I’m getting 2016 GDPR vibes from Apple’s pixel announcement in early June.  #pixelgeddon

Here’s what happened.

According to The Verge, Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection, which will limit the amount of data that people who send you emails can collect about you. Here’s how the company describes it:

In the Mail app, Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. The new feature helps users prevent senders from knowing when they open an email, and masks their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.

This takes effect in the fall.

And now people are freaking out. Here’s why you don’t need to break that much of a sweat.

1. This ONLY applies to Apple mail app users.

Mobile phones accounted for 42% of all email opens in 2019.

According to Litmus, almost 85% of all mobile email opens happen on iPhones.

If we’re staying up to date with the math, we’re now at 85% of 42% of all opens.

That’s much less than half of all opens.

Yes, that’s still a significant amount, but let’s not assume your entire list is on Apple Mail.

Also, it assumes that everyone will immediately opt-out. Most people don’t know or understand how they’re being tracked or what those implications are.

2. How Email Opens Are Tracked

Email opens were never perfect to begin with.

Ever wonder how an open is tracked?

There’s a tiny pixel that Email Service Providers inject into the code of an email when it’s sent out from their platform.

That pixel is loaded like an image at the bottom of the email.

It won’t load if two things are happening:

1. If images are not enabled in an email client, it won’t load. Some people have their email accounts set up to manually load images in an email. If they never flip that on, the pixel doesn’t load. That means no open tracked.
2. If Gmail clips your email because it’s too large, that pixel won’t load. This explains one of the reasons why open rates tend to be lower in Gmail. That, and the promotions tab (which is a whole other thing).

3. Why Email Open Rates Aren't a Great Metric

People love to refer to email opens as a vanity metric. (aka a surface-level metric that doesn’t tell you much).

But here’s the problem. Most people don’t have great data about their email campaigns.

Most Email Service Providers only provide you with surface-level data like opens, clicks, and unsubscribes.

Unless you have the resources to collect and centralize your data so you can get deeper insights into your subscribers behavior, you’re kind of stuck with those metrics.

And in terms of resources, I’m not talking about just having the right tools. Google Analytics is awesome and free, but you still need to have someone on your team who knows how to use it and is given dedicated time to dig into it.

Not everyone has that.

The most common thing I hear about email opens that turn into a slippery slide is this: an email open leads to a conversion.

Let’s take a step back even further here. What’s typically behind this myth is an assumption that more opens mean more sales.

Let me put this one to bed. Higher open rates do not equal higher conversions.

This idea leads people to use all sorts of clever tactics to get an open.

• Misleading subject lines
• One word subject lines
• Teasers and sensational promises

Guess what? If the content of your email doesn’t deliver on the promise of your subject line, you’re gonna piss off some folks.

And what do annoyed people do with annoying emails? They unsubscribe.

4. Which Email Metrics To Look At Instead of Opens

The baseline for measuring any digital campaign is engagement. But what does engagement look like?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a cookie-cutter approach to this. You have to determine what your goals are for your email campaigns.

Then, you need to figure out which digital signals you can pick up that take people from point a to point b to point c to whatever point your goal is.

That means getting more strategic and digging into what data you have.

If you don’t have all of the data you need, then it’s time to get some help.

Until then, you can look at your email-related site traffic and how many conversions you have that have email as a traffic source.

You also have to come at your analytics from a perspective that they will never be perfect. In order for your digital analytics to be perfect, you need someone on your team to make sure that all data they are collecting is 100% accurate. 

That, my friend, is at least one full-time position.

Digital analytics still require a human to contextualize and validate. They were never perfect, and won’t be for awhile. Give yourself some grace and the caveat that you can always do better.

Until then, engage with your audience. Talk to them and treat them like people. That builds and retains relationships at scale period.

This one goes out to the HBO Max intern who accidentally sent out a test email to their subscriber list.

All of us, yes that includes us, have had email snafus. Just like the intern, you deserve support when an email mistake happens.

Watch and bookmark this video anytime you need a pep talk.

Update 6/24/2021: This just in! Google Grants A Third-Party Cookie Reprieve, Delays Deprecation By Two Years

Original Post:

It’s been over a year since Google announced they are going to stop supporting third-party cookies in Chrome. (Those helpful little things that allow us to track, advertise and retarget digitally).

*Record scratch* Wait. Whaaaat? Go read up on it. I’ll wait here.

TL:DR; if you rely on digital ads (Google, Facebook, Pinterest, retargeting of any kind, etc.) then you're gonna wanna start rethinking your digital advertising strategy.

Yes, one more thing on your overflowing plate.

The good news: you already have a head start. You’re already in the email marketing game! (Dipping your toe counts).

No, you don’t need to chase down the latest and greatest digital advertising or retargeting tool or service.

When you have an email address, you have a way to retarget your audience in their inbox.

(HOT TIP: You also have a source for creating a lookalike audience with Facebook ads).

Email addresses are social platform agnostic. Everyone has one. It doesn’t matter if they are using Gmail, Outlook, or AOL (yes, there are people who still use AOL for email). You have a way to reach them.

As third-party cookies become unsupported in Chrome, you can still hyper-target your email subscribers with relevant copy, offers, and customer care.

So what’s a modern marketer to do?

Say it with me now: LIST BUILDING.

If you’re not currently focusing on it, it’s time to go all in.

Get your lead magnet together and start using it to attract sweet and sticky customers.

If you’re happy with your list-building efforts, then it’s time to start thinking about your retargeting campaigns. People call these nurture flows, welcome series, drip campaigns, funnels, automations, etc.

It’s a sequence of emails that targets your subscribers to nurture them down your funnel.

Numbers vary, but I often see cited that it takes 5-15 touches before a sale. So no more sending one email with “Hey, thanks for signing up. BTW, here’s something we sell.”

Send a series of emails that build and strengthen your brand relationship with your ideal customers. They GUIDE your subscribers to convert.

That’s two action items to start working on preparing for the cookie apocalypse. The best part is you’re already here, digging into the email.

You already have a competitive advantage of those panicking about how they’re going to handle digital ads next year.

Here’s the truth about email marketing.

> It’s not just about sending more emails.

> It’s not about a beautiful design.

> It’s not about the subject line.

I see experts and influencers hammering on these points like they’ve been chiseled in stone for millennia.

Like ANY marketing, it takes TIME to figure out what works for you, your business, and your customers.

Here’s why the hottest recommendations in email marketing are wrong.

Email Marketing Myth #1:

Sending more emails will instantly make you more money.

Truth: Sending one email/month to your list isn’t enough to get you where you want to go.

I typically recommend sending an email weekly to your list. (Of course, every business differs).

Here’s where it gets slippery. 

Once you start seeing returns on your email campaigns, you/your leadership will tell you to start sending more.

Yes, your revenue will most likely go up. But revenue does not equal profitability!

Do you know what else I’ve seen change when you start sending more emails?

• Open rates go down. You’re now giving your subscribers too many emails to choose from. When we overwhelm people with too many choices, they stop choosing.
• Unsubscribes go up. Every email you send is an opportunity to unsubscribe from your email list. The more opportunities you give people to unsubscribe, the more likely they are going to do it. (Especially when you’re crowding an overcrowded inbox).

What happens when your open rates go down and unsubscribes go up?

You start a repetitive cycle of chasing more opens and new subscribers. When revenue is the ONLY metric you’re looking at, that can mean taking shortcuts.

Shortcuts that look like:

• Misleading subject lines that piss people off.
• Less than transparent ways of opting in new subscribers.

You get on a hamster wheel of chasing the almighty dollar instead of looking at ways to be more strategic about sending and subscribing.

Yes, revenue is important. (Hi, paychecks. We love you!). But when you’re wasting time and resources on inefficient tactics, you’re wasting money instead of being profitable.

Email Marketing Myth #2:

Beautiful design means better emails which means better performance.

If you are a visual brand, then yes, beautiful emails are a priority. I’m talking about fashion, consumer products, etc.

But beautiful design can sacrifice usability.

For example, I’ll see brands put ALL of the text of an email in a graphic and send it out.

Why is that an issue?

1. Compliance. ADA requirements mean you need to make sure your emails can be read by a text-to-speech reader. If all of your text is in an image (and you don’t include alt-text), then your visually impaired subscribers can’t read your email.
2. Mobile-responsiveness. Text in an image doesn’t resize to the screen size your subscriber is using. It just shrinks. If you’re not paying attention to your font size, then you’re ignoring how well over half of your subscribers are viewing your email.

Don’t get me wrong, beautiful emails can be eye-catching and engaging. Having an amazing design builds credibility.

However, if your design isn’t usable, then it’s not helpful to lead your subscribers to a conversion.

Email Marketing Myth #3:

Having a fantastic subject line means more opens.

Let’s take a step back even further here. What’s typically behind this myth is an assumption that more opens mean more sales.

Let me put this one to bed. Higher open rates do not equal higher conversions.

This idea leads people to use all sorts of clever tactics to get an open.

• Misleading subject lines
• One word subject lines
• Teasers and sensational promises

Guess what? If the content of your email doesn’t deliver on the promise of your subject line, you’re gonna piss off some folks.

And what do annoyed people do with annoying emails? They unsubscribe.

A better way to boost your email open rates is to look at your engagement data.

That’s all available in my free guide, Boost Your Email Open Rates ASAP.

So what does a profitable email strategy look like?

There’s a ton of bad advice out there about how email marketing is going to make you millions of dollars.

Most of those strategies come from business influencers (who learned email in their own businesses and that’s it). 

They promise quick results by cranking out email after email.

A profitable email marketing strategy looks like this:

• Sustainable with your current resources. You have a limited amount of time and talent. Start small with the resources you have and build out from there.
• Leads with empathy. Pinpoint the signals, interest, and warmth of your subscribers and you can deliver offers and messaging that’s helpful, not icky.
• Organized. Streamline as much as possible with procedures and templates. If you can take part of the mental load off of your plate, you can be more strategic and creative with your email campaigns.

No, that advice isn’t super sexy. It’s not promising you results ASAP.

It’s giving you realistic expectations that you need to figure out what works for you, your business, and your customers.

Yes, you can use email to make money quickly. But at what cost? Burnout? Turned off subscribers? Impulsive buyers who won’t be back?

It takes time to figure out. It takes time to refine and tweak until you find your footing.

That’s why I do what I do. I know all of the tactics. I know they can drive results fast.

But fast doesn’t always feel good. It’s a flash in the pan that becomes harder and harder to repeat because it isn’t sustainable.

Stop listening to the influencers and gurus who tell you the only way to do it is their way. Just because it worked for them, doesn’t mean it works for everyone.

FREE ACTION GUIDE:

Revolutionize Your Email Opens