Email marketing has evolved at a significantly higher rate in the last five years than in three decades but 2023 is going to be a completely new story. The apparent recession, layoffs, and the overall economic instability combined with new privacy-focused legislations will keep email marketers on their toes.
On top of that, a significant number of brands are upping their email marketing game, putting direct pressure on their peers to level up. But it can be tricky to navigate through this volatility in email marketing, especially with technical support from mailbox providers making long strides.
To help you prioritize your team’s effort and time, we have compiled a list of top seven email marketing trends based on my comprehensive experience of providing email marketing management services to all types of organizations. Let’s get started:
#1 2023 Will Mark The Dawn Of Pro-Privacy Email Marketing: Rise Of Zero-Party Data
Earlier, acquiring customer data and leveraging it efficiently was a technological challenge but the current user privacy penchant is set to be more complicated. The best way for brands to continue thriving is to switch to zero party data.
Unlike the past, subscribers will tend to be ‘more open’ towards sharing their information since loss of personalized, relevant communication isn’t something they look forward to. In fact, Litmus finds that 73% of people are willing to share information for personalized experiences.
#2 AMP HTML Email Templates Will Rule Personalization
Google’s AMP technology is long seen as an enabler of email gamification but personalization is its most promising user case. Earlier, dynamic content was the de facto method for personalizing email but AMP will usher a new era of creativity and innovation in email personalization.
In fact, AMP will help email marketers provide exceptional user experience with the help of real time content manipulation, tweaking rich multimedia, and tailoring the email content progressively as the user provides inputs.
#3 Interactive Emails Will Drive Sales
Email continues to be the official channel for communication and there’s an inherent sense of security that comes with it. Marketers can leverage the trustworthiness associated with emails by sending sales-focused messages with interactive elements.
Removing apps/websites from the conversion process through AMP technology will significantly boost the conversion rate as it brings the best of both worlds: feeling secure and zero distractions unlike social media apps and web pages.
#4 AI Will Power Hyper-Personalization and Hyper-Segmentation
Another change that the email marketing industry is set to witness with tighter privacy regulations in place is a tectonic shift in how emails are personalized and segmented. We will witness top brands investing in AI tools that will help understand subscriber’s preferences and purchase intent in the absence of conventional tracking mechanisms.
AI and Machine Learning will help email marketers fill the gaps in user data and activity to support hyper-segmentation and hyper-personalization. Here, first-party data will play an equally important role as user interactions will become extremely influential in AI-based in-mail experience.
#5 Email Analytics Will Require Marketers To Reinvent The Wheel
The approach towards email analytics has been unchanged since times immemorial but everything about it is about to get changed. Yet another implication of user privacy laws, popular metrics like open rate will soon become dormant. Apple Mail commands 57% of the inbox provider market and its latest privacy policy will bar ESPs from determining if the emails were opened. In 2023, email marketers will need to focus on multiple metrics depending on the type of email sent to get a proper understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
Notably, subject line optimization and A/B split testing might take a backseat as open rates will not be available but it is recommendable to continue utilizing them optimally since the success very much depends on the act of opening an email.
#6 Newsletters Will Be The New Favorite To Nurture Leads
Failing to build a trustworthy brand during times of uncertainty is going to be the biggest marketing failure for brands in the next couple of years. As email marketing professionals, you must invest in nurturing trust and nothing works better than newsletters in this regard. Newsletters put direct conversion out of the picture while delivering ‘value’ and empowering the recipient.
Also, the purchase cycles will tend to get longer and again, newsletters will help nurture leads without bringing the product/service or sales directly into consideration.
#7 Sales-Heavy Email Marketing Must Take A Back Seat
Since the financial instability and unwillingness to spend money will become dominant in the time to come, it is recommended to not use sales-heavy tactics. Unlike the post-Covid era, be it B2B or B2C, everyone will aim to operate lean and frugally.
Emphasizing sales might work against you due to the apparent aversion to wrong purchase decisions. Hence, email marketers must optimize their email copies and campaigns at large to avoid appearing as sales-heavy or else subscribers might avoid all communications indiscriminately.
Summing Up
Undoubtedly email marketing is set to witness the long awaited technological progress as inbox providers are finally paving the way for innovation.
I hope that you will be able to make the right moves to harness the benefits of the above-mentioned trends and maximize your email marketing ROI. Emails outperform every other digital platform with 4400% returns and thus, it can be your best move in this market.
Author: Kevin George is the head of marketing at Email Uplers, that specializes in crafting Professional Email Templates, PSD to Email conversion, and Mailchimp Templates. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes & jazz, and he breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on email marketing blog.
