7 Email Marketing Trends to Watch for in 2022

With 2022 around the corner, it’s time to start looking ahead. How brands do business has gone through a lot of changes in the past few years, and Apple’s recent privacy updates added to the mix. 

Now, there’s more focus than ever on utilizing digital channels to engage with consumers and convert them into customers. Unsurprisingly, email marketers are in a great position here. Email is still one of the most vital channels for opening a dialogue with customers and communicating consistently. 

Here are a few key email marketing trends to prepare for right now.

Privacy

Privacy has been something becoming more important to consumers over time. But that got sped up with Apple’s iOS 15 privacy update. 

Now, with it in place, many consumers are not sharing their data as freely as they used to. That means you’ll have to find new ways to engage with customers and get information.

Personalization

While this isn’t exactly a new trend, personalization is becoming more important with each passing year. It’s something consumers want, and you want to deliver more personalized emails whenever you can.

Go beyond standard personalization by using image personalization. Doing so allows you to get hyper-specific in what you send. You can do a lot with personalization, from highlighting loyalty points to providing shipping updates and featuring recommended products with ratings and reviews.

Artificial Intelligence

While the machines aren’t fully taking over (yet), you can do a lot with smart AI optimization in your email marketing. Zembula’s AI decision engine is one way you can start incorporating more automation easily.

Plus, AI is a great way to add even more personalization to your emails without having to spend months running A/B tests and tweaking the HTML of dozens of emails. Add a few snippets of code, and Zembula will take care of the rest, sending the winning email to the right readers.

Visual emails

Pictures and videos can sometimes tell a story that words can’t while still capturing your reader’s attention. Another hot trend that will hit email marketing in 2022 is increasing visual content in emails. 

That means you’ve got the perfect opportunity to jump on image personalization. Sending campaigns with personalized gifs, discounts, and account information will put you a step ahead of the competition.

Kinetic email

Another way to go all-in on personalization is to embrace kinetic emails. These emails allow consumers to engage with and interact with your brand right from the inbox. 

A bonus of kinetic emails is they allow for a lot of personalization. Plus, because it’s so easy to engage with these emails, you can use tools like live polling to get more information from your customers, which you can use to help personalize the content you send them.

User-generated content

Brands have been capitalizing on user-generated content in other channels, including social media, for a long time. There’s a reason for that; user-generated content works. It shows potential customers real information from people just like them.

Embrace the same in your emails. An easy way to start tapping into user-generated content in email is through ratings and reviews. When you create personalized product recommendations to send to customers, add in star ratings, reviews, and testimonials about that product from others.

Customer experience

With customer experience moving more into focus, it’s imperative marketers find ways to put the customer first with every touch. Here’s another area where email can stand out and help your brand pivot to give your customers even more to love about your brand.

Look to see where you can add an extra touch of personalization to drive engagement with your brand. First, make sure you beef up your welcome and loyalty campaigns. Next, add more content and product recommendations that tie into your customer’s interests and needs. And finally, make it easy to convert in just a few clicks from inbox to checkout.

You’ve got this

The last few years have certainly been up and down for brands and marketers, but 2022 provides a brand new year to embrace opportunities. And jump on the trends that customers want.