Top 5 Email Marketing Trends in 2016

1. Mobile Optimisation 

Yes, mobile optimisation has been trending in email marketing for a good many years now.  But, as of 2016, a clear majority of emails are now opened on mobile devices rather than on desktop clients.  According to Litmus, the percentage of mobile opens in 2016 is now 55%.

What does that mean?  Well, it’s now a given that email messages should be optimised for mobile, as well as any click through destinations.  E-Commerce sites should be mobile optimised and easy for customers to transact with on their mobile devices.

Additionally, mobile devices are changing subscriber behaviour, making it harder for marketers to deliver engaging messages that consumers will open and read.  Subject lines for example should now be under 35 characters to ensure they are fully captured by mobile email clients.

Email Marketing Mobile
With so many mobile devices, optimisation is as important as ever

2. Personalisation 

Dear “Firstname” just doesn’t cut it anymore.  Email marketers are now utiliising much more subscriber data.  From demographic information, to locale, to products browsed or previously purchased.  Personalising content on email marketing campaigns allows marketers to virtually send a different message to every subscriber within each campaign.  With email automation, sending a birthday message, or asking why your subscriber abandoned a pair of jeans can easily happen without you needing to personally email every one of your subscribers.

Email Personalisation
Personalising content, from subscriber name through to their purchasing behaviour, can dramatically increase conversion rates.

 

3.  Email Animation

From animated GIF’s to Cinemagraphs and the occasional video, animation in email is making a long overdue comeback.   While there are still limitations in using animated content within certain email clients, it’s worth learning what can and can’t be done and using animation wisely to drive innovative and successful email marketing campaigns.

Novo Shoes Header

NovoShoes - GIF

 

 

4.  Adapting Email for Wearable Devices

Expect this to become a major trend not only in 2016, but well into 2017.  As usage of wearable technologies like smartwatches increases, marketers will have to learn how to adapt their email marketing messages to suit.   It’s likely that users of wearable technologies will use their devices to filter unimportant messages from essential ones.   Using smartphones to reply to short messages and then sending important emails from a laptop or desktop later on.    

As usage of this technology grows, the probability that your email message could be ignored, or deleted immediately increases.   This will mean subject lines, pre-header text and sender details will become more important than ever.

Smartwatch Email
Subject lines will become ever more important as subscribers filter and respond to messages on different devices.

 

5.  Location Specific Emails

Using Geolocation within email has been around for some time now, but, as personalised content becomes more important, leveraging this type of data will start to make a critical difference in the success of email marketing campaigns.   It enables marketers to use subscribers specific geographic location to personalise content, such as providing directions to a nearest store or  providing specific content based on the weather at their location.   Savvy email marketers can also track the location where a subscriber opens emails, allowing them to segment and send location specific campaigns.

To learn more, or to chat with an email marketing expert, feel free to contact us!