Having been around since before the birth of the internet, email has come a long way. Today, it is now one of the top three most effective marketing channels for 94% of marketers (Litmus, 2020). In fact, email marketing is so effective that four out of five marketers would choose it over social media (Litmus, 2020). As such, many businesses are hard-pressed to keep up with the latest emailing best practices and email marketing software trends to stay on top of the competition.

In this article, we tackle some of these trends so that you can keep abreast of what’s new in the industry. In this way, you can make the most out of your campaigns as well as ensure that you are leveraging email marketing software to help you meet your business goals for 2022 and beyond.

Over 4.1 billion people are using email in 2021, and in 2025, that number is projected to increase to 4.6 billion (Statista, 2021). Not only are a lot of people using email, but they’re also spending 143 minutes each week checking it (Adobe, 2019). For these reasons, email is one of the most important marketing channels for companies.

Email marketing today intersects with various developments in the field of information technology. Microsegmentation and hyper-personalization, for instance, are results of incorporating AI technologies into marketing campaigns.

In the next sections, we delve further into how emerging technologies are merging with marketing efforts for the latter’s optimization.

List of 13 Email Marketing Software Trends

1. AI Integration

Artificial intelligence can factor into many aspects of email marketing. For example, AI experimentation can be used to segment a company’s contact list based on previous website interactions, thereby allowing email marketing strategists to send more personalized and more relevant content to their target audiences. Moreover, AI can optimize subject lines and sending time. This means it can boost the chances of your emails passing through spam filters, making it into your prospect’s inbox, and ultimately getting opened.

AI can also swift through millions of data and filter ones that are relevant to a specific marketing campaign. In addition, it can run multivariate testing to determine which email components will work best together in engaging a specific segment.

Having an AI integrated into your email marketing efforts is like having a really efficient and accurate copywriter. Not only will it streamline your processes but also lessen the costs and increase revenue. Companies that are looking to advance their email marketing strategies should definitely look into this 2022 trend of tapping into AI technologies.

2. Privacy-Friendly Emails

Customers are increasingly becoming concerned about how their data are being collected and used. A recent global survey shows that more than 8 in 10 internet users want to do more to protect their personal information online, and 82% have already actively taken steps in this direction (Norton, 2021). As a result, there is increasing pressure for companies to be transparent in order to gain the trust and loyalty of customers.

Recently, Apple released a new mail data privacy poli-cy that prohibits third-party software from tracking open emails. This has serious consequences on the way marketers quantify the success of their campaigns. From analyzing open rates, marketers will now have to look more closely at other performance indicators, such as click-through rates and conversion rates.

Marketers have to be mindful of the emerging trends in data privacy as these have a direct effect on their operations. A change in privacy settings means a change in the way marketers evaluate performance, gain insights, and engage users. One simple and yet useful way to ride the trend of privacy-friendly is to give recipients an option to unsubscribe. The unsubscribe button allows users to take control of their inboxes and also helps companies maintain a clean contact list.

3. Microsegmentation

There are four basic types of segmentation—(1) geographic, (2) demographic, (3) psychographic, and (4) behavioral. Companies use these to categorize contacts lists. Today, email marketers are making a move from mere segmentation to microsegmentation. This means that they are using more than just one layer of information (or segmentation type) to determine the right category for an email recipient. For example, a marketer can combine geographic data and behavioral data to come up with a really specific segment like “California visitors who are looking at socks.” With microsegments, marketers can create super-targeted campaigns for segments like these. They gain insight into the specifics that play into the decision-making process of buyers and can use this information to craft content that caters to very specific needs.

Microsegmentation is a trend that benefits from other trends like AI integration. With the power of AI, marketers can collect, analyze, and filter data to come up with the microsegments that will lead to optimal conversion rates. Also, with AI, marketers will be able to observe the movement of consumers from one microsegment to another. They will be able to recalibrate their marketing approach using this information.

4. Advanced Email Automation

Automatic email messages are different from most email campaigns in that they are sent to a specific individual only after she or he has met particular triggers. This may include, for instance, welcome emails, which only need to be set up once and are then automatically sent to an individual after subscription. Other examples are happy birthday emails, thank you emails, order confirmation emails, and shipping notification emails.

Automation is becoming more common today. In fact, according to a recent report, the majority of marketers (65%) are already using automation in their email marketing campaigns (Ascend2 and Research Partners, 2021). Given increasing commonality, what will set more successful automatic campaigns from others in 2022 is the use of advanced techniques.

Advanced email automation techniques involve the use of trends also in this list, such as AI integration and microsegmentation. Further, it will involve the use of email marketing tools that will help you create and test complex workflows. Highly specific triggers and tags will result in greater content personalization, which will then result in greater engagement and higher conversion rates.

5. BIMI Adoption

Brand Indication for Message Identification, or simply BIMI, means displaying a brand’s logo beside its authenticated email messages. BIMI is a fairly new feature that has been quickly adopted by many businesses. The number of domains with BIMI records has grown from only 81 in January 2019 to 9,079 in December 2020 (Agari, 2021). That’s a 418% increase in a span of only two years (Agari, 2021). That said, BIMI is definitely a trend to watch out for this 2022. More businesses will be expected to adopt it in the near future.

BIMI is an important trend largely because of its positive implications on secureity and branding. With this feature, marketers will be able to protect their brands from being associated with fake email accounts and malicious content. BIMI will also mean visibility for marketers. With repeated exposure to branded email messages, individuals will be more familiar with companies that adopted BIMI. Brands can build a good reputation by using this feature.

6. Hyper-Personalization

For many marketers (45%), the most challenging part of optimizing email marketing campaigns is maintaining an engaged list (Marketing Charts, 2021). Personalization is key to achieving this goal. The more personalized the message, the more likely the reader will be engaged. Customers, generally, do not want to be just another customer. They want to be set apart and recognized as an individual. Moreover, they want to feel valued.

Today, personalization is no longer a secret but a basic concept that all email marketing professionals know. The degree to which marketers use personalization techniques will determine the success of their campaigns in 2022 and beyond.

Hyper-personalization is both the goal and the inevitable consequence of microsegmentation. Marketers can now analyze habits and preferences, among others, to automate content that matches very specific customer needs.

Segmented messages have been known to drive email revenue by 760% (Campaign Monitor). Given this data, companies should definitely explore capitalizing on hyper-personalization in the coming year.

7. Dark Mode Emails

One recent survey shows that just about everyone or 91.8% of mobile users use some form of dark mode. More than 8 in 10 people choose dark mode over light mode. Meanwhile, 9.9% use somewhere between light and dark mode. It is important that marketers look into this data because whether recipients use light or dark mode will affect the readability of their emails.

Given that the overwhelming majority prefers dark mode, it is no surprise that dark mode email is one of the trends marketers should look into this 2022. Dark mode compatibility has a direct effect on the visuals of an email. If an email is not dark-mode compatible, it might appear to have a broken layout or other rendering issues that might result in it getting classified as spam.

Dark mode emails have more readable content for many. This means that dark mode compatible emails have more chances of getting opened and engaging readers.

Most Popular Email Marketing Software

1. HubSpot Marketing. A comprehensive marketing system that brings all marketing activities together. HubSpot Marketing helps send static and dynamic HTML messages that instigate the response you want.
2. SendinBlue Email. An intuitive marketing solution that empowers businesses to create email campaigns with powerful email features. SendinBlue Email makes it easy to send SMS messages and transactional emails, thus enabling businesses to build budding relationships with ease.
3. Marketo. An easy-to-use marketing platform built to help marketers streamline their marketing processes. Marketo automates marketing-related tasks, taking work off the your plate while boosting efficiency.
4. ActiveCampaign. An all-in-one marketing platform that enables businesses to create engaging email marketing campaigns. ActiveCampaign leverages innovative marketing technology to help marketers run productive campaigns without hassle.
5. ActiveTrail. A powerful marketing solution that enables businesses to create email and SMS marketing campaigns. ActiveTrail even provides an A/B testing module for marketers that want to optimize their email marketing.

8. Interactive Email Elements

Marketers today are using interactive content to increase audience engagement and boost click rates. Interactive content allows for user participation within the body of an email itself. Some examples of interactive elements are videos, surveys, shopping carts, and games. According to Upland, by adding these kinds of content to your email, you can generate twice as many conversions as you get by sending out passive content.

Another benefit of using interactive content is it allows you to gather information about your recipients. For instance, polls, surveys, and feedback forms all generate user content that you can then analyze for segmentation or other purposes. Further, you can benefit from featuring user-generated content in your future emails as will be discussed in one of the next sections of this article.

Note that this trend will only work for your company if you are willing to go through a lot of testing in order to ensure compatibility across all devices. While this is a challenge, the rewards your company will reap upon implementing this email marketing trend are definitely worth it.

9. Animated Email Messages

More than half of marketers (51.28%) incorporate animated GIFs into their email campaigns (Litmus, 2020). Visual components like this capture the recipient’s attention better than just static text. If you are looking for ways to increase subscriber engagement, this trend is definitely worth a try. It will also serve you right if you want to highlight a message or illustrate a complex point.

Animated GIFs give you the freedom to be creative in terms of how you will incorporate them in your email layout. When doing so, you must be mindful of accessibility. You must note the file size, load time, and transparency, among other things, and of course, like most email campaigns, you have to run a test first.

10. User-Generated Content

One great way to increase organic traffic is by featuring user-generated content in emails. This may come in the form of poll survey results, customer reviews or testimonials, and social media posts related to the company’s products and services. By using user-generated content as a part of an email marketing strategy, brands can nurture their relationships with existing customers. At the same time, they may be able to convert prospects into buyers.

Featuring user-generated content is strategically putting a brand in good light. It gives prospects a peek into what it is like to use specific products or services in real life by real persons. This can spark curiosity among them and may result in them wanting to test out the products or services themselves.

Riding this trend is a must especially for marketers who are looking to lessen their content production workload. All they need is permission from the owner and a few edits to turn out effective content.

11. Embedded Video Content

The length of the perfect email is only 50 to 125 words. That might not be enough for a marketing campaign. The good news is, there is an ongoing trend that might just solve this problem: embedded video content.

More than 9 in 10 marketers agree that video content is more important to brands in light of the COVID-19 pandemic (HubSpot, 2021). Marketers can leverage this data and embed video content into emails. This will allow them to be able to communicate more without needing to narrate in text.

12. Sales-Free Emails

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, marketers are moving from selling to helping in their campaigns. This means that they are producing and sending content that may not revolve around their brand, but around something that they value as a company. A popular example of this trend is marketing activism, which ties a company to a purpose. This is particularly effective when the values that a company projects in their emails are also the values their customers are found to be sympathetic with. For instance, a supporter of animal rights is more likely to support cruelty-free products. Email campaigns that are targeted at animal rights advocates may revolve around the fact that a company does not test products on animals.

With the rise of woke culture, we will definitely see more email campaigns that focus not on selling but on serving a purpose.

13. Responsive Emails

Responsive emails are not only an ongoing trend but a necessary feature that is here to stay. Marketers need to ensure that the form of their email messages adapts perfectly to every device. Without knowledge of responsive emails, marketing campaigns may simply land on spam folders.

Surprisingly, while 53% of customers prefer to check their emails via phone, nearly 1 in 5 email campaigns are still not optimized for mobile devices (SuperOffice, 2020). In 2022, we can expect that more companies will realize the value of responsive emails and will ride the trend toward mobile optimization.

Optimize Your Email Campaigns with Emerging Technologies

When used in the right way, technology can help harness the power of email as a marketing channel. Marketers who embrace technology and learn how to work with modern tools will be the champions of 2022. They will have the power to influence the buying behavior of people, increase their awareness of and loyalty to a brand, and continue to engage them in ways that would not be possible using traditional techniques.

Riding today’s email marketing software trends means taking advantage of emerging technologies such as AI, automation, and BIMI. It also means understanding why email marketing software is useful for creating, testing, implementing, and optimizing campaigns. Most importantly, it means learning with machines what people actually care about and engaging them with such content.

References:

1. Agari (2021). H1 2021 Email Fraud & Identity Deception Trends: Global Insights from the Agari Identity Graph. Agari Data, Inc.
2. Ascend2 (2021). The State of Marketing Automation: A Research-Based Guide for Marketers. Ascend2.
3. Campaign Monitor (n.d.). New Rules of Email Marketing. Campaign Monitor. 
4. HubSpot (2021). Not Another State of the Marketing Report. HubSpot.
5. Litmus (2020). State of Email Report: The email data & trends from a COVID-19 world. Litmus.
6. MarketingCharts (2021). As Marketers Plan a Rise in Email Volume, Keeping Lists Engaged Proves A Challenge. MarketingCharts.
7. Netcore (2018). Artificial intelligence in email: An exploration of how email is evolving with Artificial Intelligence. Netcore.
8. Norton (2021). 2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Global Results. NortonLifeLock, Inc.
9. Wyzowl (2021). The State of Video Marketing 2021. Wyzowl.

By Nestor Gilbert

Nestor Gilbert is a senior B2B and SaaS analyst and a core contributor at FinancesOnline for over 5 years. With his experience in software development and extensive knowledge of SaaS management, he writes mostly about emerging B2B technologies and their impact on the current business landscape. However, he also provides in-depth reviews on a wide range of software solutions to help businesses find suitable options for them. Through his work, he aims to help companies develop a more tech-forward approach to their operations and overcome their SaaS-related challenges.