Email marketing is evolving faster than spam filters. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest tips, formats, and tech set to level up your strategy this year.
Prioritizing Email Privacy and Security
Email marketing may be an effective way to reach customers, but it comes with great responsibility. Brands must make privacy and security a top priority in their email programs to maintain trust and compliance.
Respecting Data Regulations
The days of wantonly buying email lists and blasting messages to anyone are long gone. Strict data regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted in 2018 redefined the rules around using customer data for email marketing.
The GDPR outright bans purchasing third-party email lists or scraping addresses online without consent. It also requires allowing recipients to opt out at any time. Violating these rules comes with steep fines – we’re talking potentially upwards of €20 million or 4% of a company’s global annual revenue.
Brands seeking to comply with data regulations like the GPDR should:
- Only market to addresses obtained directly and with consent. Whether capturing leads on your website, at events, or through surveys, make sure they agree to receive your emails.
- Honor unsubscribe requests immediately. No trying to get them to re-opt in or continue mailing.
- Allow recipients to update preferences. Let readers choose frequency, content interests, and opt out of types of messages like promos.
- Anonymize collected data after a set period if retaining it.
- Share what data you have and allow users to request deletion. Be transparent and give control back to consumers.
Following both the letter and spirit of laws like the GDPR helps build customer trust in an increasingly privacy-focused world.
Gaining Affirmative Consent
To ensure your email list adheres to regulations, you need proof of affirmative consent – meaning each subscriber said “Yes, I agree to get emails from your brand.
Simply having an email address isn’t enough – you need evidence they actively signed up to receive your messages. Here are some compliant ways to gain consent:
- Checkbox on a web form. The reader selects the box to opt in to emails.
- Confirmation when signing up for an account. Checkbox option included in the account creation flow.
- Response to a survey question. Example: “Tick here if you’d like to join our mailing list.”
- Double opt-in signup. After submitting their email, a confirmation email is sent with a verification link to confirm the signup.
- In-person sign-up. Capture in-person event lead details with consent to follow up via email.
- Consent checkbox when making a purchase. Checkout confirmation page includes a mailing list opt-in.
Documenting affirmative consent protects you legally and gives subscribers confidence you’ll respect their inboxes.
Allowing Preference Management
An email program that gives users control over their data strengthens engagement and trust. Make it easy for readers to update their preferences or opt out completely.
Opt-Out Links
Every commercial email should contain:
- An unsubscribe link allowing recipients to opt out of any future mailings.
- Your physical mailing address – a legal requirement so readers can send written unsubscribe requests.
These details are often included in email footers. Test your opt-out process regularly to ensure it works smoothly.
Preference Centers
Preference centers (also called profile centers) allow subscribers to choose:
- Frequency – how often you mail them.
- Categories – types of email content like promotions, educational articles, event invites, etc.
- Data use – whether you can share or sell their contact info.
- Communication channels – if you can text or call in addition to email.
Preference centers give users granular control over their subscriber experience. Send occasional reminders about updating preferences to gather fresh opt-in data.
Honoring Requests Promptly
When someone withdraws consent by unsubscribing or updating preferences, promptly adhere to their requests. Continuing to email readers who opted out will damage deliverability and could trigger complaints.
Segment your list based on subscriber preferences. Ensure your automation system suppresses any who unsubscribed so they don’t receive further mailings.
Protecting Against Email Spoofing
Brand impersonation is a growing email security threat. Fraudsters spoof company domains and emails to phish customers, spread malware, and steal data.
For example, a spoofed PayPal notice about an account limitation tricks users into handing over their login credentials on a fake site.
Spoofing damages recipient trust in legitimate business communications. Here are tips to help prevent spoofing of your brand:
- Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC authentication protocols on all corporate domains. These verify your outgoing emails so others can’t spoof your sender address.
- Use a unique domain rather than common ones like Gmail for email campaigns. This makes it harder to impersonate.
- Inform subscribers about potential scams spoofing your brand. Share tips to identify real emails, like checking for “Via” tracking.
- Alert users about verified communication channels. For example, “We will never email you for your password.”
- Monitor phishing attempts involving your brand using email security tools. Report scams to have them shut down faster.
Proactively guarding against email spoofing limits the damage to customer relationships when impersonation does occur.
The rising focus on privacy and security makes it more important than ever to maintain compliant, ethical email practices. By handling data carefully and shielding subscribers from malicious emails, brands prove themselves worthy of access to the inbox.
Rethinking Email Metrics and Tracking
Gone are the days of relying on open rates as the holy grail of email success. With evolving privacy standards, engagement metrics need an upgrade too.
It’s time to move beyond opens and implement smarter tracking to prove email ROI.
Decreased Reliance on Open Rates
We get it – open rates hold nostalgia for email marketers. For years, high open rates were the benchmark for email campaign triumph.
But here’s the thing: open rates were never 100% accurate to begin with. A host of technical factors from preview text to image blocking impacted them. Savvy users even employed tactics like preview apps to open emails stealthily.
Now, privacy changes by Apple and other email providers have rendered open rates all but obsolete:
- Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection preloads tracking pixels used to log opens. This means opens can be wrongly reported even if never viewed.
- Android and Windows privacy tools also mask user activity like opens from senders.
- Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative proposes hidings IPs to prevent email opens being linked to locations or individuals.
With opens becoming increasingly unreliable across email clients, it’s time to break your reliance on this vanity metric. Focus instead on engagement and actions taken post-open for a true gauge of email success.
More Reliable Engagement Metrics
Marketers must reframe their view of email performance to focus on meaningful metrics indicative of audience engagement.
A starting point is assessing your email copy itself using zero and first-party data. Zero-party data comes from direct questions to subscribers, while first-party data tracks their email activity.
Feedback Metrics
Zero-party feedback metrics help you improve relevancy by aligning copy with reader needs.
- Reader satisfaction scores gathered via in-email polls and post-send surveys.
- Content ratings given by subscribers on elements like subject lines, design, and message.
- Topic preferences stated by readers when asked what content they want to see.
Armed with these insights, you can fine-tune upcoming emails for maximum appeal.
Action Metrics
First-party data reveals how recipients engage with email content:
- Click-through rates measure email interactiveness.
- Conversion rates track desired post-click goals like purchases.
- Bounce rates indicate emails unable to reach inboxes due to invalid or unsubbed addresses.
- Complaint rates signal recipient annoyance, impacting sender reputation.
Prioritize metrics that directly track success in driving your business goals through email actions.
Implementing Attribution Models
Understanding the customer journey is vital to gauge email’s true marketing influence. For example, an email may spark interest but lead to an eventual sale from organic social clicks.
Attribution modeling statistically gives credit to touchpoints leading to conversions. Popular models include:
- First click attributes sales to the first interaction.
- Last click credits the last touchpoint before purchase.
- Multi-touch distributes proportional credit across touchpoints along the journey.
Work with analysts to determine the best attribution approach for your customer lifecycle and tech stack. This illuminates channels winning you sales, including email’s contribution.
Tracking ROI with UTMs
Unique tracking codes called UTMs enable connecting email to website activity in analytics platforms.
UTMs tag links in an email with a campaign source, medium, name, and other attributes. For example:
When customers click through, analytics tools record traffic referred from your email campaign. You can then analyze engagement on-site, sales impact, and more.
UTMs give clarity on the real ROI generated from each email effort. They are a must for quantifying email’s bottom-line business value.
Gathering Direct Feedback
Sometimes you need to go straight to the source – your subscribers – to learn if your emails hit the mark.
Direct questions can gain qualitative insights to power your email approach such as:
- User experience feedback – “How would you describe your experience reading our emails?”
- Content requests – “What topics would you like to see more of in our mailings?”
- Feature interest – “Would you use an email preference center we developed?”
- Motivation tracking – “What prompted you to make a purchase after our last email?”
Surveys, post-send follow-ups, polls, and conversations on social media are great ways to collect feedback. Use this intel alongside hard metrics to maximize email excellence.
With open rates fading into email marketing history, marketers must adopt more predictive metrics. Measure holistic engagement, attribution, and performance to position email as the revenue rocket it can be.
Optimizing Deliverability
Getting your emails reliably delivered to the inbox is the foundation of email success. With inbox clutter at an all-time high, focusing on optimizing deliverability is a must.
Follow these essential practices to keep your sender reputation pristine.
Verifying Email Addresses at Signup
One of the best ways to boost deliverability is preventing issues from the start. Confirming email validity when users initially subscribe avoids future bounces and blocks.
Rather than blindly accepting any address entered, take two smart steps:
1. Validate Formats
When visitors join your list, automatically check their input for proper formatting on the fly.
Common validation checks include:
- Presence of the @ symbol– Indicates a valid email construction.
- Valid domain endings – Like .com or .edu. Flags made-up endings.
- Address length – Within acceptable email length range.
- Character types – Alerts if non-letter characters like { are entered.
Real-time validation flags probable input errors for users to correct before submission.
2. Verify Functionality
Next, confirm entered emails actually work via verification requests.
Double opt-in sends a confirm link or code to the address entered. Recipients click to verify they control that inbox.
This weeds out typos, fake emails, and spambot traps. Implement double opt-in universally – studies show it slashes undeliverable rates by up to 97%.
Verification at signup resolves badly formatted or inactive emails before they ever hit your list.
Maintaining Clean Subscriber Lists
Despite best efforts, your list will accumulate bad addresses over time:
- Users switch jobs and emails.
- College students graduate with new alumni addresses.
- Recipients manually unsubscribe or ask to be removed.
- Email providers block senders for issues like spam complaints.
Regular list hygiene is essential to limit bounces and unengaged recipients.
Monitoring Bounce Rates
Track permanent hard bounces signaling consistently undeliverable addresses. Remove these subscribers to avoid repeated failed delivery attempts.
Watch for growing soft bounce rates as well. They signal transient inbox issues that may progress to hard bounces if unaddressed.
Running Validation Checks
Actively scan your list for potentially invalid addresses using:
- Bulk validation to flag non-functioning and risky emails.
- Proactive re-permissioning campaigns to capture updated addresses from subscribers.
- Engagement scoring to identify consistently inactive subscribers for removal.
Leveraging Sunset Policies
Set an automated subscriber sunset policy that removes recipients after a period of inactivity – typically 6 to 24 months. This eliminates dormant and unengaged contacts from your database.
Staying on top of subscriber hygiene reduces bounce rates that could otherwise tank deliverability and sender reputation over time.
Monitoring Reputation Metrics
Keep a close eye on key metrics that reflect your sender reputation health:
Spam Complaint Rates
Spam complaints directly hurt your domain and IP reputations with ISPs. Minimize by:
- Allowing instant one-click unsubscribes.
- Gaining double opt-in consent and explicit preferences.
- Ensuring relevancy through segmentation and personalization.
IP Reputations
Monitor your email IP reputations via multi-ISP services like WhatIsMyIPAddress. A negative reputation means delivery issues.
Blocklist Listings
Frequently check major blocklists like Barracuda Reputation Block List to catch any sudden listings. Being on blocklists severely restricts email delivery.
Engagement Metrics
Low open and click rates signal your content is not resonating. Review metrics regularly and optimize content for relevance.
Proactive monitoring empowers you to rapidly resolve deliverability snags before they spiral out of control. Make it a regular habit.
Strong email deliverability is hard-earned but easily lost. Focus on building great lists, maintaining pristine reputation, and crafting engaging content. Follow that recipe to reach inboxes without a hitch.
Personalizing the Subscriber Experience
Generic “Dear Friend” emails don’t cut it anymore. Today’s subscribers expect tailored experiences that demonstrate you value them as individuals.
Hyper-personalization is challenging but pays dividends in engagement and revenue. Here are tips to make it work.
Collecting Zero-Party Data
True personalization requires deep knowledge of customer needs and motivations. Collect this intel straight from subscribers themselves.
Identify Preferences
Capture detailed topics of interest at signup with checkboxes for:
- Types of products they want to see – electronics vs. home goods
- Preferred educational content – tutorials, thought leadership articles, etc.
- Categories of promotions – sales, contests, free trials
- Communication channels – email, texts, phone calls
Profile Key Attributes
Request additional profile data like:
- Job title or industry
- Business type and size
- Location
- Bio and social profiles
- Lifecycle stage – prospect, new customer, loyal buyer, etc.
Ask About Motivations
Understand what readers hope to gain via questions like:
- What challenges do you face in our field?
- How can we help you reach your goals?
- What value do you want from our emails?
Zero-party data forms a rich tapestry of customer context to guide content and personalization.
Sending Hyper-Personalized Content
Armed with zero-party insights, you can craft targeted emails that demonstrate understanding of each subscriber’s needs.
Match Interests
Segment your list based on stated preferences. Send focused content like:
- Relevant product or topic recommendations
- Educational articles matching readers’ goals
- Promos for services a buyer uses
Personalize Journeys
Tailor lifecycle emails to attributes like:
- Welcome series focused on pains and challenges for their role
- Promotional pricing based on purchase history
- Customer win-back offers for previously big spenders
- Retargeting messages aligned to recent site browsing
Avoid Assumptions
Avoid inferred personalization that may miss the mark. Don’t assume all lawyers want law practice content or parents just want parenting info.
Instead, tie content directly to each individual’s declared interests for relevant connections.
Make It Matter
For true impact, personalize email content itself, not just subject lines. Create a dialogue that shows customers you get where they’re coming from.
Making Relevant Recommendations
Product recommendations convert like no other, with 74% of people more likely to buy based on personalized suggestions.
Craft spot-on recs using historical data like:
Past Purchases
If a buyer often purchases organic bread, recommend similar healthy bakery or dairy items.
Send an email highlighting their go-to categories with new options to try.
Common Pairings
If shoppers who buy x shampoo tend to add y conditioner, prompt them to “complete the set.”
Usage Patterns
For a subscription box, use past unboxing reviews to suggest products they’ll love.
“Because you gave our camping cookset 5 stars, here are more outdoor tools you’ll find indispensable for your adventures.”
Special Occasions
Remember birthdays and anniversaries with gift ideas based on past wishlists and favorite treats.
Asking About Preferences
To provide intense personalization at scale, you need lots of data points. But avoid assumptions or intrusive tracking.
Instead, directly ask subscribers:
- How often do you want to hear from us?
- What products interest you most right now?
- What emails do you find useful vs. annoying?
- How can we better speak to your needs?
Frequently re-asking for preferences ensures your understanding evolves with subscribers over time. This helps nurture longtime loyalty through relevant connections.
Personalization is powerful but handle with care by prioritizing subscribers’ needs and perspectives. With a hyper-targeted approach, your emails prove you get – and value – each recipient.
Designing Emails for Maximum Engagement
Emails may seem simple, but design choices have an immense impact on readership and response.
Follow these tips to create emails that capture attention and drive action.
Crafting Scannable Layouts
On crowded smartphones or between tasks at work, recipients don’t pore over your emails – they skim and scan.
Streamline text for quick comprehension:
Use Short Paragraphs
Break up text with paragraph breaks every 3-5 sentences. White space improves readability.
Highlight Key Points
Bold or underline critical details so readers can rapidly identify them in large blocks of text.
Add Numbered and Bulleted Lists
Breaking information into tidy visual lists makes it easy to digest at a glance.
Use Descriptive Headers
Sections with clear descriptive titles help orient readers navigating long content.
Optimizing scannability allows subscribers to quickly grasp key messages on the go.
Formatting for Mobile Optimization
With over 90% of emails opened on mobile, desktop-centric design just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Build mobile-friendly emails using:
- Responsive templates that resize for any screen size.
- Single column layouts.
- Large buttons for easy tapping.
- Top-aligned text and images.
- Maximum 600px email width.
- Minimal scrolling – keep critical info above the fold.
Testing each design thoroughly on phones and tablets ensures your messages shine no matter the device.
Incorporating Visuals
Visuals make emails more compelling and consumable. Include:
Engaging Images
Photos liven up plain text and draw the eye. Choose ones evoking emotion or showing real people for connection.
Data Visualizations
Turn stats and takeaways into sleek charts, graphs, and tables that communicate at a glance.
Infographics
Illustrate concepts, ideas, processes, and advice in fun illustrated snippets that stick in memory.
Product Images
Showcase wares in lifestyle scenarios with customers interacting or benefiting from them.
Videos
Embed videos sparingly, but use to demonstrate products or enliven tutorials and testimonials.
Images enable you to tell stories, not just state facts. Select ones reinforcing key messages.
Testing Interactive Content
Static text-based emails can only hold attention so long. Interactive content entices engagement by:
Offering Value
- ROI calculators
- Quizzes helping readers improve skills
- Surveys that provide useful consumer insights
Incentivizing Clicks
- Instant-win games and sweepstakes
- Giveaways and free download prompts
- Polls hinting at upcoming product launches
Collecting Data
- Live voting on new branding
- Product configuration preference surveys
- Interactive calculators that capture usage data
Test clickables that entertain readers while supporting business goals. Just ensure quick page loading to avoid friction.
Email engagement hinges on resonating copy, frictionless mobile access, captivating visuals, and interactivity. Treat messages as mini-experiences vs. mundane notifications and open rates will soar.
Automating Your Email Workflow
Cast aside images of old-school spammy auto-responders. Modern automation strikes the right tone and timing for relevance.
Let’s explore how to use it to turn one-time buyers into lifetime loyalists.
Welcome Sequences
Make new subscribers feel special with personalized welcome journeys that build loyalty from “Hello!”
Tailor by Buyer Type
Welcome series rules! Create ones tailored to subscriber segments:
- Prospects get educational content to convert.
- First-time shoppers receive promos and tips.
- Loyal big spenders see VIP perks and sneak peeks.
Deliver Value
Focus on delivering value, not making a quick buck with superficial discounts.
Help guide customers instead, like:
- Setting up new accounts fully
- Getting the most from your offerings
- Troubleshooting and FAQs
Reflect Brand Personality
Infuse welcomes with your brand voice to start relationships off right. Be generous and helpful, not overly salesy.
Well-planned welcome workflows make new subscribers feel recognized as the heroes of your brand story.
Abandonment Reminders
Don’t let shoppers walk away forever when they leave full carts behind.
Gently remind them what awaits:
After 1 Day
Send a friendly nudge re-showing their nearly-purchased wares.
After 3 Days
Mention a small discount on their items still awaiting checkout.
After 1 Week
Try more urgent tactics like noting low stock on their picks.
Timed nudges encourage shoppers to complete purchases without being pushy.
Re-Engaging Inactive Contacts
For subscribers who have lapsed into inactivity, spark re-interest with:
New Content Teasers
Share exciting upcoming releases and fresh educational topics.
Surveys About Their Needs
Ask how you can better serve them and reignite their passions.
Timely Promotions
Offer irresistible deals on relevant products they’ve shown interest in before.
Win back disengaged contacts by showing them how your offerings stay meaningful.
Event Reminders
Help subscribers remember popular annual events tied to your business like:
- Concert and festival dates
- Annual sales and clearance events
- Seasonal celebrations and holidays
- Tax deadlines
Timely auto-responders add value by updating customers on your key happenings.
Automation makes once-impersonal batch-and-blast emails feel like friendly postcards from a pen pal. Use it to deepen subscriber connections throughout your relationship.
Capitalizing on Emerging Email Trends
Email may seem like an old-school medium, but smart brands stay on the leading edge of innovations to create wow-worthy experiences.
Explore these emerging trends set to level up email marketing.
Testing AI-Generated Content
Artificial intelligence has exploded in capability, making it easier than ever to automate content creation.
AI tools like Jasper.ai](https://www.jasper.ai/) and [Copy.ai can instantly generate blog posts, social captions, and yes – even email copy.
Consider testing AI for:
Draft Email Copy
Use AI-generated text as a starting point for emails like promos, newsletters, and drip campaigns. Then refine or rewrite as needed to match your brand voice.
Subject Line Ideation
Prompt AI to spit out dozens of potential email subject lines, then pick the top contenders to test.
Personalized Content
Feed AI information on a subscriber’s attributes and past engagement. Have it output custom content tailored just for them.
AI won’t replace human copywriters yet, but it does offer a productivity boost. Try it for ideation or rough drafts to expand creative possibilities.
Crafting Immersive Experiences
Break the mold of flat 2D emails with new interactive technologies like:
Augmented Reality
AR overlays digital elements onto the real-world environment. Brands are using it in emails for virtual product previews, animations, and 3D images that bring products to life.
The IKEA Place app famously lets shoppers digitally preview furniture in their own homes. Expect more of that immersive magic applied to email soon.
Virtual Reality
VR email is still an emerging concept, but some brands send Google Cardboard or other VR headsets to subscribers.
Paired with VR-optimized email content, users can dive into 360-degree branded environments without leaving their inbox.
Product Configurators
Configurators help customers digitally customize products like cars or furniture with different color, fabric, and add-on options.
Incorporating them into emails turns static product images interactive, allowing custom previews in real-time.
Next-levelEmail creates unlikely connections our brains relish and better conveys product value.
Building Voice Compatibility
Voice tech is exploding, with 55% of US adults now using voice assistants monthly.
Enable voice-powered email access by building your messages for compatibility with screen readers.
Best practices include:
- Formatting with HTML headings, lists, and text styling
- Using minimum 14px font sizes and high contrast colors
- Adding descriptive alt text for images
- Writing conversational copy that makes sense read aloud
Voice compatibility meets rising subscriber expectations for multimodal email engagement.
Offering Varied Content Types
Plain text emails have finite potential. Break out of conventional formats with:
Interactive Newsletters
Move beyond static content with clickable links, quizzes, calculators and more to make newsletters engaging “mini sites.”
Educational Infographics
Turn tips, stats, and how-tos into stylish visual infographics that quickly impart knowledge.
Expert Interviews
Publish Q&As with industry experts to position your brand as a thought leader.
Product Release Videos
Demo and explain new product features and value in convenient video demos.
Special Promotions
Sweeten the deal for loyal subscribers via members-only flash sales and VIP coupon codes.
Refreshing content types helps keep engagement high, especially for long-term subscribers who want insider access.
Email innovation is unfolding rapidly. Take advantage in 2023 to craft next-gen messages that excite and inspire.
Key Takeaways
Email marketing continues to evolve rapidly, requiring brands to stay nimble and optimize strategies for 2023’s landscape. Here are the key lessons to power your email success:
- Make privacy job one through consent, security, and data minimization to earn subscriber trust.
- Progress beyond opens to more meaningful engagement and revenue metrics like clicks, conversions, and direct feedback.
- Hyper-personalize with zero-party data to demonstrate understanding of each recipient’s needs.
- Reduce friction and boost response with interactive email content.
- Add automation to scale campaigns while providing tailored subscriber experiences.
- Keep deliverability pristine through strict list hygiene, reputation monitoring, and engagement optimization.
- Captivate readers with scannable text, mobile-optimized design, visuals, and immersive technologies.
- Capitalize on AI and emerging formats like interactive newsletters and infographics.
Email still provides unrivaled ROI compared to other channels. Follow the trends and best practices outlined here to make the most of its potential in 2023. Your subscribers – and bottom line – will thank you.
Here are some frequently asked questions about email marketing trends for 2023:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the most important email marketing trends for 2023?
A: Key email marketing trends this year include a focus on privacy and security, using more reliable engagement metrics beyond open rates, hyper-personalization, interactive email content, automation, and emerging formats like AI-generated copy.
Q: How can I make my email marketing GDPR and CAN-SPAM compliant?
A: Follow regulations by only emailing opted-in subscribers, allowing instant unsubscribes, honoring opt-out requests right away, and being transparent about the data you collect. Also avoid misleading subject lines and seek affirmative consent.
Q: What metrics should I use instead of open rates to measure email success?
A: With open rates becoming less reliable, focus more on click-through rate, conversion rate, revenue per email, and direct feedback like surveys and post-send evaluations.
Q: How do I create more personalized email experiences?
A: Collect zero-party data like reader preferences and motivations at signup to inform hyper-segmentation. Tailor content, recommendations, and journeys to this data for relevant connections.
Q: What are some interactive email elements I can use?
A: Popular interactive email options include live voting polls, calculators, quizzes, AR/VR content, product customizers, carousels, and accordion expand/collapse sections.
Q: How does email automation benefit my marketing?
A: Automation allows you to scale and personalize campaigns with sequences triggered by reader actions. It also facilitates customer journeys with well-timed, relevant messages.
Q: What new email formats should I experiment with?
A: Try interactive newsletters, educational infographics, expert interviews, special promotions, and video demos. AI-generated copy is another emerging trend.
Let me know if you need any other common email marketing questions covered here!