Did you know Apple’s iOS 15 Update is speculated to occur sometime between September and November?
According to Omnisend, Apple users will be able to:
- Turn off open tracking
- Hide their IP addresses
- Hide their email addresses
For email marketers, though, one of the biggest takeaways is that open rates will most likely be turned off by users and that the Open Rate will be reported as 100%. This meaningful metric, with which so much strategy has been created, will essentially be irrelevant.
The default metric is Click Through Rate (CTR). Wow, those emails need to be incredibly engaging to garner those click-throughs. What does that mean? Segmentation and Personalization. But let’s understand the impact of this update.
If you are wondering how many of your customers are exposed to this option? Apple commands up to 58% of the email client market share and a full 90.5% of all mobile email opens happen on an iPhone. Clearly, it’s a big deal.
But don’t take it from just me, check out Omnisend’s incredible blog www.opensaredead.com for tips and strategies to navigate email and other channel communication. This is being called “A Watershed Moment” in email marketing by Omnisend CEO, Rytis Lauris.
Personalization vs. Privacy
These changes are occurring against the backdrop of finding a critical balance between privacy and personalization.
The stakes keep rising for email marketers to send the right messaging via the right channel; as well as the right content while also respecting the growing backlash against sharing PII. Wondering how to find that sweet spot?
So, what to do?
I advise an RFM analysis.
Let’s dig into RFM:
R = Recency: the measure of engagement
F= Frequency: the measure of satisfaction
M=Monetary: the measure of your sale client’s vs high spenders
RFM analysis becomes your roadmap to segmentation which is another way to say personalization. Using these metrics, you will have better insights into the customer lifetime value and purchase channel.
Think of these as your communication guiding lights. Check out various methods to achieve an RFM rank at Clevertap.
[Learn More about metrics for your ‘Best’ Customer, the ‘Next In Line’ and the “At Risk’ here.]
According to Omnisend: An RFM Analysis provides a truly data-driven approach to segmentation. By scoring based on recency, frequency, and monetary spending, retailers can gather actionable insights that allow for insightful and actionable decisions and strategies.
Even more than that, an RFM score:
- Helps you focus on and improve customer retention and customer lifetime value.
- Helps you lower customer acquisition costs by making the money you spend go further.
- Teaches you which of your customers are the most worth retaining, and which you shouldn’t spend too much time and budget on keeping.
- Helps you understand which of your customers you can’t afford to lose, and which are most likely to churn.
SMS and Other Options
Most e-commerce is preprogrammed to collect email subscribers right but it’s time to expand that line of thinking.
SMS/Text is officially a prominent retail communication channel and is being dovetailed into other forms of communication. With customers becoming more and more accepting of this form of communication; it is nuanced while at the same time serves as a strong clienteling tool. More on that here.
Social Community is the blending of personalization with marketing by way of social media.
What does that mean. Well, authentic communication to followers is highly personalized and segmented. For more on the growth opportunities of social community and nano-influencer communication, check out Gatsby.
Gatsby allows retailers to collect Instagram handles to allow for segmented and personalized communication. Further, it helps identify who is buying the product and helps build brand awareness through word of mouth, authentic content, at scale.
With ad spend growing at an incredible clip, these communication strategies emerge as a way more effective method to generate customer lifetime value.
According to this Forbes article, The Rising Costs of Digital Advertising Will Force Spending Shifts, Walter Loeb sites exponential increases in the cost per thousand views.
Ad spend may not be an option at all going forward. Stay informed and source alternative marketing and communications options that are effective, affordable, and evolve with technology updates.
Oh, and make sure everything plays nicely with existing IT stacks.
Christine Russo
Christine Russo is an industry thought leader and founder of a content-led website of tech-founder interviews for small, medium, and enterprise retailers to discover and assess technology and providers to meet their challenges.
As the former CSO of the Robin Report, Christine has experience creating compelling content, engaging in strategic partnerships, and collaborating across the industry.
