The annual State of Email Report by Litmus is out with insight into the changes and trends of email marketing. Here are the key points:

Stay in the know.

From new devices to update device settings, there are always changes to make to ensure your email marketing strategies are working well and effectively.

iOS 10 updates that affect email on iPhones include:

• Allowing users to delete pre-installed apps including Mail
• Providing an easy unsubscribe banner to users
• Giving users preferences on how much of an email is previewed upon receiving it

Not to worry, though, Litmus also suggests to install the unsubscribe header on your own, stating that it allows you to build trust with your customers while also allowing your list to be tailored to you.

Learn email client updates and changes, too.

Gmail, with 20 percent of the email client market share, officially allows marketers to add in <style> to their emails, meaning no more CSS inlining by hand! Following suit, email clients that support responsive design is now 75 percent. Litmus recommends optimizing emails for each client, customizing content by hiding, shifting or swapping it out accordingly. Other Gmail updates include search functionality, streamlines events, saved links and glanceable newsletters.

Other Major Email Client Updates:

• Yahoo! Mail has changed the display of photos, so be sure to test your emails and keep everything looking good.
• Windows 10 now has a free Mail app; know the features and optimize your content and styling in regards to font families, background colors and hyperlink colors.

Understand the market share.

iPhone, Gmail and iPad still take the cake for the top email clients. Android saw a decrease in their market share, but remained fourth in line. Yahoo! Mail has now been replaced by Microsoft’s Outlook.com. Webmail usage has made the most positive change, bumping up to 30 percent in the last year. Mobile devices had no net change over the year, and desktop use has dropped three percent.

Litmus suggests optimizing your websites to be mobile-friendly if they aren’t already (as of June 2016, 93 percent of websites were). In line with mobile usage, make sure your links are easy to tap with a finger and in a clean, single-column design.

Know the industry updates.

Here are the top changes:

• Microsoft partnered with Litmus and acquired LinkedIn.
• Verizon acquired AOL, further consolidating the webmail space and increasing the competition.
• Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti obtained a U.S. patent for email delivery control.

Avoid spam and stay secure.

Spam now looks a little different. According to a Litmus study, users report spam most when brands send too many or irrelevant emails. Other reasons for reporting spam were users are no longer interested, didn’t realize they had subscribed to the emails and they couldn’t figure out how to unsubscribe.

Take these actions to avoid spam complaints:

• Improve permissioning to ensure users want to receive your emails.
• Make mobile-friendly emails and landing pages.
• Allow users to unsubscribe easily.
• Send relevant emails in a respectable amount.

See the report for more updates in security.

Keep with the times.

The following are the 2017 email marketing trends:

• Streamline emails to prevent constant manual labor with task runners.
• Create standard email templates and easily swap out content.
• For special occasions, change the template to catch your audience’s attention.
• Use snippets so you don’t have to redo the code for every email.
• Shorten the coding process with tools like the Emmett plugin.
• Keep your audience engaged with interactive emails.

Need help staying in the loop with your email marketing? Contact us and maximize your email efficiency. From coding to content, we can boost your email presence.