For every dollar spent on email marketing, brands earn
an ROI of $36. That's enough to explain why email continues to
factor into the marketing plans of businesses, big and small. Email marketing
delivers results. If you want to reap those rewards, it's high time to explore
this digital marketing strategy.
Just like other marketing strategies that utilize and rely
on technology, email marketing continues to evolve. As such, its latest popular
iterations get more interactive. Interactive emails use elements the audience
can engage with without leaving their inbox, including swipeable carousels,
GIFs, and quizzes. With this level of interactivity, there's a greater chance
for your message to resonate with your recipients.
In this article, we'll delve into everything you need to
know about interactive emails.
Email Marketing Trends for 2023
Leveraging interactive emails for a variety of marketing goals is just one of the email marketing trends to watch out for in 2023. For this reason, it pays to familiarize yourself with the directions in which this strategy is moving to determine which tactics you can mix and match.
Here are the top trends you should know.
1. Storytelling takes centerstage
It all boils down to who's telling the better story. That's
what brands need to consider in earnest. As such, interactive emails will only
gain their desired results if they align with the narrative you want to build
around your business.
2. Closing the open rate metric
With Apple releasing a new privacy setting that restricts
your ability to track its users' email habits, relying solely on open rate has
become a less reliable, if not entirely obsolete, success metric. In lieu of
the open rate, you could expect clicks and click-through rates to see an
upsurge in email marketing relevance.
3. Getting personal
4. Maximizing artificial intelligence (AI)
There's no escaping AI. As such, businesses, regardless of
size or industry, should begin maximizing the technology. Consider AI for your
email marketing campaigns. For starters, it can help you analyze sufficient
data points to get to know your audience better.
Benefits of Interactive Emails
The million-dollar question is, what's in it for you? What
will you gain if you go out of your way to make your emails interactive? Here
are some of the benefits you can expect.
Visually captivate
Brand optimization
All your marketing efforts should work on two levels at a
time. On the sales level, they should result in conversions. On the branding
level, they should optimize the image you want to build for your business. With
interactive emails, you get to tell better stories that support the branding
you hope to achieve.
Improved targeting
An interactive email will have more elements than your
run-of-the-mill marketing emails. That opens more opportunities for gathering
data points. You'll have more information and insights into how email
recipients interact with your messages. That can result in improved targeting
for your consequent marketing efforts.
Boost engagement and conversion
This is the end goal of email marketing or any other type of
marketing initiative, for that matter. With interactive emails, you have a
better shot at engaging recipients because the message itself intentionally
targets such engagement.
What an Effective Email Campaign Looks Like
You have many options on how to get interactive with your
emails. Here are some examples.
GIFs
These are the easiest way to introduce movement into your
emails. GIFs can serve a variety of purposes, from mere visual stimulation to
product feature introduction. Some of them you can autoplay, while others require
clicking.
Swipeable image carousels
Create irresistible image carousels that your audience can
swipe. As to what happens after swiping is all up to you. You can present
information or link to your webpage. Or you can simply tell a story about your brand
that will build a sense of trust and intimacy with your audience.
Polls or surveys
Quizzes
These are the more fun versions of polls and surveys.
Typically, you create quizzes that, on the surface level, seem purely for
entertainment purposes but can actually provide you with valuable data points
about your customers.
Videos
There are more visual learners than ever. To capture their
attention, you need to get visual with your messaging, and you can't get any
more visual than including videos in your emails.
Games
If budget is not an issue, you can commission game
developers to create a mini in-email game for you. It can be as simple as using
bricks or blocks that players must click to view your latest offers.
Add-to-cart functionality
Take shopping straight to an email with this interactive
element. Here, you provide a sales funnel shortcut for your customers.
Interactive Email Campaign Success Stories
If you plan to include interactive emails in your marketing
mix, here are success stories for your inspiration.
GoDaddy
The web hosting company once sent out emails that included a
site builder quiz. They asked recipients questions that pointed to their ideal
site builder. This was not just helpful to their audience but, more
importantly, aligned with the GoDaddy brand.
Fable
Upon signing up for the Fable newsletter, the brand sends an
email with a video about what the app has in store for users. This helps Fable
to seal the deal, turning interest into engagement.
Zomato
This food delivery app gave captcha a fun and on-brand twist
by including one in their email marketing. Zomato's version asks email
recipients to click images with tasty food, thus whetting their appetites and
increasing their likelihood of ordering food delivery.
Google Pixel Buds
These products from one of the most recognizable brands in
the world were once part of an interactive email that made it almost impossible
for the recipients to decline a purchase.
Netflix
In 2014, Netflix sent out interactive emails that allowed
recipients to play a trailer of House of Cards straight from their inbox.
Best Practices
To maximize interactive emails, here is what to keep in
mind.
1. Know your audience
2. Do not get carried away
3. Test and optimize
Do not release your interactive emails without testing them
first. You want to ensure you'll hit your target ROI, and the only way you can
achieve that is by doing a trial run. See how it performs with your test
audience and tweak it accordingly.
Wrapping It Up
When planning and executing a marketing campaign, the
ultimate goal is to drive sales. That's not exactly a small feat. However, you
have a rich arsenal at your disposal. Think email marketing, specifically
interactive emails.
Interactive emails take all the nice things email marketing
has to offer while tweaking them for a more discerning audience. With such
emails, you're not letting your target readers' attention slip away. More
accurately, you want to hold them captive in their inbox”particularly your
email.
As to how interactive you could get, the budget's the only
limit. You could go as simple as GIFs or as elaborate as games. Whichever route
you follow, the important thing is you based your decision on what your
audience wants. In that regard, it's crucial to get to know them first.
Author Bio
David is the Marketing Manager of Intermedia Print Solutions, a print media
and packaging solutions company in Princeton, NJ notable for its high-end print
quality printing and on-time delivery. A mixture of technology and creativity
is what makes David enthusiastic about his work. He likes to spend his free
time reading books, watching sci-fi films, and writing articles.
