Increase Engagement With These Essential Email List Segmentation Strategies
Apple Privacy disrupts Legit Marketers & Could Lead to More Spam
Email continues to be a reliable way to market to customers and to take full advantage of this marketing channel, marketers must know how to measure their campaign’s success. Previously this has been done mainly through open rates and while the historic data is still useful, this may not be the most reliable method going forward. Instead, marketers should focus on increasing engagement with their users in other ways like click rates and conversion rates. The metrics one chooses to use largely depend on the overall goal of the campaign. Regardless of the chosen metric, engagement can be increased by following some basic best practices.
For years email marketers have relied on embedded html tracking pixels to identify contacts that opened their mail. At Startinboxing we have a long history of advising marketers to factor in user engagement into their deployment decisions and to target less mail to contacts that don’t open. Mailbox providers like Gmail essentially reward this type of behavior as it reduces unwanted mail. Apple’s new found commitment to privacy has disrupted the industry and could make it more challenging to get the right content to the best, most engaged audience.
The most important concept to grasp is that of email list segmentation. Segmenting allows marketers to keep their content relevant to consumer wants and needs. The more specific one can be when making a segment the better as this will result in the consumers in those segments receiving meaningful content that they will want to engage with. There are many ways that email list segmentation can be done, some common examples include:
- Geographic
- Demographic
- Previous engagement level
- New subscribers
- Content-specific
- Behavior-specific
Not only can email list segmentation increase one’s engagement with their audience, but it can also improve one’s email reputation. Since segmentation allows for more targeted emails and a naturally engaged audience, a sender’s reputation can greatly be improved as customers begin to want this content in their inbox.
Some other best practices one should implement include the use of social proof, having a simple copy, making use of storytelling. Social proof, such as ratings and reviews, can greatly increase customers’ trust in a company and increase customer engagement with a company’s brand. Having a simple copy makes emails easier for customers to read, which makes them more likely to fully engage with the email. Even if you don’t keep your email copy short and sweet, having an interesting and captivating story keeps readers engaged. Some ways to do this can be through including high-quality images of the brand’s products, showing them behind the scenes, or adding pictures of the customers’ faces with their reviews.
Apple Privacy disrupts Legit Marketers & Could Lead to More Spam
Apple Privacy disrupts Legit Marketers & Could Lead to More Spam
At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced major privacy updates that will significantly impact email marketers. A new feature called Mail Privacy Protection will be available by Q3 of 2021 on iOS15, iPadOS15, watchOS 8 and macOS Monterey devices. It will prevent embedded html pixels from rendering data from email receivers.
For years email marketers have relied on embedded html tracking pixels to identify contacts that opened their mail. At Startinboxing we have a long history of advising marketers to factor in user engagement into their deployment decisions and to target less mail to contacts that don’t open. Mailbox providers like Gmail essentially reward this type of behavior as it reduces unwanted mail. Apple’s new found commitment to privacy has disrupted the industry and could make it more challenging to get the right content to the best, most engaged audience.
What we know so far
Apple mail users will receive a message that gives them the option to protect their mail activity. Users that opt in can view emails without their open action tracked. There is also a ‘Hide my email’ feature that allows for a randomized address to be created that will forward mail to the Apple mail inbox and can easily be disconnected.
With a huge market share of email opens in 2020 (46% according to Litmus) and integrations of other mail apps into Apple Mail, the true impact of engagement data is unknown. The privacy feature is still in beta, so we will have to wait until we can test it thoroughly. More technical questions such as will opens be suppressed or inflated have yet to be addressed definitively, so stay tuned.
The new privacy initiative is not entirely a surprise. European nations have long emphasised the right to privacy and have worked tirelessly to enforce data protection and data transparency. In addition to this changing global landscape, as well as Facebook’s 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, privacy protection is a suitable one upper opportunity for Apple. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbeg and Apple CEO Tim Cook have feuded publicly on a variety of topics ranging from data privacy to subscription fees charged to content curators within the Apple ecosystem. Unfortunately, the spat between billionaires may cost legitimate marketers important data points and open the floodgates to unsolicited mail. As engagement data for email opens may soon be far less reliable, there is a good chance that less sophisticated senders could ignore opens entirely and blast away. Whether Apple will enhance mail filtering or actually create a usable postmaster page for good senders remains to be determined. Blocking html embedded pixels may deprive senders of monitoring email opens, but it is unclear how if at all this update prevents unwanted mail.
What can senders do?
First, don’t panic. Legitimate senders will always be in a good position. Remember, these privacy changes only impact the things senders can see. They do not impact the senders’ reputation, so continue collecting email addresses on a permission basis. Be sure that all points of signup provide a clear option to receive email marketing content and work to ensure your content has value and meets the stated interest of the customer and prospects.
We encourage marketers to adhere to permission based email marketing & best practices. While available, consider segmenting your contacts based on recent engagement (within the last six months or so) as this will give you a baseline of contacts to market to Apple or iCloud domains. Click tracking and conversions are also a very important measure that marketers can continue to rely on.
Subscribe now. Start receiving updates about our services and email deliverability topics today.
Proud Diamond Sponsors of the Festival of Email
Proud Diamond Sponsors of the Festival of Email
We Thank You!
Start Inboxing had the pleasure of being a Diamond Sponsor for the Festival of Email Live 2021. This event runs from June 2nd -June 16th. It kicked off on Wednesday June 2nd in Miami as the first in-person email deliverability conference in over a year. This event came with so many perks,
- In-person/Online Networking
- Virtual Booths
- Live Streaming
- Roundtable Symposiums
- Deliverability Summit
- Speakers
- emailexpert Academy
HIGHLIGHTS!!!
The event kicked off with none other than Andrew Bonar himself providing an awesome welcome to all attendees. Andrew’s welcome was followed by Matthew Vernhout Netcore VP, Deliverability North America) who presented on ‘How strong email authentication elevates your user experience’. The full agenda can be found here.
Anyone able to attend this conference in-person or virtually had the opportunity to hear from some industry thought leaders such as Jeannie Jennings (Founder and Chief Strategist at Email Optimization Shop) and Alexandra Palau (CEO, All about Email Marketing) who provided insight along with Ryan Phelan about ‘when is the right time to bring in an agency and how do you maximise the benefits of the relationship’.
CONGRATS TO THE AWARDEES!
Emailexpert
To find out more about upcoming events or the awesome emailexpert team click here. A big thank you again to Nely Bonar and Andrew Bonar on a great post-covid experience.