Email Marketing RulesHow to Define Active Email Audiences as Opens Depreciate + Priorities for a Mail Privacy Protection World On-Demand Webinar
Posted on November 22, 2021
Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) will likely only be the first mailbox provider to flood marketers’ systems with fake opens, obscuring real ones. Welcome to the Age of Email Open Depreciation. Although far from perfect, opens were email marketers’ most frequent signal of engagement, generally clocking in at about eight times the number of clicks. As such, marketers relied on the metric to drive a range of activities. For example, you can use email opens to define active subscribers for targeting and inactive subscribers for suppression.
While email clicks can fill the void left by opens when it comes to send time optimization and subject line optimization, email audience selection requires a much broader approach. Going forward, the best way for you to define a subscriber as active or inactive will entail looking at both their activities as a subscriber and their activities as a customer across other channels.
To do that successfully will require brands to look at the right customer activities and use appropriate lookback windows for both existing subscribers and new ones. We provide an overview of these issues, including some helpful visuals, in this on-demand webinar and also discuss each of those issues in more detail in this post.
>> Read the entire post and watch the on-demand webinar on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
ZeroBounce: How to Make Your Holiday Emails Stand Out
Posted on November 16, 2021
The holiday season can be overwhelming for email marketers. Most B2C marketers create and send considerably more campaigns and they’re full of worries. In addition to fearing that their increased email volumes will trigger spam filters, they worry about whether their emails will stand out in crowded holiday inboxes.
To gather the best advice on creating standout holiday campaigns, ZeroBounce spoke with me and 11 other email experts. My advice is centered on simplicity.
“When someone is subscribed to your promotional emails during the holidays, then you’ve already won half the battle for their attention. You’re already on their mind and under consideration,” I say.
“Contrary to what you might think, the next step in getting their attention isn’t something outlandish. During the holiday season, when people are extra busy and getting more emails than at any other time of the year, simple messages win.”
To read all of my advice, plus the great recommendations from the other contributors…
5 Best Practices to Make Your Customer Experiences Truly Mobile-Friendly
Posted on November 12, 2021
Nearly every site is now responsive, and most emails are, too. But just because a brand is using responsive design doesn’t mean that they’re providing a mobile-friendly experience.
Responsive design functionality doesn’t take the place of mobile-friendly design principles. Brands need to use them both. Here are some easy-to-implement mobile-friendly best practices that companies should be following for their websites, emails, and other mobile content:
- Ensure that fonts are a legible size
- Make buttons and links finger-friendly
- Be selective about what elements are linked
- Use a single-column design
- Keep inclusive design principles in mind
For more on how to execute on each of those best practices…
Webbula: 2022 Email Marketing Predictions from the Email Experts
Posted on November 9, 2021
While marketers are deep into holiday planning and execution, as soon as the holiday madness ends, marketers will shift to making new year preparations. To get a sense of where email marketing is headed in 2022, Webbula reached out to me and 10 other email marketing experts:
- Shmuel Hershberg, Shyn Media
- Komal Helyer, Pure360
- Jeanne Jennings, Email Optimization Shop, Only Influencers
- Chris Marriott, Email Connect
- Lauren Meyer, SocketLabs
- Kath Pay, Holistic Email Marketing, Author
- Ryan Phelan, RPE Origin
- Tejas Pitkar, Netcore Cloud
- Dela Quist, Alchemy Worx
- Jenna Tiffany, Let’s Talk Strategy, Author
My predictions focus on Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection and the depreciation of third-party cookies. To see our predictions for the year ahead…
The Last Word on October 2021
Posted on November 4, 2021
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
The Trust Delusion: Consumers Have Less Faith in Brands Than Brands Think They Do (Email Insider)
8 Tips to Turn Subscribers into Loyalists (Only Influencers)
Post-Purchase Emails: 12 Ways to Drive Customer Loyalty in Ecommerce (Sendinblue)
Movable Ink Research: Analysis of iOS 15 Content Caching (Movable Ink)
The Best Fonts for Email: A Guide for Developers and Designers (Email on Acid)
Happy 50th Birthday, Email! (MAAWG)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Chart of the Day:@Apple’s advertising business has more than tripled its market share in the six months after it introduced privacy changes to iPhones that obstructed rivals, including @Facebook and @Google, from targeting ads at consumers.
*A Thread* pic.twitter.com/vhFFXOzHGa
— Patrick McGee (@PatrickMcGee_) October 17, 2021
@SYSCAbout — I code 📧 4 a living + I must say that your double opt-in message’s CTA button = #chefskiss
👌👌👌#emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/02X4M0grQ0— Courtney in Auckland 🇺🇸➡️🇳🇿 (@courtnEMAIL) October 5, 2021
Hooooly cow, event organizers! Please note that one email reminder per session during a 3-day virtual conference is too much. 28 emails in total since Monday. My inbox hurts. 🤕
— Lauren Meyer (@LaurenEmailGeek) October 8, 2021
18+ years since founding BrightWave & 2+ years since the Ansira acquisition,I am stepping away to take time off. Thank u to the great teammates, clients, partners & awesome #atlanta & #emailgeeks communities for the amazing journey. It’s been an honor & a lot of fun! Onward⬆️
— Simms Jenkins (@SimmsJenkins) October 4, 2021
Noteworthy subject lines
Uncommon Goods, 10/5 – 🏃 Get these back-in-stock gifts before they sell out again.
Nordstrom, 10/22 – Our top tips for holiday shopping success
Sears, 10/14 – It’s not too early 🌲 to shop for the holidays
Macy’s, 10/22 – Gifts galore! Prep for the holidays (they’re closer than you think) with the perfect presents
CVS Photo, 10/24 – Up to 60% Off Photo Cards – Get A Head Start For The Season!
Crate & Barrel, 10/20 – FIRST LOOK | Holiday gift guide 🎁
Banana Republic, 10/27 – Sneak Peek: Our Holiday Collection
Eddie Bauer, 10/18 – Your 2021 Holiday Gift Guide Is Here!
Best Buy Black Friday, 10/19 – Black Friday Deals start early this year.
Zales, 10/28 – Woohoo 🥳 Early Black Friday Specials Are Here
Belk, 10/24 – Black. Friday. NOW! 🙌 19.99 3-piece bedding sets
Williams Sonoma, 10/18 – We could use some holiday cookies right now…
Kohl’s, 10/15 – Welcome the holidays into your home.
Neiman Marcus, 10/20 – Hosting for the holidays?
Kohl’s, 10/9 – $10 off + Home Sale savings to get your space fall ready.
IKEA, 10/18 – Chad, set the table for a memorable meal
Crate & Barrel, 10/1 – Get cozy in the kitchen with new fall recipes and our fave products.
Michaels, 10/17 – You scored fifty percent off Halloween to decorate your space—or make it haunted! ✨
Petco, 10/14 – What will your dog be for Halloween?
ModCloth, 10/17 – 😱 Yikes! Halloween is almost gone! 😱
CVS Pharmacy, 10/7 – COVID-19 Booster Now Available for Select Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Recipients.
Big Lots, 10/25 – We’re hiring! Check out the perks!
Burlington, 10/5 – COATS ❗ COATS ❗ COATS ❗
Bass Pro Shops, 10/25 – Cold weather ahead? Columbia has you covered.
Nordstrom Rack, 10/9 – Up to 40% off UGG® for women, men & kids
Gap, 10/15 – Comfy, cuddly, cozy x infinity
IKEA, 10/8 – Chad, do you like gaming? Then you will love this.
Office Depot, 10/20 – Windows 11 is here! Time to upgrade
Express, 10/19 – What @sruthijayadevan wears to feel confident
VS PINK, 10/20 – @gianninagibelli & others in our signature styles
Gap, 10/25 – We’re celebrating Giving Tuesday – with Katy Perry
Crate & Barrel, 10/5 – NEW LEANNE FORD | the collab you love is back (!)
Patagonia, 10/20 – Shirts with purpose
Panera Bread, 10/20 – A climate positive future. 💚
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Litmus: 2021 State of Email Report
Alchemy Worx: 2021 Consumer Survey on Shopping Sentiment & Email Behavior
Creating Internal Digital Marketing Benchmarks that Work
Webbula: Email Marketing in 5-10 Years
How to Simplify Your Martech Stack: 3 Approaches
Why B2B Brands Face Unique—and Sometimes Self-Inflicted—Email Deliverability Challenges
Best Days to Send Email Marketing Campaigns This Holiday Season
The Fold in the Inbox: Hard Line, Soft Line, or Imaginary Line?
10 Common Email Marketing Mistakes that Are Easy to Fix
Posted on November 3, 2021
Email marketing is complicated. Deliverability is governed by numerous factors and subfactors. The potential for email rendering problems is mind-bogglingly large. And email technology and tactical issues continue to evolve. However, not everything in email is complex.
Some aspects are quite simple—and yet some companies still regularly struggle with them. In most cases, they’re probably just unaware of the problem or just how easy the fix is. In other cases, there has been turnover on their email team and expertise in the channel’s nuances has been lost. Whatever the reason, here are 10 common email marketing mistakes that are relatively simple to fix…
Litmus: 2021 State of Email Report
Posted on October 28, 2021
If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of changes in the email marketing industry, then Litmus’s 2021 State of Email Report is a must-read. The 43-page report is packed full of survey data and insights around 5 trends:
- Email marketing is increasingly critical to business success. There’s no question: Email has always been important. But now? It’s essential.
- Personalization and automation are must-haves. While not new, personalization and automation are no longer nice to
have someday. The time is now. - Privacy measures are forcing strategies to change. Industry trends to protect privacy are impacting marketing’s ability to
do personalization well. - Brands are looking to agile marketing to meet email demand. Production cycles are getting longer while volume
is increasing. Burnout is real. - Marketing must embrace the state of the world. Email programs are adjusting and even joining the conversations
with world events, tragedies, and changes.
I was fortunate to get a sneak peak at some of the key findings and to be invited to comment on them. My comments focused on those last 3 trends. To check out what I said, the comments from the other expert contributors, and all the survey results…
Alchemy Worx: 2021 Consumer Survey on Shopping Sentiment & Email Behavior
Posted on October 25, 2021
Alchemy Worx’ latest consumer survey delivers timely insights about consumer purchasing intent this holiday season and the factors that are impacting those purchasing decisions. Those factors include the email and web experiences created by brands, as well as issues like sustainability and inclusivity.
In addition to lots of great data, the report includes insights drawn from the findings from Dela Quist, Ada Barlatt, Komal Helyer, Andrew Kordek, and me. For example, I discuss how the survey results show that consumers have a clear expectation for the personalization of both email content and frequency. I also talk about the sea changes that are occurring with consumer values, as well as the gulf in those values between younger and older people.
For a full discussion of all the findings of the survey…
Creating Internal Digital Marketing Benchmarks that Work
Posted on October 22, 2021
Modern brands today are trying to benchmark their digital marketing campaigns to determine which ones are successful and inform improvements. But we find that many brands are often using their internal marketing benchmarks in an overly broad way.
Correcting this problem requires a more granular approach to digital marketing benchmarks, one that groups campaigns by various characteristics to attain the apples-to-apples comparison you’re looking for:
- Audience engagement level
- Audience size
- Goal or purpose
- The content stream you’re sending
- Seasonality
For each, you’ll likely have two to four tags by which you’ll sort your campaigns to facilitate accurate comparisons. Join Oracle Marketing Consulting’s Peter Briggs and Alexander Stegall as they dive into these characteristics, along with the tags you might use.
Webbula: Email Marketing in 5-10 Years
Posted on October 20, 2021
As part of their Ask the Experts series of video interviews, Webbula asked: “Where do you see email going in the next 5-10 years?”
I was happy to be among eight email experts selected to answer. For my part, I see see AI and machine learning playing a big role in marketers trying to send the right message to the right person at the right time via the right channel. I explain in more detail in a 2-minute video that’s in the Webbula post.
To watch my video response, as well as the answers from Chris Marriott, Tom Wozniak, and the other experts…
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week, we’ll explore strategies and tactics, discuss tips and inspiration, and dig into industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Digital Experience Agency
Author of Email Marketing Rules and nearly 4,000 articles about digital and email marketing
