We’ve seen some prolific developments in email marketing throughout 2015 – the rise of formatting for mobile devices, a move towards greater animation in emails, predictive intelligence and more video embedment, and that’s just for starters. But as they say, out with the old and in with the new, and if you want to stay at the pinnacle of email marketing success, you need to look to the email marketing trends that are being predicted to rock the digital world in 2016.
A more personalised touch and in real-time
The tendency to send more personalised emails that cater for the needs and tastes of individual recipients rather than ‘en-mass’ has been gathering momentum in recent years and looks set to become even more prevalent in 2016.
Long gone are the days when simple spanning worked, as according to research conducted by RedShift, 64% of the study’s participants said they prefer emails with the personal touch such as brands recommending products based on their previously shown interest. Furthermore, 39% of those surveyed said they would unsubscribe if a company send too many branded emails.
The technological tools we’ve been witnessing in 2015 that enables email marketers to execute cross-channel, real-time targeted marketing is only likely to gather greater ammunition and sophistication in 2016.
A plain text comeback!
With more and more people viewing emails from mobile devices it goes without saying that subject lines, pre-headers and opening messages need to be short and concise for viewing on mobile platforms. However, just because we’re viewing emails whilst on the go doesn’t mean to say we can’t digest an email with plain text.
As Smart Insights advises, plain text emails are still best practice, and, thanks to the arrival and growing popularity of wearable text, are about to make a “comeback in a huge way.”
The rise of the lightbox pop-ups to grow email lists
Lightbox pop-ups might be a tad annoying but they’re becoming a pretty effective way to grow email marketing lists and consequently, they’re likely to become even more common in forthcoming months. If a potential customer is on your site and is about to leave, often without signing up to your newsletter or email list, a timely placement of a lightbox pop-up can be just the ticket to ask users to conveniently and easily sign up for your emails. We’re all looking for ease and convenience when we’re online, and as the lightbox delivers such goals, they’re likely to become increasingly welcomed in 2016.
A productive use of Hashtags
‘#’ has certainly taken the world of Twitter and others by storm and now it looks like our beloved hashtag symbol is going to become an imperative part of email marketing. As CodeFear highlights, the use of ‘#’ in 2015 email mailing has produced a 4.3% increase in open rates. Rather modest you might think, but anything that does effectively increase open rates is likely to latch on and become an increasingly inherent part of email marketing in 2016.
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