Voice technology has improved significantly in recent years, and average consumers have embraced it enthusiastically. According to research, some form of voice-enabled speaker device or chat technology will be in more than half of all American households by 2022.
It’s important for marketing teams to pay attention to this trend, especially as it pertains to overcoming the challenges of email marketing. As voice technology and voice-based interfaces slowly but surely replace smartphone and computer interfaces, the way in which customers encounter marketing content will change.
That means email marketing best practices will change as well. It also means overcoming email marketing challenges may be easier. To prepare for these shifts, marketers should keep the following points in mind.
Chat Technology Will Make Subject Lines Less Important
According to surveys, approximately 47% of people decide whether or not they’ll open an email based on its subject line alone. That’s why one of the main challenges of email marketing has involved crafting subject lines that get clicks.
The rise of voice and chat technology will change that, though. If voice interfaces become more commonplace, customers will not hear a subject line first when checking their email. Instead, it’s more likely they’ll be told who sent the email before hearing the subject line. Thus, marketers should focus more on developing a strong brand that customers respond to consistently as voice technology becomes more commonplace.
New Branding Techniques for Email Marketing Will Emerge With Best Practices
Developing a brand might actually be easier when more users rely on voice technology and devices to check their inboxes. Although one of the advantages of strong email marketing copy is that it helps a company establish a brand, custom chat technology could lend that brand a genuine personality.
Whether the voice is warm and casual or authoritative and professional, it will impact how customers respond to the brand. Instead of merely A/B testing email content, companies can A/B test different voices. Doing so will assist in overcoming one of the major email marketing challenges of testing that doesn’t always lead to clear results or plans of action. By A/B testing a literal brand voice, brands can determine which is more effective at attracting customers.
Voice-Based Call-to-Actions Will Emerge With the New Technology
A call-to-action, or CTA, is a key element of any marketing email. One of the advantages of email marketing is the ability to reach customers directly in their inboxes, prompting them to take a specific action after reading your message.
That said, developing an effective call to action is one of the greatest email marketing challenges. You want to make sure customers click on the CTA, and you want to make sure the destination they arrive at after doing so convinces them to make a purchase, sign up for a service, etc.
This process may become very different with chat technology and the consequential rise of voice-based CTAs. Although companies who’ve tested ads with voice-activated CTAs believe customers in test groups responded positively to them, marketers will have to test various types of CTAs with this new technology before determining which are most effective and should be integrated with their email marketing best practices.
Marketers will also have to decide what happens if a customer responds to a CTA. If they’re using a voice technology-based device, the CTA can’t link them to a website that requires a visual interface.
Customers aren’t likely to open up a web browser just because a CTA told them to. Marketers will have to overcome this new email marketing challenge by ensuring that customers who respond to a CTA will be directed to the relevant next step based on the particular interface they’re using.
Again, statistics indicate more consumers will quickly embrace chat technology. Marketers who start investigating how to leverage it now can faster enjoy all of the advantages for email marketing it offers. While there will be some challenges ahead, there will also be greater opportunities for branding organizations and forging genuine relationships with customers.