Email remains one of the most engaging marketing channels. It can drive sales, boost customer loyalty, and provide excellent ROI when used correctly. With 2023 shaping up to be another tricky year for business, email could be the tool you need to give your brand the edge.
Here’s how to make your email channel perform at its best in 2023.
- Get more interactive
- Hyper-personalization
- User-generated content
We’ll discuss each of these in this article, but first, consider this note:
Abandon the Open Rate Metric
Open rates have never been the perfect email metric, but in 2023 they’re set to become all but obsolete.
It’s because of Apple’s new MPP (Mail Privacy Protection) option. MPP enables users to disable the pixels which tell marketers when someone opens an email.
MPP was announced in 2021 but will go into effect in 2023. Moreover, other email systems will follow in Apple’s footsteps and introduce extra privacy measures continuously.
In marketing, the open rate will become a lackluster measurement of an email’s success, popularity, or engagement. It’s crucial because monitoring key metrics is vital to successful email marketing.
The loss of the open rate as a reliable metric makes it harder for email marketers to determine the success of their email campaigns and make improvements as needed.
Partnering with a high-performing email marketing platform will help increase the likelihood your campaigns are fruitful.
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Our advice would be to concentrate on other metrics, including click-through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, and so on.
And don’t just look at them in isolation, either. As far as possible, try and take an extensive picture look at all the metrics, and use that picture to work out what’s engaging, what your audience likes, and the kinds of tactics that can boost your email channel.
Consider signing up for a free trial with prospecting platforms like Outbase. Software solutions like this give insights into engagement patterns across your channels and use them to help you gather leads and curate your funnel.
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Get more interactive
Interactive emails are fun and engaging, making the audience feel involved like never before.
They’re a great way to speed up almost any process, improve user experience, and bring personalization to the next level.
What do we mean by ‘interactive emails’? On a fundamental level, interactivity enables customers to complete actions within the email rather than clicking through to an external site or source.
For example, your customer could click on an offer within your email and purchase it without going to your site to complete the transaction.
Or, using feedback form templates, you can gather information from your customers.
It reduces friction and makes things a lot easier for your customer. It can also help you to gather customer data and gain conversions.
The fewer clicks in any process, the more likely customers will do it.
Source: Unsplash
You can also use interactive features in an email to add mini-games, produce accessible surveys, enhance your email newsletter, and even allow your customers to customize your emails.
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Hyper-personalization
Personalization has been vital to all marketing channels for a long time. In 2023, it’s time to take it to the next level.
Hyper-personalization means personalizing the user experience. No more lazy cut-and-paste templates. No more generalizations.
In 2023, all good email marketers will intensively tailor their content to each audience segment.
Hyper-personalization could include things like:
- Using automation that triggers emails based on visitor behavior.
- Using dynamic content fields, you can tailor to each segment's specific needs and circumstances.
- Recommend products, content, or services based on individual needs and data.
- Sending personalized emails to customers on certain occasions (for example, the anniversary of their first purchase or their birthday).
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UGC (User-Generated Content)
UCG is making a comeback this year. Show your customers how much you appreciate them (and get some free content into the bargain!) by incorporating UGC into your emails.
There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that using UGC boosts conversions. It’s especially true when that UGC incorporates a review or personal experience.
For example, you might utilize a selfie that someone took of themselves using your product, with some text written by them explaining why they like it.
There are many different kinds of UGC. The potential for UGC is endless, from drawings to photographs to text to reviews to social media posts, videos, audio, and more.
Consider offering incentives to encourage users to join and send you their best content. For example, everyone whose content gets picked for your email campaigns could win an exclusive discount.
Take Email Marketing to the Next Level in 2023
Email is a relevant, versatile, and highly effective channel. When used correctly, email can help you bring in new customers, get closer to your existing customers, and boost your conversion rate at a relatively low cost.
In ROI terms, it has the potential to be the best channel available to you. Using the tips we’ve provided here, 2023 could be the year you take your emails to the next level. Good luck!