E-mail Marketing and SMS: New Trends and Technologies in 2026 – Read What We Learned at Searchmind Insights
Searchmind Insights
At Searchmind, we place great emphasis on sharing the latest knowledge and developments across our departments. That is why we have Searchmind Insights, where we bring our team together every month to share knowledge about the latest trends and tools in the industry. This ensures we stay up to date on the newest technologies, so we can always optimise our clients’ strategies with the most current knowledge.
Email and SMS marketing in 2026: New opportunities and technologies
Email and SMS marketing have long been among the most effective channels for engaging customers and driving sales. But in 2026, we are seeing several new technologies and platforms opening up even more opportunities. In this blog post, we take a closer look at Shopify Markets, Klaviyo's product catalogues, and the upcoming RCS technology, which plays a central role in the marketing strategies of the future.
Shopify Markets + Klaviyo = gamechanger
Shopify Markets has become a game-changer for many e-commerce businesses looking to scale internationally. Shopify Markets makes it possible to set up a shop across multiple markets, offering a localised experience for each customer. This enables you to tailor product offerings, prices and language, opening up a far broader customer base.
Previous challenge:
One product feed for all countries
Manual solutions and language versioning created confusion
Hyper-segmentation was nearly impossible
Klaviyo has now released an update that enables Shopify to automatically send dynamic product data to each country. This means we can now build automated flows that draw on the same product feed but display the right product to the right customer. In this way, we can scale our clients' businesses faster — and scale on the email platform as they expand into new markets.
When these features are used together, they can truly help improve conversions and optimise the personalised customer experience across international markets.
RCS – SMS's big brother is on its way
While SMS marketing has been an effective channel for many years, a new technology is on its way: RCS (Rich Communication Services). RCS is SMS's big brother, enabling businesses to send interactive, multimedia messages directly to the customer's phone.
RCS gives businesses the ability to create more engaging messages that include images, videos and buttons, making communication far more interactive and dynamic than traditional SMS. Examples of RCS use cases include:
Browse abandonment: Capturing the customer's attention with products they have previously viewed
Abandoned cart reminders: Reminding customers of products in their cart and making it easy to complete the purchase
Cross-sell recommendations: Driving upsell with relevant product recommendations based on previous purchases
RCS is still in its early stages, but it is a technology expected to play a major role in 2026 and beyond. The businesses that start experimenting with RCS will gain a competitive advantage in mobile marketing.
Klaviyo MCP Server – AI for Marketing Optimisation
Another important technology that landed in beta in autumn 2025 is the Klaviyo MCP Server, which leverages AI to help optimise marketing campaigns. This AI-powered server enables you to obtain quick, data-driven insights and ideas for upcoming campaigns.
AI is no longer just for generic subject lines. With the Klaviyo MCP Server, we can finally get AI to work with the actual data driving our email marketing strategy.
Think about it: how often have you downloaded data, uploaded it to an AI, received an estimate, and then manually transferred it back again? No thanks!
The Klaviyo MCP Server integrates directly with your Klaviyo platform, which means the END of that manual hassle.
Here are 6 quick wins we are already experiencing and see HUGE potential for:
Instant campaign summaries: Get performance insights in seconds, not hours.
Data-driven idea generation: AI suggests content for the month’s marketing calendar based on your data.
Contextual copy inspiration: Get AI-generated copy that matches previous campaigns and your target audience. That’s a gift for relevant content!
Quick flow analysis: Understand flow performance and customer profiles without diving into manual analysis.
Segment optimisation: AI helps identify the most effective segments for specific campaigns.
A/B test optimisation: Get suggestions for A/B test variants based on previous results and behaviour.
This means you can improve your marketing strategies quickly and efficiently, based on the data you already have and AI’s ability to find new opportunities for optimisation.
The Marketing Strategy of the Future: How Do You Leverage These Trends?
To harness the potential of Shopify Markets, Klaviyo’s product catalogues, and RCS, you need to start thinking of marketing as an integrated and dynamic process that goes beyond traditional channels such as email and SMS. Here are some tips on how to get started:
Integrate your marketing channels: Use Shopify Markets to expand your reach and Klaviyo’s product catalogues to deliver more targeted and personalised email marketing.
Experiment with RCS: Start preparing for RCS so you are ready when it is fully rolled out in 2026. This will allow you to offer a more interactive and engaging user experience that stands out from traditional SMS marketing.
Leverage AI-driven automation: Use the Klaviyo MCP Server to automate your marketing and deliver personalised messages that are optimised in real time.
Get in touch with us if you are curious about these product updates from Klaviyo.
