Today, email marketing is still focused on deliverability, open rate, and engagement. And the rule behind those metrics is also the same — a relevant message delivered at the right time and in a way convenient for the target user.
What did change, and quite a bit, is the technology. Users have become more mobile, the internet is getting faster, and email services keep evolving.
All this provides a marketer with new options to engage the already pampered recipients with their marketing campaigns.
1. Interactivity
The core idea behind interactive email design is to enable the target users to interact with email elements without having to follow a link to the website. Interactive elements in an email add gaming experience to the communication, thus improving the engagement indicators for your email campaigns.
The newly announced AMP for Email will enable users to interact with email content in a variety of new ways, even without leaving the email for your website. Below, we take a look at some simpler ways to add interactivity to your email content.
So far, interactivity in emails is often implemented with the following elements:
Emails with integrated surveys and polls
Before, to learn what users thought about your product, you needed to add a link to your website or to a separate survey page. Later on through 2018, more and more often surveys could be found right there in the email, making it easier for the customer to fill them and thus increasing the chances to get feedback.
Rollover Effect
With a rollover, a user can see the product from different sides — the image is changed when they hover the cursor over it.
Keep in mind, though, that to date, rollovers only work properly on desktop devices. On a mobile device, there is no mouse hover and that’s why tapping an image will simply link users to the website.
Image carousel
This technique offers your users more freedom as they can choose which of the multiple elements they want to take a closer look at.
When you design interactive emails, keep in mind that some email clients won’t display them correctly. For example, MS Outlook isn’t good with interactive elements. However, this problem can be easily solved with segmentation — for example, you can create a separate segment of Gmail users and send interactive emails only to them.
2. Animations
Animated images are known for catching the eye, so much so that some companies use nothing but an animated banner — a GIF image — and a button with a link to the website.
The smaller this GIF is in terms of MB the better — too big a file will take longer to load. Besides, some email clients have an upper limit for the displayed image size.
Take a look at this example of a GIF-presentation for a product category:
Here’s an example of an email with an animated model line:
A GIF animated image in an email can simply serve as a stylish decoration:
Animation doesn’t always involve a sequence of different images. You can make a GIF out of a video to visualize a certain concept or tip:
3. Responsiveness and accessibility
These two concepts are similar in a way, but not exactly the same. They’re particularly important when it comes to email marketing automation. A responsive email means that it will look great on all types of devices, both desktop and mobile.
For example, KanbanFlow emails are well-adapted for different devices:
The email template design should be responsive. In other words, it should be adapted to different screen sizes and display the information in a way that is convenient for the user.
Additionally, you should also think about email accessibility, since the message you try to convey via email has to be accessible to visually impaired people.
With services like Litmus and Email on Acid, you’ll be able to preview how your email looks to different clients and on a variety of devices. There, you can also find email accessibility tests to check how people with visual impairments will see the content.
Conclusion
The primary goal of email marketing is to engage users into further communication with the brand. And in this, you shouldn’t underestimate the visual component of email marketing. Interactive elements and animations will add a fresh touch to your communication with subscribers. Just keep in mind that your audience is diverse and the message should be personalized for everyone regardless of their device, email client, and preferences.
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