Email Marketing RulesEmail Innovations Summit 2020: Prioritizing Which Email Innovations to Pursue
Posted on June 3, 2020
You can’t—and shouldn’t—chase every email marketing trend. To help you prioritize which email innovations you should invest in, we surveyed Oracle CX Marketing Consulting’s more than 500 digital marketing experts, asking them to rate the current adoption of a range of email marketing technologies and tactics, as well as their predicted impact during 2020.
In this presentation, which I gave at the 2020 Email Innovations Summit, I share which trends are Unproven Opportunities, Competitive Differentiators, and Proven Essentials—and highlight the risks, controversies, and efforts around some of them. By the end, you’ll have a much better idea of where to direct your email marketing investments this year.
View the slide presentation:
Webinar on June 25: Understanding the Mailbox Provider Landscape
Posted on June 2, 2020
The mailbox provider landscape continues to be dynamic, with ongoing unannounced changes to email filtering and reputation algorithms. That means ongoing headaches for email marketers.
Join Oracle CX Marketing Consulting’s Clea Moore as she talks about the key mailbox providers and recent changes in deliverability filtering and sender reputation calculations. She’ll discuss:
- The Big Four mailbox providers in US: Google (Gmail.com, Gmail mobile app, Android app), Apple (iPhone, iPad, Apple Mail), Microsoft (Outlook.com, Outlook desktop apps), and Verizon (AOL, Yahoo Mail, Verizon.net)
- The consolidation at Verizon Media Group and how that has and will affect deliverability
- Filtering and reputation changes at Gmail in recent months, along with changes in Gmail tab placement
- And more…
Understanding the Mailbox Provider Landscape: The Key Players & Recent Impacts on Deliverability
Date: June 25, 2020
Time: 1pm ET/10am PT
Duration: 1 hour
Your Presenter:
Clea Moore, Director of Deliverability Strategy for Email Deliverability Services, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting
>> Register for the free webinar
CCPA vs. GDPR: Social Listening and Sentiment Learnings
Posted on May 28, 2020
The consumer privacy landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years. First, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in 2018, tightening privacy rules across the European Union. Then, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) was passed that same year and was enacted on January 1, 2020. When the law goes into enforcement on July 1, 2020 it will affect all companies doing business with Californians.
We were curious about how businesses and consumers were adapting to these laws and how their attitudes about privacy laws in general might be changing, especially since more privacy laws are on the horizon. To get a partial picture of how people reacted to both GDPR and CCPA, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting’s Social Media Strategy & Analytics Services team used social listening to check the reaction on social media. We compared social media mentions of GDPR to that for CCPA during key time periods, looking for similarities and differences in what people were saying about the laws.
While some of our findings weren’t shocking, others were definitely a surprise, as Oracle Consulting’s Vicky Czarniecki shares in this post…
>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
Speeding Up Email Production Workflows & the Potential Consequences
Posted on May 18, 2020
It generally takes about 2 to 3 weeks to create, approve, and send a marketing campaign. If your company is larger, more decentralized, or more highly regulated, it can take even longer. Usually that’s not a significant problem, but sometimes you need to be more nimble or reduce production costs due to heightened uncertainty or financial pressures. Some companies are experiencing one or both of those currently because of coronavirus.
While there are absolutely ways to speed up email production, each comes with a trade-off that might put your email program on thin ice. You may find some of the trade-offs more acceptable than others. Here are the five stage where you can speed up email production:
- Email planning and analytics
- Copywriting, design, and coding
- Data logic and A/B testing
- QA and troubleshooting
- Review and approvals
In this blog post, we discuss each stage and what you are potentially sacrificing by cutting back the time you spend on it.
>> Read the full post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
As Coronavirus Restrictions Ease, How to Adjust Your Email Strategy
Posted on May 12, 2020
We’ve talked in recent weeks about how marketers should respond to the systemic shock caused by coronavirus—how you start by sending crisis messaging and then adjust your promotional messaging strategy to stay aligned with new email behaviors and new consumer preferences. Now businesses are facing questions around how to handle the easing of coronavirus restrictions as economies re-open.
Oracle’s CX Marketing Consulting experts see companies as needing to make adjustments that are similar to the adjustments they made in response at the start of the crisis, but with some notable differences. Many of those differences stem from this critical fact:
While the stay-at-home orders on the frontend of this crisis were a sudden and largely national experience, the reopening will be a gradual experience at the local and regional level.
While it adds complexity, the phased reopening will allow brands to test and learn in a way that was simply impossible early on in this crisis when everything happened so quickly. The more gradual nature of the re-opening is a huge factor in our advice for brands, which starts with your reopening messaging and then involves adjusting your email strategy to be able to respond to your subscribers in a much more targeted fashion.
For a full discussion…
>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
Webinar on May 20: Understanding Email Deliverability
Posted on May 11, 2020
Deliverability is one of the most misunderstood aspects of email marketing, often because of the outdated and flat out wrong information on the internet. Join Oracle CX Marketing Consulting’s Daniel Deneweth and me as we dispel the myths and give marketers a true picture of how deliverability works. We’ll discuss:
- How mailbox providers make inbox placement decisions.
- Why it’s simply impossible for businesses to fool mailbox providers or run away from a poor sender reputation.
- How deliverability has evolved dramatically, including new factors added to filtering algorithms and how the weighting of factors has shifted radically over time.
- What information marketers need to properly benchmark their deliverability and understand the significant opportunities for improvement.
- Deliverability considerations during the current coronavirus crisis.
Understanding Email Deliverability: Key Factors & Key Performance Indicators
Date: May 20, 2020
Time: 1pm ET/10am PT
Duration: 1 hour
Your Presenters:
Chad S. White, Head of Research at Oracle CX Marketing Consulting and author of Email Marketing Rules
Daniel Deneweth, Head of Email Deliverability Services, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting
>> Register for the free webinar
The Last Word on April 2020
Posted on May 8, 2020
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
How Retailers Can Reach Consumers Who Aren’t Spending (Harvard Business Review)
2020 Small Business Email Marketing Statistics (AWeber)
How Coronavirus Brings Out the Heart in Digital Marketing (Relative Insights)
Leaked screenshots show new Inbox tabs for Outlook on the web (Neowin)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Talk about amazing customer-centric messaging from @WholeFoods! Why? It answers the questions we have before we even ask:
– how are we gonna brunch?
– how to deal with a cooking rut?
– what exactly are we doing with all the leftover Easter ham???https://t.co/XndcxS90hM— Val Geisler 💌 (@lovevalgeisler) April 6, 2020
“We bought this bankrupt company’s list.”
That list couldn’t even keep the first company in business.
— Mickey Chandler (@mickc_pro) April 13, 2020
I cannot state enough how much I love this: https://t.co/ibz8xWx6lX#EmailGeeks
— Catherine Mears (@catmears) April 6, 2020
Name a worse trend in cold email outreach than the fake “Hey FNAME! Lol kidding! :)”
— Val Geisler 💌 (@lovevalgeisler) April 15, 2020
.@NYTParenting Giving us the subject lines we all need right now. (Can I borrow someone’s car?) pic.twitter.com/8xFdFMtgjM
— Kristin Social Distancing Bond (@EmailSnarketing) April 8, 2020
Noteworthy subject lines
Everlane, 4/22 – An Earth Day To Remember
Eddie Bauer, 4/22 – You + American Forests = 8+ Million Trees Planted!
Patagonia, 4/22 – Every day is Earth Day
Banana Republic, 4/22 – Our love letter to nature
Uncommon Goods, 4/22 – Dear Mother Earth: Thank you for hosting us all these years.
MoMA Design Store, 4/29 – Gifts for Mom & Mother Figures
Macy’s, 4/22 – Mother’s Day gifts for every budget
Bass Pro Shops, 4/19 – LAST DAY: stretch your payments!
UncommonGoods, 4/29 – Florence Nightingale was born May 12. Who do you celebrate in May?
Staples, 4/7 – She turned her minivan into a mini photo studio.
Williams Sonoma, 4/28 – We miss dinner parties too. How to host one digitally.
Williams Sonoma, 4/25 – No flour? No problem. Here’s what to bake instead.
Olive Garden, 4/7 – Get a $1 Kids Meal ToGo.
Office Depot, 4/22 – Customize your home office and eliminate the clutter
Crate and Barrel, 4/7 – WFH 2.0: Save on top home office & storage
MoMA Design Store, 4/22 – What Our Staff Is Using at Home
Walgreens, 4/22 – Staying home doesn’t mean sacrificing self-care. Shop our DIY spa day essentials today.
Neiman Marcus, 4/4 – Your at-home spa awaits! Hours left for $50-$100 off beauty
Walmart, 4/19 – Ways to stay entertained at home
Saks Fifth Avenue, 4/22 – Everything you need to make things more homey
Lowe’s Home Improvement, 4/20 – Help keep your home safe and secure.
Nordstrom, 4/29 – All about that at-home life
Everlane, 4/29 – It’s All About Sweatshirts Right Now
VS Pink, 4/24 – Sport looks for your home workouts: in your fave neutrals!
Belk, 4/19 – Workout from home: 40% off Under Armour
Wegmans, 4/26 – Try These Ideas for Family Fun at Home
Michaels, 4/20 – Hey, parents: Check out these fun and creative projects for your kiddos.
Dollar General, 4/28 – Backyard activities starting at $1.
Big Lots, 4/26 – Essentials for family-fabulous back yard
West Elm, 4/26 – Up to 60% off! Step into your new dream backyard…
Sears, 4/19 – Together, we’ll build your outdoor oasis
Banana Republic, 4/29 – Introducing our Summer Collection ☀️
ModCloth, 4/20 – “Love this swimsuit! She looks amazing.”
REI, 4/27 – Final Day to Save During Our Inside/Outside Sale
Gap, 4/12 – Virtually best dressed
Banana Republic, 4/12 – Dress up to lift your spirits up
Walmart, 4/24 – Add some “feel good” to your Friday 🌤️
Omaha Steaks, 4/6 – Help someone be prepared.
Walmart, 4/27 – Together, we can help fight hunger in the U.S.
Omaha Steaks, 4/17 – Help American families. Donate with your order.
Petco, 4/29 – Adopt, Foster, Donate to Save Pet Lives!
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Email Behavior Changes in the Age of Coronavirus
6 Reasons Why Being in Gmail’s Promotions Tab Is Actually a Good Thing
Email Deliverability Quarterly: ISP Performance Feeds, Validity Acquires 250ok, and More
Systemic Shocks: Adjusting Your Email Messaging in Times of Disruption
8 Email Marketing Improvements to Make During Slow Periods
Posted on May 1, 2020
When your business’s promotional email frequency is high during its peak season, chances are that your email program is almost exclusively focused on getting that next email out the door. However, you generally have more time to think about your strategy and invest in lasting improvements during your off-season—as well as during slow periods like the one that some businesses are experiencing now because of coronavirus.
“View slow periods as opportunities to reinvent your business,” says Kyle Sjoberg, Senior Strategic Consultant for Strategic & Analytic Services at Oracle CX Marketing Consulting. “Focus on projects that are typically pushed aside in the day-to-day hustle and bustle.”
Not sure which improvements your organization should focus on? To help you out, we surveyed Oracle CX Marketing Consulting’s more than 500 digital marketing experts, asking them which of 16 email marketing improvements they’d recommend most right now.
Here’s a countdown of the top 8 email marketing improvements recommended by our consultants to make during slow periods:
8. Improve Data Governance & Hygiene
7. Improve Email Production Workflow
6. Improve Email Design
5. Improve Signup Process
4. Improve Data Centralization & Availability
For the full countdown and full details on each of these improvements, plus advice from our consultants…
>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
Email Behavior Changes in the Age of Coronavirus
Posted on April 20, 2020
The coronavirus has disrupted most people’s lives, changing how they work, socialize, eat, and educate their children. It has also changed email behavior in profound and sometimes surprising ways.
Let’s look at some of the changes in email behavior that we’ve seen in aggregated data from some of our Oracle CX Marketing clients:
- Open times have shifted.
- Email volume has dipped overall.
- Email engagement is up, but revenue is down.
- Unsubscribe rates are much, much lower.
- Mobile email viewing has morphed—but only slightly.
For all the details on each of these changes brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, plus our advice on what marketers should do in response to these changes…
>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
6 Reasons Why Being in Gmail’s Promotions Tab Is Actually a Good Thing
Posted on April 16, 2020
Marketers have been concerned about their promotional emails landing in Gmail’s Promotions tab since Google launched Tabs in 2013. Back then, the concern was almost a hysteria, with rampant fears of Tabs causing a crash in email engagement and email revenues.
Thankfully, concerns have cooled, with marketers seeing little to no bottom line impact from Tabs. However, we still see marketers asking about how to get their promotional emails into the Primary tab and our clients occasionally see tabbing as a deliverability issue in need of a fix. Since December, our Email Deliverability Services team has experienced a spike in questions about Tabs due to inconsistent placement of emails.
“We’ve had a number of our clients ask, What’s going on?” says Clea Moore, Director of Deliverability Strategy for Email Deliverability Services, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting. “We’re seeing our promotional emails in the Primary tab, our promotional emails in the Social tab, and our transactional emails in the Promotions tab.”
She added that all the inconsistencies have caused a few clients to ask, “Is there a way for our promotional emails to continue going to the Primary tab?”
Comments like that make us hope that this episode at Gmail won’t encourage marketers to try to manipulate their tab placement, because we believe concerns over Gmail’s Promotions tab are overblown. Here’s why:
- Email users are incredibly comfortable and familiar with how Tabs work.
- Every tab is part of the inbox, so tab placement issues are not a sign of deliverability problems.
- You want your emails to be where your subscribers expect them to be.
- When consumers spend time in the Promotions tab, it’s a sign of higher shopping intent.
- Email Annotations can help your emails stand out in Gmail, but only work in the Promotions tab.
- Google doesn’t appreciate gamesmanship or being manipulated.
For a full discussion of each of those reasons…
>> Read the full blog post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
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
