Email is still the king of outreach in 2024. For a while, in the mid-2010s, there were talks about emails being overshadowed by IM software, but while there was some logic behind this expectation, it just didn’t pass. Most businesses are likely to reach out to you via email for the first time, thank you after the purchase, or remind you that you left items in the shopping cart. In other words, business is still done via email marketing.

The field, however, has changed drastically. We’re living in the age of higher computing power, AI, and tool integrations. Naturally, each of these tech trends has a profound impact on email marketing. Here’s what you need to know on the subject matter.

1. More careful choice of an email host

The first thing that digital marketers will have to be more serious about in 2024 is the choice of their email host. 

Modern email marketing is incredibly demanding. Because of email automation, email marketers are no longer sending hundreds of emails every day; they’re sending hundreds of thousands. This is why even a smaller difference in uptime can result in a more significant loss for the marketing team. High uptime and reliability are the No.1 priority.

Then, there’s the international nature of email marketing and a requirement that the host is compliant with regulations like GDPR or CCPA. Since the automation is getting out of hand, you will no longer be able to handle it all manually (if this was ever an option to begin with).

Lastly, we’re talking about the importance of performance. Even here, the differences can be quite significant, and you want to consider them. 

According to tech expert Krishi Chowdhary from Techopedia, picking an email hosting provider for business or personal needs without proper research is reckless behavior that no digital marketer should display. So, be sure to think about what you need from the provider before settling on one.

2. Adjusting to the industry

The email marketing campaign needs to be adjusted to the specific industry. Email services treat different industries differently, which is why you might be subjected to throttling or marked as spam for more subtle activity than you otherwise would.

For instance, promoting anonymous casinos via email marketing is far more likely to have you marked as spam if you’re not very careful about regulations, promotional terms, and information that you’re providing. You have to curate your content more carefully since misleading information might be treated far more harshly. 

The same thing goes with timing and scheduling your emails, especially since overloading isn’t treated the same in the same industry. You need to pick optimal send times for each industry, and this may vary depending on use. 

Keep in mind that you’re not just trying to appease email providers, internet service providers, and regulations either. Your email marketing campaign also needs to be effective in the message that you’re trying to convey. There are studies out there dealing with the number of emails from e-commerce and other industries that your audience will receive before they deem it as too much and the type of content they want to receive.

3. The use of AI in email marketing

The next thing we have to address is the future of AI in email marketing. 

First, it’s important to understand that this trend makes a level of personalization possible, unlike anything seen in the past. Sure, you already had templates that you could automate with CRM integration; however, using AI with a powerful NLP system is completely different.

In fact, you can leverage the NLP and generative AI to create completely unique emails for every single one of your recipients. If you already have some information about them in your CRM database, the results will be quite impressive.

Even if you don’t take the route of full automation, you can at least use the AI assistants while making your own emails. With their incredibly high predictive capability, you can finish your sentences with a single tap of your “tab” key instead of having to type it all out. 

The biggest problem with AI automation in the past was the fact that people preferred talking to other people, not bots. Well, in 2024, AI is closer to passing the Turing Test than ever before. While this is a thought that might be unsettling to some, for a lot of email marketers, this is no short of a saving grace.

4. Focus on integrations

The key to any email platform is the integration of your email marketing with your other services. For instance, we’ve already discussed the importance of integration with CRM, which is arguably the most important one on the list. This way, your automation system has all the information it needs for segmentation and personalization of email content.

Integrating with e-commerce platforms is important because you usually send post-sale follow-up emails this way and if you have the right system, you even have a chance to retarget your customers with a pretty high success rate.

Third, there’s the integration with your social media platforms. While this is not something that a lot of brands will openly brag about, the reality is that social media is a source of a lot of customer data.

Lastly, you want to tackle all the advantages of using adequate analytics and reporting tools. This way, you’ll have a massive advantage when it comes to insights and a much quicker time implementing change. Email marketing requires vigilant reporting, and if you do the right integrations, it will become significantly easier.

5. Superior segmentation

Segmenting your audience is an essential outreach tip, and it’s never as widespread and relevant as in the field of email marketing. 

Imagine a hypothetical scenario where your entire audience consists of exclusively 10-year-olds and 90-year-olds in a 50/50 split. Now, the average is 50 years of age, so imagine if your brand message was crafted to target people who are 50 (this is the age you pick for your customer persona). The message you send would resonate with no one, seeing as how this demographic will be off the mark in every respect.

Modern email marketing tools are designed to identify and profile these segments more accurately. This means that they’ll create several groups with the same common denominators and allow you to create a separate email marketing strategy for each of them.

Sure, with the modern power of personalization and AI, you can almost target people on an individual level. This means that every single user or customer can become like an entire group and have its separate, individual strategy. Still, the majority of small and medium businesses lack the technical prowess to pull this off. Under these circumstances, segmentation is more than enough. 

Email marketing is getting more and more potent by the hour

With all the trends mentioned above, your email CTR will be through the roof. Just think about it for a second: you can pick the optimal email host, adjust it to the industry and the customer, and send an email that is as hand-crafted as an 18th-century love letter. In other words, if this doesn’t get your email clicked on and read through, nothing ever will. Moreover, thanks to the availability of these services and technologies to businesses of all sizes, even the smallest brands in the game have a fighting chance.