What Consumers Want from Email Marketing in 2021

Consumer demands are forever changing.

Continuously adapting to their needs and wants at a given time. And increasing as more and more of their demands are met by brands and technology.

The DMA has recently investigated how the pandemic has shaped consumers’ relationship with email.

One of the most exciting findings (in our opinion) is that over 70% of consumers state that email is the best channel for brands to use across the customer journey.

And while consumers’ needs may continue to adapt, the DMA’s research shows that what consumers want from email often goes back to email best practice.

Meaning whatever your resource, budget, or email maturity, giving consumers what they want is achievable.

In this blog post, we pull out some of the key findings into consumer email requirements from the DMA’s research. And tell you how you can address them.

Mobile friendly

The way that consumers own email is continuously changing. With consumers having on average 2 email addresses, and 26% of them opting to use their separate email addresses to receive marketing messages.

However, one trend that has long been recommended is the use of mobile-friendly email and even a mobile-first approach to email marketing.

While 64% of consumers are still using desktop and laptops for email, 62% of recipients use their smartphone, and 25% use a tablet. It’s clear that in 2021 consumers aren’t only checking their email on mobile devices, as some have previously predicted. However, with such a large proportion of consumers using mobile devices, mobile-friendly email should still be a priority in email design.

Mobile-friendly emails aren’t anything new. However, we regularly still come across brands who haven’t mastered it. This means they are alienating a huge portion of their audience, and not offering them the best buying experience possible.

To understand more about creating mobile-friendly email, you can check out our Email Marketing Template Playbook.

Essential information

The DMA found that the inbox is the most popular place to save and store information that is sent by brands, with 58% of consumers stating that this is because email is convenient, and 55% that the inbox is easy to search retrospectively.

And consumers are storing a wide range of information in their inboxes, notably offers, receipts, and bills.

Triggered emails are key to sharing important information in a timely manner. Without putting a drain on resource.

In particular, post-purchase emails contain some of the most important information for recipients, so should be automated as soon as the recipient makes their purchase to offer reassurance. For instance, these emails should include order confirmations, with information on the specific product and delivery times.

Getting something in return

Important information isn’t the only reason that consumers love email.

The main driver of them handing over their email to a brand is to get something in return, with 47% of consumers stating they share their details to receive discounts and offers, and 38% signing up to join a loyalty scheme.

Whilst brands can address this requirement by sending out promotions, offers, and sales campaigns, they can really improve their chances of engagement by ensuring these offers are personalised.

For instance, if their recipient regularly browses or purchases a specific item or a range of items, brands can utilise this information to send out targeted campaigns with promotional codes specific to those products.

More relevancy

This leads us neatly onto our next email requirement, relevance.

Only 15% of consumers report that at least half of the emails they receive are actually useful.

So perhaps it’s unsurprising that 55% of consumers state that relevance is the main reason they like an email from a brand. And 24% of consumers report if they could manage their emails, they would opt to receive more personalised communications

Similarly, 38% of consumers fed back that irrelevant information is their main reason for unsubscribing from a brand.

Key to relevancy is using the data you have on your audience to ensure communications are as targeted as possible. This can include demographic and location data, as well as more sophisticated browsing and purchase data.

Brands can use this information to ensure that their emails only promote the products and services that are most relevant to the recipient. For instance, if a recipient has regularly browsed a product but has yet to make a purchase, brands can follow up with an email of alternative products based on other consumers’ purchasing behaviour.

And of course, we can’t fail to mention one of our favourite types of personalisation. Geotargeting.

By using geolocation data, brands can ensure their emails are personalised based on where in the world the recipient is. And when coupled with dynamic content, brands can easily create emails with personalised currency, promoting products relevant to the weather or season, or recommend events or stores closest to their location.

Reduced frequency

The main reason that consumers will unsubscribe from a brand is that they receive too many emails from them. And if given the option to manage communications, 36% of consumers state that they would reduce email frequency, and 32% state they would opt to only receive specific messages.

Fortunately, this can be an easy win for brands. With the use of a preference centre, brands can offer their recipients the chance to take full control of their email frequency. Choosing to receive specific types of email, how often to receive emails, or to unsubscribe entirely.

Links to preference centres should be included at the bottom of all emails. However, brands can also be proactive in promoting preference centres to their recipients.

For instance, brands can identify the recipients who have not opened their emails in a period of time, and send them a re-engagement campaign that offers up the preference centre to them.

The benefit of this is the brand can reignite engagement with recipients who may be overwhelmed with email. Or have the opportunity to clean up their email list of recipients who no longer wish to hear from the brand anymore.

Looking to give your consumers what they want?

At Pure360 we offer an AI email and web marketing platform alongside a Customer Success Team whose sole mission is to get you better results.

Get in touch with our experts to find out more.