Email marketing in 2022 – 8 new ideas to boost open rates

The pandemic has revamped the email marketing process in totality. Pre-pandemic and post-pandemic emailing strategies are completely different today. So, email marketing in 2022 is considering the changed customer preferences, and buying behavior to evolve, become effective and deliver.

Adapting to customer preferences and adopting new technology is critical and email marketers today are evolving new processes and changing the way email marketing works.

I listed the expected twists and turns of this industry in 2022 in this article. Let us explore how email marketing in 2022 will upgrade to cater to the changed scenarios.

Artificial Intelligence in email marketing

Humanized emails using artificial intelligence are the biggest challenge for email marketing in 2022. Deep personalization is the key to success, and AI will be of little use here. However, AI-enhanced tools can help send triggered emails and see better CTRs.

Many AI tools, like Salesforce and Marketo, integrate predictive analytics that can help generate better and impactful emails. Their lead scoring models are the best and can help swing CTRs your way when the emails are in sync with customer expectations. 

Businesses like Netflix and Amazon are leveraging these technologies and send out behavior-based emails which have great open rates and CTRs. Amazon sends ‘similar product’ emails and Netflix sends emails based on previous watch history.

More interesting is the fact that both use AI tools to construct subject lines that enhance open rates. 

Hyper-personalization and micro-segmentation in 2022

Though hyper-personalization and micro-segmentation have been a long trend in email marketing, this year they will be more critical than ever. Scoring marketing leads and mail workflows have to be carefully constructed around your segments, and thinner segments will work better.

Segmentation at the level of ‘buyers’ and ‘searchers’ will not work anymore. Micro-segments within ‘buyers’ and ‘product types’ will become more relevant.

The more the segments, the more will be the variety of personalized emails. The more personalized emails get, more the chances of click-throughs. Do not forget to optimize your mail flows here.

Many AI tools are available to create micro-segments. For example, assessments, chatbots, calculators or quizzes on your landing pages can build lists or relevant micro-segments. These tools create relevant and informative interactive content and help general qualified leads with a greater chance of conversion.

Demographic and geographical segments will not cut it for email marketing in 2022. Advanced segmentation based on tastes, needs, habits and behavior will be relevant in this year.

These personalization options will provide value to the customer and increase the chances of click-throughs.

Test, test and test

Consumer preferences have changed and therefore, it is only wise to carry on with A/B testing. Guessing will not cut it and testing will be an integral part of email marketing in 2022.

A/B testing will tell us more about the audience and their preferences so that we can send customer-centric emails to create conversions and convert better. Visuals, subject lines, CTA copy, placement and personalization will play a big part in successful email marketing campaigns.

AMP in email marketing

AMP is a google innovation that helped serve web pages faster on mobiles. Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP is the key and is one of the fast catching trends in email marketing today.

AMP runs on JavaScript, HTML and CSS and helps readers act on the CTAs without redirection. It enables a reader to complete the purchase on the email going nowhere else.

Many email clients like Aweber, SendGrid, Amazon SES and Gmail support AMP based emails. We will see many other providers joining the bandwagon in 2022.

Email marketing in 2022 should take an omnichannel marketing approach

Email marketing being one of the best lead-generation tools, siloed marketing will only bring down its effectiveness. A consistent, branded experience across all marketing channels will not only help to brand but ensure that the omnichannel approach gets better open rates and conversion.

Omnichannel marketing strategy will help in customer retention by about 90% compared to about 33% in a siloed approach. This is because of the customer experience such a strategy will create.

A brand that is omnipresent creates a consistent experience across all marketing channels and that is very important to customers.

Ensure that you introduce and practice BIMI – Brand Indicator for Message Identification. This is very important for omnichannel marketing. It is a known fact that about 70% of recipients open an email once they have recognized the sender. Using brand logos along with messaging is critical in BIMI, it showcases it as an authentic email.

When you take the omnichannel marketing route, BIMI helps in building trust with readers, improves brand visibility and recall, defines authenticity and thus commands a higher deliverability and open rates.

Accessibility

Assistive technologies are getting smaller and effective by the day, and integrating accessibility into your email marketing practices will help take your message a longer way.

There are about a billion people on the planet who are differently abled and taking your emails to them will help growth, especially if you are in the space.

Adding semantic tags, alt tags to images, suited color contrasts and animation will help accessibility, especially with screen readers. This results in an inclusive experience and helps your campaigns to do better.

Content tone

The world is in trouble, not only because of politics and COVID-19 but also because of inter-family strifes and bespoke individual issues. So, being sensitive to emotions and sentiments of readers is important. Using an emphatic tone and simple language will help resonate with people better and your content marketing.

During unrest of troubling times, it is necessary to adjust your content and tone along with reducing or completely doing away with automated or scheduled emails. A customer is a human first, and push marketing does not help in such a scenario.

For email marketing in 2022, content should also tone down on aggressiveness and it should filter out inappropriate words according to the situation. Remember, compassion goes a long way in ascertaining customer retention.

Email marketing in 2022 will see more visuals

An average human mind processes visuals much faster than test – in fact, 60,000 times faster. Today, about 70% of marketers agree that visual content is critical to any marketing strategy.

Various visuals like videos, 3D images, GIFs, static images, animations are best to use in emails to make them more relevant and attractive. Grabbing attention is the key here, and such emails can do that with ease.

However, the written word is not getting obsolete. It has its own charms and will work after it gets the attention.

Brands that use visuals in email marketing see about 7X better open rates and conversions. Creating that visual oomph will be the primary aim of email designers for email marketing in 2022.

Creating appealing emails will help create an impact on the reader, which will help you grow.

In conclusion…

While adopting the above trends, keep in mind the email marketing best practices. Advanced technologies that are a part of the above trends will stay for some time. Investing in them now can help you make the most of it. Email marketing in 2022 is moving towards better customer experiences, and the more awesome it gets, the more the open and conversion rates.

More Digital Marketing trends for 2022.

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