E-commerce email marketing: tips and trends 2023

Email marketing trends for 2023 such as personalization, engagement, zero party data and interactive emails. You can read all about them here.

1. Personalization in all your emails

Personalization is and will remain an important point in your email marketing. Your customers will only respond and open your e-mail if they feel attracted to it. Sometimes the first name isn't enough anymore. The content of the email is just as essential.

Personalization based on purchase behavior

Take personalization to the next level by personalizing your e-mail to such an extent that there are recommendations in the e-mail based on their browsing behavior on your website. Think 'recently viewed products' or 'cross-sell products'. These are powerful recommendations that fit exactly what your customer is looking for. In the example below, we added a block with cross-sell products. The cross-sell products are chosen based on what the customer last ordered. This would look like this:

This way, you are spot-on with your communication with your customers. And your customer is more likely to feel connected to you. And the more a customer feels connected to you, the higher your conversion rate will be in the end.

Personalization in your pre-header

Also, think outside the box. Are you using your snippet (or pre-header) as personalization? You have extra space in your snippet to bring your message to your customer before your email is opened.

→ Did you know that the snippet contributes 24% to the choice to open or not open an email?

Personalization by demographics

Personalization using demographic data is always recommended. With demographic information, it is possible to create segments in your database. Then, you send targeted campaigns to these target groups. Think for example of a store opening: how relevant is it to email all your customers about this? Or only customers who live within a 30 km radius of your new store?

Personalization based on the surfing behavior

Offer your customer what he has been looking for. This is possible based on surfing behavior. Let your systems work together and segment your audience based on page views. For example, when a customer has viewed a certain brand on your website. Send your customer a personalized email specifically about this brand and its benefits of the brand. In Reloadify, you do this using the following filter:

2. Engagement becomes even more important

Keeping your customers engaged is becoming more and more important. This is partly due to Apple's iOS15 update. Because of this update, it is less clear whether your customer has actually opened the email, or whether your email is automatically opened by Apple in the background. To determine whether your newsletter is being read and really resonating with your target audience, it is important to keep your engagement with your audience as high as possible.

Engagement through intention content

What captivates your target audience? What engages your target audience, and more importantly, why does your customer have a particular need? Why exactly will the customer make a certain choice? And why not? This is called intention content. Because you better understand the 'why' question of your customer, your content better connects with your target group. And that in turn increases your engagement.

Engagement through a customer journey

Have you completely mapped out your customer journey? Only then will you know what stage your customer is in and how they would like to be approached. Perhaps your customer is not yet ready to proceed with a purchase. That too is possible. It depends on what stage your customer is in the customer journey. Want to know more about the customer journey? Check how your customer proceeds to purchase and how to recognize which stage of the customer journey your customer is in.

You need a customer journey for a personalized user experience. The customer journey stores all the interaction points your customer has with you. There needs to be a map of what actually happens in the customer journey, not what you suspect will happen. There is no saying that one particular customer journey is good. Maybe your business is structured so that a customer can take multiple paths. In that case, you also have multiple customer journeys to map out.

Engagement through user-generated content

Let your content speak for itself. But really speak for itself: are you already using user-generated content? User-generated content will become more important in 2023. Your customers and thus your real fans will voluntarily create content about your product. Because let's face it: doesn't every product promise to be the best? How credible is your advertising then? It has been proven that when your customers voluntarily share content about your product, it is seen as a trusted source. Because, not only is the creator of the product enthusiastic, the end user is enthusiastic about it too! If Business2Community is to be believed, millennials trust user-generated content 50% more than brand-generated content.

So it breeds trust when customers see that other customers are enthusiastic. In addition, it brings many other benefits. You get new content from your customers, which in turn brings new opportunities for advertising. Finally, content creation itself is quite expensive, and customers are only too happy to do it for you.

Make it as fun as possible for yourself and for your clients. A good example of this is GoPro. Their YouTube is full of videos of customers using a GoPro. These are the so-called GoPro Awards. It sounds fancy. You feel special AND you win an award. If you read a little carefully, you will see that the GoPro Awards is an ongoing process: there is no end date. You can enter at any time by uploading your video. This is super smart: GoPro collects all the videos, which is a free promotion for them. And the customer gets eternal fame by being featured on GoPro's YouTube channel. Where a video quickly grabs tens of thousands of views.

Engagement through A/B testing

Build more engagement by continuing to test your newsletters and campaigns. Which content resonates with which target audience? You can only find out by testing. Because data-driven marketing is really responding to 2023! By working purely on the gut feeling, you no longer compete. Therefore, test what content your audience is looking for. Not only within your bulk email such as your newsletter but also in your campaigns. Because who says your standard abandoned cart campaign or win-back campaign is well-tested? Test these campaigns for content as well. Want to know how to run an A/B test? Then read how to set up a successful A/B test.

Which button is more likely to be clicked? On 'Shop Now' or on the discount code itself? Test this thoroughly!

There's always something to optimize for ongoing campaigns too, such as the abandoned cart! Take advantage of this to get more of your customer's attention. And ultimately generate more sales.

3. Zero-party data

Whereas in 2022 we talked a lot about first-party data (the behavior of your customers by means of surfing behavior, for example), 2023 will be the year of zero-party data. Zero-party data is data voluntarily provided by the customer in exchange for extra value (think of a discount or exclusive access). Zero-party data is therefore also considered more reliable data than first-party data. This is because the customer submits the information directly to your company. Think of pop-ups that customers fill out or landing pages with a form. Your customer completes the pop-up or landing page themselves, so the customer voluntarily surrenders the data to you. This strikes a balance between privacy and customization: only use data that the user actually gives to you.

In fact, Google will stop offering third-party cookies in 2023. In doing so, they are following up on browsers like Edge, Safari, and Firefox, which took these measures earlier. Anyway, Apple already put a stop to Facebook tracking on all its operating systems and browsers in 2021. Therefore, another way of collecting data is also necessary.

Don't see this as an obstacle, but as an opportunity. You now have the chance to obtain data that really matters. This will only increase the importance of good content.

Is first-party data no longer important?

First-party data is definitely critical! The power lies in combining zero- and first-party data. Examples of first-party data are:

Interactions with your newsletter
Website visits
Purchase history
Interests of your customers (based on purchase behavior)
Time on your website
Other behavior on your website
Direct customer contact

All first-party information your company (or systems for your company) collects for you. This gives your company exclusive access to this information. You enrich your first-party data with your zero-party data, so to speak. Imagine this:

Your customer's name is Alexander, male, 32 years old (issued by zero-party data).
Your customer has a high open rate on certain newsletters that include brand X (first-party data)
Your customer previously purchased brand Y (first-party data).

When you combine all this data, a customer profile is created, allowing you to even better match your content to your customer. Zero- and first-party data are labor-intensive and cost a lot, so up to now, the solution has been third-party data. When this data goes away, both your company and your employees need to be prepared.

4. Marketing automations

This point is actually an extension of wanting to be personal. As an e-mail marketer, you want to be personal, but don't put so much effort into your e-mail marketing that you start e-mailing every customer personally. Because then you'll keep going on a daily basis. Fortunately, there are a bunch of solutions for this so that you still stay personal, but don't have to email every customer individually.

Automating email marketing

By automating your email marketing, you're already taking a nice leap toward 2023. In our previous blog on email automation, you can read what email marketing automation actually is. With email marketing automation, it is important to find a balance between automating certain emails, and still remaining personal. It varies from business to business exactly which campaigns you can and want to automate. Examples of automated campaigns that are known to be profitable at Reloadify are:

Abandoned Cart Automation
Win-Back Automation
Customer Birthday
Asking for a product review
Cross-sell and up-sell campaigns
Repeat purchase campaign
Onboarding campaign

Because you set up different campaigns once, you'll bring in sales without having to look at them much afterward. Tweaking here and there is always a good idea. You do this by continuously A/B testing your automated mail. In this way, you'll end up with the best result in what resonates with your customers.

5. Interactive emails for more conversion

An interactive email is an email where the user interacts. Traditionally, every click a customer makes in an email is an interaction. Logically, interactive emails are becoming more and more important: we focus more and more on the click ratio instead of the open ratio. The more clicks, the better. The future of email is moving more towards equalizing your email marketing and your website in terms of experience. The user experience and emotion evoked by both channels should increasingly match. You will see more and more e-mails coming by with interactive elements, just like you are used to from a website.

Why do you want to make your e-mail interactive?

You want to make your e-mail interactive for the following reasons:

Your e-mail looks much more like your website in terms of interaction, which is nice for your customer in terms of recognition.
You surprise your recipients with your interaction, which ensures that your email communication is better remembered.
It contributes to your marketing goals such as increased engagement, profile enrichment, information provision, and so on.

Examples of interaction mails

Would you like an example of an interactive mail? There are several ways to let your customers interact with your newsletter.

Call-to-action buttons

The most common way to generate interaction in your emails is through call-to-action buttons. You might forget: but what do your customers click on? Most often, we click on an image or a button. Clicking on these will take the customer to your website, exactly what you wanted. An example of this:

GIFs and stickers in your email

One thing you see more and more in emails is GIFS and stickers. And while GIFs have been around for a very long time. The return of GIFs seems to be a popular trend for email marketing. Not just in email marketing, you see GIFs more and more on social media, in chats and in blogs. With the bulk of information, we have to process every day, we have become more and more accustomed to scanning articles and newsletters. With a GIF, you immediately grab the reader's attention and the reader actually stops scrolling. A GIF is a fairly easy way to grab attention in your newsletter and interact. The nice thing is, you can and may go in any direction with your GIFJes. For example, will you go for a GIF in your win-back email campaign?

Or do you go for a self-created GIF that clearly prompts the desired action from your customers?

You want to have your communications more and more closely integrated with each other. You can do this by using the same elements in your website, socials, and newsletters. Did you know that you can easily integrate your website menu into your newsletter? In Reloadify, it is possible to add a hamburger menu for the mobile version of your newsletter. With that option, you can make your newsletter a lot more exciting and consistent with your website. Your mobile website also has a hamburger menu. Keeping your menus the same for both your website and your newsletter creates consistency. And that in turn creates recognition. Keep in mind that the hamburger menu is not supported by every email client to be displayed that way. Want to know which email clients support it? Check out our help article on how to add a menu to your newsletter.

Add a cinemagraph to your email

Have you ever heard of a cinemagraph? This is a combination of a photo and a GIF. You use a photo as a base, and you make some elements in the photo move. You may have seen it passed by on social media since it's used an awful lot there. More and more companies are using a cinemagraph to tell the company's story. Think of a tasty drink being poured.

With cinemagraph, you turn a photo into a video. Social media channels prefer videos more often than photos, so it makes perfect sense with the algorithm. You want to streamline your expressions as much as possible, which is why cinemagraphs are becoming increasingly popular in email marketing.

Add a review element to your email

Really let your customers decide by adding a review element to your email. This way, for example, it is possible to ask for Google Reviews directly from your email. Through your Google Business account, you can retrieve a review link.

Would you rather have your customers leave a review about your company or product? This is possible. Keep in mind that in that case, you will need to purchase an additional extension that keeps track of these kinds of reviews for you. Think for example of Trustpilot or Kiyoh. If they click on the thumbs-up, they will be directed to the Trustpilot or Kiyoh review form. Thumb down? Then you can direct your customers to a Google form or a contact form, for example. These people can post their feedback, so you can easily find this feedback.

Add a game element to your email

No doubt you've heard of it: gamification. When you add a game element to your newsletter, your newsletter becomes truly interactive. This is because we all enjoy playing games. It also keeps your attention longer. There's a reason Albert Heijn has fun tunes on the self-scanner when you score a bonus discount: it makes you feel good. Or when you can enter the number of the coupon you received online for a chance to win a prize: it is always exciting when you can win something. Try opening your newsletter with a puzzle, rebus, discounted dial, or something else interactive. You'll see that these get clicked ferociously and ultimately make your customers more engaged with your brand.

Add a carousel to your email

Everyone is used to scroll from top to bottom and left to right. Let your customers swipe in your email by adding a carousel. Since this is a brand-new feature, not every email client supports a carousel by a long shot. As far as we know, iOS Mail, Office 365 OS X, Outlook 2011 Mac, Android Mail, and Apple Mail support this feature. You draw attention well to your product. Or, products: in a carousel, it is possible to highlight multiple products. That way, your e-mail won't be too long.

6. Outsourcing your marketing

Another trend for 2023 is outsourcing your entire marketing to a marketing agency. A big advantage of using a marketing agency is that you don't have to bring in the expertise yourself. This can actually save a lot of time. This way you only have to do what you are good at and the marketing agency what they are good at. With a marketing agency, it is also often the case that they have someone dedicated to a task per expertise. Think an SEO, SEA, CRO, or email marketing specialist. Do you want to not have to worry about your marketing and instead leave it to professionals? Then outsourcing your marketing is definitely a good option.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a piece of marketing that, when used properly, can absolutely work out! It generates an average of $5.20 for every dollar you spend on this type of marketing. Did you know that there are even platforms that offer influencers with specific services? That way, you don't have to go out and find an influencer specifically. This also makes the process of hiring a good influencer many times easier.

Nowadays, you can find influencers everywhere: on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, BeReal, Snapchat, and Instagram. Read up beforehand on exactly what type of influencer marketing you need. It is sometimes quite difficult to determine what type of influencer you need for what if you are not familiar in this world. It would be a shame if you choose the wrong people who are not relevant to your audience or reach. For example, you have the following categories:

Mega influencers
Macro influencers
Meso influencers
Micro influencers
Nano influencers

What are mega influencers?

Mega influencers are influencers who have more than one million followers. Per channel that is. Mega influencers are often found on every channel. Among mega influencers, we often see famous people such as singers and famous athletes. Ordinary people are also often enough mega influencers. Just think about Nikkie de Jager. So mega influencers have a huge reach, which is a big advantage. The disadvantage is (often) that the engagement of their followers is low. Mega influencers generally have a choice of whom they work with. Because of this, their price is very high. Want a decent reach and visibility for your brand? Then a mega influencer is for your business.

What are macro influencers?

Macro influencers are slightly smaller in scale and have between one hundred thousand and one million followers. Macro influencers can be found on fewer channels than mega influencers, so their engagement with their audience is higher. Macro influencers are particularly interesting for companies that are not yet doing a lot with social media but want to make a lot of impact on social media at once. For a jump start, " piggybacking" on the success of a macro influencer is certainly not a bad idea. Macro influencers are highly professional and this is what you pay for. A big advantage is that they have a reasonably large reach, along with a reasonably good engagement with the audience. In other words: The audience they have will respond and like more than with a mega influencer.

💡 Did you know that mega and macro influencers have been subject to legislation since July 2022? This ultimately protects influencers' followers.

The cost for macro-influencers is relatively high. The revenues, on the other hand, can also be very high. What is also good to know is that macro influencers are used regularly. This action may come across to your audience as not unique. As a result, you lose authenticity ('person X is advertising company X again').

What are meso influencers?

Meso influencers are influencers with a fan base of fifty to one hundred thousand followers. With meso influencers, you have a smaller reach, but often much higher engagement. Because they are smaller than the very big ones, they are very critical with whom they want to collaborate. The collaboration must match what they want to project. Meso influencers find this much more important than mega influencers. This is also one of the reasons why their engagement is higher. They want to stay connected with their target group. This keeps their credibility and your credibility intact. Meso influencers believe that their content should always remain relevant to their followers. This group is ideally suited for somewhat smaller campaigns for both brand recognition and interaction with your target audience.

What are micro-influencers?

Micro-influencers are influencers with about five thousand to fifty thousand followers. Do you serve a niche market? Then you are in the right place with micro-influencers. These influencers often share their interests and hobbies in a specific niche market. They have a smaller reach than previous influencers. On the other hand, their engagement per post is many times higher. This means that their followers are genuinely interested in the content they offer. You as a company just have to fit in here. Do you match the picture? Then you can bet this could be the boost you've been waiting for. Do you want to create a relationship with your target group? Then go for a micro-influencer.

What is a nano influencer?

Nano influencers have a maximum of five thousand followers. Nevertheless, they do belong to the influencer category. This group has an enormously strong bond with its followers. Precisely because their fan base is still fairly small, they are very tied to their audience. You may not expect them to be as professional as the other influencer groups, but they are well on their way. Nano influencers can be recognized by the fact that they share content about what they themselves find interesting. What they are really passionate about. Therefore, followers see them as trustworthy. Like micro-influencers, they serve a niche market. These influencers can be found on one or two channels and are not active on a daily basis. They still do it as the hobby. Although they may well charge a fee for working with them.

As you read above, it is not only important to check how much reach an influencer has, but also whether the influencer fits your business. A lot can be achieved with the right influencer and input.

The importance of omnichannel and the right targeting

The term omnichannel is probably familiar to you. You want your brand to be experienced the same by your customers in every channel. No matter which channel your customer uses: it should be immediately recognizable that it's about your brand. Only then will your brand be a success. How do you achieve this result? Simple: aligning all your channels. What you want most is for your customers to move seamlessly from Facebook, for example, to Instagram to the website. The other way around is the same way: from the website to Instagram to Facebook and maybe even TikTok. At least, it sounds simple. It has been proven that customers spend more to buy from brands that use their channel's omnichannel.

So how do you make sure your customers get the same experience from your brand on each channel? Thankfully, channels like Google Analytics and the pixels of all social media have made this a lot easier for marketers.

With these tools at hand, you know better than anyone that when a customer has looked at a particular brand on your website, you want to retarget that customer on social media. You do this using the Facebook, Insta, or TikTok pixel. This way you are always spot-on with your communication: customers like brand X on your website. You go further with this experience on social media. Not only that, you continue this experience in your email marketing. Because how appropriate is it to then receive an email with: 'Still interested in brand X'? This is the classic example of omnichannel thinking: your customer has shown interest in one channel and sees the same message again on all channels. This connects seamlessly with his customer experience.

Reloadify is a partner that helps you do this. By always being on top of mind with your customers, you increase your own revenue opportunities. For example, the pop-ups you set up with us can be provided with a script or pixel of your choice, just like landing pages. Do you share your landing page on social media? Then be sure to track it with the right pixel! The more data you have, the better you can (re)target your customers.

Not only that, but you also want to implement this on your website:

Does your customer download a certain catalog on your website? Then send a follow-up e-mail with related information.
Does your customer leave a shopping cart on your website? Set up an email strategy to remind your customer of his abandoned cart. Chances are the customer will still checkout.
Send cross-sell and up-sell emails when your customer makes a purchase with relevant offers.

There are plenty of examples of how to make your channels work together. Play this smartly, and you will see your sales increase.

With all these trends, you will be ready to get a flying start with your marketing in 2023. Best of luck!