Email Marketing RulesDyspatch: 11 Quick Tips to Avoid the Email Spam Folder
Posted on August 3, 2021
There are no sneaky loopholes to trick the algorithms. But there are rules and tips you can use to hit the inbox and avoid the spam folder.
In this post, Dyspatch talks with me and three other email experts to assemble 11 quick, proven ways to send emails that always land in the inbox:
- Get permission
- Set expectations and follow through on them
- Send valuable emails
- Test and review your emails before sending
- Use confirmed opt-in (COI)
- Clean your email list
- Don’t believe the myth to avoid certain words
- Send emails regularly
- Remind subscribers of their subscription date
- Make it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe
- Ask subscribers to allowlist your email address
For details on accomplishing each of those and avoiding the spam folder…
Webbula: If You Could Only Use 2 Email Metrics
Posted on July 28, 2021
As part of their Ask the Experts series of video interviews, Webbula asked: “If you could only use two email metrics, which two would you use?”
I was happy to be among eight email experts selected to answer. I said return on investment (ROI) to help prove business justification, and subscriber lifetime value to help align email marketing with those that are being served. I explain in more detail in a 2-minute video that’s in the Webbula post.
The other experts said…
- Samantha Iodice: Read Rate, Click-to-Open Rate
- Andrew Kordek: Engagement Score, Link Level Reporting
- Gavin Laugenie: ROI, Click-Through Rate
- Randy Levy: ROI
- Chris Marriott: Clicks, Inbox Placement
- Kath Pay: Conversion Rate, Customer lifetime Value
- Tom Wozniak: Click Rate, Conversion Rate
To watch my video response, as well as theirs…
How to Optimize Web Modals and Boost Visitor Engagement
Posted on July 26, 2021
Popups, popovers, slide-ins, lightboxes, and other web modals are powerful because they demand attention. However, when they demand too much attention too loudly or especially too often, they can be incredibly annoying. That can lead to an increase in site abandonment, and even keep consumers from returning if they anticipate being harassed by modals every time they visit, says Oracle Maxymiser’s Chris De Marinis, Head of Website Optimization & Personalization Services at Oracle Marketing Consulting.
At Oracle, we optimize a lot of modals for a range of purposes—from promotional email signups to delivering discounts to promoting events. Always start by asking yourself: What goal am I trying to accomplish with my modal?
Once you have that question answered, determine how to best use the six aspects of web modals to accomplish your goal. These are the aspects that we focus our tests on:
- The Content of the Modal
- The Audience of the Modal
- What Triggers the Modal
- The Kind and Size of the Modal
- Dismissal Method
- The Trigger Frequency
For an exploration of each of those components…
Drive Your Customer Loyalty Program with Automated Campaigns
Posted on July 22, 2021
Just like email subscribers have their own distinct lifecycle that’s separate from the overall customer lifecycle, loyalty program members do too. They’re acquired by loyalty programs, get onboarded, need engagement as well as reengagement, and eventually transition out, usually passively.
Automated email, SMS, direct mail, and other marketing campaigns have a key role in ushering and supporting loyalty members through each of these stages to maximize the performance of a loyalty program. Oracle CrowdTwist’s Kunjisha Ahuja looks at how automated campaigns can help in several key stages, starting with…
The Advantages of Gender-Neutral Messaging
Posted on July 20, 2021
Gender-neutral marketing creates new possibilities for your customers, allowing them to view your products and services free of gender constraints. To put it plainly, gendered marketing reduces your addressable audience and alienates a growing number of consumers who prefer gender-neutral messaging, while gender-neutral marketing is more inclusive and more reflective of our changing society.
This is especially true for Generation Z, which are 40% of today’s consumers. For example, 48% of Gen Zers value brands that don’t classify items as male or female, according to McKinsey. And 25% of Gen Zers globally expect to change their gender at least once in their lifetimes, according to Reimagine Gender.
Don’t leave money on the table by marketing to outdated personas. More and more people are searching for gender neutral options. Increasingly, the future is non-binary and gender is a spectrum. This shift requires brands to evolve along with their customers. It also requires some soul searching to determine whether your marketing is falling into gender stereotypes.
To learn about six ways that you can avoid gender-limiting practices in your marketing efforts from Oracle Marketing Consulting’s Monica McClure…
Holiday Marketing Quarterly: Third Quarter 2021 Checklist
Posted on July 19, 2021
Oracle’s Holiday Marketing Quarterly gives B2C brands a quarter-by-quarter checklist for how to achieve more during the critical holiday season with their email marketing and other digital marketing channels. Along with guidance on planning, strategy, and prioritization, you’ll get advice and tips from some of Oracle Marketing Consulting’s more than 500 digital marketing experts.
The third quarter is focused on the final prep for the start of the holiday season. In this Holiday Marketing Quarterly, we’ll cover:
- Campaign Planning
- Workload Management
- Contingency Planning
- Audience Optimization
- Performance Monitoring Plans
- Solidifying Your MarTech Stack
For details on each of those areas…
>> Download the 17-page Third Quarter 2021 Holiday Marketing Quarterly
The Last Word on June 2021
Posted on July 6, 2021
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Losing Open Tracking Will Not Kill Email (Martech Today)
BIMI: Images and Resolutions (The BIMI Group)
How the U.S. Got Boxed in on Privacy (Axios)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Spotify is proof that people don’t care if you have their data when you use it to benefit THEM. https://t.co/6izsmb5Q3g pic.twitter.com/3Tgv6NoiVd
— Val Geisler (@lovevalgeisler) June 3, 2021
Ahhh email marketing, so close 🤦♀️ pic.twitter.com/VWyzaFUO6p
— Imogen Davies (@_ImogenDavies_) June 3, 2021
Driving brand loyalty comes down to using these classic drivers.
📚 are they learning something?
🌲 does your brand have a positive effect on health/wellbeing?
⛰️ can you help them overcome a challenge?
👪 can you make them feel like they belong?
💖 does it fit their values?— Kate Barrett eFocus (@eFocus_marketin) June 23, 2021
My kids school district emails are always just an email with a link to a web page that has a link to a pdf and I get angry EVERY TIME!
— 🅱🅴🆁🆃 (@bertlamb) June 4, 2021
Confession: Every time I write an email to say when I am available for a meeting, I always write “px” instead of “pm”. You can take the woman out of the code, but you can’t take the code out of the woman, I suppose. #emailgeeks
— Anne Tomlin (@pompeii79) June 23, 2021
Noteworthy subject lines
Neiman Marcus, 6/3 – Unique gifts for Dad
Bass Pro Shops, 6/10 – Let Dad know he’s oh-fish-ally the greatest with gear from Bass Pro Shops
Uncommon Goods, 6/13 – Father’s Day gifts for all kinds of fathers 🍺😂🚲
Kohl’s, 6/8 – The gifts every grad wants.
ModCloth, 6/6/ — Happy Pride Month! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
VS PINK, 6/7 – Meet Jari, our inspiration ✨
Crate & Barrel, 6/1 – Home is for comfort, acceptance and Pride
REI, 6/6 – Celebrate with Our Newest Pride Collection
West Elm, 6/16 – Pride Talk: People & places who inspire…
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/8 – Celebrate Pride: 3 leader on the power of love & community
Williams Sonoma, 6/1 – Williams Sonoma x The Trevor Project
West Elm, 6/15 – Obsessed! Our collab with REI Co-op
Bed Bath & Beyond, 6/2 – Backyard movie night? 🤩📽️ YESSS!!! Plus, your COUPON is inside.
VS PINK, 6/6 – Life’s a Beach
Express, 6/7 – Hit the coast in 🏖️-inspired looks
Neiman Marcus, 6/23 – Bright ideas for your summer wardrobe
Eddie Bauer, 6/6 – We’re Giving Away Camping Gear EVERY DAY This June 🏕️
Patagonia, 6/23 – The Untethered Kit—minimalist gear for the backcountry
Quiksilver, 6/6 – Help Save And Protect The Open Spaces You Love
Gap, 6/24 – Introducing the first ever Gap Home Collection
West Elm, 6/21 – Accents that make a statement
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/28 – Loungewear you can wear anywhere
Williams Sonoma, 6/15 – The office is open… Morning rush?
Burlington, 6/24 – Starting at $5.99: All your 4th of July party needs
Sears, 6/6 – Don’t pay all at once ⚠️ Quadpay lets you pay in 4 interest-free payments
Applebee’s Grill + Bar, 6/17 – Buy $50 gift card, get $10 bonus card
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/15 – Going to a wedding?
Victoria’s Secret, 6/8 – Matrimony Must-Haves
AutoZone, 6/7 – Want to wax your car? We’ll make it easy!
REI, 6/21 – What Gear Won Our Editors’ Choice Awards?
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Identifying ‘Real Opens’ Is Key to Adapting to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection
EEC: Apple’s Privacy Moves – Sky Falling or Time to Innovate?
Webbula: Promotional Tab vs. Primary Tab in Gmail
Webbula: The Industry’s Reaction to Apple’s New Privacy Protections
13 Ways Email Marketers Should Adapt to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection
Website Optimization Ideas to Explore: An Oracle Consulting Checklist
Pandemic Email Audience Changes: Managing the Risks and Opportunities
Identifying ‘Real Opens’ Is Key to Adapting to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection
Posted on June 29, 2021
Apple’s new Mail Privacy Protection features will have widespread implications for email marketers. Why? It’ll affect everything from email analytics and deliverability to email strategy and design in a significant way. That’s because these changes, which debut this fall, will prevent email senders from seeing Apple Mail users’ open behavior, IP address, location, and device information.
In particular, the lack of visibility around opens will be a challenge.
Apple will pre-fetch every email’s content at the time of delivery. That will not only make open times inaccurate, but will make it appear that nearly 100% of your emails that are received by subscribers who use Apple email clients are opened, whether they actually are or not.
It’s no small problem, since about half of all email opens occur on Apple Mail currently, according to Litmus data. The false opens generated by Apple will dramatically inflate overall email opens, which marketers have traditionally used as a signal of engagement for a variety of purposes.
However, there’s one solution that can help address several of the challenges caused by Apple’s new privacy protections. That is to segment out Apple Mail users. How can you do that? By using device identification. Let me explain…
EEC: Apple’s Privacy Moves – Sky Falling or Time to Innovate?
Posted on June 24, 2021
The Email Experience Council asked me and 11 other industry thought leaders to provide their initial reaction and take on Apple’s newest privacy change to limit email tracking and mask IP addresses on the Apple Mail app, and its potential implications on email marketing. For my part, I said:
“Consumers have been consistent in wanting more privacy and more relevant emails—not fully appreciating that these two things are largely diametrically opposed to each other. With their upcoming release of Mail Privacy Protection, Apple has decided to err on the side of increasing privacy. By generating tons of false opens and obscuring device information and other data, Apple’s MPP has made it significantly more difficult for marketers to send relevant emails and to avoid sending too many emails to their users. To avoid the negative effects of Apple’s privacy changes this fall, marketers will need to make adjustments to their email analytics, deliverability practices, and email designs.”
To see what everyone said and get a sense of the range of reactions…
Webbula: Promotional Tab vs. Primary Tab in Gmail
Posted on June 22, 2021
Some marketers worry a lot about whether their emails land in their subscribers’ Primary tab or Promotions tab in Gmail. To get a sense of whether marketers’ worry with worthwhile, Webbula reached out to me and six other email marketing experts to get our takes.
For my part, I think concerns about tabs are way overblown—and there seems to be a high level of agreement among all the contributors.
To watch my 3-minute video response, as well as the videos from the other six 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
