It might not come as a surprise that as more and more business processes move online – spurred in part by the COVID 19 pandemic – more and more people are using email. More businesses are sending emails and more emails are being sent by the businesses already sending them.

65% More email expected in financial services sector

What’s more, this year marketers and executives said they planned to send more email than they did in 2019, according to a recent survey of over 2000 digital marketing professionals! 54% of the total respondents said they expected to send more email in 2021 than in 2019.

60% of marketing executives said they planned to send more email in 2021 than in 2019, while 65% of respondents in the financial services sector said they planned to send more email now than in 2019.

There are plenty of benefits to increasing the frequency of email sending; if the emails provide value and are relevant to the recipient, they can help strengthen relationships between brands and consumers. A good place to start building a focused, dedicated, professional email campaign strategy is a platform such as 12Handz.

A focus on personalization has grown but using interactive elements in email isn’t often a priority for marketers. Approximately 50% fewer respondents to the aforementioned survey said they have used interactive elements today compared to 2019. Half of all respondents say they have no plans to use interactive elements any time soon.

“Exploring interactive email functionality” ranked only as the seventh most important priority for respondents. Among the 50% of all interactive elements that have been used by respondents, the most common are carousels and image galleries.

Interactive content generates 200% more conversions

Prioritizing interactive email functionality, however, could give some businesses an advantage. Kapost reports interactive content generates 200% more conversions than passive content. An interactive email survey from Zembula found interactive content generates 400%-500% more page views than static content.

In 2019, Campaign Monitor reported interactive email content increases the click-to-open rate by 73%, and videos can increase click rates by up to 300%. So, the word is out; adding GIFs, videos, and kinetic elements to make emails interactive could just be the edge your email marketing campaigns need to really kick. No doubt businesses are sending more emails these days, so that means more testing opportunities; one way of trying your hand is to deploy split A/B testing to see if interactive design makes a difference for your email strategy.