Translation: As a marketer or business owner, email marketing is non-negotiable. Now, you just need to find the best way to go about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Below, we’re sharing email marketing trends no business owner can ignore, including how to increase customer engagement, share customer-centric content, and stand out in an overflowing inbox. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
4 <\/strong>Email Marketing Trends<\/strong> <\/strong>Small Business<\/strong> Owners Need to Keep in Mind <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Email](\"https:\/\/gumbamail.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gumbamail-stats.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nLast year, the COVID-19 pandemic showed business owners they needed a way to connect with their audience online. By building personalized, engaging email campaigns, you can do just that \u2014 whether readers are scrolling through their mobile devices or checking their inbox on desktop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But drafting conversion-driven content is more than clever email subject lines or enticing opt-ins. Below, we explain four email marketing trends to help develop your digital marketing strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Invite Readers to <\/strong>Unsubscribe<\/strong> (No, That’s Not a Typo)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nMany times, marketers get so focused on growth, they completely overlook engagement \u2014 particularly when it comes to email. If you\u2019re prone to the occasional humble-brag on the number of subscribers on your email list, ask yourself: Just how many of those people are actually reading <\/em>the emails you send out?<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe first step in developing emails that people actually want <\/em>to read is by doing some spring cleaning on your email list. If you have cold subscribers (i.e., those who haven’t opened an email in six months or more), you might consider deleting them from your list. Or, create a segment of those individuals and send them a single email with a [quite blunt] subject line that reads, “Do you want to unsubscribe from this list?”<\/p>\n\n\n\nEmily Thompson, co-host of the Being Boss podcast, once deleted her entire email list<\/a>, then sent out a three-part email series inviting people to opt back in. The result? A healthier, more engaged email list that she \u2014 as a marketer \u2014 could oversee. With uninterested parties weeded out, she could better understand the customer behavior of her readers, thereby improving the overall customer experience of her marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Think Community First, Conversions Second <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nMost (er, all?) articles written about email marketing automation reinforce the importance of a clear call to action (CTA). After all, if a channel isn’t making you money, what’s the point? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we would never, ever tell you to ignore your conversion rate, we would like to introduce a counter argument. Rather than hone in on how your emails serve you <\/em>(i.e., get you buyers), <\/em>why not focus on how they serve your audience? <\/p>\n\n\n\nHow many times have you taken a step back and asked the question, “Would I <\/em>want to read this? What valuable content am I offering?” Rather than create hard-hitting, salesy emails (that frankly, can feel a bit spammy), think of how your newsletter can continue to provide value to your audience \u2014 even if it lengthens the time it takes to reach a conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlisha Ramos, founder of the popular newsletter Girls\u2019 Night In, famously grew her email list<\/a> from 150 to 60,000 subscribers in a single year by doing just that. Each week, Ramos pieced together a fun newsletter encompassing activities, podcasts, articles, and other must-reads to support women who chose to rest, recuperate, and practice self-care rather than going out. Rather than focusing on making a sale, she dedicated 100% of her time to finding content her audience would relish in reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe result? She created an email list with a 50% open rate (nearly 5x the industry average!) and captured the attention of numerous brand partners. Today, she continues to put her community first, turning down 90% of brands who approach her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Grow Your List With <\/strong>Interactive Content<\/strong> <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nTo grow their email list, business owners use enticing opt-ins \u2014 including free e-books, case studies, reports, email courses, and more. When a reader downloads the content, they’ll be placed inside an automated workflow where they receive a welcome email (or series). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever opt-in you choose to offer must pass this test: Is it worth an individual handing over their private email address? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re looking for the best email content to offer as a freebie, consider ditching static e-books or PDFs for interactive mediums, including games, quizzes, calculators, or self-assessments. According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI)<\/a>, 81% of survey respondents say that interactive emails are more effective at capturing readers’ attention than static content. <\/p>\n\n\n\nGretchen Rubin, international bestselling author of \u201cThe Happiness Project\u201d and host of the Happier Podcast, created The Four Tendencies quiz<\/a> to help grow her email list. Based on her book, \u201cThe Four Tendencies,\u201d the quiz helped readers determine how they respond to their expectations, helping them meet deadlines, stop procrastination, and motivate themselves to reach their goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAccording to Amazon<\/a>, Rubin published four books over the course of her career that collectively sold 3.5 million copies. And yet, 3 million people have taken this one <\/em>quiz (meaning, far more people have taken the quiz than read the book).<\/p>\n\n\n\nHere’s what that tells you: Increasing email interactivity will capture people’s attention, thereby helping to grow your list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Create <\/strong>Dynamic Content<\/strong> to Make Email a One-to-One Conversation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"Email](\"https:\/\/gumbamail.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gumbamail-mail-merge.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIf you want to wreak havoc on your deliverability rates, try blasting your entire list with every email you send. (Translation: Don\u2019t do it!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too often, marketing teams approach their email marketing strategy the same way they would approach their blog, search engine optimization (SEO), or social media: Publishing one post to their entire audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the biggest advantages email has over other mediums is that it can be customized to the end reader \u2014 an advantage that will boost your marketing efforts in the long run. Research shows that personalized emails<\/a> have a 139% better click-through rate than other email marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTake a hard look at your audience, developing different personas<\/a> for your readers. Once you identify these key personality traits, take advantage of list segmentation and adjust your messaging for each group. Finally, you can improve the user experience of each email by addressing it to the reader’s first name, or even adjusting the send time to correlate with each reader’s time zone. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHere’s one last way to personalize your emails: Make it look like a real <\/em>email. While marketers like to conduct A\/B testing to determine the latest design trends, research shows<\/a> that plain-text emails get a 17% higher click-through rate than HTML emails. Pro tip: You can make your emails look even more natural by sending these emails from your existing Gmail account<\/a>, so it makes readers feel like they\u2019re receiving a note from a friend \u2014 rather than a sales pitch from a company.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow Gumbamail Can Boost Your Email <\/strong>Marketing Efforts<\/strong> <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"Gumbamail](\"https:\/\/gumbamail.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Gumbamail-Gmail.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nEmail is one of the most efficient channels a marketer can use to scale a business. However, with so much conflicting information available online, it’s hard to know which marketing trends will help engage your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To build an effective email campaign, focus on your most engaged buyers by deleting cold subscribers from your list and sharing community-centric content. In addition, use interactive content (like games or quizzes) as an opt-in, and personalize each email with dynamic content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nLast year, the COVID-19 pandemic showed business owners they needed a way to connect with their audience online. By building personalized, engaging email campaigns, you can do just that \u2014 whether readers are scrolling through their mobile devices or checking their inbox on desktop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But drafting conversion-driven content is more than clever email subject lines or enticing opt-ins. Below, we explain four email marketing trends to help develop your digital marketing strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Invite Readers to <\/strong>Unsubscribe<\/strong> (No, That’s Not a Typo)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nMany times, marketers get so focused on growth, they completely overlook engagement \u2014 particularly when it comes to email. If you\u2019re prone to the occasional humble-brag on the number of subscribers on your email list, ask yourself: Just how many of those people are actually reading <\/em>the emails you send out?<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe first step in developing emails that people actually want <\/em>to read is by doing some spring cleaning on your email list. If you have cold subscribers (i.e., those who haven’t opened an email in six months or more), you might consider deleting them from your list. Or, create a segment of those individuals and send them a single email with a [quite blunt] subject line that reads, “Do you want to unsubscribe from this list?”<\/p>\n\n\n\nEmily Thompson, co-host of the Being Boss podcast, once deleted her entire email list<\/a>, then sent out a three-part email series inviting people to opt back in. The result? A healthier, more engaged email list that she \u2014 as a marketer \u2014 could oversee. With uninterested parties weeded out, she could better understand the customer behavior of her readers, thereby improving the overall customer experience of her marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Think Community First, Conversions Second <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nMost (er, all?) articles written about email marketing automation reinforce the importance of a clear call to action (CTA). After all, if a channel isn’t making you money, what’s the point? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we would never, ever tell you to ignore your conversion rate, we would like to introduce a counter argument. Rather than hone in on how your emails serve you <\/em>(i.e., get you buyers), <\/em>why not focus on how they serve your audience? <\/p>\n\n\n\nHow many times have you taken a step back and asked the question, “Would I <\/em>want to read this? What valuable content am I offering?” Rather than create hard-hitting, salesy emails (that frankly, can feel a bit spammy), think of how your newsletter can continue to provide value to your audience \u2014 even if it lengthens the time it takes to reach a conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlisha Ramos, founder of the popular newsletter Girls\u2019 Night In, famously grew her email list<\/a> from 150 to 60,000 subscribers in a single year by doing just that. Each week, Ramos pieced together a fun newsletter encompassing activities, podcasts, articles, and other must-reads to support women who chose to rest, recuperate, and practice self-care rather than going out. Rather than focusing on making a sale, she dedicated 100% of her time to finding content her audience would relish in reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe result? She created an email list with a 50% open rate (nearly 5x the industry average!) and captured the attention of numerous brand partners. Today, she continues to put her community first, turning down 90% of brands who approach her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Grow Your List With <\/strong>Interactive Content<\/strong> <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nTo grow their email list, business owners use enticing opt-ins \u2014 including free e-books, case studies, reports, email courses, and more. When a reader downloads the content, they’ll be placed inside an automated workflow where they receive a welcome email (or series). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever opt-in you choose to offer must pass this test: Is it worth an individual handing over their private email address? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re looking for the best email content to offer as a freebie, consider ditching static e-books or PDFs for interactive mediums, including games, quizzes, calculators, or self-assessments. According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI)<\/a>, 81% of survey respondents say that interactive emails are more effective at capturing readers’ attention than static content. <\/p>\n\n\n\nGretchen Rubin, international bestselling author of \u201cThe Happiness Project\u201d and host of the Happier Podcast, created The Four Tendencies quiz<\/a> to help grow her email list. Based on her book, \u201cThe Four Tendencies,\u201d the quiz helped readers determine how they respond to their expectations, helping them meet deadlines, stop procrastination, and motivate themselves to reach their goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAccording to Amazon<\/a>, Rubin published four books over the course of her career that collectively sold 3.5 million copies. And yet, 3 million people have taken this one <\/em>quiz (meaning, far more people have taken the quiz than read the book).<\/p>\n\n\n\nHere’s what that tells you: Increasing email interactivity will capture people’s attention, thereby helping to grow your list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Create <\/strong>Dynamic Content<\/strong> to Make Email a One-to-One Conversation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIf you want to wreak havoc on your deliverability rates, try blasting your entire list with every email you send. (Translation: Don\u2019t do it!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too often, marketing teams approach their email marketing strategy the same way they would approach their blog, search engine optimization (SEO), or social media: Publishing one post to their entire audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the biggest advantages email has over other mediums is that it can be customized to the end reader \u2014 an advantage that will boost your marketing efforts in the long run. Research shows that personalized emails<\/a> have a 139% better click-through rate than other email marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTake a hard look at your audience, developing different personas<\/a> for your readers. Once you identify these key personality traits, take advantage of list segmentation and adjust your messaging for each group. Finally, you can improve the user experience of each email by addressing it to the reader’s first name, or even adjusting the send time to correlate with each reader’s time zone. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHere’s one last way to personalize your emails: Make it look like a real <\/em>email. While marketers like to conduct A\/B testing to determine the latest design trends, research shows<\/a> that plain-text emails get a 17% higher click-through rate than HTML emails. Pro tip: You can make your emails look even more natural by sending these emails from your existing Gmail account<\/a>, so it makes readers feel like they\u2019re receiving a note from a friend \u2014 rather than a sales pitch from a company.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow Gumbamail Can Boost Your Email <\/strong>Marketing Efforts<\/strong> <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nEmail is one of the most efficient channels a marketer can use to scale a business. However, with so much conflicting information available online, it’s hard to know which marketing trends will help engage your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To build an effective email campaign, focus on your most engaged buyers by deleting cold subscribers from your list and sharing community-centric content. In addition, use interactive content (like games or quizzes) as an opt-in, and personalize each email with dynamic content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first step in developing emails that people actually want <\/em>to read is by doing some spring cleaning on your email list. If you have cold subscribers (i.e., those who haven’t opened an email in six months or more), you might consider deleting them from your list. Or, create a segment of those individuals and send them a single email with a [quite blunt] subject line that reads, “Do you want to unsubscribe from this list?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emily Thompson, co-host of the Being Boss podcast, once deleted her entire email list<\/a>, then sent out a three-part email series inviting people to opt back in. The result? A healthier, more engaged email list that she \u2014 as a marketer \u2014 could oversee. With uninterested parties weeded out, she could better understand the customer behavior of her readers, thereby improving the overall customer experience of her marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most (er, all?) articles written about email marketing automation reinforce the importance of a clear call to action (CTA). After all, if a channel isn’t making you money, what’s the point? <\/p>\n\n\n\n While we would never, ever tell you to ignore your conversion rate, we would like to introduce a counter argument. Rather than hone in on how your emails serve you <\/em>(i.e., get you buyers), <\/em>why not focus on how they serve your audience? <\/p>\n\n\n\n How many times have you taken a step back and asked the question, “Would I <\/em>want to read this? What valuable content am I offering?” Rather than create hard-hitting, salesy emails (that frankly, can feel a bit spammy), think of how your newsletter can continue to provide value to your audience \u2014 even if it lengthens the time it takes to reach a conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alisha Ramos, founder of the popular newsletter Girls\u2019 Night In, famously grew her email list<\/a> from 150 to 60,000 subscribers in a single year by doing just that. Each week, Ramos pieced together a fun newsletter encompassing activities, podcasts, articles, and other must-reads to support women who chose to rest, recuperate, and practice self-care rather than going out. Rather than focusing on making a sale, she dedicated 100% of her time to finding content her audience would relish in reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The result? She created an email list with a 50% open rate (nearly 5x the industry average!) and captured the attention of numerous brand partners. Today, she continues to put her community first, turning down 90% of brands who approach her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To grow their email list, business owners use enticing opt-ins \u2014 including free e-books, case studies, reports, email courses, and more. When a reader downloads the content, they’ll be placed inside an automated workflow where they receive a welcome email (or series). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever opt-in you choose to offer must pass this test: Is it worth an individual handing over their private email address? <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re looking for the best email content to offer as a freebie, consider ditching static e-books or PDFs for interactive mediums, including games, quizzes, calculators, or self-assessments. According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI)<\/a>, 81% of survey respondents say that interactive emails are more effective at capturing readers’ attention than static content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gretchen Rubin, international bestselling author of \u201cThe Happiness Project\u201d and host of the Happier Podcast, created The Four Tendencies quiz<\/a> to help grow her email list. Based on her book, \u201cThe Four Tendencies,\u201d the quiz helped readers determine how they respond to their expectations, helping them meet deadlines, stop procrastination, and motivate themselves to reach their goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Amazon<\/a>, Rubin published four books over the course of her career that collectively sold 3.5 million copies. And yet, 3 million people have taken this one <\/em>quiz (meaning, far more people have taken the quiz than read the book).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s what that tells you: Increasing email interactivity will capture people’s attention, thereby helping to grow your list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to wreak havoc on your deliverability rates, try blasting your entire list with every email you send. (Translation: Don\u2019t do it!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Too often, marketing teams approach their email marketing strategy the same way they would approach their blog, search engine optimization (SEO), or social media: Publishing one post to their entire audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the biggest advantages email has over other mediums is that it can be customized to the end reader \u2014 an advantage that will boost your marketing efforts in the long run. Research shows that personalized emails<\/a> have a 139% better click-through rate than other email marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a hard look at your audience, developing different personas<\/a> for your readers. Once you identify these key personality traits, take advantage of list segmentation and adjust your messaging for each group. Finally, you can improve the user experience of each email by addressing it to the reader’s first name, or even adjusting the send time to correlate with each reader’s time zone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s one last way to personalize your emails: Make it look like a real <\/em>email. While marketers like to conduct A\/B testing to determine the latest design trends, research shows<\/a> that plain-text emails get a 17% higher click-through rate than HTML emails. Pro tip: You can make your emails look even more natural by sending these emails from your existing Gmail account<\/a>, so it makes readers feel like they\u2019re receiving a note from a friend \u2014 rather than a sales pitch from a company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email is one of the most efficient channels a marketer can use to scale a business. However, with so much conflicting information available online, it’s hard to know which marketing trends will help engage your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To build an effective email campaign, focus on your most engaged buyers by deleting cold subscribers from your list and sharing community-centric content. In addition, use interactive content (like games or quizzes) as an opt-in, and personalize each email with dynamic content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n2. Think Community First, Conversions Second <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Grow Your List With <\/strong>Interactive Content<\/strong> <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Create <\/strong>Dynamic Content<\/strong> to Make Email a One-to-One Conversation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nHow Gumbamail Can Boost Your Email <\/strong>Marketing Efforts<\/strong> <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n