Alright, we’ve all heard the news.
IOS 15 is going to completely change the way KPI’s for engagement in email marketing are perceived...
Opens are dead.
The earth is falling.
Email marketing is dead.
Etc.
Here are five different articles about the upcoming changes:
Article 1: Validity: How Will Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection in iOS 15 Affect Email Marketing?
Article 2: Verge: Will Apple end the newsletter Boom
Article 3: Ad Leaks: Apple's iOS 15 Update — The Next Big Challenge to eCommerce Email Marketers
Article 4: Tech Crunch: Apple unveils new iOS 15 privacy features at WWDC
Article 5: Pure360: Apple Announcement – iOS15 and its implications for email marketers
Great articles, they explain the same thing I could with tons of words, and really, you probably already know about it, and you really just want to know WHAT TO DO about it.
However, on the technology side, it’s still a little speculative until we start gaining access to the newest beta’s and we can start understanding how to adapt and evolve around it.
But as a MARKETER, your job is to make more revenue, and that’s why you are reading this article.
So here are the six things you can do as a marketer to prepare and adapt:
1. Consider Double Opt-in or Confirmed email
Yes, I know your # subscribers will be cut in half.
Yes, I know that it will hurt the experience
Yes, I know that… <ENTER 500 other reasons>
But now let me tell you WHY.
The laws are evolving and changing. You know about GDPR, CASL, CCPA… but do you know about: Virginia Consumer Data Protection act, Colorado Privacy Act, or Nevada Privacy law!
Those passed recently, and it’s continuing to create rules by the state on HOW you can communicate with customers, especially if your business is at scale.
And if you look at the standards that GDPR, CASL, and CCPA set... it’s evident; they want consumers who WANT to receive your email to give you PERMISSION to email them.
So consider it.
You’d be shocked how much better everything is when you email the people that confirm their next email from you.
2. Segment OTHER data
Creating a segment of active, engaged users - aka people who have opened or clicked an email in the last X days... is your go-to the segment you use most.
That’s great, but it simply will not work anymore.
Instead, you will have to start expanding your mind and get creative.
Some ideas:
- Revenue-based + Subscription based segmentation
- Click and revenue/event-based segmentation
- Website Visits or Any other recent signals
- Segment based on audience preferences
And if your ESP isn’t doing deep data, you need to connect the data in OR find a new ESP that does… like Sendlane ;)
//[inject:ad-ebook-segmentation]
3. Learn how to use the “other metrics” (And create new ones too, like U-T-A)
Bounces, spam complaints, unsubscribes are all “other metrics” you barely pay attention to right now.
But when you can’t identify an open rate, you need to start thinking about it differently.
Spam complaints and bounces will matter even more - ESP’s flying a little blind, and so are you.
There’s going to be knee-jerk reactions to a high bounce rate (over 2%) and spam complaints over 0.1%. Remember, Google already doesn’t report back direct spam complaints to the email as Yahoo and AOL do.
That’s where new data points like U-T-A show up:
Here’s the math to that:
(Unsubscribe + Complaints / Unsubscribe + Complaints + Clicks)
And your metric should be LESS Than 30%.
4. A/B testing subject lines are dead
Say goodbye to basic A/B split testing; it’s now useless.
Enter Multivariate testing.
You will need to test a lot more content primarily focused on CTA to improve CTR with the end goal of revenue.
Experiment like crazy and keep testing.
5. Segment by ISP
ISP = Internet Service Provider
And you need to start drilling down all your different ISP’s to learn more about how each segment is reacting and adjust for it.
It’s time to care.
6. And the most obvious one… CONTENT MATTERS
If you’ve been copying and pasting your last campaigns or borrowing from others, the day has come that content is essential.
The rise of copywriters, especially direct response copywriters, will start to appear.
SELLING with words is real, and it’s going to be the make or break point for your marketing efforts.
//[inject:ad-demo]
Wrapping it up:
Look, there are tons of ways to prepare for this upcoming change, but there’s one thing for sure, we’re about to change the way people look at email.
It’s not dead. It’s simply evolving.
Evolution is good, and with a focus on the end consumer, it simply means that you can’t just look at your customer as revenue, but you need to care for your customer and focus on talking to them the way THEY want to be treated.
Just like mom taught us back when we were little.
That’s all we have now for IOS15. As the technology becomes more available, we’ll start to share what we find and how we plan to evolve at Sendlane.
But for now, hopefully, this blog post shares what it means to you as a MARKETER.