Rae Steinbach, Content Specialist at TakticalEmail marketing has been around for a while, and it is still going strong as one of the most valuable tools in online marketing. While many of the older strategies and tactics still get good results, you have to keep up with the current trends if you want to maximize the value of your campaigns. In this post, we are going to look at some of the most important trends in email marketing.PersonalizationWe hear a lot of conversation about the importance of personalization for marketing emails, but so many marketers are still failing to implement these practices. Generic emails can work for some situations, but the best conversion rates and open rates come with emails that offer some level of personalization. This can include inserting the recipient’s name into the body of the email and changing the sender domain from your company name to a specific person within the business.Moving forward, the most successful campaigns will aim for higher levels of personalization and marketers are going to start using big data to refine their targets and to create email content that is more personal to the recipient.Interactive EmailsEmail campaigns are increasingly interactive. Marketers will pull elements from the website to make emails that offer more options to the recipient, and they are going to look for new ways to reach consumers with content that is more engaging. We are already starting to see emails with rotating carousels, interactive polls, navigation buttons, and emails that allow users to do things like customize products and place orders from the inbox.This content is more engaging and it removes barriers from the customer journey. Therefore, we should expect to see more of it in the future.AutomationEmail automation is already a major trend but we are going to see an expansion of the number of email automation tools that are available, and the increasing ability of email automation systems to integrate and interact with other software services. In addition to that, we can expect to see more advanced AI being applied to email automation systems.These changes could first and foremost lead to greater inbox deliverability. Leveraging AI for automated email address verification, for example, makes cleaning out bounce emails and reaching inboxes even easier. Additionally, automation tools can create better and more effective segmentation, triggered emails that are even more personalized, and provide the ability to apply a more diverse range of data to automated email campaigns.Video in EmailThe advantages to using video in email marketing are well established. If the recipient knows that an email has video, they are more likely to click through and open the message. Video is also more engaging, and emails that have video enjoy better conversion rates.With video production getting increasingly more affordable and it becoming easier to embed videos in email, we are going to see more marketers looking to increase the success of campaigns by adding video content to their emails.Even simple email marketing campaigns can offer value, but if you want to get the best ROI possible, you have to stay up to date with the latest tactics and trends. These are just four of the top trends that are changing the way we do email marketing. Let us know which email marketing trends you’re predicting for this year![author]About the Author: Rae is a graduate of Tufts University with a combined International Relations and Chinese degree. After spending time living and working abroad in China, she returned to NYC to pursue her career and continue curating quality content. Rae is passionate about travel, food, and writing, of course.[/author]