The Gmail Promotions Tab- 10 Years of Email Marketing Misunderstandings

Ten years ago, Gmail introduced inbox tabs, including the infamous Promotions tab. Among marketers, the development caused panic. You see, there were reports that open rates were slipping at Gmail, and marketers blamed the Promotions tab. To combat this shift, many major senders ran campaigns asking their subscribers to re-tab their emails from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab.

Fast forward to today and such requests are exceedingly rare. Most brands recognize—like it or not—tabs are here to stay. Indeed, having been copied by other inbox providers to various degrees, tabbed inbox interfaces are now common and highly accepted by and familiar to consumers.

However, some senders continue to fight against tabs. So, here on the 10-year anniversary of Gmail Tabs, let’s talk about five truths about tabs, as well as some real new concerns.

>> Read the entire article on CMSWire.com

The Last Word on July 2023

The Last Word

A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and social buzz you might have missed last month…

Must-read articles, posts & reports

Consumers Worldwide Are Most Willing To Share their Email Address (MediaPost)

Public Web Unravels in AI-Driven Storm (Axios)

Rising Interest Rates Might Herald the End of the Open Internet (Wired)

Animated Gifs (a11y.email)

The Best 577 Welcome Email Examples in 2023 (Really Good Emails)

Insightful & entertaining social posts

Noteworthy subject lines

Nuts.com, 7/12 – This Prime Ship Is Sailing Away…. 🚢
Macy’s, 7/7 – 🚦 It’s go time on Black Friday in July Specials!
Allbirds, 7/13 – Just In: The Death Valley Pack
AutoZone, 7/20 – Watch this quick hack for colder A/C
Diesel, 7/3 – Summer’s Must-Have Accessories
West Elm, 7/23 – Take your relaxing moments outside
Williams Sonoma, 7/14 – Hello, summer guests
J.Crew, 7/17 – For summer weddings, dinner parties & more…
Gap Email Exclusive, 7/12 – The beary cutest 1st birthday gifts
Michaels, 7/10 – 📯 Camp Creatology has begun! Register your kiddo in fun arts and crafts classes in store or online →
Art.com, 7/14 – Make learning fun!
kate spade surprise, 7/17 – Our school shop is here! Check out styles from $25
IKEA Family, 7/12 – Get ready for college with IKEA
The Company Store, 7/14 – 25% Off Back to College
Crate & Barrel, 7/14 – Introducing | The Dorm Shop
Duluth Trading, 7/14 – $14 Buck Naked Underwear For National Naked Day!
Spirit Halloween, 7/25 – 🔪 We’re slashing animatronic prices!
Nuts.com, 7/16 – I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For…
Nuts.com, 7/18 – NEW at Nuts.com 🍪 🍪 🍪
Clinique Online, 7/14 – 🎀 Do this before lipstick 💋
Williams Sonoma, 7/23 – Give your home a signature scent
Gap, 7/5 – 1,000 five-star reviews + Up to 75% OFF MARKDOWNS
Clinique Online, 7/3 – Our best body smoothers.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 7/14 – Open if you need a new dress.
Zara, 7/31 – HOME – NEW COLLECTION
katespade.com, 7/14 – Just arrived: the bag that ticks all the “boxxes”
Spirit Halloween, 7/19 – Coming soon: NEW Barbie the Movie costumes! 💕
Allbirds, 7/18 – Allbirds X Olivia Rubin in 3, 2, 1

New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com

12 Trends a-Trending: What to Plan for This Holiday Season

Digital Marketing Tests to Run in the Runup to the Holiday Season

5 Foundational Marketing Books You Need to Read

Third Quarter 2023 Holiday Marketing Quarterly

Making Seasonal Adjustments to Automated Campaigns to Boost Results

Is Your Brand Trusted Significantly More than ChatGPT?

The Last Word on June 2023

12 Trends a-Trending: What to Plan for This Holiday Season

The 2023 holiday season is shaping up to be as dynamic and turbulent as the past few have been. But knowing what to expect and proper planning can help make the best of another tough holiday season.

Here are our predictions for 12 trends to account for in your holiday campaign planning process:

  1. Shopper Anxiety & Uncertainty
  2. Consumer Financials Weakening
  3. In-Store Shopping Evolving
  4. Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection Hits 2-Year Anniversary
  5. Apple’s Link Tracking Protection Debuts
  6. Holiday Season Starts in October
  7. Veterans Day Is in Play This Year
  8. Sprawl of Marquee Shopping Days
  9. More Last-Minute Shopping Options
  10. Leveraging New Tech Capabilities
  11. Measuring More Holistically
  12. Hard Landing vs. Soft Landing

For a discussion of each of those trends, plus how marketers should respond…

>> Read the full post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog

Digital Marketing Tests to Run in the Runup to the Holiday Season

The back-to-school season, Labor Day, and Halloween represent great opportunities to better align with your ever-changing customers before heading into the all-important holiday season, when digital marketing misalignments are most costly.

  • Is your branding strong?
  • Are your offers clear and focused on what’s in it for your audience?
  • Are we making it easy for our audience to do what we want them to do?
  • Are we differentiating ourselves in the inbox?
  • What words and imagery are your customers responding to most?
  • Is your audience feeling the pinch financially or spending freely?

The way to answer these questions and others is to experiment and run A/B tests. Here are eight digital marketing tests we highly recommend.

>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog

5 Foundational Marketing Books You Need to Read

Here at Oracle Marketing Consulting, we know we’re only as good as our ideas and our ability to execute. In other words, we’re only as good as our people. That means we not only aim to hire the most talented strategists, designers, analysts, coders, and account managers around, we are also constantly looking for ways to help them become even better at helping our clients exceed their business goals.

One of the ways we do that is by recommending books that can make them more effective—not only as marketers, but as team members and leaders. We’d like to share those recommendations with you, too.

>> Read the full post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog

Third Quarter 2023 Holiday Marketing Quarterly

The holiday season doesn’t have an off-season. Having a successful holiday season means executing a successful year-round strategy. Oracle’s Holiday Marketing Quarterly gives you a quarter-by-quarter plan for how to achieve more during this critical time of the year.

The third quarter is focused on the final prep for the start of the holiday season. In this Holiday Marketing Quarterly, we’ll cover:

  1. Campaign Planning
  2. Workload Management
  3. Contingency Planning
  4. Audience Optimization
  5. Performance Monitoring Plans
  6. Solidifying Your MarTech Stack

For the full checklist…

>> Get the Holiday Marketing Quarterly for free via a no-form download

Making Seasonal Adjustments to Automated Campaigns to Boost Performance

Automated campaigns—whether sent via email, SMS, or mobile push—perform so well that they’re often overlooked as not needing attention. However, it’s because of their high engagement and conversion rates that we should be constantly giving automated campaigns extra attention and trying to make them even better.

This is especially true during the holiday season, which is make-or-break for most B2C brands. Here are several areas to focus on…

>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog

The Last Word on June 2023

The Last Word

A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and social buzz you might have missed last month…

Must-read articles, posts & reports

Beyond Belt-Tightening: How Marketing Can Drive Resiliency during Uncertain Times (McKinsey & Co.)

The Font-Size Issue (Type E)

5 Steps to Mastering the Modern Martech Landscape (RPE Origin)

Why Newsletters Are Set to Be the Hottest Side Hustle of 2023 (Fast Company)

I Spy AI: Half Of Consumers Can Spot An AI-Written Email (MediaPost)

Why and How to Use Loss Aversion in Email Marketing (Plus 4 Examples) (Holistic Email Marketing)

Email Warming Services: Manipulating Spam Filters (EmailKarma)

Big Tech Is Bad. Big A.I. Will Be Worse. (New York Times)

Insightful & entertaining social posts

Noteworthy subject lines

Columbia Sportswear, 6/2 – PRIDE outside, today and every day.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 6/24 – PROUD AND LOUD 🏳️‍🌈
katespade.com, 6/6 – How we celebrate pride & joy
J.Crew, 6/5 – J.Crew Pride 2023
Lowe’s Home Improvement, 6/8 – Now’s the time to save big on what Dad will love.
Crate & Barrel, 6/9 – Get Father’s Day gift recs from our team
IKEA, 6/27 – College living, A-Z!
REI, 6/12 – A Gift Card for Them, a Bonus for You 🎓👔
Nordstrom, 6/16 – It’s wedding season—let’s do this
Zales, 6/29 – Black Friday In July! Up to 50% Off 🔥🔥🔥
Crate & Kids, 6/2 – NEW backpacks that’ll make a splash at camp ☀️
Michaels, 6/27 – 🚙 Parents: Save on kids’ crafts to take on the go this summer!
West Elm, 6/2 – ​​Patio party starters!
vineyard vines, 6/2 – Comfy Cashmere & Polished Prints
Everlane, 6/2 – We Have New Summer Dresses
Nordstrom, 6/2 – Shorts weather, we’re ready for you
Everlane, 6/20 – Crochet Tops Are Back In Stock
Superdry, 6/22 – Ready for t-shirt weather?
Nordstrom, 6/6 – Now entering your skirt era
J.Crew, 6/2 – Nautical nods, new textures & more of Olympia’s picks…
Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale, 6/8 – Our Biggest Sale of the Year is Online Now
West Elm, 6/5 – Outside-the-box gallery wall ideas
Art.com, 6/4 – What’s your dining room’s personality?
Clinique Online, 6/30 – 💋 Tips for lips.
MyCollection by Lifetouch, 6/8 – Collect, celebrate and cherish every milestone of Dexter.
The North Face, 6/20 – Our Nuptse jacket is flying off the shelves
Williams Sonoma, 6/22 – How old are your nonstick pans?
YETI, 6/12 – Our First Ever Cast Iron Skillet
Magic: The Gathering, 6/8 – Here’s your preview card from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth™ 👀
Big Lots, 6/29 – Check out our new Broyhill collection! 😍
RH, 6/16 – Now Open. RH England, The Gallery at the Historic Aynho Park.
Michaels, 6/29 – Hey VIP, want a 25% off coupon + the latest scoop on deals? 🕶️ Sign up for texts →

New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com

Hot Digital Marketing Redesign Trends: Changes Brands Are Making Now

The Fifth Age of Email Deliverability

Sinch CX Education Podcast: Bridging the Gap between Omnichannel Marketing & CX

Loyalty Program KPIs: Measuring Health and Performance

The Future of Content Marketing: 5 Predictions

Mailbox Providers Retiring Inactive Accounts: The Risks & How to Respond

6 of My All-Time Favorite Quotes about Marketing

How to Use Apple’s Auto Opens Safely

The Last Word on May 2023

Is Your Brand Trusted Significantly More Than ChatGPT?

The answer to that question will determine which brands truly have credibility and authority in the years ahead and which do not.

Those who are more trustworthy than generative AI engines like ChatGPT will:

  1. Be destinations for answer-seekers, generating strong direct traffic to their websites and robust app usage
  2. Be able to build large first-party audiences via email, SMS, push, and other channels

Both of those will be critical for any brand wanting to insulate themselves from the search engine optimization (SEO) traffic loss that will be caused by generative AI.

>> Read the entire article on CMSWire.com

Hot Digital Marketing Redesign Trends- Changes Brands Are Making Now

At Oracle Marketing Consulting, we’re constantly involved in major redesigns of our clients’ digital marketing campaigns. From year to year, the themes and trends driving redesigns change. Here are the biggest factors propelling brands to undergo redesigns right now:

  1. More Content Driven by Machine Learning & AI
  2. More Live Content
  3. Adapting to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection
  4. Becoming More Inclusive
  5. Optimizing for Dark Mode

For a full discussion of each of those trends and more…

>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog