4 Key Email Marketing Trends to Focus on in 2020

When it comes to email marketing trends, we tend to hear the same things year after year: personalize your campaigns, use a clean and fresh design, integrate social links, etc. However, the same tactics that you used last decade are simply not going to cut it anymore.

As we enter a new decade, everyone seems to be looking back ten years and comparing themselves in terms of their accomplishments and growth. If we look back at where email marketing was a mere ten years ago, the email marketing industry undeniably experienced probably the biggest “glow up” of all.

Wait a minute, doesn’t everyone keep saying that email marketing is dead?

Emails were probably the victim of more death hoaxes than any celebrity, and yet, it’s not only alive and kicking, but in fact, growing year after year. Email marketing is moving quickly. In order to capitalize on campaigns and increase sales, you need to first be aware of the exciting new email marketing trends for 2020. Take a look at the four biggest trends below and learn about how the future of email marketing will change this year.

Prioritized and Not Just Optimized For Mobile

“Optimize for mobile” probably sounds like a broken record by now. We know, everyone knows, that both your website and your emails should be designed with mobile users in mind. However, over the last couple of years alone, we’ve seen a shift in the number of users accessing content on mobile devices vs. by desktop. 2018 was the first year where conversion rates from emails were the same on both mobile and desktop. 

In 2020, it’s clear that it’s no longer enough just to optimize an email campaign for mobile. In order to increase sales and keep us with the times, your emails need to be prioritized for mobile. Now is the time to be taking the opposite approach than what you’ve been doing for the last decade. Your emails should be built with mobile-first in mind, and then tweaked for desktop clients.

Constant Contact has tons of beautifully designed templates that are mobile-friendly. We recommend trying to create your initial campaign on a mobile template first, and then switching over to your desktop design. You might find that you’re paying more attention to specific mobile details that will deliver a better email experience for the end-user.

AI and Marketing Automation Are Here to Stay

As an email marketer, you’re constantly seeking out more and better data about your audience. But how many data points can you really sift through on your own? Enter Artificial Intelligence. With new AI technologies, you’ll find that tasks that used to take you ages are now performed in seconds. AI can create forecasts, identify trends, predict what actions users will take, and much more.

According to Statista, AI can actually help improve very specific aspects of your campaign, such as:

• send times
• click-through rates
• open rates
• deliverability

As more and more industries adopt AI technology in their sales processes, it’s important not to shy away from these new developments. Although it sounds like AI will take over a lot of the daily tasks you are responsible for, this email marketing trend is not here to steal your job (come on, this isn’t a sci-fi movie). Email marketing will always need a human touch for creativity and inventiveness. AI will simply take away menial tasks to allow you to work more efficiently and focus on creating inspiring campaigns.

Users Love Interactive Content

2019 saw a huge increase in the use of interactive content. Users like to be able to interact with an email without moving from their inbox. Adding things like buttons, clickable items, moveable images, forms, rollover effects, or surveys are all a great addition to any email.

By giving the user the ability to engage with content directly in the email, they are having a more enjoyable experience. Opening an email becomes fun instead of just a sales pitch. Therefore, they are more likely to be turned on to whatever it is you’re trying to sell.

An example of interactive content that you’re probably most used to is the abandoned shopping cart. A user will get an email with what looks like their exact shopping cart from your website, except a purchase was not yet made. In a click, the client will be able to complete their purchase. In order to do this, you need an email marketing software that allows for integrations with third-party apps, like Magento or Shopify. Benchmark is a great option for this.

Accessible Content For Voice

According to TechCrunch, 55% of US homes will be using voice-powered smart devices by 2022. As technology begins to talk back to us, this does have an effect on how we create content. It is no longer enough to create an email, or any piece of content, with a narrow idea of how it will be consumed.

If you think people are only using Alexa to check the weather or skip a song, think again. Consumers are using voice technology to check their emails, browse for online deals, and make online purchases. In fact, in 2018, 43% of Alexa or Google Home users admitted to using their voice-powered device to complete a purchase. Clearly, the demand will only rise.

So what does this mean for you? As one of the biggest email marketing trends of 2020, voice automation has an impact on the type of content you use in your campaigns. The content needs to be accessible, which means a few things:

• Use clear HTML markup
• Text content should be precise and readable
• The most important information in your email should come before any other links or media

The best thing you can do is stay up-to-date with trends and changes in voice technology and gain a good understanding of how Alexa is used. It’s unlikely that this trend will go away any time soon. As far as email marketing trends go, we’re still relatively at the tip of the iceberg with this one. Therefore, you have plenty of time to optimize your campaigns with it in mind.

Conclusion

As email marketing grows every year, it’s important to stay on top of the most important changes in order to make sure you increase sales and keep clients engaged. The future of email marketing is bright, and with all these interesting email marketing trends in 2020, it’s clear that it will not be slowing down any time soon. In order to maximize your campaign ROIs, stay on top of this year’s main email marketing trends and build your campaigns with them in mind. Use one of our professional email marketing services to ensure that your marketing strategy doesn’t get stuck in the last decade.