2022 trends
How to stand out from the inbox this year?
ARE NEWSLETTERS AN INTEGRAL PART OF YOUR COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES?
This year, you will need to capture the attention of your subscribers using proven tactics to achieve concrete results based on clearly defined objectives.
Here are some tips based on the best practices!
If the hat fits, try it!
Because the newsletter industry is particularly capricious, we decided to present the latest trends in terms of newsletter production, so that you can reach new heights!
Communication being a social science, we invite you to discover a variety of techniques to increase your open rates and optimally, the number of conversions in your communication funnel.
Just like fashion, newsletters are an endless well of opportunities. New trends allow you to learn from successful campaigns and stay ahead of the curve.
Choose the techniques that best fit your business strategies!
Real people behind your newsletters
Designing a newsletter without concrete objectives, pressing the send button and closing your screen: easy! Do you like unsolicited mailings? It’s the same thing for emailing!
Never forget that behind email addresses are real people, or more precisely your potential market. You must think about what you are sending them and consequently, offer quality and adapted content.
If you are not already segmenting your database according to the interests of your contacts, we strongly recommend that you start this process. The demand for personalized content has never been as strong as it is at the beginning of 2022!
Appeal to the new generation
There have never been as many different generations connected simultaneously as there are in 2022! However, it is important to remember that the tech-savvy generation is slowly gaining momentum in the economy as the oldest members of Gen Z are now in their mid-20s.
How to appeal to Generation Z:
The 2-second rule: the interval of time you have to capture their attention.
Social causes: promote your corporate values and take concrete actions.
Involve them: make the most of social networks and become friends, not just business partners.
Prioritize micro-interactions
You do not send out newsletters for fun! You are trying to increase customer loyalty. To achieve that goal in 2022, you need to be subtle, so micro-interactions are the way to go. You need to deploy methods to engage your subscribers without necessarily closing a sale immediately!
How to prioritize calls to action:
Calls to action: always attach strategic CTAs to your communications.
Landing pages: spread your information on landing pages linked with your calls to action.
Contests: engage your contacts with the “like”, “share” and “comment” functions.
Recommended concepts and contents
When it comes to email marketing, there are certain elements to prioritize and others to proscribe from your newsletters. In 2022, you will have to be a perfectionist if you want to maximize your investments!
Of course, you can recycle your winning solutions, but you must renew your visuals and your writing technique on an annual basis. In doing so, you should experiment with new ideas and try to reach that perfection!
Testing new trends in terms of newsletter design rejuvenates a marketing strategy. Thus, you must take advantage of this new year to revisit your communication techniques.
Shorten your texts
If you are reading this, you are not even halfway through the text! Would you send this entire article in a newsletter? You would be surprised at what our clients accomplish!
Here, you are on a website and the trends are clearly identified for a quick read. Always remember that your newsletters are not a website!
How to shorten your texts:
Revise your texts: try to reduce the density of your paragraphs and eliminate the unnecessary.
Use several newsletters: do not exceed three (3) subjects per newsletter. Make several newsletters scattered over time.
Landing pages: use landing pages to eliminate excessively long texts.
Modify your designs
How long have you been using the same graphic template? In email marketing, you should aim to offer your readers a different dynamic once a year so that they do not get tired of your emails and become passive in their interactions!
How to modify your designs :
Be creative: do not limit yourself to what you know. Create and refer to professionals in multimedia integration.
Prioritize: use the right design for the right message. Do not be too bold if your newsletter contains a scoop. The message itself is the main attraction.
Be daring: go for a retro look that will become trendy again in 2022.
Regulate: opt for a modern style where images blend with the text.
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Use the right images
Choose your images with great care! Incorporate them in a way that will charm your subscribers at first glance. Images are what we notice first, so they need to set the tone for the rest of the newsletter! It is a good idea to reserve a specific place for them and artistically join them together.
How to use the right images:
Vibrancy: Optimize the visual quality of your images and stay away from very dark tones.
Harmony: use images that match with your business.
Professional: acquire the copyright of your images.
Animation: use animated gifs to energize key elements.
Use fashionable colors
Do you know “Very Peri”? It is not an artist, it is the 2022 Pantone color of the year! Be creative and try to incorporate elements of this color into your visual designs. Give your newsletters a fresh look by changing the background visual around your newsletters!
How to use fashionable colors:
Color gradients: they are in vogue this year. Opt for a design that blends from top to bottom.
Full screen: Matching your newsletter to the background is a new feature that is sure to gain in popularity this year.
Text color: change pure white for a cream shade or black for a very dark gray. Users of color inversions will thank you.
Let the emotions speak
Newsletter designing is becoming increasingly complex due to the volume of emails sent out worldwide each year. Each design, color and image must be selected for a specific purpose such as the emotion it conveys. Dull, dark colors communicate the seriousness of a message while bright colors evoke diversity.
How to convey emotions:
Hope: with touches of yellow: comfort and energy.
Confidence: turn to blue: loyalty and professionalism.
Adventure: towards green: harmony and leisure.
Prestige: all black: elegance and luxury.
Adapt to the seasons
Long live Canada and its four (4) seasons characterized by orange leaves and silver white. Take advantage of our natural environment to deploy tactics based on the current season by using the right colors and adapted photographs.
How to adapt to the seasons:
The colors: use blue, white, and black in winter and prioritize warm colors such as red and green in summer.
Photographs: select photographs appropriately to convey the realism of the season.
Backgrounds: Pay attention to the backgrounds of your images and make sure they are adapted to the season.
Optimize the accessibility of your newsletters
Does your company rely on technology more than it did two years ago? Despite the negative effects of a pandemic, the flip side of the coin is that you are probably more heterogeneous in how you offer your products and services than at the same time in 2019. As a result, you can reach a larger audience, but the expectations are higher. As a communicator, you must now satisfy a clientele that demands a certain professionalism in terms of newsletter accessibility!
Although they can get complex, many techniques are now available when creating newsletters so that they can be adapted to all technological environments used by your subscribers.
The most common examples are bilingual emails, emails adapted to all screen sizes and the text version, but you can go further with optimization for dark mode, smart watches, and televisions.
Opt for bilingual newsletters
Are your newsletters unilingual? There are two (2) official languages in Canada! Do your subscribers all speak the same language? We doubt it and in 2022, Quebec is trending more and more towards being a province where companies must make their communications bilingual using systems equipped with technologies adapted to this reality!
How to create bilingual newsletters:
Texts: do not use Google Translate to translate your newsletters. Reach out to professionals.
Layout: Clearly display the language switching feature, preferably in the upper right corner of your newsletters, just like on a website.
Dynamic language changes: If subscribers consult the other version of a newsletter, make sure that their default language gets updated for future emails.
Ensure that your creations are mobile-friendly
Chances are that you design your newsletters on a computer, do your testing in a browser and receive your draft in a program like Outlook. That’s all great, except… is that also the case for your subscribers who open 60% of your newsletters on a mobile device!
There are many environments to check such as native and downloaded applications, but we assure you that you will reap the benefits of your verifications!
How to create mobile-friendly newsletters:
Layout: work with dynamic areas so that the right portion will be displayed below the left one on mobile devices.
Margins: adapt the margins of the different zones to small devices.
Alignment: align and harmonize the different elements differently from the desktop version of your newsletter.
Adapt to the dark mode
If you are not yet familiar with it, we present you the dark mode: a real nightmare for all email marketing professionals that has been haunting them for some time now.
Mainly used by smartphone users, it reverses the colors of your newsletters, and you cannot control the final result!
How to adapt to the dark mode:
Colors: use tone variants and not pure colors.
Images: opt for .png on transparent backgrounds.
Testing: test in a variety of applications.
Therefore, we strongly recommend that you review your dark mode basics to ensure that your newsletters are optimized in this setting.
We also recommend that you hire a seasoned professional in the field to save you a lot of headaches, as dark mode will continue to gain in popularity this year. It is now more difficult to find inboxes that do not offer this option than the opposite.
Respect the privacy of your subscribers
Does your business have a physical store where clients come and go? If you answered yes, then surely you respect the privacy of your customers… right? That goes without saying, but the distinction is more difficult when you do business online!
However, the fact remains that it is essential, if not more so, to respect the privacy of your customers when you contact them and manipulate personal data in your communication systems!
Last fall, Apple launched its latest operating system, promoting a new technology focused on privacy. The fact that a computer giant is promising major advances in that area has certainly opened the eyes of many of your contacts.
You need to take the necessary steps to show them that you respect their privacy, and you need to do so in a sympathetic manner.
You hold personal information
If this is a new subject to you, adjustments may be needed to your data collection strategy.
In 2022, companies late to the privacy party should comply with applicable laws as quickly as possible and support individuals in keeping their data private.
How to comply:
The CASL: make sure you are adding subscribers to your database based on their implied or express consent type.
Subscription options: offer different subscription options to your contacts based on their interests.
Unsubscribe link: clearly display the unsubscribe link and avoid spam reporting.
Keep your data in Canada
Many companies now understand the importance of keeping the personal data of their customers in Canada because of the laws in effect in our neighboring countries.
Considering that some service providers may sell the data or even be consulted by government authorities, bringing the information back home is a big trend in 2022!
How to verify where your data is being sent:
Search: search for Canadian service providers.
Validate: validate that the providers are using servers hosted in Canada.
Experiment: perform post-mailing checks to ensure that the servers are located in Canada.
Jérémy Bergeron
Administrative Assistant
Want professional advice?
Young and dynamic, Jérémy knows the new media and the potential of a successful email marketing campaign.
Get more details on the 2022 email marketing trends by contacting him now! He will be able to offer you innovative and creative solutions for your email marketing campaign.
E: jbergeron@adnetis.com
P: 1-877-638-6584