The only permanent thing in our lives is change. As an entrepreneur, you are certainly used to fast-paced change. There are always new marketing strategies to learn, new ways to satisfy your clients’ needs, new product ideas to work on. This is why we are confident that you are able to handle a new type of change: the way email marketing will work this year.
The changes we foresee are of two natures: technical and regulatory. While technology-related changes give you a certain amount of time to adapt your strategies, when it comes to legal regulations, you have no choice: you must comply or face the penalties.
However change also means improvement. It means working smarter instead of harder, and reaching your leads in more convenient and meaningful ways. Thus, change is good for you and you should look forward to embracing it.
This being said, here are the top changes we expect to see in email marketing in 2018:
- The Coming into Force of GDPR
The European Union has adopted the General Data Protection Regulations and they will come into force on 25 May 2018. These regulations add stricter rules to the way companies can collect personal data, such as name and email address, through online campaigns, email newsletters and lead magnets.
The regulations are meant to protect the interests of the citizens in all 28 European countries and are enforceable for any company worldwide which does business online with European citizens. If you are selling digital products and services, or even ship your products to Europe, your business needs to adapt its data collection policy to comply with GDPR. This website tells you what you need to do to make sure your business is GDPR compliant.
- Newsletters Become Interactive Microsites
Microsites are basic websites which focus on a certain product or idea. For example, companies which sell various categories of products create a microsite for each category of products, for SEO purposes.
The concept of a microsite will transform email newsletters in 2018. An inbox version of a microsite will contain collapsible sections, forms which can be filled in directly in the email, a carousel of content, etc. In short, it will offer recipients a wide range of interactions and rich content packaged into a format which is easy to read and share on the social media.
- Mobile First and Foremost
Whatever format you wish to adopt for your newsletters, make sure that it is mobile friendly by default. Computer users will see the newsletter just fine if you format it for mobile. The other way round is not true: desktop design is not ergonomic for any mobile screen, no matter how large.
Fortunately, both graphic designers and resources of newsletter templates have adopted this trend for some time now. Thus, if you are looking around for a new template for your newsletter, the latest additions to the offer are most likely mobile friendly.
- Artificial Intelligence to the Rescue
Artificial intelligence has made great progress during the last few years. Right now, AI chatbots can serve as primary customer service agents on retail websites and, why not?, they help you write better, more engaging emails.
The first step has already been made by the company Adobe. Its Adobe Campaign AI-powered tool is sufficiently advanced to suggest email headlines. Soon enough, you will be able to improve your emails even more with advanced features and automate your campaigns thanks to AI, because machine learning is much faster than human learning.
- Getting Personal, More Than Ever
Here is the thing: people are tired of impersonal-sounding emails, which look painfully like a mass-sent message. They want the personal approach, a friendly tone, customized product recommendations, etc. In short, they want to feel as if they are having a one-on-one conversation with another human being.
Segmentation of mailing lists, and a friendlier, more personal tone of voice will be among the key ways in which you will have to change your newsletter writing style in 2018 if you want to keep your subscribers loyal.