Sep 26 | 5 minutes read

Newsletters: 5 Stellar Tips to Impress Your Subscribers

Email marketing is in the midst of rapid development. Especially when it comes to the advancement of data, automation and design.

 

 

Data is essential when you want to fine-tune the process of segmentation and personalisation. Automation saves your company resources and maintains a dynamic dialogue with your customers. And with the never-ending technical evolution, the user experience is continuously and consistently improved.

Do you feel overwhelmed?

Don’t worry. We’ve gathered the most essential email marketing trends and added some useful tips to help you impress your subscribers.

When it comes to email and marketing, there’s a plethora of trends as well as tips and tricks to advance your everyday marketing scheme. But how can you separate the good from the bad?

Welcome to a world of automation, personalisation and interactive elements!

Personalisation: Is the First Name Going to Cut It?

If you truly want to home in on personalisation, you have to go beyond the recipient’s name or geographical location. Your level of personalisation boils down to the receiver’s perceived sense of personal relevance in your emails. So, even if you take the step to add the recipient’s name in the subject line, it’s doesn’t necessarily mean that your message has achieved relevance in the customer’s mind (check out the example below!).

 

 
In order to hit a personalisation home-run, you need to tailor your emails. The first step to achieve relevance is to understand who’s behind the collected data. The data-driven vision for the future is one of an automatic match between recipient and relevant content. However, for now, you need a marketer’s experience, knowledge and insights to tailor a message to success.
 
A first step to ease your way into personalisation is to create so called customer personas. These include a variety of variables that characterise the profiles in your customer segments. Phase two is to add another dimension to your personas by combining them with omnichannel data. The result? Your messages are tailored to actual customers with a heightened sense of relevance.
 
And bear in mind that you’re talking to actual people – not robots. With a relaxed, approachable and personal tone, you’ll create and maintain fruitful relationships with your customers.

Automation Through Chatbots

Chatbots are becoming a standard function on websites. However, they’re starting to supersede the mere function of simple customer service. In 2017, chatbots can trigger automated flows– so called marketing automation. For example: chatbots can trigger confirmation emails, but also be used as a vehicle to collect subscribers to your newsletter.

Automation in email marketing is a key ingredient to create and maintain a long-term and trustworthy relationship with your customers. Why, you might ask? Simply because automated emails are triggered by the customer’s online behaviour. So, when an email lands in the recipient’s inbox, it’s both relevant and logical. In addition, automated emails become catalysts in the ongoing conversation between the customer and the brand. 

Include Interactive Elements

We’ve previously written about interactive elements in emails, and the trend is likely to continue in full force. Interactive emails mean that the reader receives an uninterrupted experience since he or she doesn’t have to follow a link that leads them outside of the email. 

Want to deliver your subscribers a quick and easy access to content? In that case, interactive emails is a hot trend for you –  especially if you’re a publicist or a content creator who want to give readers and customers a concentrated reading experience with an easy access to content. Want an example? The American retailer JackThreads is showcasing innovation with interactive elements where the product cart is placed directly into the email itself.

 

However, when you decide to give interactive emails a try, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. First off, even though most email clients can handle interactive elements, it isn’t an industry standard – yet. This means that you might face the risk that a majority of your recipients won’t be able to view your interactive design elements. Secondly, there’s the balance between interactivity and traffic. If a potential or current customer is given seamless interactivity in one stop, you might lose important traffic to your website.

Fine-Tune Your Segments

Demography, geography and behavioural traits have, for a long time, been the three pillars of audience segmentation. An upcoming trend is to complement the pillars by adding a layer of segmentation based on what time your customers consume your content. 
 
What time of day do your segments open your emails? Analyse the variable and see if there are any possible conclusions you can draw that might improve your opening rates and click-through-rates.
 
Does your target audience consist of fashionistas that update their inboxes on the way home from work with the hope to gain inspiration for tomorrow’s outfit? Or perhaps email marketers that are in the hunt for knowledge that’ll make their day-to-day job more effective?
 
The best way to find the sweet-spot is to simply try different types of content at various times of the day. However, if you want to succeed with your testing, you have to be consistent with your follow-ups and analysis.

Emails Should Have Moving Images in 2017

The biggest trend comes down to one single adjective: creativity.

If you want to achieve outstanding results, you need to make sure you stand out. A simple trick is to include interactive elements in your emails. If you want to capture the attention of the impatient online reader (and you do!), a simple trick is to include moving interactive elements in your email. As the elements in an email move, the recipient’s eyes are automatically drawn – and attention and interest is spiked.

However, moving imagery should never be mere gimmickry. Make sure that your interactive elements enforce the message you want to convey and deliver an improved reading experience.

Want a real-life example? The retailer chain B&Q created a micro site – a simple form of a web page – directly in the inbox.


Regardless if you choose to prioritise fine-tuned segmentation or a flashy email design, we hope you’re ready to give the latest trends in email marketing a go!

 

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