Looking for ways to make your emails more interesting and more engaging to your target audience? Interactive features are a great way to achieve these goals, and has quickly become the must-have trend of the year. It’s not only a great way of getting people to open your emails and use the content, it’s also effective for getting useful feedback that will guide your digital marketing campaign as it moves forward.

With the average consumer getting over 120 emails a day, it’s the ideal way to make your content stand out. Here’s some insight into what interactive content looks like and how to use it to the benefit of your brand, from our email marketing team in Melbourne.

What is Interactive Email Content?

This is any type of content that requires the user to engage in order to get the full experience by either tapping, swiping or otherwise moving through the content. Because email marketing is so versatile and media-friendly, there are lots of different ways for designers to add these interactive elements to your email content, from GIFs to custom CSS hover states and more.

Is Interactive Email Content Effective?

Clearly, creating interactive email content takes additional planning and design resources, so you want to be sure it’ll work before you invest in shaking things up. Although interactive emails are relatively new, these elements encourage a 73% increase in open rate, which is no laughing matter – especially when email is one of the main points of interaction businesses have with clients through the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, they offer something other than information to the reader – something that many people who are living with the additional stress and frustration of pandemic restrictions really want – entertainment. Depending on how you incorporate these elements, you add a valuable, entertaining distraction for consumers to focus on. It may only last a few moments, but it does mean these emails are likely to double conversions.

Convinced? Right – let’s move on!

Interactive Elements to Inspire Your Email Marketing Campaign

1. Surveys – Okay, we started talking about how interactive elements could be entertaining, but this option is lighter on the entertainment and heavier on value! People like being asked their opinions by brands they support – they feel like they are valued, that they can affect changes they’d like to see, and that someone is listening. This feedback is incredibly useful to brands too, helping to determine what’s working and what isn’t, as well as discovering opportunities to take advantages of. Send them out after a purchase or delivery, and learn about who your buyers really are.
2. Rollover effects – Image rollover effect are a bit more interesting, revealing key information or features when you move your mouse cursor onto an image. It’s a great feature for revealing a surprise, placing product descriptions out of the way and teasing your audience to learn more.
3. Gamification – Gamification is a Big Thing right now, and although they are a lot more work to develop, they pay off in exceptional engagement. Human beings are programmed to love games – it’s just how we are wired. It satisfies our curiosity, helps us bond with a brand, and de-stresses us – and who doesn’t need a little de-stressing right now? From simple, themed events such as riddles and clues that send you on a treasure hunt through a website to more complex daily quests that lead to promotions and special prizes, gamification is a new and fun tool to add to your email marketing toolkit.
4. Embedded video – Another thing we all just can’t get enough of is video, with video marketing still on the rise and predictions that we’ll each be watching about 100 minutes of video online every day by 2021. With so many people still self-isolating or working from home through COVID-19, it’s easier than ever to spend a few minutes unobtrusively watching a video on your coffee break or through lunch. Best practices suggest that for emails, video should be below 200k and no longer than 30 seconds to prevent them from being too bulky or losing people’s attention. If you have a longer video, then email is a great way to send out a teaser.

And when you are planning your interactive email marketing campaign, remember to follow best practices like having a punchy subject line, personalising your emails and segmenting them for the most appropriate consumers, being fun rather than pushy, and tracking metrics like bounce rates, open rates and conversions.

Dust Off Your Email Marketing Campaign and Start Making an Impact

Today’s market has never been so challenging, so disrupted – and so filled with opportunity. If you want to reinvent your digital marketing strategy to reflect your brand and are looking for a partner that has the expertise and resources to deliver, chat to our digital marketing team in Melbourne.

We assist small and medium sized businesses in all industries across Australia through social media marketing, email marketing, online advertising, web design and more to bring your audience to your door. Contact us today and let’s see how we can help your business grow.

Written by

Michelle van Blerck – Communications Manager

I take a spark and turn it into a fireworks show! From internal client communications to LinkedIn authority articles, social media, and blogs, I write it all. My aim is to represent clients authentically with high-quality content that Google loves. I’ll show consumers why you’re the business they want to work with, buy from, and follow for life!