Essence of Email Weekly - Must-Read Predictions for BFCM 2021

Hello, email marketing community!

Autumn is here! ‘Tis the time for sweaters, old Coldplay albums, pumpkin spice lattes, and… holiday preparations!

All of us in the email marketing industry know just how important it is to start prepping for Cyber Week on time. And with iOS privacy changes and the new trends BFCM set last year, we might be in for an interesting holiday period.

That’s why we’ve compiled another Essence of Email Quarterly report! In this edition, we’re going to take a look at Q3 2021 and provide lots of resources to help you prepare for a successful Q4. From list cleaning and segmentation to campaign and flow holiday strategy and deliverability tips, we’ve covered every aspect of email marketing to help eCommerce businesses have a successful holiday season.

That’s why we’ve compiled another Essence of Email Quarterly report! In this edition, we’re going to take a look at Q3 2021 and provide lots of resources to help you prepare for a successful Q4. From list cleaning and segmentation to campaign and flow holiday strategy and deliverability tips, we’ve covered every aspect of email marketing to help eCommerce businesses have a successful holiday season.

We’re rolling it out next Friday, so make sure you check your inboxes on October 1.

Stay tuned!

In addition, 83% say they’ll get started their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, with the majority (24%) starting in November. More than half (51%) of their shopping will be online while 49% will be in stores. In comparison, in 2020 about 56% said they’d prefer to shop online.

But when can they find better sales? Should they shoot for Black Friday or Cyber Monday? And what’s the difference between the two?

Black Friday originated from the need to extend sales the day after Thanksgiving when everyone is off from work and eager to spend time and money on shopping. Cyber Monday originated as Black Friday’s counterpart. People who wanted to avoid long lines in brick-and-mortar stores could wait for Monday and do their shopping online. But recently, the line between the two has blurred. Both days offer both live and online offers, and the sales have also extended from Thanksgiving through the Monday after the holiday — also known as “Cyber 5’’.

According to some, Cyber Monday edges out Black Friday for “the highest overall discounts online’’, and typically hosts the deepest promotions of any other day during Cyber 5. However, Black Friday has the holiday factor, which might be easier for those in the workforce who don’t have time for shopping during work hours.

When it comes to sales, Cyber Monday typically outperforms Black Friday. Black Friday raked in $9 billion in 2020, while Cyber Monday hit $10.8 billion, making it the largest online shopping day in U.S. history.

What’s it gonna be this year? Stay tuned!

It’s official: Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection feature went into effect on Monday, September 20.

In the unlikely case anyone forgot, the update will nullify tracking emails (open rates) on Apple devices. And while a lot of email marketers went into full panic mode, some welcomed the change and are much more enthusiastic about it. Ryan Phelan, co-founder of RPEOrigin.com and the Chairman Emeritus of the Email Experience Council Advisory Board argues this is a good thing that will teach marketers to focus on more important metrics, as open rates were far too insignificant, unreliable, and outdated to begin with. In MarTech’s blog, he differentiates between the tactics and the strategy marketers will need to find workarounds and do without the metric.

Others agree iOS 15 isn’t necessarily the end of the world, but merely the latest update in a series of steps towards the end of third-party data tracking, which will push advertisers to rely more heavily on first-party data. When it comes to the changes the update has caused, recommendations include removing unresponsive contacts from the lists and starting performance testing to “better navigate in a world void of opens”. Others are recommending stepping up their own first-party data and prioritizing opt-in messaging. This means users can choose if they’d like to receive emails from advertisers and therefore, advertisers can personalize messages, so users are more likely to interact. From here, it will be all about clicks and conversions.

To find out more about cleaning up your list and how to track, segment, and send to Apple devices this holiday season, make sure to check out our Quarterly report which will be out next Friday!

MediaPost reports that marketers are using too many tools and integrations, according to The State of Martech. This can have a negative impact on results. It’s especially tricky for email marketing teams “since email is the top tool used by both marketing and sales.’’ Overall, 83% agree that consolidating tools would increase their efficiency.

And consolidating tools we are!

Litmus, the app providing web-based email testing and tracking solutions, has formed an integration with the Adobe Experience Cloud application that helps B2C brands create and test emails.

According to Litmus, 60% of companies have four or more people involved in email reviews and approvals (a 52% increase from the previous year). Consequently, 50% of marketers said optimizing their email workflow is a priority. The goal of this integration is to “provide marketers with everything they need to optimize and streamline their email testing and development processes so they can focus on delivering even more personalized, value-driving email campaigns,” said Melissa Sargeant, CMO of Litmus.

Similarly, Stensul, the email creation platform, has integrated with Slack and Teams to make “email creation activities directly shareable through the major collaboration platforms.’’ This will have a positive impact on stakeholder engagement and feedback and will make the optimization process quicker and easier.

Email creation can indeed be a long and complicated process, especially if you’re handling it internally. That’s why you might want to let the pros do it while you focus on other important matters. Tempted? Shoot us a message at [email protected] to see how we can help.