One thing that we can conclude after surviving a year like 2020 is that a global pandemic can definitely stir things up and create tectonic changes in all fields, digital marketing being one of them. The following 2021 will most likely bring more changes and trends that adapt to these troubling times. If you’re in the business as a digital marketer the most important thing is to pay close attention to up and coming trends and stay on top of the game by making small adjustments without changing your entire marketing strategy. Ben Givon will list 8 tips on how to implement the needed tools to keep your brand trending and ahead of competitors in 2021.
Email marketing is considered one of the oldest tools in the digital marketing box being 42 years old and contrary to what you may think, it’s as strong as ever. Building a strong email list might not seem significant, but if executed correctly it can lead toward a future purchase. If you’re not collecting email opt-ins, those potential customers might buy from your competitor instead, so be sure to keep a keen eye on this part of your marketing strategy, as it may have a huge impact on sales.
- Personalization
One of the keywords for marketing in 2020, personalization, also applies to emails and the numbers speak to support that fact – personalized subject lines are more likely to be opened, by 26% and personalized emails have a 6 times higher transaction rate. Though, just changing the subject line won’t be enough as consumers nowadays look for hyper personalization and creative content that speaks to them and only them. Segmentation and dynamic content can prevent the loss of 20% of your email marketing list, as that is the number of people that will unsubscribe if a newsletter doesn’t match their interests. Email list segmentation includes the grouping of email subscribers based on location, interests, purchase history, overall behavior etc. This process can be a lot easier if you have an email marketing service that allows you to send dynamic emails.
- Text-Only Emails
In 2020, a new found love has been established for text-only emails as the hyper-personalization trend resumes. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t send emails with GIFs or captivating images, but rather that there’s no need for that anymore. Text-only emails feel more personal and can be a much needed change of strategy for subscribers. Mix these with the regular designed and templated emails to receive maximum impact. Also, remember to use these less-flashy, personalized emails when you really need to connect with your subscribers on a deeper level and send the right message.
- Interaction
If you’re looking to add interaction to your mailing list, using an AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) will make it significantly easier to add interactive content to your emails directly. Instead of linking out to a landing page, you can add interactions and incorporate them into your email. Subscribers will be able to view certain products and even shop directly from your email – no further clicking required. Reducing friction and making it easier for customers to complete actions will definitely increase the probability of a purchase or a completed action.
- Bright Colors
If we’ve established that the recommendation is to mix and match text-only emails with email marketing templates, images and designs, do that by making them bold and bright. Using the correct color will evoke emotions and a drive to action. Black is associated with luxury, elegance, yellow with youthfulness, happiness and blue with security, trust etc. Even using the right shade of a certain color can have a significant impact and increase brand awareness. If we exclude the psychological aspect of colors to the human brain, a strong use of vivid colors in your email marketing can skyrocket engagement and conversion. If you’re still doubtful, 85% of shoppers say they’ll make a purchase primarily based on the color choice.
- Increased Investment
In a time where we’re still assessing and navigating Covid-19 and its impact on businesses, digital marketers are looking for options that are less expensive but with a higher ROI. With a return of $42 for every dollar spent, email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing strategy right now, so an increase in investment is only logical. Where you invest your money is crucial, since it’s important to strategize your spending as well, in order to get maximum payout. Dynamic segmentation is one of two most important investments regarding email marketing, since personalization brings more purchases. Investing your dollars in segmenting your subscribers can yield the biggest returns. The second great investment is a re-engagement campaign, which includes sending emails to customers to encourage and remind them to complete the purchase or sending exclusive offers and promotions to inactive subscribers etc.
- Automation
As we already mentioned, personalization is a number one priority in 2021, but it’s also a labor-intensive task. That’s when automation comes into play – combining analytics with email marketing can produce hyper-personalized email marketing campaigns based on user behavioral patterns. Ben Givon recommends a coupe of tactics for email marketing automation:
- A welcome email series: A greeting to your new subscribers. Could be a single email or an entire series.
- Birthday and anniversary emails: These let your customers know that you care and are thinking about them. Adding a special discount can boost revenue as well.
- Transactional emails: Confirmations of actions sent to your subscribers have a 8 times higher open rate than any other email with 6 times higher generated revenue.
- Website activity emails: Several marketing automation tools that integrate with your website can be implemented and can later trigger email campaigns based on visitor actions.
- Lead nurturing
This is a very important part of email marketing strategies and it’s achieved via omnichannel marketing – the process of using traditional and digital channels to send relevant content to your subscribers. Meeting consumers where they are is important as shoppers these days won’t commit to purchase before visiting several sources. Omnichannel marketing boosts engagement with shoppers and potential customers covering all platforms. Cross-channel engagement ensures that all of the questions are answered and all customer needs are met, so be sure to implement a rather comprehensive omnichannel marketing strategy devised to nurture leads in the right way.
- Privacy
One of the hot topics in the past couple of years was privacy and some email marketers believe that these tighter privacy laws will disrupt their efforts or even disable the possibility of a successful email marketing campaign altogether, but that’s not the case. Anti-spam regulations have been around for a while, but they haven’t reduced the efficacy of email marketing but rather created a better email marketing experience for both sides. The numbers demonstrate that 56% of marketers believe that these laws had a positive impact on their email marketing.
To conclude, despite the havoc the pandemic created in the marketing world, it gave marketers a chance to try out new strategies and use their creative means in order to adapt to the current troubling circumstances. New business models will primarily focus on “people first” and this empathetic approach will create stronger customer-brand relationships; email marketing being the perfect channel for that relationship building. If your plan is to grow your email list and gain more subscribers in the following year, these tips by Ben Givon will definitely navigate you towards that goal, so be sure to cover everything thoroughly and follow the flow of the new year and new email marketing trends.
