Email Marketing Trends in 2024: Major Updates for Gmail & Yahoo
Email marketing is a well established form of digital marketing that has been around for over 2 decades, and yet to this day, still remains an extremely dynamic, fast-paced digital industry.
In 2024 email marketing is undergoing some significant changes targeted specifically towards bulk senders.
In October Gmail and Yahoo announced their recent changes to their services which will impact the largest to the smallest email marketers.
In this blog we take a closer look at what these changes are and how they’ll effect email marketing along with some upcoming Email Marketing Trends we are expecting to see in 2024.
Update Details:
Starting in February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo will be enforcing these new changes to their policy.
As Gmail has 1.5 billion active users and Yahoo a healthy 230 million, these two email providers will make up a large proportion of the digital population.
So in order to maximise the efficiency and potential of your email marketing efforts you may need to alter your current practices to abide by these new requirements.
Both Gmail and Yahoo’s changes are worded slightly differently but are essentially the same, the following list outlines the new standards:
| New Requirement | More Details |
|---|---|
| Must now use all three different email authentication methods | Email marketers must now use SPF, DKIM and DMARC. |
| Must now provide one-click unsubscribe button | Emails must now include clearly displayed unsubscribe links in the header and one within the body text. Doesn’t apply for transactional emails. |
| Must use ARC headers in order to authenticate email forwarding | Email marketers who often forward emails now need to implement ARC headers that identify the sender as the one forwarding the message. |
| Must now keep user reported spam below new thresholds | Email marketers need to keep their spam rate very low around 0.1% or 1 in every 1000 emails sent. Temporary spikes cannot exceed 0.3% |
Why Have These Changes Been Implemented?
The majority of consumers prefer hearing from brands via email with 60% reporting email as their preferred message.
Gmail & Yahoo’s objective with these changes is to make the inbox a safer and less crowded environment for their users.
The changes implemented are aiming to reinforce good email marketing etiquette with a focus on transparency, simplicity and security.
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Email Marketing Trends Coming in 2024:
AI Becomes The Norm
As many people remain concerned with the how AI will impact their jobs and their lives, the focus of these concerns has now shifted from speculation about how to adapt to the increasing influence of AI to now adjusting to a world that is becoming dominated by AI.
The general conesus being that generative AI is an unstoppable force and even in its adolescent form is already dominating alot of digital and creative industries.
The outlook for 2024 suggests that AI will play a supporting role for email marketers as opposed to completely replacing their roles
Marketers can utilise AI in order to streamline their workflow and handle routine tasks allowing themselves and their team more time to dedicate to creative endeavors.
Email marketers who learn to harness the power of AI effectively will see their email marketing campaigns excel in 2024.
Authenticity & Empathy
This new wave of easily accessible generative AI softwares, has sparked widespread skepticism about the authenticity and originality of online content.
At this current moment in time it is already becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish the difference between AI Generated content and original content and it is only going to become harder as AI advances in the future.
With AI becoming a ubiquitous presence, email inboxes are going to become filled with AI generated content and the true challenge will be standing out amidst the deluge.
Despite the convenience offered by AI in crafting emails and understanding audiences, the importance of maintaining a human touch in certain situations is invaluable, so while AI is an extremely useful tool, human connection remains irreplaceable.
Accessibility Remains Crucial
Another Email Marketing Trend and one of the major trends that was big in 2o23, Accessibility will remain crucial throughout 2024.
The latest Email Accessibility Reports still suggest that there is huge room for improvement for nearly all brands, some simple ways to improve your email accessibility immediately are:
- Writing descriptive alt text for any images used within your email body
- Use basic semantic HTML (e.g. Tags on all headings)
- Set table roles to presentation
Accessibility and email engagement rates are directly correlated, as one goes up so does the other and vice versa.
If any percentage of your email list cannot see or read your content then your email campaign performance will suffer.
Wrap Up:
With all these changes and upcoming trends its easy to become overwhelmed, and when this happens remember to go back to the basics.
While it is important to keep up with trends and on top of updates and security etc, focusing on the basics of providing valuable content that resonates with your consumers remains paramount.
If you are looking for some assistance with your email marketing efforts and want to fill your sales pipeline in 2024 then Inboxx is the service for you.
Our direct email marketing campaigns are designed to get you noticed by the people that matter and generate new revenue opportunities for your business. Good ideas promised. Great results guaranteed.
