Email Marketing for Alexa: A Guide to Adaptation

In December 2018, Amazon released an update for Alexa that added the ability to read and compose emails. That's right, Alexa will now not only read you your emails, but also let you compose replies with voice. It's compatible with Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail and Live, and will tell you the sender and subject line before asking you if you'd like to "read, reply, delete, archive or next". So what does this mean for email marketing?

Promotional emails were a way to get your deals and promotions to existing customers as well as push potential new ones into action. Traditionally, an email marketing campaign would include a catchy subject and offers, or news laid out in a visually appealing way to drive clicks and conversions. Alexa's new feature may disrupt the email marketing chain by removing the visual component in lieu of convenience.

Here's what you can do to stay ahead of the trend and create Alexa-friendly email campaigns:

• Skip the Emojis in your subject lines
• Keep your subject line short and attention-grabbing
• Keep your content on message in sentence format
• Organize your campaign to read well aloud

Rather than "50% sale coming soon - register now" try giving your subject line more punch such as "Bloomtools' digital tool sale starts March 1st". Think of content swinging from audible advertising to visual and back. If your heading would sound good as a radio commercial, it'll sound good on Alexa. If you send out newsletters, try to organize the content of these into an easier to read structure - your subscribers won't want to hear a story read by Alexa, they'll want the gist of your content quickly.

Though adoption is nowhere near 100% globally, we can infer from Alexa's move toward this feature that voice is the upcoming trend and other home assistants will follow suit. Start implementing these basics to adapt your email marketing strategy for a voice-activated future.

Not sure where to start with email marketing? If you'd like to start sending emails or need a little help putting your campaigns together, contact your local Bloomtools expert today and find out how we can help make things easier for your business.