Email Marketing RulesWebinar on Jan. 21: Modular Email Architecture
Posted on January 6, 2021
Classic email templates are becoming obsolete. They are difficult to maintain, don’t offer enough flexibility, make personalization cumbersome, and take too much time to turn into a final email campaign that’s ready to send. Because of all of those weaknesses, more companies are migrating to modular email architectures and reaping significant improvements.
In this webinar, we’ll explain:
- How modular email architecture differs from traditional email templates
- The benefits of having a modular email architecture
- The popularity and adoption rate of this way of creating emails
- What’s involved in building a modular email architecture
- How Oracle CX Marketing Consulting and our clients use modular email architecture
You’ll leave this webinar with a clear understanding of how modular email architecture can speed up your email production, improve your testing, increase your use of personalization, and more.
Modular Email Architecture: The Next-Generation Email Template
Date: Jan. 21, 2021
Time: 1pm ET/10 am PT
Duration: 1 hour
Your presenters:
Jason Witt, Senior Director of Creative Services, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting
Nick Cantu, Senior Art Director for Creative Services, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting
Chad S. White, Head of Research, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting (moderator)
>> Register for this free webinar
Email Deliverability Quarterly: Gmail’s Spam Rate Recalculation, CPRA Passes, and More
Posted on January 5, 2021
Email deliverability is constantly changing, as inbox providers adjust their filtering algorithms, blacklists tweak their listing criteria, and consumers evolve their definition of spam. That’s why even the best email marketing programs suffer deliverability problems sometimes.
To help you avoid trouble, the Email Deliverability Services team at Oracle CX Marketing Consulting shares the latest news and tips for what to watch out for in our latest Email Deliverability Quarterly.
In this post, Brian Sullivan, Clea Moore, and Shine Lyui explain how the following news and events will impact marketers’ email deliverability:
- Gmail recalculates their Spam Rate
- California expands CCPA with passage of CPRA
- Yahoo Mail supports AMP for Email
For the full discussion of each of these issues…
>> Read the full post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
The Last Word on December 2020
Posted on January 4, 2021
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
The Future of Email Marketing & Marketing Automation | 2021 edition (EmailMonday)
Why Successful Marketers Always Invest in Email Marketing (Email on Acid)
What’s the optimal width for your email design? (Taxi for Email)
SparkPost Marketing Leader and Email Practitioner Surveys Reveal 72% of People Feel Overworked (MarTech Series)
The BOPIS Way: Consumers Are Shopping Online And Picking Up In-Store This Season (MediaPost)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Too many email programs are not ready for all https in 2021. Get those SSL certs stat folks.
— 𝔸𝕃𝔼𝕏 (@alexcwilliams) December 17, 2020
Companies be tryna blend their unsubscribe button in with their regular font but imma find that bitch every time pic.twitter.com/EM97ZusXW0
— Cooch Hall (@guinep_paltrow) December 17, 2020
Had to be done #emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/nXjqTU6OIq
— Paris Fisher (@ParissFisher) December 19, 2020
Noteworthy subject lines
Walgreens, 12/10 – Questions about the COVID-19 vaccine? We’ve got answers.
T.J.MAXX, 12/31 – NEW IN: these gym outfits are GOALS
Dollar General, 12/31 – 🥂🎉 Countdown to 2021 at home.
NORDSTROM, 12/19 – Instant Outfit: NYE at home // Earn $50 to spend! Details inside.
Macy’s, 12/26 – After Christmas Sale = the perf time to use that Gift Card
NORDSTROM RACK, 12/26 – The Gift Yourself Event starts now!
Express, 12/26 – Time for self-gifting 🎁 40-60% off EVERYTHING
Zales, 12/26 – Didn’t Get Everything You Wanted For Christmas?
Everlane, 12/26 – The Goodbye 2020 Event Is Now Open
The Home Depot, 12/25 – Merry Christmas to All Our Doers 🎄
Zales, 12/25 – 🎄 Happiest Of Holidays From Zales! Open for Our Gift to You!
Burlington, 12/25 – Wishing you the merriest of Christmases
Saks Fifth Avenue, 12/25 – From all of us at Saks, happy holidays
Bed Bath & Beyond, 12/24 – 20% Off ENTIRE purchase w/Curbside! Shop our 🎁 gift guide + EXTENDED holiday hours! Plus, take these coupons!
Wegmans, 12/24 – Need Holiday Help? We’re Here Until 6pm!
Tractor Supply Company, 12/23 – Order Through Our App and Get Last Minute Gifts Before Christmas
Panera Bread, 12/23 – eGift cards make holiday gifting quick & easy.
Victoria’s Secret, 12/19 – Holiday Hint: eGift Cards guarantee the perfect present.
Patagonia, 12/23 – Let them choose
Applebee’s, 12/10 – 🎁 Buy a $50 Gift Card, Get a $10 Bonus!
Neiman Marcus, 12/20 – Need it by 12/25? Free shipping by Christmas + 60% off
Eddie Bauer, 12/20 – Last Day For Free Guaranteed Delivery By 12/24
Uncommon Goods, 12/15 – It’s not too late (yet) to ship holiday gifts
Bass Pro Shops, 12/11 – Great clothing ideas to finish up your Christmas shopping
Williams Sonoma, 12/17 – Re-create restaurant steaks at home + order now for Christmas delivery
Uncommon Goods, 12/9 – Cool, cute, and clever stocking stuffers for the win 🎄
Foot Locker, 12/15 – 🎁🎄 Gift slippers, shoe cleaner, bags + tons of other A1 stocking stuffers
Sears, 12/10 – GIFTS: Foodie 🥩 Techie 💻 Fitness Guru 🏋️ DIYer 🔧
Saks Fifth Avenue, 12/17 – What comedian Hasan Minhaj is gifting his family this year
Saks Fifth Avenue, 12/3 – Saks Chief Merchant Tracy Margolies shares her holiday picks
Moosejaw.com, 12/2 – 🚨 FINAL HOURS – for 50% Back in Moosejaw Rewards
Express Cyber Sale, 12/1 – BONUS DAY: Cyber Tuesday is here! Big Deals from $15
Crate and Barrel, 12/13 – How to create a cozy outdoor oasis this winter
Staples, 12/8 – Remote worker or learner? This deal’s for you.
Gap, 12/17 – Wear this puffer, save plastic bottles!
GapCash, 12/5 – You’ve got $40 in free GapCash waiting—use it on EVERYTHING!
Moosejaw.com, 12/31 – FREE $10 for doing almost nothing.
VS PINK, 12/31 — $1,000,000 to strengthen the mental health of young adults
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Direct Mail: The Most Overlooked Digital Marketing Channel
Managing Both Long-Term Inactive Subscribers and Never-Actives
Email Rendering Continues to Grow in Complexity, Wildly So at the Fringes
Cyber Monday Email Marketing Activity & Sales Continue Weakening Trend
Our Top Learnings from Launching the Oracle CX Marketing Consulting Newsletter
Early Holiday Promotions Cannibalize Email Marketing and Sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday
A Safe and Happy Holidays!
Posted on December 25, 2020
Wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season!
Direct Mail: The Most Overlooked Digital Marketing Channel
Posted on December 22, 2020
Hear us out. Direct mail has changed. A lot of marketers think of it as static offset printed letters and postcards that are mass market. While that’s still the case for some direct mail, the channel as a whole has learned a lot of new tricks over the years. Today, with digital printing, smart presses, and integration with other channels, it can mirror much of the functionality we love in email marketing, including:
- Personalization of direct mail content, both images and copy
- Individually attributable results, so a campaign’s return on investment can be calculated
- Segmentation, so direct mail pieces go to people who are mostly likely to respond
- Automation to send the right direct mail pieces to the right people at the right time
- Omnichannel orchestration to take direct mail out of its silo and integrate it with broader cross-channel efforts
In this post, Oracle Consulting’s Jonathan McClure talks about each of those in turn…
>> Read the full post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
Managing Both Long-Term Inactive Subscribers and Never-Actives
Posted on December 15, 2020
Subscriber engagement is one of the most important factors that determine your email deliverability. That not only means that senders need to use tactics and strategies that increase engagement, such as good email design and targeting, but they need to closely manage their inactive subscribers. These are the subscribers who aren’t opening or clicking, which hurts how engaged your subscribers appear in the eyes of inbox providers.
When developing a plan for managing them, it’s critical to ensure that you have a plan for both kinds of inactive subscribers:
- Long-term inactives are subscribers who used to be active but haven’t opened or clicked an email in a long time
- Never-actives are subscribers who are new to your list and haven’t opened or clicked a single email since they signed up
Both pose a risk to your engagement rates, as well as both being a spam trap risk. In this blog post, Daniel Deneweth, Oracle CX Marketing Consulting’s Head of Email Deliverability Services, looks at each one and talk about how to manage them.
>> Read the full post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
Email Rendering Continues to Grow in Complexity, Wildly So at the Fringes
Posted on December 8, 2020
The idea of a pixel-perfect email rendering across every email client died a long time ago. The challenge for most of the past decade has been to achieve platform-perfect rendering, where an email renders up to the fullest capabilities of a particular inbox provider.
But even that is an increasingly tall order for four main reasons:
- The traditional landscape of email clients is still quite expansive
- The viewing options selected by email recipients
- The decision of senders to use email content and code that has limited support or inconsistent implementations
- The growth of browserless email clients with limited rendering functionality and conversion ability
Let’s talk about each of them in turn, starting with…
>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
The Last Word on November 2020
Posted on December 4, 2020
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
What Consumers Want from Email (eMarketer)
30 Email Marketing Influencers to Follow in 2020 (Sendinblue)
Email Marketing Trends 2021 – 5 Trends to Watch (Smart Insights)
There’s Still Lackluster Enthusiasm for Shopping and Buying via Voice (eMarketer)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Email is dead.
!⃝ 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀
— Ted Goas (@TedGoas) November 17, 2020
How email marketers are being made redundant in this period is beyond me. You think the lost revenue is bad now, wait until you remove the person responsible for managing your cheapest and most effective route to market.
— Rut Dawson (@rutdawson) December 2, 2020
🔥 Been seeing huge value in ‘partial unsubscribe’ links.
[Click if you don’t want any more Black Friday 2019 emails]
[Turn off feature updates, I just want the educational emails]
etc
Easy to do… lets readers self-segment what they actually value, vs losing them altogether
— Shai Schechter (@shaisc) November 28, 2019
Noteworthy subject lines
Inspire by Namecheap, 11/19 – What NOT TO DO on Black Friday
REI, 11/25 – We’re Closing on Black Friday—Again
Belk Black Friday Sale, 11/27 – Black Friday deals still going strong 💪 UP TO 75% OFF
Nordstrom, 11/27 – Don’t miss Black Friday Cyber Deals! Up to 50% off + get an extra 25% off Clearance
Banana Republic, 11/27 – Not 30. Not 40… 50% Off Everything
Moosejaw.com, 11/30 – 🚨FINAL HOURS – for 50% Back in Moosejaw Rewards
Victoria’s Secret, 11/27 – Wish list granted: BOGO 50% OFF
Gap Black Friday, 11/27 – *BEST PRICES OF THE YEAR* on our BEST GIFTS
Eddie Bauer, 11/27 – The best deals of the year are FLANNEL-Y here 🎉
Belk Black Friday, 11/26 – Alexa, how many calories are in stuffing? 🤔 $18.99 Amazon Echo Dot
Lane Bryant, 11/26 – $25 Bras Now. Pie later.
Office Depot, 11/26 – Still not full? Get a second serving of Black Friday deals
Macy’s Black Friday, 11/27 – Don’t miss 70-80% off 1250-thread count sheet sets & more + Free Ship at $25
Williams Sonoma, 11/26 – Top 5 gift lists + gifts that give back
Quiksilver, 11/15 – The best gifts for you – and for the planet
Petco Foundation, 11/15 – Gifts that give back to 🐶 🐱 🐰
Crate and Barrel, 11/27 – Black Friday: Free furniture delivery + 4 more ways to save
Applebee’s Grill + Bar, 11/27 – Black Friday Gift Card Offer!
Victoria’s Secret, 11/23 – Shop Black Friday *early*
Gap Black Friday, 11/23 – 🌟 Black Friday OFFICIALLY starts NOW 🌟
Bass Pro Shops, 11/22 – Black Friday Hot Deals are starting soon! Preview them NOW!
Sears, 11/23 – 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁
Sears, 11/16 – Today’s Black Friday Now deal 💦👚 💦 It’s laundry day
Big Lots, 11/16 – ⏰ It’s never too early to start gift shopping!
Zales, 11/13 – 🥳 We’re Celebrating Black Friday Early!
Crate & Barrel, 11/12 – BLACK FRIDAY STARTS NOW.
Bass Pro Shops, 11/5 – We’re got Black Friday deals all month long!
Dollar General, 11/4 – Bring on the turkey and thankful guests.
Bed Bath & Beyond, 11/24 – We’re making the holidays easy to celebrate from home.
Tractor Supply Co., 11/17 – NEW App Feature – Discover the Convenience of Life Out Here
Saks Fifth Avenue, 11/23 – Tune in tonight for our virtual holiday show & window unveiling
Macy’s, 11/23 – Holiday cheer is near: our new virtual Santaland is coming!
West Elm, 11/21 – Get a FREE design session AND gifting help
IKEA, 11/23 – Chad, get holiday cooking tips from a pro
Williams Sonoma, 11/14 – Best gravy EVER!
Wegmans, 11/12 – Thanksgiving Wines You’ll Love
Dollar General, 11/12 – 20% off for Veterans, Active Duty Military and their families.
Bass Pro Shops, 11/8 – Special Offer for our Military and Hometown Heroes
T.J.MAXX, 11/16 – Save BIG on home updates 🏡
Everlane, 11/12 – Our First Socks Are Here
Baby at Burlington, 11/10 – NEW PRODUCT ALERT: We now sell baby essentials!
Gap Friends & Family, 11/8 – Meet the coatigan
Uncommon Goods, 11/8 – Winter’s coming. Is your game closet prepared?
Kohl’s, 11/4 – Check out our Wellness Market + find what you need to live a little healthier.
IKEA, 11/13 – Chad, get a FREE day of child card at KinderCare
Kenneth Cole, 11/3 – TODAY IS ELECTION DAY
Foot Locker, 11/3 – Rock the Vote Today! 🗳️
Nordstrom, 11/3 – Make your voice heard on Election Day
Tattly Temporary Tattoos, 11/3 – We’re holding our breath.
Z Gallerie, 11/3 – Tell Your Friends & Family To Vote Today ✅
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Modular Email Architectures: What They Are & How They Work
Smart Insights: Email Marketing Trends 2021 – 5 Trends to Watch
The Future of Travel: Long-Term & Short-Term Recommendations
Cyber Monday Email Marketing Activity & Sales Continue Weakening Trend
Posted on December 3, 2020
With consumers struggling financially and retailers having succeeded in pulling holiday sales into early November and even October, the downward trend in sales and email marketing activity during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend continued on Cyber Monday.
Rising Email Volume
Oracle Marketing Consulting predicted a 10% increase in email volume on Cyber Monday during their Choosing the Best Days to Send Email Campaigns This Holiday Season webinar in August. However, official numbers show that B2C marketers sent 10.9% fewer emails on Cyber Monday compared to last year, according to data from Oracle Marketing Consulting based on a panel of more than 40 major national B2C brands using the Oracle Responsys Campaign Management platform.
On Cyber Monday, preliminary performance data shows that unique email open rates were down 13.1% year-over-year and revenue per email was down 35.6%, according to Oracle’s panel data.
“Just as Black Friday was really more of a Black Friday Week, with sales going all week long, Cyber Monday will likely play out similarly,” Clint Kaiser, Head of Analytic & Strategic Services at Oracle Marketing Consulting, told SmarterCX. “To get a sense of how they truly performed, companies will want to look at their email performance and sales over the entire Cyber Week—and then look at that within the context of their performance since the week of Veterans Day, which is when many retailers kicked off their holiday promotions in earnest.”
Slowing Online Sales Growth
Consumers spent $10.8 billion online on Monday, a new one-day record that eclipsed Cyber Monday’s 2019 sales by 15.1%, according to Adobe Analytics. But despite hitting record levels, the performance was a major disappointment. First, the online sales tally came in far short of Adobe’s original forecast of $12.7 billion, according to CNBC. It also fell well short of Insider Intelligence’s forecast of $12.89 billion in online sales.
And second, the 15.1% growth represents the continued slowing of online sales growth. As previously reported, online sales grew at a 22% year-over-year pace on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. During the third quarter, ecommerce sales grew at a 46% year-over-year pace, according to Adobe Analytics and at a 36.7% clip, according to the US Census Bureau. There’s a very clear slowing trend showing during what’s usually the strongest part of the holiday season.
Compounded by Falling Offline Sales
The weaker-than-expected online sales are occurring against a backdrop of plunging offline sales due to slower foot traffic in stores. From Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) through Sunday (Nov. 29), store traffic fell 49% compared to 2019, according to Sensormatic Solutions. On Cyber Monday, store traffic declined 23% year-over-year.
Offline sales are still critical to overall retail sales since they represent 86.5% of all retail receipts, according to the US Census Bureau.
Overall, over the five-day period of Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, shoppers spent nearly 14% less on average on holiday-related purchases both online and offline, spending $311.75 each on average this year compared to $361.90 in 2019, according to the National Retail Federation.
Email Messaging Trends
Cyber Monday lived up to its reputation for having some of the best online deals of the year, with discounts on Monday appearing to be steeper than on Black Friday. While many large brands, such as Lane Bryant, Express, and Gap, promoted 50% off—which was the highwater mark on Black Friday—others, including Belk, Houzz, and Rugs USA, promoted “up to 75% off.”
In terms of email design, live countdown timers that ticked down to the expiration of Cyber Monday sales were fairly common. Such countdowns were used by Saks Fifth Avenue, REI, Camping World, Bass Pro Shops, Eddie Bauer, and Gap, among others. Animated gifs were also quite popular in retailers’ email campaigns, with Michaels, Uncommon Goods, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Dick’s Sporting Goods, T.J.Maxx, and others using them.
Oracle’s December Forecast
Oracle Marketing Consulting is forecasting that email marketing volume will be up year-over-year through Green Monday (Dec. 14), but then decline through Christmas Day as COVID-related restrictions likely increase. With COVID-19 hospitalizations at record levels and infections expected to spike in the wake of Thanksgiving, the risk of new restrictions impacting December retail sales is high, says Kaiser.
“Down the home stretch, we expect retailers to even more actively promote and incentivize curbside pickup and ‘buy now pay later’ services like Klarna,” he says. “We also expect them to offer plenty of ‘reward cards’ that are only redeemable in January to try to sustain some sales momentum into the new year and to convert some one-time holiday shoppers into regular customers.”
Our Top Learnings from Launching the Oracle CX Marketing Consulting Newsletter
Posted on December 2, 2020
We launched our first issue of the twice-monthly Oracle CX Marketing Consulting Newsletter on Oct. 15, 2019. Since then, we’ve sent 30 issues. We’ve learned a lot from launching it, as well as from running it for a year. Rather than keep these learnings to ourselves, the newsletter team and I wanted to share the highs and lows so everyone can benefit.
Our experiences were wildly different during the pre-launch phase compared to post-launch, so that’s how we’ve broken out our learnings.
To learn all about our successes and failures…
>> Read the entire post on Oracle’s Modern Marketing Blog
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week, we’ll explore strategies and tactics, discuss tips and inspiration, and dig into industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Digital Experience Agency
Author of Email Marketing Rules and nearly 4,000 articles about digital and email marketing
