Top email marketing trends leading into 2016

Resolve to make your email marketing more effective in 2016.

Resolve to make your email marketing more effective in 2016.

By Paul de Fombelle

The year is coming to a close. This is a great time to re-assess your email marketing practices and make improvements for even more success in the new year. By embracing new email marketing trends, you can continue to grow your email marketing lists and strengthen relationships with valued clients.

  1. Creating more mobile-friendly email.

More and more people are making smartphones and tablets their digital devices of choice. Statistics show that two out of three emails are opened on a mobile phone or tablet. To keep customers reading your offerings, create emails that are easy to read on mobile devices. This includes practices like responsive design, simple fonts, quick-loading images and clear CTAs that can be seen and responded to easily on a touch screen.

2. Collecting more detailed analytics and tracking.

From custom URLs to cookies to social profile integration, marketers have more tools than ever to learn about their customers. It can take an organization a while to get into the habit of collecting this data. However, over time, it will help you understand what your audience wants and make it easier to give it to them.

3. Using lightboxes to grow email lists.

You’ve likely run across websites that deploy pop-ups a minute or so into your browsing experience. While some people think of these as a nuisance that can deter visitors, statistics show that these tools can increase email list sizes five to 10 times quicker than old-fashioned email sign-up forms. To remain on the side of asset instead of liability, only show the box once to each user. Make sure your offer is something of value: Many may be tempted by a coupon code or a valuable piece of content, for example.

4. Placing hashtags in email.

Hashtags are great bits of shorthand that have migrated from Twitter where they originated to social networks like Facebook and Instagram. If your audience is in the 18 to 25 set, these marks will resonate with them and allow you to connect more deeply with fewer words. Since shorter subject lines often result in a higher open rate, this is a win. Research from Experian shows that using a hashtag in the subject line can increase open rates by around 5 percent.

Inside the body of your email, hashtags can give people a quick way to engage. For instance, if you sell specialty t-shirts, invite people to post photos of them using your new item under the hashtag — #tshirtlove (or another unique and applicable tag).

Also, don’t forget a signature line. Include a relevant hashtag that readers can click to get up-to-the-minute information about your products and services.

5. Increased personalization.

It’s common sense to respond to messages that feel personal and relevant. New technology for email segmentation and increased information about audiences allows marketers to personalize offerings more than ever before. Not only will this enhanced personalization make it easier to predict what a customer will want, but it will likely result in improved customer loyalty. This happier clientele will be more likely to want to continue to do business with you in the future.

Email, as a medium of communication, is not going away, though its use is continuing to evolve. By keeping up with the latest trends and best practices, you can increase your reach and build a stronger business with longer and more profitable relationships with customers.

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Paul de Fombelle is the Global Development Director for Mailify, an email marketing software with over 40,000 global users. Initially from an editorial background, Paul contributed to tech businesses in four countries as an expert in Digital marketing and Content strategies.

1 comment

  1. Ellie says:

    Interesting trends! I’ve been using responsive design in my email campaigns for a while with GetResponse.

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