Statista projects that the global email marketing market will increase to USD 17.9 billion by 2027. This figure goes to show the growing popularity of marketing emails and their impact on conversions. Every brand is trying their best to drive maximum ROI through their emails. So, to stand out in the competition, you ought to stay abreast of the latest trends. You must create unique emails that render a memorable experience and deliver value for your audience.
With that said, let’s delve deeper into how email marketing will shape up in 2023.
1. Privacy at the center
In the coming years, marketers will be more watchful about privacy guidelines like GDPR, CCPA, and CAN-SPAM. They will let subscribers adjust their email preferences or opt out from the emails. Email recipients will be able to decide what kind of emails they wish to receive from you and how frequently. While some marketers may despair at these changes, they are ultimately for the better! This will facilitate better segmentation, clean email lists, and enhanced performance of the email campaigns. Plus, you can be more certain that everyone who’s hearing from you actually wants to be hearing from you.
2. Ditching open rate as a reliable email marketing metric
With the release of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8, Apple has introduced the Mail Privacy Protection feature. It prevents the usage of invisible pixels to track user data, which means that marketers will not be able to figure out when the recipients open an email. As the feature conceals the IP address, marketers won’t be able to determine the recipient’s location.
Currently, when your subscribers open an email, it loads pixels that help tracking tools to record the open rate. In the case of Apple, all email content and the tracking pixels are preloaded. As a result, it will still appear opened even if the user has not opened the email.
Should more platform providers follow suit, marketers will not be able to determine the time when the user opened the email, where they opened it, the device used to open it, and any activity on that device – since they will not be able to determine if it was truly opened at all. Consequently, it will not be possible to carry out the activities mentioned below:
- Segmenting subscribers according to the last open date
- Automated email workflows based on the last opened email
- A/B testing subject lines based on open rates
- Optimization of send time according to open rates
Email marketers will have to consider other KPIs like click-through rate, engagement rate, and conversion rate to determine the success of their email campaigns, especially for Apple users.
3. Artificial Intelligence
Hyper-personalizing emails with the help of Artificial Intelligence will gain momentum in the days to come. Marketers will use AI tools to draft catchy and relevant subject lines that help cut through the noise. With the help of AI, marketers will be able to optimize email campaigns to get the best results. AI will also help them maintain data hygiene and prune email lists. Of course, that doesn’t mean email copywriters will be obsolete. It just means that AI-driven email copywriting along with a human touch will be able to make emails more effective than ever.
Hyper-personalized emails are all about sending out promotional offers that are in line with the user’s previous purchases and behavior. Setting up workflows for product recommendations will support your upsell and cross-sell efforts.
4. User-generated Content
User-generated content and social proof are not yet regularly used in emails. In 2023, brands will explore this trend and start incorporating social proof and testimonials in their emails. User-generated content will be used in various forms, like text, images, and videos. Email marketing professionals will use photos of happy customers to reinforce a sense of trust in their users. In turn, UGC and social proof will boost conversions and faster business growth.
In case you are running out of ideas and looking for some email inspirations, user-generated content is the way forward. It will spruce up your email campaigns while increasing the likelihood of conversions.
Uncommon Goods has sent out a brilliant email that features user testimonials. Take a look:
5. Interactivity in Emails
Interactive emails have been used for a couple of years, and that trend is expected to continue in 2023 and beyond. Whether it is the good old hover effect or carousels, menus, or accordions, marketers will explore this trend and reinvent new possibilities in the world of email.
Currently, emails look like a one-way communication where the sender is talking about themselves. Adding interactivity in emails will make it look like a dialogue that warrants equal participation from the user end.
In 2023, more marketers will even try out gamification in emails. This will take engagement rates to the next level and could impart a delightful user experience; people will be more likely to take the expected action. They will remember these brands that try something out of the box.
Take a look at this interactive email by Email Uplers that exudes the essence of the Holiday season.
6. Gradients
Gradients in email will be one of the most important email design trends to look forward to in 2023. You will see more emails with animated gradients and pastel colors in gradients. This trend is used to direct users to read to the email’s end, enhancing subscriber engagement. It also improves the visual appeal of the emails.
You can either use single-color gradients or multi-color gradients. While the former uses a single color going from light to dark, the latter has multiple colors going from one to another. You can also use gradient as the focal point of your email to highlight a particular message in the email.
Here’s an example by Boticinal showing the usage of gradients in emails. See how they have used subtle, pastel colors.
7. Dark Mode Compatibility
As more users are switching to dark mode, you must create emails that render well in dark mode as well as light mode settings. Test the emails in both themes before sending out the final email.
Take a look at this email by Duolingo that renders flawlessly even in Dark Mode.
8. Minimalistic Emails
Less will be more in the future. After all, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, as Leonardo da Vinci once said. In line with this adage, more marketers in 2023 will opt for a minimalistic email layout with ample white space and no distractions. People will prefer organized emails that have a single objective and an actionable CTA.
You can add white space around important elements like the CTA or as a separator between different sections of the email. It will make the emails more readable and increase the likelihood of conversions.
9. Omnichannel Marketing
Your customers (and prospects) are expecting a coherent experience across all marketing channels. 2023 and the years to come will be all about maintaining consistency throughout emails, social media, paid search, SEO, landing pages, and website content. The voice, language, and visuals should all be in line with the overall brand personality. For example: If you are promoting referral marketing strategy through emails, run similar campaigns through social media and SMS too. It will help strengthen your message and encourage users to convert.
10. Animated CTAs
Owing to the intense competition, you should draw maximum attention to your email’s CTA. One way to do this is to animate the CTA buttons and try to drive instant email conversions. While the correct CTA placement and actionable copy are important parameters, experimenting with such innovative ideas will also become important in the coming days.
Magic Spoon has embraced this trend quite well. They extensively use it in their promotional emails, as shown in the example below:
11. A combination of real images, illustrations, and shapes
Historically, marketers have only used static images in the hero section of the emails. However, nowadays people are more open to different design ideas. In 2023, marketers will use a combination of real images, illustrations, and shapes to create a more impactful visual effect. Shapes will help to add more meaning to the image.
12. Automation
Last but not the least, automation will continue to reign supreme in the world of emails. Marketers will be keen to use automated welcome emails, cart abandonment emails, re-engagement emails, and lead nurturing emails to keep subscribers engaged with their brands.
Wrapping Up
With each passing year, it is getting more and more daunting to get email conversions. Brands are constantly in the race to build striking emails that drive users to convert. Following these email marketing tips and trends for 2023 and beyond will give you an edge over your competitors and can turn emails into a profitable channel for you.
