By Savicom News
Top Email Marketing Trends to Watch for in 2016
1. Rise of Interactive Email
Email started to take on another dimension in late 2015 with animation, image carousels, hamburger menus, rollover images and dynamic, clickable images. We can expect to see more of this trend in 2016 as more companies incorporate these elements into their emails, and new interactive elements are created. Thought leaders like Justin Khoo/FreshInbox are leading the way, distilling interactive elements into snippets of code that can be easily implemented by a savvy email marketer.
2. A set of creatives
As more and more companies move towards responsive design and interactive emails, and as it becomes clear not all email clients will embrace (or even allow) these email marketing trends, two creatives will be developed for every marketing campaign. One creative will be received by recipients whose email clients support responsive and interactive emails, another set for recipients who email client do not support responsive and interactive emails. This strategy ensures the best, most consistent brand experience, takes advantage of cutting-edge email capabilities, yet works within the confines of the various email clients.
3. Deliverability will come back into focus
Deliverability—getting emails into someone’s inbox—is at the center of email marketing. We can expect to see a shift back towards the science and technology of delivering emails, as deliverability once again becomes a competitive advantage among ESPs. Moreover, DMARC sender authentication will become more important as ISPs continue to change their algorithms and shift focus away from IP addresses.
4. Location-based marketing
Companies started to embrace this trend in 2015, but we can expect to see it take off in the coming year, as geo data becomes more reliable and targeting becomes increasingly personalized. Geo targeting provides another avenue for marketers to increase the relevance of their messages, timing, images, and offers without appearing too stalker-ish.
5. Pop-ups to drive email signups
Many companies embraced popups (also called lightboxes) as a way to drive newsletter signups, when the standard newsletter signup form on the website became stale. It’s effective—and if you haven’t embraced this pro-active way to drive organic signups, this is the year to do so.
