Email Marketing: What's IN for 2024?

One of the things that I have been genuinely surprised by is how well email marketing has stood the test of time. In fact, not only has it stood the test of time in terms of marketing efficacy, it's still critical to a brand's revenue. In a study by Litmus referenced by Hubspot, they found that 87% of brands say that email marketing is very critical to business success. What's more, 38% of brands are increasing their email budget, and just 10% are making cuts.

This type of data shows that even with the advancement of technology and the rise of social media platforms, email marketing is still very successful. So, let's take a look at what's in for email marketing in 2024.

Grab your caffeine, put on your comfy clothes, and let's dive in. By the way, I've updated the Marketing...in sweatpants must-haves.. Check them out here.

#1: Strategize

It is vital that your brand have a strategy when it comes to email marketing. Personally, in any brand I've ever worked with, the first priority is auditing the email marketing strategy. It IS that critical to a company. When strategizing, you want to address a few key things.

How many emails are you currently sending daily/weekly/monthly?

What is the current ratio of email call to actions?

Example: How many emails have a call to action to buy/purchase? How many emails highlight thought leadership or other non-purchasing content? I call this the Ask to Give email ratio.

What time of day is my audience most likely to engage with my email?

How do you plan to engage different audiences?

Example: Loyal customers vs. new customers

Once you've built your strategy, you can move onto making sure your emails support that plan to increase ROI. Let's get into the nitty gritty.

#2: Mobile optimization

Data published by eMarketer found that 55% of emails are opened on mobile devices. This number obviously varies depending on target audience and industry, but that data proves just how much people use their phones. When optimizing our emails for mobile devices, there are 3 areas to focus on that can help:

Layout

The layout of the email is arguably the most important area when considering mobile optimization. Many companies in the e-marketing industry recommend a single column layout (double column at most). The single column layout is best for small screens, and prevents the email from looking cluttered. The downside to a single column layout is it requires your reader to scroll, but if approached correctly (we'll get into that tip next) the email should already be short and sweet.

Copy

The copy of the email is the next area of focus when optimizing emails for mobile devices. Copy is recommended to be aligned left, with headlines kept short and font enlarged to help prevent the reader from squinting. And marketers, don't forget your alt text! Something I have learned in this process is just how many people disable images when reading emails. Litmus found that 43% of gmail users view emails with images off. Adding alt text that is concise and includes key words will help make your email more accessible and allow readers to get the point of your email even if their images are disabled.

Call-to-Action

Call-to-action buttons are typically used in email marketing, but need to stand out even more on mobile devices. The CTA buttons in your email are recommended to have larger font with white space around the button so it stands out even more. Especially on mobile devices, the higher the CTA the better performance it's likely to have. People do not want to scroll through a bunch of ****!

Speaking of people not wanting to scroll through a bunch of BS, that's a great segway into the next tip.

#3: Length

Keep your emails short. Keep them simple. My coworkers have actually come up with an unofficial rule: The No Scroll Rule. Every email we are analyzing to see how we can shorten it and still get our message across, therefore lessening the amount of scrolling. Whether you read an email on desktop or a mobile device, the last thing anyone wants is to read a long email. Best practice shared by Campaign Monitor shows that email copy should be between 50-125 words. What's more, data published by The Atlantic showed that emails between 75-100 words had the best response rate at 51%. And, while this statistic doesn't apply to newsletters, that does not mean newsletters need to be extremely long either. A great way to see what email length you have the most success with? Use A/B testing! See how your audience responds to different email lengths and analyze and adjust your strategy.

#4: Subject Line Analyzation

The subject line and pre-header text are often overlooked areas of email marketing, even though they are the first impression (literally). Let's take a look at some of the ways we can improve our subject lines to get higher open rates:

Personalize

According to Campaign Monitor, readers are 26% more likely to open emails if the subject line is personalized. Speaking as a consumer, that's true for me! Just like our overall marketing strategy, our email marketing should include some level of personalization.

Create action

Subject lines should be clear and concise, and immediately let the audience know what it is you're looking for them to do. Here are some great examples of word that create a clear action in a subject line:"Listen, shop, donate, read, check out."

Segment

Creating dynamic subject lines is one of the most effective ways to making sure your audience receives the right message. (Another great thing about buyer personas!) Here's an example of how the same general email may slightly vary just in the subject line:"Shop using your loyalty points" vs. "Shop and build loyalty points"

#5: Frequency and Timing

According to Digital IQ: Email Marketing Benchmarks from Gartner, the #1 trigger for people to unsubscribe was consumers receiving too many emails. The report also shows that consumers only want to receive a few emails per month from their favorite brands. One of the hardest and yet most critical pieces to an email marketing strategy is the send frequency. But... trust the data! Audiences do not want to receive multiple emails a day. Monthly and yearly email auditing can be a great way to evaluate the emails that your audience responds to best. This type of analyzation will also let you know what emails your audience isn't responding well to and how/where you can cut back.

The timing of your emails is just as important as the frequency. If you haven't already, check and see if your email marketing database offers an option to optimize email sends by time. It may seem like a minor detail, but the timing of an email is just as critical as the other components.

For example: I am an unnaturally early riser. The time of day that I open my emails is probably not a time when others are opening theirs. (So Baltimore Ravens, if you're reading this, send me an earlier marketing email so I can buy my AFC Championship gear!)

All of these components are what's IN for email marketing in 2024. Marketing as a whole has shifted from this idea that people need to cast the widest net possible to see an ROI. Now, the idea is that brands can cast a little smaller, more niche and personalized net, and see more of an ROI.

As a marketing strategy subset, email marketing has also shifted in that direction. The more personal your emails are, the more niche you can get, the better outcome you will likely have. Everything about email marketing is now personalized. The strategy, device, subject line, copy, timing, and frequency...everything. Let's execute accordingly!

See you next week!

- Marketing... in sweatpants