Unless you’ve been living on a remote island somewhere you’ll know that on September 20th Apple’s iOS 15 update was launched, containing a feature call Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) which – amongst other things – will eliminate the ability to accurately track email open rates. For the uninitiated, email opens are recorded using a tiny image in the email code. When the email is opened, that image loads, which tells the sender an email was opened, by whom, when, where and on what device. What Apple have done is add a ‘middle man’ into the mix, first routing emails through their own proxy servers to pre-load email content – including the tracking image – before serving the email to the…
email campaign
Does marketing to third party email data work?
The answer is it very much depends on how you do it. Often seen as the dark side of email marketing, sending messages to email addresses who did not sign up directly to your brand is frowned upon by many. It’s easy to see why – my inbox is already a busy place and I can do without even more emails I didn’t ask for thank you very much. As with your email marketing efforts to your first party lists, there are a host of things to get as right and as tight as possible. Data is king Long term success needs good data. Third party lists should be collected fairly and with transparency. People need to understand what to…
Planning and implementing your email marketing strategy
Email Marketing Strategy Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean that you should! It’s an old adage and one many email marketers would do well to consider before embarking on their email marketing strategy. If we start from what is possible the prospect of drawing up an email marketing strategy, budget, resource and timelines is daunting. I like to start from the other end, not what is possible but what does the business need. It sounds simple and the oft flippant response is more sales but that doesn’t always hold true. So start with a blank canvas and decide your business’s short, medium and long term goals, they may all turn out to be the same – sales,…
Getting started with Email Marketing for small businesses Part 2.
Once you have started to send email marketing to your customers it’s important to listen to any feedback you get from your subscribers. You should also keep tailoring your emails based on how they perform. One easy way to do this is use a click map. This is a graphic representation of where in your emails you are getting the most clicks. Many larger businesses have quarterly or biannual email reviews, this practice could easily be adopted by a small business. These email design reviews are a great way to evaluate your emails. Use these reviews to build on successful elements within your email designs. With this knowledge you might want to make popular sections larger, more in depth or…
Predictions for 2017 email marketing
Well, it only took 2 years, at this time in 2014 I wrote that 2014 was going to be the year when mobile responsive email just became email, became the common place, was what all the hip kids were doing. That finally happened in 2016, so the market was a little behind the curve but, boy, did email marketing catch up quickly! Responsive and Spongey coded emails abound, as do gif animation emails. Open the door and when you marketers come through it you do it with vision and a vengeance. So what will 2017 bring us? is it finally the year of video in email? Is it the year when automation crosses the chasm and is no longer the…
Will you still love me tomorrow – how to use post-sales automated emails
As email marketers, we all know it’s the channel that gives the best ROI and the emails which get the best open rates are ones sent after the transaction is complete. These include automated order confirmations and delivery notifications so it’s important to get right them right. Tinder culture In a world where retailers are a click away from a competitor, it’s tempting to keep jumping to the next option in the hope you’ll find a better deal. Most customers now have the attention span of around eight seconds so making sure you deliver them the right content immediately is critical to reduce distractions from a myriad of online things they can do. Today’s promotional environment has made shoppers highly…
8 ways to improve your email marketing
In our latest infographic Natalia looks at 8 simple ways to improve your email marketing. With email set to reach 4.9 billion users by 2017, it has greater reach than any social channel. Nat looks at some of the basics which will improve your email marketing if you follow these simple rules. Download the infographic