80 percent of customers prefer email as the primary reach out method from a brand. It’s because of this that if you’re running a business you need an email marketing plan.

Here are 9 nine trends that you need to incorporate into your marketing strategy.

1. Predictive Marketing

Predictive marketing is one of the best ways to build a profitable, and long-lasting relationship with your customers.

It’s an email marketing plan that allows you to analyze customer data so you can better serve them. You can see their web browsing behavior, and purchase history to get an idea of their habits, interests, and needs.

Not only this, but you can also see their predicted response to your email messages.

2. AI

AI helps you perform predictive marketing at a faster and easier rate. An AI can also help you in terms of subject lines, email content, and calls to action. It is said that AI generated subject lines outperform handwritten ones 95 percent of the time.

AI can determine the best email send times, and frequency which can only boost conversation with your customers.

AI is too great a resource to not take advantage of it.

3. Interactive Email

Interactive emails are a neat email marketing plan that allows your customers to play a little with your emails.

By playing a little with your emails we mean it allows them to hover over animations, rotating banners, quizzes, games, and surveys. If your customer has fun with your email, they are most likely to respond positively.

In short, people really like being entertained. If you can hold their attention for more than a few minutes, they are more likely to remember you. Thanks to these types of emails, your customer won’t have to click a link to watch a video or play a game.

The reason why this is great is that a customer might be a little less than thrilled about clicking a strange link if they don’t know where it’s going.

4. Consistent Rendering

Each client has its own special way of rendering HTML and CSS. This could cause problems for you if you’re trying to make your emails look great in every inbox.

New markup frameworks ensure that emails render consistently across all email clients. Marketers can rest easy knowing that their customers will be seeing what they see when they click that send button.

5. Mobile-First Design

40 percent of all people have admitted that they check their emails on their mobile devices. This means if you haven’t optimized your emails for mobile yet, you need to start.

Make sure to tighten up your email content so it’s easier to read on mobile screens. Use responsive design to make sure they display properly and don’t use so many images that they are slow to download.

This is a marketing trend that’s been in the works for a bit, and you really can’t afford to not move forward with it.

If your email can’t generate on a mobile device, it’s probably getting tossed in your customer’s junk folder.

6. Instantly Useable Content

When people want something, they want it right then and there. You want something where you can apply and then instantly get the results your looking for.

Your customers are going to want instant change in their life from opening up your email.

If you just give your customers a bunch of links to a website, that doesn’t want them to move forward or click. Your customers want instant gratification. If you can’t give them that, they will go elsewhere.

7. Emails Become More Human

You never want your emails to sound robotic. Humans are instantly put off by heavily formal language. You want them to read the same way your customers talk.

Start out by using everyday language. You should come across knowledgeable and confident, but you can do this by not using a whole bunch of words that an everyday citizen doesn’t know.

Your customers shouldn’t have to have a degree to read your emails is what it boils down to. If your customers become confused by reading your email, they will toss it in their junk folder and forget about it.

8. Triggered Emails

Triggered emails are an effective and cost-efficient way to keep your customers engaged with your brand.

These are things like friendly welcome responses to new subscribers. You can also have an email go out for things like abandoned shopping carts.

The best thing about these triggered emails is they continuously send out and gather revenue without your marketing team having to lift a finger.

Start off by having an email generate as soon as a new customer subscribes to your site. Customers like the instant confirmation.

9. Chatbots

Throwing chatbots into the mix is a great way to fatten up your email list a little bit. If you’re wondering what they are, they are computer programs that are designed to carry on a human conversation with your customers.

They do this via pop-up windows on your websites. Your potential customers can ask the bot questions and even sign up for your newsletters and articles. It’s a convenient way that people can get answers, and you get to add them to your list.

For more ideas, you can incorporate into your website to gain followers visit our blog here.

10. Trends To Incorporate Into Your Email Marketing Plan

Coming up with an effective email marketing plan and following the trends can help you gain a bunch of new customers.

Use all of the tools available in today’s market to your advantage and get out there.

Marketing strategies don’t end with emails there is a lot more to it. Click here for more strategies and ideas.

Everyone has their own app these days. From the camera, you use to spy on your pet when you’re not home to your grocery store. Why are businesses using up our phone space like this?

That’s simple because it works. Customers love anything that makes their life easier and their frequently used products more accessible.

Think your business needs to get in on this app game? Read the guide below.

The Target Example

If you shop at Target all the time, there’s no need to clip coupons. The Target Cartwheel app tells you which coupons are available when and lets you save them in your app.

There’s no more, “I had a coupon but I forgot it!” panic at the checkout counter. You open your phone and scan away.

While it’s something that takes up data-space on your phone, it reduces the physical things you need to carry. Target is providing value to their customers by saving them money and making it easy to do so.

That’s easily worth the bytes of space it takes up on someone’s phone, right?

Right. Other stores have had success doing the same thing. You can even use that Cartwheel app to check if your certain Target has a product you’re looking for.

This is what we call a direct marketing channel.

Benefit #1 Direct Marketing

As a business, if you have an app, you have a straight shot at getting your content to your users. You don’t have to beg them to open an email with cleverly thought out subject lines.

All you do is put something in the app. Of course, then they have to open it, but you can send push notifications when there are new app-related offers.

Since the average open rate of a promotional email is less than 30% on a good day, this is a big improvement.

Your customers get the benefit of personalized offers and notifications for new content. You get the benefit of a direct channel to get your message through to them.

Direct marketing is a win-win.

Benefit #2: Branding

When you have your own app, you have unlimited opportunities to brand yourself. Not only will your logo be on someone’s screen, but you can sear your colors and message into their brain with the features of your app.

Is your brand elegant? Hip? Young? Stylish? You can work with your app designer to convey this mood into your app graphics.

You can also advertise your app instead of pushing your services or products. Facebook Ad Manager has an app option that will link someone to the app store for their device type.

For people who get products pushed to them endlessly (everyone) this seems like you’re saying, “Hey, wanted to let you know we have an app”. Instead of “Hey, Buy This!” it’s a nice break from the regular narrative.

Benefit #3 Higher Recognition

Effective frequency is a marketing theory that says you have to show someone your products 20 times to get noticed. That’s a lot of money to spend to get attention!

You can change up how you spend that money and the type of impressions people see by using things like related apps. If someone installs a competitors app or something in your same niche, they’ll likely see your app offering too.

That’s free and provided by the app store. It helps if your app has high reviews or a high number of downloads.

Benefit #4 Customer Loyalty

If you have a business that provides value to your customers that’s easily accessible through an app, they’re going to keep using it. This brand loyalty is almost impossible to get any other way, other than purchases.

Brand loyalty is a powerful thing. People are creatures of habit and if buying things from your brand is easy, they’re more likely to make it one of theirs.

Do You Need Your Own App?

After reading the benefits of having a mobile app, you’re probably thinking you need your own. However, not every business needs an app. There are more things to consider than the benefits of apps, like the questions below.

1. Can You Afford It?

Is developing, creating, and advertising a business app in your own budget? You don’t want to create a bad or glitchy app because it was all you could afford. If you have an app, it needs to be top of the line.

2. Can You Keep it Active?

Let’s say you have the money for creation and development. Do you have the money to hire a team that will keep your app up to date? Who will populate the app with all your products or services?

Does your scheduling software communicate with app-scheduled appointments? If you don’t want to hire a team, which tasks will your current employees have to give up to work on app-related duties?

They can’t do everything.

3. Is it Useful?

Don’t develop an app for the experience of developing an app. Does it provide value to your customers? See if your competitor has an app. If they do, what does it do? What can it do better?

Some niches don’t need an app, like a bar – do you really want to keep up with app drink ordering when you’re slammed on a Saturday night?

If it’s not right for your own business, that’s ok. Spend that time and money improving the things that do provide your customers value. That’s a much better use of your time and money.

Your Own App: The Decision

After reading this article, do you still think your business needs a mobile app? If you got ideas from this article, great! Write them down. Do a complete brain dump of your app idea and then answer the “Do I need one?” questions.

Get other opinions from your employees or colleagues. Would they use their own app if they were a consumer? Really think it through.

Otherwise, focus on improving your branding in other ways, like hiring a professional agent to help market your business in the best way.

Better branding is never a bad thing!