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July 2020 Essence of Email Quarterly Q2 2020
Table of Contents
Letter from the Essence of Email Managing Director
The Email Technology Landscape
Email Client Market Share
Shopify Goes Above and Beyond
Facebook Launches Email
The Rise of Text Messaging
Marketing Automation Updates
Tips & Insights: How Q2 events will shape the future
Email Campaigns
Email Flows (Automations)
Tips & Insights: What’s coming next for eCommerce brands
Email Deliverability
Privacy Regulations
Email Design Trends
Tips & Insights: A piece of advice for eCommerce brands in Q3
Who Is Essence of Email
Credits
Content Sources
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Letter from the Essence of Email Managing Director
In our first edition of the Essence of Email Quarterly, we share our view on what has likely been the strangest and perhaps most challenging quarter in the company’s 6-year history. Through the exceptional talent and expertise of our teams, we were able to continue growing and gaining market share.
We were stretched as we adapted to the rapidly changing business environment, including reviewing all of our clients’ content, campaigns, and automated emails to ensure they were sensitive to the challenges everyone was facing across the U.S.
During this difficult period, we saw an explosion in the number of emails sent. Our clients, as well as brands across the country, reached out to express concern and care for their customers. Again and again, even if the facts are largely buried under the self-interested marketing of the major ad networks, we see that email is the preferred channel for companies to communicate most intimately and effectively with their customers.
Another important development was that even with the massive increase in the number of emails, open and click rates increased. While all of us generally
dislike receiving emails from brands or individuals we aren’t interested in, we often forget that we do, indeed, enjoy emails from those companies and, of course, people that we care about. In an effort to not be in the annoying category, companies are leaving opportunities on the table by not reaching out more often.
Email remains that blissful technology where putting an end to annoying is a couple of clicks away and we can easily sort through what we want or do not want to see. For those that are in the know, in this period of great uncertainty, email remains the not-so-secret edge in staying close to those we care about and growing our companies in difficult circumstances.
Our Experts have worked hard to analyze and comment on the important events over the last few months. I hope you enjoy and benefit from their insights, and the insights of our partners, as much as I have.
Heath
Letter from the Essence of Email Managing Director 3
The Email Technology Landscape
The Email Technology Landscape
5
Nothing is constant, except change. And email.
In the eCommerce world, it’s a battle of the titans. The biggest tech
companies in the world are continuously trying to find ways to
dominate the market, compete with each other, and hold their ground
against Amazon.
But in an industry filled with massive companies, email is the unsung
hero. Despite the incredible pace of tech developments, it remains the
most reliable channel. Email more than proved its worth during the
pandemic and has weathered change after change in the eCommerce
universe.
When you think about it, it’s really quite impressive.
Email Client Market Share
When it comes to the market share of consumer inboxes, Apple and
Gmail are neck and neck, which is no surprise given the ubiquity of
Android and Apple products. Microsoft taught us long ago that users
often stick to the system default. According to Litmus Email Analytics’
client usage data, collected from 1.09 billion email opens worldwide,
the companies have a combined market share of almost 80%.
Gmail is the number one email client, with a 43% market share,
followed by Apple iPhone (27%), and Apple Mail (9%). When iOS 14 is
released this fall, iPhone users will be able to change their default mail
from Apple Mail, so we’ll be watching closely to see if this impacts the
market in favor of Gmail and other email clients.
Source: EmailClientShare
Shopify Goes Above and Beyond
The launch of Shopify Email
Following the infamous Mailchimp vs. Shopify battle in late 2019,
Shopify Email was launched in April. More importantly, it’s free of
charge until October 2020.
The Email Technology Landscape 6
For now, it’s a basic email marketing tool that lacks the complexity of
email platforms like Klaviyo. It seems to be aimed mostly at startups
and small merchants that have previously used Mailchimp and are
concerned about cost.
The arrival of Shop
Shopify didn’t stop there though. Two weeks later, it launched a
consumer shopping assistant app of its own, called Shop. Shop offers
personalized product recommendations and allows users to offset the
carbon emissions of their deliveries. It also tracks packages, provides
one-click checkouts, and simplifies returns. The addition of local filters
means that Shop’s users can locate nearby merchants and browse
their inventories – making it easy for them to support neighborhood
businesses.
Without a doubt, the app has moved Shopify further into the
consumer space. And to top it off, stocks rose following the launch.
Shopify partners with Walmart, threatening Amazon’s kingdom
To wrap up the quarter… Shopify and Walmart hit the headlines
announcing their partnership.
Back in February, Walmart surpassed eBay to snatch second place
in the US eCommerce space. The retailer hit 5.3% of sales – still way
behind Amazon’s 38.7%, but impressive nonetheless.
Top 10 US Companies, Ranked by Retail Ecommerce Sales Share, 2020% of US retail ecommerce sales
Source: eMarketer
1. Amazon38.7%
2. Walmart5.3%
4.7%
3.7%
1.7%
1.3%
1.2%
1.2%
1.1%
3. eBay
4. Apple
5. The Home Depot
6. Wayfair
7. Best Buy
8. Target
9. Costco
10. Macy’s
1.5%
The Email Technology Landscape 7
Looking ahead… This access to Shopify’s merchant marketplace makes
Walmart an even more serious competitor, offering a refuge for sellers
tired of Amazon’s cluttered website and high advertising costs.
For Shopify, this is a major win. Millions of its merchants now have
access to Walmart’s customers. Plus, Walmart is one of the most
talked-about brands among U.S. millennials – a nice bonus for Shopify.
Google’s making changes
Since late April, merchants have been able to sell for free via Google.
Plus, search results on the Google Shopping tab now primarily consist
of free listings. According to Google, this gives sellers the opportunity
to reach millions of shoppers, while consumers get to see more
products from more stores. As if that wasn’t enough, it also means
advertisers can now supplement paid campaigns with free listings.
Facebook Launches Email
Facebook now allows users to “send customized marketing emails”
through the Facebook Pages app. The feature seems particularly
relevant for brands that aren’t familiar with email marketing, as it
allows them to connect with audiences via simple, CRM-style tools.
This could also help businesses target their Facebook ads. Once a
brand has an active listing of email contacts, they can use it to build
Custom Audiences. Facebook’s data-matching tools can also help
businesses reach people with similar traits and interests.
Looking ahead… The feature isn’t live for every user yet, so check for
updates on Social Media Today.
Facebook launched a new commerce toolkit – ‘Shops’
What it’s all about: The new toolkit reflects Facebook’s revamped
model and its position in the current online shopping landscape.
Facebook’s Shops gives small and medium businesses, merchants, and
product companies the ability to set up a virtual storefront across
Facebook’s apps. Unlike previous Facebook and Instagram commerce
tools, the idea behind Shops is that it’s native to the platform.
The anchor partner for the announcement is… You guessed it, right?
Shopify. The Facebook-Shopify partnership allows retailers to import
Shopify product catalogs to Facebook’s Shops.
The Rise of Text Messaging
In Q2, we saw a continuation of the trend of existing apps and
platforms extending their services to include SMS.
SMS-related stats: This concerted push to include SMS is no
The Email Technology Landscape 8
surprise considering that over half of total eCommerce sales (54%)
are expected to come from mobile by 2021. Meanwhile, over 81%
of traffic and 71% of orders on Shopify stores currently come from
mobile devices.
The performance of SMS is impressive – over 41% of consumers
are willing to share information with a brand if it means they’ll get
a more personalized SMS experience. And over 54% of consumers
are more likely to make a purchase if the messages they receive are
personalized.
A few recent examples of technology platforms that are including SMS
marketing in their offers are Klaviyo, formerly an email-only platform,
Privy, initially an email capture platform, and DojoMojo, a partnership
marketing company.
Looking ahead... Marketers now have the choice of going with
the highest-ranking apps, utilizing integrations, or using all-in-one
solutions.
Marketing Automation Updates
Automation recipes accessible to eCommerce brands
ActiveCampaign Marketplace enabled businesses to search easily
for automation recipes, i.e. templates that offer a starting point for
creating email automations. They’re designed to be imported into an
ActiveCampaign account, so brands can easily tweak and adapt them
to businesses’ specific needs.
Big picture: Since its creation in 2016, Marketplace has been used to
design more than 300,000 unique email automations.
Personalized text messaging, especially when paired
strategically with existing email marketing initiatives, helps
brands effectively reach their target audiences in a very
visible and actionable way.
Nerisah Baksh, Senior Marketing Manager, Partnerships,
Attentive
The Email Technology Landscape 9
SparkPost and ActionIQ create an email integration
SparkPost, an email delivery and analytics engine, and ActionIQ, a
customer data platform for enterprises, announced an integrated
solution for bringing real-time email delivery, intelligence, and
personalization to brands.
The solution delivers more personalized email experiences to
customers while increasing revenue potential for brands—all at a
significantly lower cost.
As the marketing world continues to lean on digital solutions to
engage customers, this partnership comes at a crucial time. By
helping brands deal with new marketing pressures and constraints
in an increasingly budget-conscious environment, this integration is
impressively relevant.
Litmus and SAP® Marketing Cloud join forces to optimize email testing and streamline email production
Once again, Litmus is making innovative moves. This new integration
with SAP® Marketing Cloud allows for streamlined collaboration
across marketing teams, so that emails can be tested as they’re built.
Litmus already provides similar functionality to other industry leaders,
like Salesforce, so this helps SAP® provide a more competitive
offering in the CRM space.
A tool to help hotels with email marketing automation
The hotel industry has been hit incredibly hard by the coronavirus
pandemic. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Clairvoyix, a marketing
technology and services company dedicated to hospitality-specific
marketing automation, recently announced its Rapid Recovery
Response – R3© Solution.
This email marketing tool is designed to be the simplest and least
expensive option for hoteliers, helping them conduct rapid email
marketing during and after the crisis.
Email marketing for cannabis and CBD brands
Now that more than half of US states have legalized cannabis in some
form, 1 in 5 Americans lives in a state where they can use cannabis
recreationally.
Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter don’t allow ads for cannabis
products yet. So, shifting your marketing focus to other channels,
including email, is essential for success.
But to avoid potential email problems, like account cancellation,
random suspensions, and marketing restrictions, brands need to
choose a cannabis-friendly email service provider, and the list of those
keeps growing.
Tips & Insights: How Q2 events will shape the future
We asked eCommerce technology companies to share their views on
how Q2 events will shape the future.
What happened to your brand in Q2 that will be important in the future?
As a SaaS Technology Solutions provider, Pearl has witnessed
the change in buying behavior by consumers across all
eCommerce product categories. Given the COVID-19
outbreak, the spike in online sales will only continue to grow
as big-box retail stores disappear and/or greatly reduce the
number of physical locations. Brands will require the insights
necessary to know when and how buying behavior is changing
so they can deliver personalized marketing and customer
experiences as well as relevant products to retain customers
and continue to grow sales.
Brad Ketchum III, Partner, PearlThinks
Consumers are spending more time than ever on their
mobile devices, with 56% of consumers saying they’ve been
using their phone more since the beginning of March 2020.
People are using their phones to research and complete
purchases, as many stores are still closed or in the beginning
opening phases. The question now is how can brands directly
reach their consumers—whether with offers and product
updates, or info about safety guidelines they’re implementing.
Personalized text messaging, especially when paired
strategically with existing email marketing initiatives, helps
brands effectively reach their target audiences in a very visible
and actionable way.
Nerisah Baksh, Senior Marketing Manager, Partnerships,
Attentive
Tips & Insights: How Q2 events will shape the future 10
At Justuno, we saw our customers realize the importance of
converting their website traffic! Some brands surged due to
the pandemic and online shopping trends. Others did not. But
the commonality is that, in a time when people were forced
to shop exclusively online, our merchants understood the
value of their traffic. This has a profound impact on merchant
mentality and the future of eCommerce. The increase of
shopping online is said to have been permanently impacted
and will be much more common in the near future. So the
importance of CRO (conversion rate optimization) has never
been greater!
Jane Serra, Director of Marketing, Justuno
The recent events increased demand for our company’s data
services and really highlighted the importance of always
having the correct client and prospect email information on
hand so you can reach them at any given time. Additionally,
we majorly shifted our focus to digital marketing efforts in
place of face-to-face events.
Matt Wolosz, VP Sales, TowerData
Tips & Insights: How Q2 events will shape the future 11
Email Campaigns
Email Campaigns
13
How things have changed
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, so it’s no
surprise that email campaigns changed dramatically this year. In Q2
2020, email marketers were forced to quickly adapt their campaign
strategies. But did everyone do a good job?
Looking at the numbers, we can see there was a 40% increase in email
volume in Q2 compared to last year, plus an additional 15% increase
in open rates across all industries. But the click rates and conversions
haven’t changed drastically – we can actually see a slight decrease
there.
What we are trying to say is that such high open rates are pretty much
unheard of. If brands can implement a 40% increase in a marketing
metric, with no meaningful drop-off in performance, it means that
customers are happy to get more emails than previously thought.
When a brand has a message to communicate, people will read it. And
even better, they’ll keep on opening and clicking.
Short-term thinking worked best
In Q2, the usual workflow of email campaign strategies was shattered
since companies couldn’t plan for an uncertain future. Campaign
calendars were revisited on a daily basis, making sure the content was
appropriate.
On top of this, a lot of businesses were, and still are, experiencing
issues with stock and delays in production. This is pushing planned
sales and promos even further into the future.
Source: Klaviyo
Source: Klaviyo
Email open rates have risen by up to 25% week-on-week
in retail. What is more, daily email open rates are generally
increasing by 5-10% each week.
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Email Campaigns 14
Think big, shop small
When COVID-19 forced people into quarantine and retail
stores shut their doors, consumers turned to eCommerce.
We knew that people wanted to “shop small” but didn’t know
where to find those brands online. That’s why we dropped all
our other initiatives and launched ShopSmallEcomm.com, a
community that grew to over 2,500 small eCommerce stores.
Our goal was to help support small and growing eCommerce
businesses by giving them another platform to be found on –
at no cost to them. Launching this community gives us a great
foundation to do more to support small eCommerce stores
moving forward.
Alison Aldrich, VP of Partnerships, Privy
The initial reaction
For most brands, the initial instinct was to send out “we are in this
together” campaigns. There were also countless emails addressing
delays in shipping and production due to the lockdowns. Throughout
April and the first half of May, these blasts made up the bulk of emails.
Source: Hubspot
Outcome: With inboxes saturated with COVID-19 emails and
non-stop discussions about the pandemic – people quickly became
tired of it.
The new normal
All of a sudden, it seemed like there was a new normal in terms of
the tone and timing of emails. Q2 revealed the importance of being
on-point and carefully checking the content of emails. This checklist
became the basis for Q2 campaign content:
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• Send messages based on value: how products and services
make people feel, or how they fulfill a certain need
• Use a tone of voice that comes across as positive, yet aware
of the bigger picture
• Avoid messaging around urgency, like saying ‘this is your last
chance’. People are stressed out already, so brands should
avoid adding that extra layer of stress and urgency
• Don’t focus on products that may be out of stock
• Use appropriate imagery and avoid travel-related images and
images of people in groups
• Adjust send times and send days, as best practices changed
due to people spending a lot more time at home
Email Campaigns
Looking ahead, it seems like this way of communicating is here to
stay – for a while, at least. And chances are it’ll have a lasting impact
on customer/subscriber behavior. For brands, continuing to use email
campaigns to strengthen customer relationships is a smart approach.
In Q2, we saw our customer base dial-up their empathy in
their SMS marketing messages. This is primarily due to the
global impacts of COVID-19. Many brands wanted to find
a helpful and empathetic way to connect with subscribers
when traditional marketing messages felt tone-deaf for the
times. In the future, we believe that leading with empathy and
connecting in a way that feels more human will be table stakes.
Alicia Thomas, Director of Community, Postscript
Marketing in a time of social unrest
Before we dive in… As we all know, high-profile brands tend to avoid
conflict. And this is especially true during times of social unrest and
division. It’s likely that this is due to fear of upsetting customers, or an
unwillingness to be aligned with polarizing topics.
But this year was different. After the death of George Floyd on May
25 in Minneapolis, companies started to speak out publicly, stating
their thoughts on racial injustice and police violence. Brands also
aligned themselves with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and used
social media and email to communicate with their customers and the general public.
Big picture: Recent data shows that, while speaking up on issues like race equality can be politically divisive, most people want brands to take action. Brands that
published copy-and-paste statements, or made no statement at all, have been called out all over social media.
Different Generations Give Their Input on What Brands Should Focus on in Protest Statements
Share who said it is at least somewhat important for companies or executives to emphasize the following in their response to protest and demonstrations
in dozens of U.S. cities:
Source: MorningConsult
16Email Campaigns
Support for small businesses
Most important for boomers
Most important forGen x
Company measures taken to address racial or social inequalities
Racial inequalitiesin the U.S.
Safety of police and law enforcement officials
Social inequalitiesin the U.S.
Protection of private property, stores
Police’s role in society
Death of George Floyd
Email Flows (Automations)
Email Flows (Automations)
18
In the midst of the email campaign challenges and slow list growth of
Q2, brands have rediscovered the value of automated emails.
In March 2020, campaigns still accounted for 60% to 80% of all email
revenue for the majority of brands. But in Q2, fewer campaign sends
and an increase of list saturation meant that numbers started to shift
in favor of automations.
So, what changed for automated emails?
The automations themselves didn’t change much from Q1 to Q2.
This makes sense, since they’re supposed to be built once and then
optimized.
The changes to content were also relatively minor – marketers
removed outdoor and group activity shots, shifted the language away
from urgency to customer value, and made sure all products were in
stock.
Overall, automations required significantly less time and effort than
the daily changes needed for email campaign strategies. But they still
delivered great results.
Source: Klaviyo
In Q2, we saw a majority of brands focus on their past
purchasers or their current marketing list. New customer
acquisition was a rarity for many brands. This shift in focus
showed the importance of engaging your past customers and
the power of building your brand’s relationship with them.
Brands who shifted their focus to past purchasers for the first
time in a while were finding that their customers had gone
cold. Moving forward, the importance of relationship building
and re-engaging with past customers will be important.
Katie Krische, Strategic Partnerships & Marketing Manager,
Octane AI
When you’re dealing with uncertain inventory, back in
stock automation is a no-brainer when the alternative is
blasting availability to an unsegmented list or otherwise
providing no communication updates at all.
Email Flows (Automations) 19
If the automations content hasn’t changed, what has?
A combination of brands’ reliance on their existing email lists and
the slow list growth of Q2 showed us just how important automations
are.
Welcome Series took a significant dive in terms of generating revenue,
but automations like the Winback, Repeat Purchase Nurture, and
Anniversary/Birthday Series got it going again.
Across the board, Re-Engagement Series exceeded expectations in
comparison to previous months. It’s likely this was due to the same
factors that brought about the Q2 increase in open rates.
Brands got their automations mojo back
For those who saw the importance of automated emails earlier on in
Q2 (or prior), this meant that automations not only grew to account
for 50% to 70% of email revenue, but also generated a significant
increase in total email revenue.
With all of the increased interest in automations, brands started to
build additional touchpoints in their email flows, such as Cart and
Browse Abandonment. We also noticed brands creating Lapsed
Customer and Nurture flows from scratch.
The results: Thankfully, the hard work paid off. Lots of brands saw a
revenue increase of over 100%, generated by their automated emails.
Even informative automations, like shipment delay notifications and
out-of-stock notifications, steadily brought in additional sales.
Brands that paid minimal attention to their automated emails saw their
lapsed customers go completely dormant. They also had to deal with
a noticeable drop in the overall value of their email list – a long way
from the list growth they were accustomed to in Q1.
The main takeaway
From what we’ve seen in Q2, an existing subscriber base continues to
hold incredible value.
Emails, especially automated series, deliver continuous value for
minimal work outside of the original setup and tweaking.
If brands use automations to send timely and relevant content at
various stages of a subscriber’s lifecycle, the business can keep
growing. And yes – this even applies to crazy, uncertain times like the
COVID-19 crisis.
Tips & Insights: What’s coming next for eCommerce brands
Let’s hear from eCommerce technology experts
We asked eCommerce technology platform experts for their thoughts on
what’s next for brands.
Bearing in mind the key events in Q2, what’s your forecast on what comes next in Q3 for eCommerce brands?
With much of the world still mindful of the risks of
in-person shopping due to the pandemic, we think brands will
continue to see an uptick in online sales and a preference
for contactless experiences if they venture into shops. For
digital marketers, that means the bar for excellent marketing
communications will continue to rise as more and more
retailers are going online that once were brick and mortar, or
had a presence in both the physical and digital space.
Alicia Thomas, Director of Community, Postscript
In Q2, many brands made a change to the language around
their products. There was a heavy focus on being comfortable,
lounging, or activities that practiced self-care. In Q3, as
the world slowly opens, language around outdoors, social
distancing, or fun will become more important. Many
customers are craving fun experiences, but will lean towards
activities or products that help them socialize while staying
distant. Simple copy or image changes in advertising or on
your website can help make customers feel like your brand
suits their lifestyle.
Katie Krische, Strategic Partnerships & Marketing Manager,
Octane AI
I think we will see a continued emphasis in Q3 on the trends
we started seeing in Q2 – a greater focus on online, email,
and mobile advertising.
Matt Wolosz, VP Sales, TowerData
Tips & Insights: What’s coming next for eCommerce brands 20
Tips & Insights: What’s coming next for eCommerce brands 21
Holiday prep is on the horizon! Though it may look somewhat
different this year for brands with brick-and-mortar locations
due to safety precautions, eCommerce will still have its
moment this holiday season. Q3 is marketer prep time. At
Justuno we see brands leveraging personalized data capture
to build super-targeted email subscribers and SMS lists now in
order to segment their contacts in hopes of connecting with
them and selling more this holiday season.
Jane Serra, Director of Marketing, Justuno
With major brands boycotting Facebook advertising in the
month of July and calling on small businesses to do the
same, we think that we’ll see brands of all sizes testing new
channels and becoming more creative with their advertising
approach. And while brands will continue to rely heavily
on email marketing, which continues to drive significant
revenue, we also expect that brands will start to leverage
other channels, like SMS and direct mail, to enhance their
relationship with customers.
Alison Aldrich, VP of Partnerships, Privy
eCommerce has grown rapidly over the past few years,
and recent months have only accelerated this. Creating an
exceptional eCommerce experience is no longer a “nice to
have” for brands—it’s essential to staying ahead. Building out
your brand’s eCommerce presence and related marketing
strategies to ensure delightful and seamless online customer
experiences is not a short-term fix—it’s a major investment in
your company’s future growth.
As consumers’ motivations have shifted significantly over
the past three months, brands who are eager to test new
technologies—like SMS marketing, for example—to meet
these shifting needs are the ones who will succeed.
Nerisah Baksh, Senior Marketing Manager, Partnerships,
Attentive
Recent events across the world have shown that it is very
hard to predict the future. Lean, authentic, and agile teams &
brands will win.
Felix Suellwold, Head of Partnerships, PushOwl
Email Deliverability
Email Deliverability
23
We’ve got some stats for you: 91% of marketers believe that poor
email deliverability has a negative financial effect on their companies.
Meanwhile, 8% say the impact is severe. This is according to research
by Validity and the UK’s Data & Marketing Association (DMA). The
report, published in June 2020, can only be accessed by members at
the moment.
The report reveals that a growing number of marketers (from
10% in 2019 to 16% this year) rate their own knowledge of email
deliverability as “poor”. No need to panic yet though – 49% say their
team’s knowledge of best practices is good, while 17% rate it as very
good.
Microsoft Outlook 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) and its effects
Before we dive in... Microsoft 365’s Advanced Threat Protection
(ATP) quickly determines which senders are legitimately sending you
unauthenticated emails.
What’s new: Microsoft has upgraded its protection algorithms in the
past quarter. This impacts the email deliverability of any sender who
hasn’t white-labeled their sending structure. ATP will block emails sent
to Outlook 365 if the email addresses don’t have proper DKIM and
SPF alignment.
A lot of marketers (91%) believe that poor email deliverability
has a negative financial effect on their companies and 8% say
the impact is severe.
What we have found is that a good deliverability strategy
needs to be both comprehensive and multidisciplinary.
Deliverability success involves committing budget and
resources if you are going to do it well, and those that do see
positive returns from their investment.
Guy Hanson, Vice President of Customer Engagement, Validity
International
Email Deliverability 24
Struggling to work out what all of this means? This article will help you
get more familiar with the update and its implications for brands’ email
deliverability.
Phishing attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic
Hackers love exploiting crises, and sadly, the COVID-19 outbreak is no
exception. Since the beginning of the pandemic, cybercriminals have
been up to no good. They’ve staged all kinds of cyberattacks, from
phishing to ransomware exploits and even hospital system takeovers.
The World Health Organization (WHO), a key presence during
COVID-19, was among the targeted institutions.
Throughout the pandemic, there has been an increased number
of attacks focused on personal data acquisition. Passwords, social
security details, and bank information have become highly-prized
targets. And, concerningly, the number of attacks has tripled since
January.
Fake domains: Typically, cybercriminals send unsuspecting users to
fake domains, where they can gather their personal information or
login details. And, to make things even worse, these domains are often
embedded with malware to infect the users’ systems.
Big picture: The extent of these phishing attacks is huge, according
to Google’s Threat Analysis Group. In mid-April, the group reported
that it had blocked 18 million COVID-19 phishing emails and malware
emails per day.
Recommendation: Phishing attacks are no joke. And as COVID-19
doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and phishing attacks are rapidly
on the rise, this is a good time for site owners to look at their security
setups.
Brands that don’t implement security measures are likely to become
targets, sooner or later.
FBI Cyber Division reported receiving between 3,000 and
4,000 cybersecurity complaints each day, a major jump
from prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when about 1,000
complaints were received daily.
Privacy Regulations
Privacy Regulations
26
GDPR might not be dominating the headlines anymore, but it’s
definitely still a thing. Introduced in 2018, GDPR holds the title of
the toughest privacy legislation ever. And this year marked its second
anniversary.
The impact
The EU’s privacy shake-up had a ripple effect around the world. It
led to countries like California, Brazil, India, Canada, and Australia
changing their own rules around data privacy. All in all, this means
that 2 billion people – consumers and site owners – were impacted in
some way.
So… what happened over the past 2 years?
So far, the dreaded GDPR has resulted in a not-so-impressive $153
million in fines. Only two of these fines went to Silicon Valley tech
giants: a €50,000,000 fine to Google in France and €51,000 fine to
a local subsidiary of Facebook in Germany. But although these fines
seem high, they only account for a portion of daily revenue for these
companies.
Meanwhile, email-related GDPR fines amount to just over a million
euros (less than 1% of the total fines).
Turns out... GDPR’s bark is louder than its bite.
The first official report on GDPR, published in June, shows that
supervision and enforcement of GDPR is a struggle. The report
foresees challenges related to “clarifying how to apply the proven
principles to specific technologies such as artificial intelligence,
blockchain, Internet of Things or facial recognition...”
From the EU to California
Inspired by the GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
came into effect on January 1, 2020. Thanks to the state’s population
of almost 40 million, plus the numerous tech giants that call California
home, the CCPA has a massive reach.
DataGrail reports that January 2020 saw a surge of privacy requests,
most likely due to the law going into effect and related privacy policy
A €50,000,000 fine to Google in France due to the lack of
transparency in ads personalization and a €51,000 fine to a
local subsidiary of Facebook in Germany.
Privacy Regulations 27
updates. The report also suggests that privacy headlines (and
COVID-related emails) in March and April likely drove an increase of
CCPA privacy requests.
Out of all of these requests, 39.6% were for the deletion of data,
33.3% were related to do-not-sell, and 27.7% were access requests.
Looking ahead, a new surge in privacy requests is expected in July and
August. That’s because CCPA enforcement is set to begin on July 1,
2020.
DataGrail says that B2C companies should prepare to process around
100 to 194 requests per million consumer records each year.
It’s expected that at least 19 other states, including New York,
Washington, and Illinois, will use the CCPA as a blueprint and
implement legislation that’s already in the works.
B2C companies manually processing privacy requests are
likely to spend anywhere from $140,000 to $275,000 per one
million consumer records to process them.
Email Design Trends
Email Design Trends
29
How is the pandemic shaping design?
Nothing escaped the impact of COVID-19, and that includes email
design.
Visual communication has always been central to conveying critical
messages. And in Q2, visuals had a crucial role in the fight against the
pandemic. Although perhaps not on the frontline, creatives, designers,
and artists played their part in sharing and spreading information
faster and to a wider audience. As we like to say, behind every
important message is a great design.
So, what changed?
The pandemic forced brands to change their messages and this also
affected the overall design of emails. Instead of the usual “sell, sell,
sell” mode, brands had to ensure everything they were putting out
seemed caring and empathetic.
Shifts in the use of photographs
From what we’ve seen at Essence of Email, the biggest design changes
were related to the tone and photography used in email designs.
This particularly applies to eCommerce. Brands have had to try to
keep their sales going in order to survive, while also making sure their
messaging isn’t too aggressive.
Photography was very much based around safety, comfort, and
self-care. Towards the end of the quarter, it shifted to socializing at a
distance, fun-yet-safe activities and products, and making customers
feel that a brand’s offerings fit their lifestyle.
2020’s biggest email design trends
Email designers played with a mix of trends in Q2. But the ones that
really stood out and are worth mentioning are: 3D depth and realism,
Monochrome design, Image and text masking, and Liquids.
Example of 3D depth and realism
Source: ReallyGoodEmails
30
Example of monochrome design
Source: Pinterest
Example of image and text masking
Source: Pinterest
Example of Liquids design
Source: ReallyGoodEmails
Email Design Trends 31
Email Design Trends 32
What’s coming next
Another newcomer to the world of design, and one that’s likely to
impact email, is neumorphism. Neumorphism involves focusing on the
color of the entire screen and delivering an entirely unique experience
for users. This trend is still “cooking in the UI world” and not
completely ready for mainstream use. But just like the dark mode back
in early 2019, this trend is also expected to have its email moment and
it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Source: Dribble
Dark mode for Gmail
After months of delay and inconsistent functionality, the rollout of
Google’s long-awaited dark mode for Gmail appears to have finally
been finished for iPhone and iPad.
Google announced dark mode for its Gmail app back in September
2019. But its iOS usage has been patchy, to say the least. Some users
have managed to activate dark mode via the app, only for it to vanish
the next time they restart. Others haven’t been able to access the
feature at all. So, let’s see how this trend will develop in Q3.
Tips & Insights: A piece of advice for eCommerce brands in Q3
Looking towards the second half of the year, we asked eCommerce
technology platforms to share their advice for eCommerce brands.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to eCommerce brands in Q3?
Tips & Insights: A piece of advice for eCommerce brands in Q3 33
Looking ahead, Q3 is the perfect time to focus on building
your marketing list in time for Black Friday and Cyber
Monday. Start optimizing your site to convert visitors to
marketing subscribers, run acquisition-focused Facebook ad
campaigns, launch a referral campaign, or other marketing
campaigns. Implementing different marketing channels can
also help grow your overall marketing lists. For example,
incorporating Messenger and SMS marketing opt-ins can
actually help you grow your email list. You can use both
channels in creative ways to engage new site visitors and
collect opt-ins for other channels.
Katie Krische, Strategic Partnerships & Marketing Manager,
Octane AI
Test and refine your strategy now! Q3 (and earlier!) is the
optimal time to discover what is working for you in order to
double-down and deploy a tested, proven strategy for the
holiday season. A/B test your SMS opt-in: what call to action
gets higher conversions? A/B test your data capture offer: does
$X off work better than X%?
Use hidden fields to understand what pages visitors are
opting-in on. Target your paid media traffic using UTM
parameters. Experiment with AI product recommendations
and learn what items are commonly bundled. These exercises
will make your holiday marketing profitable and optimize your
customers’ shopping experience.
Jane Serra, Director of Marketing, Justuno
Tips & Insights: What’s coming next for eCommerce brands 34
Focus on collecting accurate email data from your customers
and prospects. Even if the price to advertise on networks
goes up (and it will), or if Google limits the use of cookies (and
they will), having your customers’ or prospects’ correct emails
will allow you to reach them without any hindrances on your
efforts.
Matt Wolosz, VP Sales, TowerData
Now more than ever, it’s important for you to create lasting
relationships with your customers to drive repeat purchases.
Given the uncertainty around marketing channels and the
economy, focus on the customers you’ve already built trust
with. Make sure you’re doing more than just asking for the sale.
Help your customers feel aligned with your brand and what you
stand for. With everything going on in the world, brands need to
really focus on clear messaging and mission-driven content
to keep customers engaged and coming back.
Alison Aldrich, VP of Partnerships, Privy
Data quality and making sure that customer and prospect
data is updated, accurate, current, and enriched for the
greatest ROI results. With the changes in employment
(both lost jobs and changing jobs), contact information,
and ultimately, buying habits, the one way to ensure that
marketing activation campaigns (e.g. email marketing) are
successful, is to maintain and create as highest-quality
customer data as possible. And, most importantly, give
customers what they want by having systems and a process
in place to understand customer behavior in order to deliver
relevant, targeted marketing.
Brad Ketchum III, Partner, PearlThinks
Tips & Insights: What’s coming next for eCommerce brands 35
E-commerce brands have to be extremely flexible and
agile—it’s survival of the fastest. The brands that will survive
and thrive during these times are the ones who are quick to
adjust operating models and test new technologies. Prioritize
consumer experiences—like enhancing direct communications
through channels like personalized text messaging—to help
drive more revenue.
As a direct and instantaneous channel, using text messaging
as a complement to email means brands can rest assured
knowing their messages are seen—and acted on. By having 1:1
conversations with text subscribers, brands are building lasting
relationships—which is beneficial in the short and long-term.
Nerisah Baksh, Senior Marketing Manager, Partnerships,
Attentive
If you haven’t already, now is the time to start thinking about
your BFCM marketing strategy. As many brands start using
SMS marketing, now is the time to start building your list so
that when the holidays come, you will be able to reach and
segment your subscribers effectively and profitably.
Alicia Thomas, Director of Community, Postscript
More consumers are coming online due to COVID-19. In fact,
eCommerce adoption leapfrogged years or even a decade of
development. So while it is “easy” to acquire new customers
these days, make sure to also nail your retention tactics.
Felix Suellwold, Head of Partnerships, PushOwl
Who Is Essence of Email
Who Is Essence of Email
37
Delivering results is what we do.
Email marketing is more powerful and more complex than ever
before. If you want your emails to be remembered, you need a team of
focused specialists.
That’s where we come in.
We take a highly disciplined, process-driven, iterative approach every single time.
We adapt to your needs as quickly as the market changes.
We know everything there is to know about eCommerce.
Average ROI
38xMax ROI: 184x
Positive ROI or break-even for all clients
Emails sent in the last year
73MIndustry-Leading
Net Promoter Score
Digital Marketing Agency Benchmark: 61
80
Over 6 years of experience and 270+ served clients in the USA,
Canada, and Australia has given us a clear view of what works in
different situations and in every stage of a company’s growth.
We empower eCommerce brands to sell repeatedly through
innovative email marketing.
Let us show you what we can do for you.
Book a Call Now
Credits
Credits
38
Heath WeaverManaging Director
Vladimir BosheskiEmail Expert
Grace HardingCopywriter
Maja StojanovicQuality Assurance Lead
Milos RakicQuality Assurance Lead
Petar MladenovicDesigner
Armin AvdicDesigner
Marija PajkovicSenior Team Lead
Dejan GeorgievTeam Lead
Snezana VelkovskaMarketing Manager
Monika GaberovaMarketing Associate
Content Sources
Content Sources
39
The Email Technology Landscape: EmailClientShare, Shopify,
eMarketer, MarketingCharts, Social Media Today, ActiveCampaign
Marketplace, ActionIQ, Litmus, Hotel Online, Email Vendor Selection
Email Campaigns: Klaviyo, Hubspot, MorningConsult, eConsultancy,
Warc
Email Flows (Automations): Klaviyo
Deliverability: DMA, Microsoft, TheHill, Threat Analysis Group,
Marketo Engage
Privacy Regulation: GDPR, Privacy Affairs, European Commission,
DataGrail, Axios, CNET, WireWheel, MediaPost, SecureOps,
LegalTechnology, DCD
Email Design Trends: Neumorphism example; 3D depth and realism
example; Monochrome example; Image and Text masking example;
Liquids example;
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