As we shared in last week’s infographic, email marketing remains one of the most effective tools marketers use today to engage business prospects and convert them into new leads.

But how do you craft an email on which a person won’t immediately click delete?

We’ll guide you through 5 key email marketing trends that can help you shape your strategy in 2020.

ONE: THINK MOBILE

Mobile browsing has surpassed desktop browsing in terms of the percentage of traffic.

According to Litmus 2019 Email Client Market stats, open rates on mobile devices are increasing more rapidly than open rates on desktop computers. This shift has caused marketers to prioritize design optimization for mobile devices.

LPC suggests: Keep email design minimalistic and straightforward. Provide content that your audience not only finds interesting but can also digest easily. Think short, punchy text and correctly sized images.

TWO: SHORT, CONCISE TEXT

As more and more people read email on mobile devices, they’re only spending a minimal amount of time reading it, also known as “skimming.” Does this sound familiar?

That’s why strong calls to action (CTAs) placed early on in the email are imperative to a campaign’s success.

LPC suggests: Place CTAs high in the body of the email, then follow them with brief, direct text paired with eye-catching imagery.

Keeping this design in mind should help improve open rates.

THREE: ACCESSIBLE CONTENT

With the increased use of smart devices such as voice assistants, we will see marketers start to focus on accessibly designed content. Marketers should consider making email structure and design more accessible for smart devices to read. After all, many people are asking their pal, Alexa, to read their messages.

LPC suggests: Keep the following tips top of mind:

• Keep content short and concise

• Use real text HTML instead of text in images

• Create a clear visual hierarchy in your email

• Avoid center-justified text

• Use bigger font sizes and line spacing

• Use alt text for specific images

• Ensure HTML tables are accessible to screen readers

FOUR: DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING

Not a new concept, but in 2020, we will see marketers move from a “data-driven” marketing approach to a “customer-driven” marketing approach. This will allow marketers to start thinking the way their customers think and create experiences they truly connect with.

LPC suggests: Get comfortable with A/B testing. This is the best way to determine how to engage with an audience. Again, this isn’t a new concept, but it is highly effective in targeting what an audience prefers.

FIVE: THE RISE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IN EMAIL MARKETING

As marketers, we strive to personalize our automated emails as much as possible. Even if marketers segment their databases well, mass-generated emails can, at times, come across just like that – mass-generated.

To engage more with their audience, marketers have begun to introduce AI into their automated email marketing strategy. AI, coupled with dynamic content, is in its infancy but has been used to personalize emails based on the recipient’s preferences.

LPC suggests: Consider send-time optimization, which is, essentially, optimizing email send times based on historical open returns.

Final Thoughts

Marketers are quick to reshape their email marketing strategies to adapt to new technological innovations on which customers quickly rely. It is clear that people are busy and looking to receive useful information in quick tidbits that, if marketed right, will cause them to engage with an email to learn more.

Make no mistake about it; email marketing still remains an effective tool for marketers to engage with their clients and prospective clients.