Home » Emma’s 2021 year in review

Emma’s 2021 year in review

Goodbye 2021: The yearlong balance beam event

During a beam competition, a gymnast may add leaps and jumps to their routine to increase their difficulty rating. However, this comes with the requirement that the gymnast starts and lands on two feet. Well, 2021 was just that: a balance beam competition. We’ve all spent the year in the balance between virtual life and the return of in-person interactions, all while being flexible and prepared for each of life’s twists and turns. And no matter what, we’ve all managed to land on the same two feet we started on. So, with the year coming to an end, there’s only one thing left to decide: how can we top last year’s success? Well, that and deciding between continuing virtual yoga or heading back to the neighborhood studio. But I digress… Ok, jump off the beam and let's take a moment to reflect on this year’s leaps, turns and twists.

No matter the twist or turn, email managed to keep you on your toes.

Email as a tool still remained crucial to our customer’s marketing and brand efforts, as well as those of our partners. Here’s how:

Emma customers sent 9.340 billion emails that were opened all around the world, up by 12% last year.
Emma customers A/B tested 3,029 campaigns to drive engagement and brand recognition.
They tested 48,843 subject lines, which was down by 20% last year, which could be due to our advice to reduce reliance on email opens as a key engagement metric with the announcement of Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection.
They created 10,073 automated journeys to send timely and relevant emails to their subscribers, while reducing your workload.
And they designed 25,803 email templates to stand out in the inbox.

We coached you through the entire event

The strategies that best drive your email marketing goals are the very same strategies that fuel our blog, content that we take pride in providing to both our customers and prospects. Check out some of our favorites from 2021: Increase open rates with this tip from Hollywood In Increase open rates with this tip from Hollywood, we brought Hollywood to your inbox with this pro tip to boost open rates. Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection may have watered down the magic here a bit, but this one was still a goodie! How to use forms without landing in the spam folder Forms were a big deal this year with the increased focus on collecting and owning your customer data and surveying customers to understand their needs and wants as we worked towards a new normal. But forms can be scary! So we shared a few tips about how to use forms without landing in the spam folder. How to re-engage bored email subscribers It happens to the best of us: Our once-passionate subscribers become uninterested in our content, and they stop clicking, reading, or engaging. In How to re-engage bored email subscribers, we shared best practices for re-engaging an outdated email list. 5 ways to up your email engagement on the fly Email marketers don’t always have time to make sweeping updates or changes to existing journeys. But, we help you focus on what to change and how to maintain an engaging communication journey is essential to marketing success! Leading a diverse and inclusive marketing team Diversity and inclusion have played a large role in the emotion and empathy required of us this year. Here are 5 tips for guiding your team and building the culture everyone wants to be a part of, and creating an environment where people can speak up and feel that their opinions, culture, and experiences matter.

When you leaped, we followed

Listening to our customers was as important now as ever. As you leaped into new territories, so did we, resulting in 45 new features released to you. Here are some highlights: February Save time and sync your data with Connect SFTP April User Limit Increases for Pro/Plus Home Page Accessibility (as per 2020 standards) May Monthly Insights Report Email August HQ Home Page Redesign Amazon S3 Integration September Manual Import Automation Trigger October New Editor Experience

And we gave quite a show

We’re proud to support you with a 99.58% delivery rate for all email campaigns sent.
Features released: 45
99.99% app availability means your experience is seamless and interruptions are minimal.

Deliverability took the lead in 2021

As marketers began re-engaging their audiences and re-establishing their brands,we noticed a trend in your interest in data collection and deliverability, the foundation of email marketing. Our deliverability team curated some insightful content around this key email metric to keep you informed during this moment of evolution. Deliverability + Re-engagement Webinar John Peters and Ros de Vries discuss how to restart your e-marketing program effectively during this season of reconnection and re-engagement. Deliverability Insights Blog Series We launched a new Deliverability Insights series, written by our dedicated deliverability team here at Emma.

Balance and support go hand in hand

In 2021, our support team:

Answered 7,519 of your calls for assistance within 42 seconds
Closed 14,227 support cases
Helped 200 customers with their marketing needs, covering everything from design to strategy

And internally, our team focused on our wellbeing. Here’s how:

206 team members stayed connected, while working (predominantly) apart
Wellbeing allowance
Free Calm app subscription
Virtual events to help us move, step, sleep, and hydrate better

A pat on the back from your friends at Emma

Balance, stability and support all at once? That was no easy task. However, by working together as partners, we’ve all managed to land on the same two feet we started on! We’re excited to see what next year has in store for us marketing professionals. Of course, we’ve got our predictions but, as always, we’re prepared to help you take on any leaps, twists or turns with innovation and sophistication.