Wondering what email trends to plan for in this coming year (and beyond)? With the help of The Radicati Group’s Email Statistics Report, 2016 – 2020 we’ve compiled a list of the top email trends for 2017 and beyond. We’ll help you to understand how people are using email, and how you can optimise your email marketing to suit this.
Email Trend #1: Email User Numbers are still growing!
We’ve heard a few whispers, and some outright assertions, that email is dead or dying. Despite some people being absolutely sure that email is at the end of it’s reign, the statistics still show that email is very much alive and well. In 2016, there were a reported 26 billion email users worldwide (pretty huge in itself) and this is predicted to grow steadily at 3% each year. In 2020, it is expected to top 3 billion (that’s nearly half the world’s population using email!).
What can I do?
This trend is a good one! Don’t stop sending email to get your message out there, your succinct and compelling writing skills will come in handy here. Keep focusing on beautiful email design too. Emails that are a joy to read are key. We also suggest you keep using all the email tools at your finger tips, and never stop trying and testing new things with each email sent. Don’t know what tools you should be using? Check out a few cool tools here.
Email Trend #2: Email is Still Best for Business Communications
With so many different ways to communicate, it’s easy to entertain the idea that organisation’s will have found a better way to stay in touch with their team. In fact, email continues to be the leading form of communication for both personal and business communication. Instant messaging, various forms of chat and social networking are certainly growing, but email still reigns supreme.
What can I do?
Are you thinking about ditching the email or transitioning to a new team communication solution? We suggest you consider using a combination of communication methods (including email) or an integrated solution such as Skype for Business alongside your Office 365 email addresses. Email continues to be an efficient, highly-adopted form of communication that you would be foolish to ignore or deem as an older technology.
Email Trend #3: Email Volume is also on the Rise
It’s not just more users tapping their fingers across the keyboard. The volume of emails being sent and received is also increasing. Each year between 2016 and 2020, this is expected to grow around 4.5%. A whopping 257.7 billion emails are predicted to be sent and received in 2020.
What can I do?
Increasing volume can mean overstuffed inboxes and tension headaches for recipients. It also means a demand for email efficiency tools to reduce time spent deleting spam and sales emails. You’ll need to be aware of this in your future communications, and ensure that your email stands out from the crowd and is highly reader friendly and compelling. Here’s a guide on spam by MailChimp – have a read so you can avoid your emails being marked as spam.
Email Trend #4: It’s all about the Mobile Email
Mobile email growth is on the rise! With mobile devices more accessible than ever, there were over 1.7 billion mobile users in 2016 (facilitated by such a wide range of devices and prices). It may not be the first time you’re hearing it, but more than ever people are opening their emails on their phones. If that’s not cold, hard call for more mobile friendly emails, I don’t know what is.
What can I do?
There are several things you can do to ensure that everyone is seeing your email exactly how you’d like. If you create emails with a provider such as MailChimp or Constant Contact, support teams and help documents can help you to understand why things aren’t displaying correctly and how to fix these. If you are going it alone, make sure you do a serious amount of testing on many different mobile devices. Some websites can help you out (for a fee) if you don’t have hundreds of mobiles at your disposal, such as Email on Acid. You can also use the mobile friendly templates provided for you through many email marketing platforms or free online (simply google it for a wealth of resources).
Email Trend #5: Malware is your Biggest Email Threat
Emails are quick and simple making it very simple for malicious people to include malware in an email. This can be in many forms such as through clicking an unsafe link in an email or directly attaching a file containing malware. The most common form of attack is a blended method, using a combination of these. Malware is increasingly complex and requires good investment into anti-malware tech and software.
What can I do?
You need to take caution when receiving emails. If you don’t recognise the sender, subject line or message inside we would strongly advise opening any links or attachments without googling the company first to check that it is legitimate. There are also plenty of malware blocking options available (email platform dependent) which are worth checking out if you’re having trouble. It also pays to have a good plan of action for malware removal, and to regularly scan for this to avoid accidentally harbouring it on your computer / spreading it across your work network.
How are you stepping up to the challenge that these email trends present in your organisation? Let us know in the comments below.
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