarding spam
- 75% report an increase in click-through rate
Here are some GDPR guidelines related to email marketing:
- Get consent.There are many subscription tools on the market that can help you get more subscribers while being GDPR compliant. The important thing is to obtain the consent of the users before adding them to your email list.
- Create a privacy policy.The GDPR requires that you have a comprehensive privacy policy that provides detailed information about the information you collect from users and how you will use it. Add your privacy policy to your website and link to it from the subscription form.
- Save your consent record.The GDPR requires that you store a consent record that includes the identity of the user, the date the consent was given, and what was consented to.
- Provides access without the need for a subscription.If you use lead magnets togrow your email marketing list, pay attention. If a user does not want to subscribe to your newsletter, you cannot deny them access to your content. You have to clarify that a user can still get the lead magnet or other blocked content without signing up for your newsletter.
- Allows users to easily revoke permission. GDPR guidelines require that users be able to easily revoke consent. A visible unsubscribe link in your newsletter will suffice.
- Avoid false or misleading messages.The GDPR includes rules on content to protect users. Basically, you must clearly show your identity, include a physical address, clearly identify the content and, fundamentally, behave honestly
In conclusion
It is no secret to anyone that COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on companies around the world. But it also presented brands with the opportunity to try out new marketing strategies and even new business models. As we move into 2022, we will see how these new strategies evolve with a focus on “people first.” Brands will become more empathetic, leading to stronger customer-brand relationships. And email advertising is the perfect marketing channel for relationship building.
2020 has been a strange year. COVID-19 has disrupted the economy and everyone is a little anxious about what’s to come. From what we’ve already seen, marketers are up to the challenge. In 2022, you will see brands paying even more attention to the voices and needs of customers and re-imagining their brands and business models with a human-centric and empathetic approach.
With the email marketing predictions for 2022 we’ve shared here, you’re ready to take on whatever 2022 throws your way.