Email Marketing Trends 2022: Are You Ready For The Changing Landscape?

Email marketing trends from email experts

Emails have undergone a tremendous metamorphosis ever since their inception. What started as a channel for internal communication has evolved into a powerful medium that generates an ROI of $42 for every $1 spent.

However, if you do not stay abreast with the trends and technological advancements, you will lag in the race with your competitors.

To help you formulate a winning email strategy, we are here with top email marketing trends you must be aware of in 2022.

1. Be mindful of the Mail Privacy Protection by Apple.

Apple announced a new iOS 15 feature: Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), on 7th June 2021. The objective of MPP is to protect the user’s privacy by concealing their IP address. Consequently, the senders will not be able to figure out their subscriber’s location and other online activities.

Also, it will prevent accurate tracking of the open rate. When MPP is turned on, the user will not receive the emails directly.

iOS15 Apple mail privacy protection popup
iOS15 Apple mail privacy protection popup – Image source: CloudHQ

Instead, they will be sent to a proxy server. The tracking pixels and the message content will be pre-loaded, regardless of whether the user opens the email. Therefore, marketers will not be able to track the open rate correctly.

They will have to rely on other metrics like click-through rate and conversion rate to assess the performance of the email campaigns. In addition, it will also be necessary to segment iOS and non-iOS subscribers for an accurate analysis of the campaign results.

2. Align the data to impart a pleasant experience to the subscribers.

It will be of utmost importance to use data more meaningfully. You must make your customers feel special and let them know that you care for their interests. Personalization will evolve to be ‘persona-zation’, through which you send out tailormade emails to every segment on your list. As a result, it will boost your email response rate and enhance your overall campaign results.

3. Incorporate interactivity in your emails.

Make your emails interactive to increase subscriber engagement and provide readers with a rich, app-like experience. You can allow the users to book appointments, make purchases, and RSVP to an event from the inbox itself through such features.

It will increase the likelihood of conversion as the user does not have to visit any third-party website or landing page to complete the action. Use technological advancements like AMP to build innovative emails that stand out and cut through the noise in your subscriber’s inbox.

4. Strive for an omnichannel marketing approach.

Of course, email is a powerful mode of communication. However, it will not be enough to rely on email marketing alone. You will have to take an omnichannel marketing approach and use SMS, push notifications, and social media. You must also keep track of the results you get from each channel. Focus on the one that brings the best outcome for your campaigns.

5. Use predictive analytics and watch your ROI soar.

Predictive analytics works like that astrologer who lets you know how your customers will interact with your brand in the future. You only need to invest in an advanced CRM tool like Salesforce to get this feature at your fingertips.

It will allow you to send perfectly timed emails to your subscribers. For instance, if you are in the eCommerce sector, you can use this functionality to send stock replenishment or product recommendation emails based on the history of previous purchases.

6. Create mobile-responsive emails.

In 2019, 42% of all email opens were through mobile devices. This figure is likely to rise in the years to come. Therefore, you must deploy emails that render well across devices with smaller screens.

Use mobile-responsive email templates with a single-column layout to cater to these subscribers. Furthermore, pick the font size, CTA button size, and design elements so that they render flawlessly on all devices.

7. Aim to design accessible emails.

Accessibility will be an indispensable factor to consider while designing your emails in the times to come. Your emails should follow a logical reading order so that people using screen readers can understand the message.

Choose the proper colour contrast of 4.5:1 to enhance email readability. Light text on a dark background or dark-coloured text on a light background would work the best. For instance: Avoid combinations like blue and purple or yellow and white.

While coding accessible emails, you must use semantic tags like <h1>, <h2>, and <p> so that assistive technologies like screen readers can comprehend the visual hierarchy of the content. Include <lang> attribute in the code to highlight the language used in the email. For example, if the email is in French, you must use lang=”fr”.

Talking about visuals, you must not include too flashy animations. Always add suitable alt-text with every visual element unless it is purely decorative. GIFs should not have a flashing rate between 2 to 55Hz; otherwise, it will be problematic for people with photosensitive seizures.

8. Harness the power of email design systems.

More often than not, brands spend more than two weeks producing a single email.

Brands spend weeks producing an email - Litmus
Brands spend weeks producing an email – Image source: Litmus

To keep up with the increasing volume of emails, you must use email design systems. Like web design systems, email design systems will facilitate the quick production of emails. It will also help maintain brand identity and design consistency throughout the emails.

Companies working with remote decentralized teams or large enterprises will significantly benefit from this arrangement. As the turnaround time decreases, teams will be able to channel their energy on email conceptualization, better personalization, and A/B testing.

They will be able to think out-of-the-box ideas for their emails, thereby imparting a delightful experience to the subscribers. The best part of using design systems is that it will reduce the possibility of any rookie mistakes.

9. Implement agile marketing methodology.

Email template production involves several complex steps like creating audiences, planning the email concept, copywriting, designing, coding, including tracking codes and other tags, sending test emails for approval, reiterating, optimizing, analyzing the results, and microscale tasks in between.

To streamline these intricate processes, employ agile management systems that help reduce the email production time and avoid errors.

10. Do not forget the basics.

All the nine trends shared above are ‘good-to-have’, but there are some best practices that you must follow today, tomorrow, and in the years to come. These basic tactics are:

  • Segmentation
  • Personalization
  • Automation

Missing out on these fundamentals will make all your efforts go down the drain.

Wrapping Up

Emails have continued to shine in glory because it is an owned channel. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels, you have complete control over the database of email addresses stored in your ESP or CRM.

Just follow these trends, and you will surely reap the fruits of your efforts. As email clients are getting more advanced, you should not shy away from trying new elements in your email design.

Looking for more insights into email marketing trends?

Check out the interactive infographic created by the email geeks at Email Uplers: Email Marketing Trends to Look Out For In 2022.

Email expert infographic 2022
Email expert infographic 2022.

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