Email Nuggets to Nibble on for 2019

Many people thought emails wouldn’t survive the late 90s, the 2000s, yet here we are. It is 2019 and emails have been one of the most reliable forms of communication of our time. Email marketing is one of the few digital ways to communicate that can branch across all platforms and devices. The nature of this tool has evolved immensely in even the last five years. Let’s take a peek into what is relevant and where we are heading in the world of emails.

Welcome to the Game APNGs
APNG (Animated Portable Network Graphics) images can be used in emails and support 24-bit colors and 8-bit alpha transparency. They were rejected in 2007, but in 2016 Apple declared them the preferred format for animated stickers. They are similar to GIFs in that they are both lossless, but APNGs are better quality and smaller in size. This is an ideal alternative when you have several colors in an animation and want to prevent color banding.

Keep Them Engaged Within a Smaller Space
Gone are the days when emails were a foot long – thank goodness! In the age of universal ADHD, we have only a few minutes to grasp the attention of the reader and have them engage with the content presented. As email designers and developers, we need to think of smart ways to make the reader want to click and subscribe, and this can be done by gamification. There is a plethora of opportunities to create quizzes, polls, tests and games in emails that can result in a bump in subscribers, and thus increase ROI. The best part is that all these examples can be contained within the email without the reader leaving their inbox.

Get Off the Grid
There usually is a grid that email designers go off of as a base. However, more and more email developers are jumping off the grid wagon and trying a new, more dynamic asymmetrical approach. Within the abyss of an inbox, your email must stand out, and fast. By eliminating the monotony, designing more full-width imagery, and including clean icons and CTAs in a unique position, there is hope to stand out against the crowd.

There are so many other ways to improve the email experience for the viewer, but for now, take these email marketing tips to nibble on and feel free to explore and experiment. Email creation is, after all, 10% design and 90% troubleshooting. So go and enjoy the journey, and let us hope email clients (yes, I’m looking at you Outlook) will soon join us so we can further improve the future of emails.