In 2021, email remains one of the most important marketing tools. In German-speaking countries alone, 95 percent of companies used email marketing to reach customers and prospects, according to the 2020 email marketing benchmarks.
Just because it's a technology that has been around for over four decades doesn't mean that nothing is happening. Requirements, technologies, user behavior and design, all of these things are subject to constant change and so there is always something new in email marketing. Some trends may already be familiar to you because they are long-term developments, others are more likely to be subject to the fast-moving zeitgeist. We have summarized what we believe to be the most important trends in email marketing in 2021 for you here.
hyperpersonalization
Example of Hyperpersonalization
To ensure that a company's message is not lost in the large number of emails that most of us receive every day, minimum standards such as personalization have long been mandatory. But if you really want to stand out from the crowd, you have to do a little more. One option is hyper-personalization. Customers receive newsletters that are tailored to their individual interests and tastes in terms of both content and design. In the best case, the individual approach goes beyond the mailing, with the recipient being redirected from the newsletter to a landing page that is also tailored to them individually and corresponds to their interests.
Hyperpersonalization does not have to be limited to newsletters and the website. There are now cooperation solutions between email and postal service providers (such as AGNITAS and Deutsche Post ) that enable online and print campaigns to be linked, thus supplementing digital channels with programmatic print. Highly personalized and cross-channel campaigns put the customer even more at the center and make it possible to reach people who hardly pay any attention to digital offers through the haptic medium.
In addition to the obligatory salutation and sender, hyper-personalization is particularly suitable for: images, colors, personal text sections or even vouchers and discounts tailored to the recipient.
When implementing hyper-personalization, however, it must be borne in mind that a certain amount of effort is involved, which, depending on the scope, goes beyond the possibilities of automation and may require the use of AI. It remains to be seen whether hyper-personalization will prevail in the long term. Data protection will certainly have a say in this. Not every customer is willing to reveal more data about themselves than necessary. In addition, one-off purchases intended as gifts can consume customer profiles.
Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Analytics
The use of AI in email marketing has been talked about turkey number dataset for the past few years. It is a trend that is still very current, but a step that only a few larger companies have actually taken so far. The main reason for this is the high initial effort required to create and train the AI. In addition, appropriate experts are required who are more involved in development or data analysis than in classic email marketing.
However, the advantages of intelligent and predictable applications cannot be ignored. Whether it is the right time to send for each individual recipient or the subject line. Ideally, it can be predicted which cover image or subject line will be better received by the respective target group.
However, it can be assumed that sooner or later email marketing will become more individual and intelligent. As AI becomes more relevant, there will certainly be standardized solutions that will lower the barriers to entry. More intelligent email marketing will then be accessible to a wider audience.
data protection and privacy
Data Security in Email Marketing 2021The trend towards the use of artificial intelligence, which naturally requires a lot of data for corresponding predictions, is counteracted by another trend - data protection. For some, this is more of a tiresome ongoing issue than a trend. Because, as we all know, before data can be collected, the consent of the data owner is required in order to be able to use it for advertising purposes. Everyone should be aware of this, at least since the cookie banners that have to be agreed to every time.
The obligation to document and provide information should not be forgotten either, so that information can be provided and data deleted in response to requests. When collecting personal data, the settings must always be as restrictive as possible, true to the motto "privacy by default". Personal data may only be transmitted after consent has been given. Marketers are therefore required to handle user data as transparently and responsibly as possible in order to avoid getting into legal trouble.
You can find out more in our white paper “Email Marketing Legal Tips” .