Latest email marketing trends from the Mail My Day Conference 2016

93% of program owners say email marketing performs a very important or important strategic role for their businesses (Source: DMA Marketer Email Tracking Study 2016). Email might be sometimes seen as the old dog of marketing, but it is and should still be perceived as the number one channel to invest in. It gives businesses the power to reach customers in a place most people visit every day — their inbox.

This and many more trending thoughts on email and e-marketing were presented to us thanks to Guy Hanson and Denis Ehlicke from Return Path and Tahir Fayyaz from Google, at attending Mail My Day 2016, the conference that brings together leaders who are building the future of email marketing.

The 4th edition of the event provided a forum for marketing attendees who are eager to explore digital technologies and techniques with the aim of helping them learn, share, and grow. Over the course of the Email Marketing Day conference digital trends and strategies are brought together to inspire attendees to create amazing email experiences.

The immersive email marketing world demands you stay on top of the latest trends. Let’s take a look at what we found out from our experts:

What makes great email in 2016

Following email marketing trends gained a lot of attention during the latest Mail My Day event:

Deliverability

The first thing that marks a successful email marketing campaign is the successful conclusion of the ultimate goal - the actual delivery of your email to its intended destination - your subscriber’s inbox. Without it, you will really struggle to get the kind of traction your message deserves.

Responsive Design

In 2016 over 50% of brands will use responsive design for their marketing emails (The Science of Email Clicks: The Impact of Responsive Design & Inbox Testing) Optimizing email newsletters for mobile devices is a must. Not only are more and more users checking their mail on smartphones but the number of transactions made on mobile devices continues to grow ever upward.

Contextual email

Email response is strongly determined by the relevant timing of the message. The right message to the right person at the right time in the right context - this is the ideal email which can keep customers hooked around your brand. With new technologies it is possible to deliver dynamic updates, weather-based emails and real-time offers targeted to the segments of your list.

Using emotions

Emotions have a profound impact on our actions, also in email marketing. It’s our job to use content to connect to our audience's emotions. That's when we are most successful and when we get the highest engagement.

Winback

70% of companies say it’s cheaper to retain a customer than acquire one and 49% say that, Euro for Euro, they achieve better ROI by investing in relationship marketing over acquisition marketing (Source: Econsultancy Cross-Channel Marketing Report 2014). Reminding inactive customers about the kinds of products you offer can encourage them to return and buy again. With the segmentation and personalization that email marketing offers, you are able to send powerful targeted messages that drive results.