7 Key Trends for Email Marketing
with Email Template Examples in 2022!

As the year 2022 passes by, there are a few key trends that have survived from the email marketing jungle. It seems that these conceptual trends will also shape the future of email marketing. Firstly, we are seeing a move away from traditional mass emailing in favor of more targeted and personalized messages. Secondly, there is an increasing focus on delivering value through email content, rather than simply selling products or services. Finally, there is a shift towards using email as a tool for building relationships, rather than just acquiring customers.

Therefore, as digital marketing experts we believe in the quota “Long live email marketing!”. Because digital marketers and public relations specialists still need your power!  As we mentioned in our previous blog posts, like “Best Email Marketing Strategies'' email marketing is still a popular tool for digital campaigners. It may be seen as an old tactic among marketers however trends and some regulations for email marketing are still updated according to the new digital trends and new email marketing tips. 

So what does this all mean for your email marketing strategy? If you want to stay ahead of the curve, it's important to be aware of these trends and how they can impact your business (email marketing for small business and others). By keeping on top of the latest email marketing trends and revisiting and redefining the question "What is email marketing?", you'll be able to adapt your strategy to stay ahead of the competition.

Hence through this article, we are going to summarize and visualize the verified key trends of email marketing and email marketing softwares in 2022, from now. 

1. Focus on the Customer Journey 

Yes, it has been 2022 for a while however, focusing on the customer journey is still a trending topic for email marketing. Honestly it has been divided into sub-topics such as personalization and segmentation, which will be also discussed furthermore in that article. Yet, email marketing is still a great way to focus on the customer journey. By understanding the different stages of the customer journey, you can create email content that is tailored to meet the needs of your customers. Infact , the customer journey is the sum total of all the touchpoints that a customer has with your brand, from awareness to purchase and beyond. As a digital marketer, it's your job to make sure that each of those touchpoints is positive and that the customer has a great experience overall.

The first way to focus on the customer journey via email marketing is to analyze and understand your customer or potential customers who signed up your contact list somehow. By creating targeted and relevant emails at each stage of the customer journey, you can ensure that your customers have a positive experience with your brand and are more likely to make a purchase. For example, if you are targeting customers who are in the awareness stage, your email content should focus on educating them about your product or service. If you are targeting customers who are in the consideration stage, your email content should focus on helping them compare your product or service to others. And if you are targeting customers who are in the decision stage, your email content should focus on helping them make a purchasing decision. By understanding the customer journey and creating email content that is targeted to each stage, you can ensure that your email marketing is focused on the needs of your customers. This will help you create a successful email marketing campaign that meets the needs of your existing or potential customers. By means of targeted emails at each stage of the journey, you are going to boost customer loyalty and retention as well. 

Below, you can see a simple example of emailing for customer journey, which was interrupted after a free trial period. The expression at the subject line “We miss you” refers to the individual in a sensible way, to gain the attention back. Plus, “Get 6 months on us.  “ seems to be a generous offer, with a cute heart attached! Once the subject line catches the receiver and gets the click, it’s on the shoulders’ of the email design and body parts to conclude the mission! Additionally the image, user testimonial and CTAs are well-located to trigger the recipient…

2. Prefer User-Generated Content 

User-generated content is not a brand new tactic for digital marketers; however the effect of it expands every year in a different form of usage. Depending on the tremendous outcomes of social media, user-generated content is empowered much more than ever before. So why not digital marketers use the potential of it? You can easily include various forms of user-generated content into an email body in order to persuade the recipients for your brand. However, you should better assure that there is no manipulation within materials, such as fake comments, bot tweets etc. 

These are a few examples for user-generated content to be preferred in emailings: user reviews, comments & stars, user feedbacks, testimonials, social media & blog posts, case studies etc. 

3. Supreme Personalisation and Microsegmentation

If one essential tactic for successful emailings is personalisation the other one is segmentation, walking hand in hand doubtlessly. In previous blog posts we pointed out the importance of personalisation and segmentation in mailings as well. Now, while crafting your newsletter, you should also regard for supreme personalisation and micro segmentation meaning that “be specific to your potential customers as much as you can!”. 

Digital marketers are aware of the fact that they should go beyond the addressed name-surname combination in regard to personalisation. One great example for advanced personalisation is abandoned cart emails. This is truly a tailored mailing to win back the customer and complete the order process. One more instance for supreme personalisation is an old fellow on the internet, actually. Do you remember the time when “You may also like these…” suggestions invaded all of the web pages starting from the books we have read to the lipsticks we have bought?! There is no flash news that the algorithms have been deciding instead of us for a while. Take the reality and implement it to your email marketing strategy as sending provoking emails based on visitor behavior analysis.

You can also organize that targeting in line with the microsegmentation. Imagine you have collected and microsegmented the demographic data for “the women aged between 25-40 living in the X Region and who had bought the anti-tension scalp massage within in 4 weeks at Y Spa & Wellness Center.” These are absolutely invaluable figures and very profitable for micro segmentation in order to organize the next emailing strategy specific to these customers. 

Below you can see an actual mailing example both for personalization and micro segmentation targeting the attenders of the previous designing course with the aim of selling them a new one, via a discount campaign. The below method also takes the advantage of good reviews for the instructor, referring to the user-generated content as well. 

4. The Usage & Benefits of AI for Email Marketing 

Artificial Intelligence has already made its way in every industry. Even email marketing is not left out. It has been one of the coolest ‘tools’ for email marketing through the year 2022. AI has become a significant part of email marketing as it comes with several benefits that help marketers target their audience more effectively and efficiently. Increasing competition and limited human resources are forcing marketers to think out of the box and use artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies for optimizing their email marketing strategy in order to drive performance. With AI solutions like machine learning algorithms and natural language processing APIs becoming more accessible, there’s never been a better time for brands to implement AI for email marketing. Using natural language processing (NLP) provides understanding of customers’ intents by analyzing their emails so that automated responses can be sent in regard to that analysis. Moreover, AI-enabled email marketing solutions also provide actionable insights about the performance of the campaign, which makes it easier for marketers to adjust their strategy accordingly. 

Let’s take a quick look at how you can use AI for email marketing purposes :

• Create attractive subject lines 
• Craft unique email copy
• Restructure the emailing campaigns for ultimate potential.
• Estimate the best time schedule for sending out the emails 
• Refine the email lists 

Do you want proof for the quality or the capability of AI solutions? The below paragraph is 90% written via an AI provider... So, give it a shot!

5. Prefer Fresh Email Designs & Templates 

It is unbelievable but a great majority of the classic newsletters are still designed with dull html codes, or just simple text bodies with attached images or links to Youtube videos and websites! Generally, public relations specialists who are relatively comfortable compared to sales or marketing experts prefer the easiest and simplest way to reach out to their audience. 

Let’s check 2 different samples specific to the entertainment industry, telling the almost same story, Cannes Film Festival. 

At first example there is a basic newsletter design in regardless of the margins, CTA buttons, having just a heading in the name of template design; the newsletter aims just information and referring links. 

On the other hand, in the second image you can check out the official newsletter of the Cannes Film Festival, promoting the premier of the Elvis movie by Baz Luhrmann at the 75th Festival de Cannes. Please check out the neat colors, simple fonts, embedded image & video usage as well as the heading & footer. That official press release is also a good example for such smooth designs even with these huge information body parts which is almost inevitable for such press releases & newsletters.  

However as an email marketer or digital campaign holder if you aim to reach out the potential customers via attractive email marketing designs there are some additional tips that you can consider to apply.

1. Use animations or Gifs within the Templates

Yes, believe your ears, we are talking about another old friend, gifs! Do not hesitate to be funny, to some extent. The whole world is dull enough; so take a step on to funny designs even with small touches. Check the below gif part of a shipment emailing: 

There are thousands of free gifs and free email templates on several creative design websites. Additionally you can compare and use the Mailsoftly’s stylish templates as well to boost your creativity! 

2. Embrace the Dark-Mode Trend 

 If you are familiar with the latest design tips & tricks, you may have probably heard of the “dark-mode and neon trend” in the last few years. According to designers people tend to use their mobile devices in dark mode for better readability and eye health issues. Because looking at a pretty bright screen becomes tiring after a long while, and if you have an option for more comfort why do not you use it for your own good? Therefore, email template designers include dark-mode or/and neon trend within their portfolio for a time in order to satisfy the potential customers via UX.

Please check the below e-mail pattern for both usage: 

3. Be Minimalist 

Do not prefer simple HTMLs without padding but prefer to be minimalistic within the template design you choose. Please keep in mind that the template design will represent your brand or company. Hence, it is not only the design but also the content that should concerte on one main topic. Eliminate the unrelated items both from design and content  material. For more email design tips and template examples please visit our one of the latest blog posts for email marketing types and examples. 

6. Be Mobile-friendly 

Responsiveness is not an option anymore. If a digital marketing strategy of a brand will be solid and valid, all of the regarding designs both mobile and desktop ones must be coded and designed as responsive. Responsiveness can be seen as a technical issue however it is essential for brand awareness. Do not lose the subscribers of your brand due to ignoring such details. The domination of mobile devices and tablets has a reign in today’s world and get ready: We will be discussing responsiveness for other gadgets such smart watches or smart home solutions within a few years. Moreover, VR technologies are at the doorstep to be used much more widely in following decades. Therefore always look forward, think about the big picture & plan your strategies according to these factors. 

7.  Interactivity and Gamification

Digital marketing is a fast-growing and endless competition; besides the race gets severe every other day for the experts. As far as email marketing is a tool and a part of digital marketing strategy, marketers  should be aware of the changing winds and upcoming trends with the aim of captivating and engaging their users.

Therefore, interactivity and gamification in marketing emails is another fundamental solution for aligning with the trends. Through the whole article we tried to give the tips one by one to make your campaigns more charming, so being interactive and putting some gamification is going to be the cream on the cake. In fact, including that material will be the child's play for a digital marketer who accomplished the above steps. 

Here are the list of some tips for interactivity and gamification:  

• Use animated GIFs and inviting CTAs
• Give a chance to image rollover effects
• Provide dark mode option along with the regular mode
• Engage the recipients with interesting polls, surveys etc.
• Add attractive gamification elements including prizeful games, quizzes, badges …

Conclusion

The world is growing increasingly digital with every passing day. This, in turn, is changing the ways businesses operate. Marketing is no exception to this paradigm shift; it’s undergoing a sea change as well, especially when it comes to email marketing. Reducing the operational efforts for managing leads and customers has been one of the primary objectives for companies across various industries for some time now. Therefore, their email marketing has been approved as one of the most profitable ways within the scope of achieving cost-effective solutions and finally success stories. 

On the other hand, email marketing is also evolving tremendously. What worked five years ago may not work today, and what works today may not work five years from now. However we tried to simplify some of the functioning trends shaping the email marketing strategies in the throughout the year 2022. 

As a consequence, we can actually tell that a well-organized email marketing strategy targets customer engagement at the highest level at all which can be achieved by means of a distinguishing mailing structure. Therefore, through the whole article we did our best to find the proven and well-applied tips for email marketing trends of 2022. 

By using Mailsoftly, digital marketers, strategists and specialists can solve the whole tangled mailing issues including importing of the mail listings, advanced personalization according to mail reactions, micro-segmentation of contact and receiver's behaviors, scheduling the mailing automation, safe email delivary without spams, detailed statistics that allow and lead to take direct actions, well-designed attractive templates, bulk mailing to the segmented contacts and much more! Now try Mailsoftly for free and send tons of emails with just a few clicks!