expert email advice

It’s the beginning of a new year — the best time to ditch outdated practices and hop into future marketing trends. While it’s obvious that social media marketing will continue to evolve as algorithms and user habits change, what about email marketing? In 2012, a Pew Study revealed that text messaging is the most preferred form of daily communication among teenagers — 63% of them say so. For email? Only 6%, taking the bottom spot under landline calls and instant messaging. The future of email in 2018 didn’t even seem to be brighter for some professionals because of Gen-Z workers who prefer to communicate through messaging apps or collaboration software like Slack. Email was “one-dimensional and simply outdated.” So, are the days of email marketing almost over for this year? It doesn’t seem like it. We’re actually seeing the opposite. Here are some of the recent email marketing data that may surprise you: According to Forrester’s Email Marketing Forecast, email adoption among 12-17-year-olds grew from 69% to 82% in 2017. In Adobe’s Consumer Email Survey Report 2017, around 61% of 1,000 white-collar respondents who own a smartphone want brands to contact them through email. In the 2018 version of Adobe’s report, employees are spending more time checking their personal emails in 2018. There were 3.7 billion global email users in 2017 — and this is set to grow up to 4.3 billion users in 2022. The good news about the continuous rise of email use goes on and on. Email marketing is certainly evolving as well — a sign that marketers should keep track of the best email marketing practices for this year and beyond. [bctt tweet=”The future is still email! There will be 4.3 billion GLOBAL email users by 2022. Read #emailmarketing tips from 12 experts by @DaniNofuente on @ExpWriters” username=”ExpWriters”] The Future Is (Still) Email: 12 Experts Share Their Email Marketing Tips to Increase Conversion in 2019 Clueless about the changes you need to do in your usual email marketing practices? Let’s ask the experts for some help. Check out these email marketing tips from the marketing pros that you should do right away. 1. Jordie van Rijn “Review where you make ‘the split.’ The split is the point between the email and what is beyond the email. That exact point is marked by a click. Which information do you put in the email and which do you sort out on the landing page. Is your email effective with juuuuust enough to grab attention & foster curiosity, or does more info or repeated persuasion points work better? You need to frame the experience on the landing page in order for them to convert. With all the possible email marketing A/B test you can do, you’d be surprised how often ‘the split’ is totally overlooked in optimizing conversion. Find the point which gives enough to take the next step, not more, not less. And then make sure that the next step is super clear.” Jordie van Rijn is the email marketing consultant behind emailmonday where he helps clients improve their email marketing strategy and select the right email marketing software. He has worked with top brands like AEGON, Unilever, Roche, KLM, and Heineken. He is also the founder of the platform for email marketing software selection. 2. Shane Phair “Personalization goes beyond adding someone’s first name in the subject line. Marketers should be using the information they know about their customers to provide them with emails filled with relevant content. By increasing the use of personalization — such as a publisher offering curated content in their newsletter based on a subscriber’s interests — businesses will see an increase in open and click-through rates, as well as a direct impact on ROI.” [bctt tweet=”‘Marketers should be using the information they know about their customers to provide them with emails filled with relevant content.’ @shanephair on #emailmarketingtips ” username=”ExpWriters”] Shane Phair is the Chief Marketing Officer of Campaign Monitor, a company providing an easy-to-use email marketing and automation platform. Before Campaign Monitor, he led marketing and demand generation teams as VP of Demand Generation at Cleo and held senior sales positions with Brainshark, Ipswitch, and Motorola. 3. Sujan Patel “Maintain a clean and healthy email list. Ensure your emails actually reach your intended target by using an email verifying tool. Voila Norbert’s verifying tool improves your deliverability and ensures your emails aren’t trapped by spam filters and eventually blacklisted.” [bctt tweet=”‘Ensure your emails actually reach your intended target by using an email verifying tool.’ @sujanpatel on #emailmarketingtips ” username=”ExpWriters”] Sujan Patel is the co-founder of WebProfits, a growth marketing agency, and Mailshake, a cold email outreach tool for sales and marketing. He writes for top publications such as Forbes, Inc., and Entrepreneur and talks at different growth marketing conferences around the world. Listen to his content marketing productivity tips in this The Write Podcast episode. 4. Michal Leszczynski “Email marketing has changed over the years, but the developments in the technology aren’t as dynamic as it’s the case with other digital marketing channels. We still have some time before more advanced things like interactive emails, or proper video embedding becomes a standard. The future looks very promising, though. Just check out AMP for email – this thing can completely change how we interact with email messages. So, before that happens – what tactics should marketers focus on to generate the highest engagement rates? As the data from the GetResponse study suggests, what subscribers are looking for in their email communication is personalization. They value emails that are sent at the right time and contain information that’s both interesting and relevant to them. Privacy’s also becoming more critical. Countries, where the regulations are more strict (e.g., require double opt-in), continue to observe the highest open and click-through rates. And finally, videos – even though their support is still limited. They generate very high engagement too. The lesson here: subscribers don’t want to waste time on emails that are just generic or uninteresting. Instead, try offering them valuable content, one that’s tailored to their preferences. Your results will soar.” Michal Leszczynski is … Read more