Working in the email space, it’s very clear just how many people send emails (we have millions of emails being sent through our servers on a daily basis) and email is still the most effective permission-based communication channel.
In 2020, we can expect the number of email users to climb to a staggering 4 billion worldwide (Source: Radicati). So we can all agree that email is important, right?!
As with all technologies, advancements are being continuously made and we have to move with the times. As email recipient expectations rise, senders need to be more considerate and strive to meet these expectations. Customers in particular want to be treated as an individual and understood.
In reaction to rising expectations (and declining satisfaction), there was a huge move towards email personalization: in essence, this meant delivering content into a recipient’s inbox that was either timely or highly relevant to them. When it comes to marketing emails, 60% of consumers expect completely tailored offers and 40% won’t deal with a company if they receive no personalization. For this reason, personalization has become essential.
After the big personalization push, what’s next for email?
In 2019, with the growth of voice technology, it’s key to consider how emails will be read in the future. With the rise of digital voice assistants, such as Amazon’s Alexa, it’s now possible to have our emails read to us. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities (especially for the visually impaired). It also needs a different approach.
In the not too distant future, anybody who sends emails will have to consider how their messages will be seen, as well as heard, depending on how the user chooses to open that email. So, it’s never too early to start thinking about how we can design our emails in ways that work for both of these methods.
While the technology is still fairly limited (Alexa can currently read, delete, archive, and reply to emails), what’s really exciting about this is that voice in email could be the biggest opportunity for email in a long time because it makes the medium more accessible than EVER before.
Simple tips to be voice ready!
- Your subject line is going to be EVEN more important – does it sound enticing enough to listen to the rest of the email?
- Read your email out loud – it’s a great way of spotting errors and to see if it’s too ‘waffly’.
- Your punctuation will have to be on point – otherwise sense could be lost. Forgotten full stops could be a disaster, for example, resulting in a never-ending monologue!
- Avoid emails that are heavy on images, or have CTAs on an image. They’re likely to get ignored.
- Don’t worry about implementing voice in email strategies immediately – but do squirrel the knowledge away for future use because voice in email is most definitely going to be a thing 🙂
How do you feel about voice in email? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
