{"id":15549,"date":"2021-07-01T10:13:58","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T16:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tommorkes.com\/?p=15345"},"modified":"2022-04-12T09:59:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:59:02","slug":"the-future-of-email-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tommorkes.com\/the-future-of-email-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of email marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Email Marketing is Dead, Long Live Email Marketing<\/p>Tom Morkes<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I heard recently that Apple (and soon to follow: Google, Microsoft, and all the tech oligarchs) will be phasing out your ability to track whether someone has opened your emails or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people are freaking out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Companies like Apple claim it's for privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, it's for money (\"\"He who controls the spice<\/s> data controls the universe\" - Dune\" - Tom).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone who relies on email marketing to make a living, this would normally concern me too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1. I tend not to get too worried about things (I missed that lesson at mouse school<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2. I don't think it matters in the long run<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here's why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you're measuring your \"success\" by number of people who open your emails, you're already losing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That's because \"open rates\" can be inaccurate for a number of reasons I won't get into here...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But more importantly, it's essentially a \"vanity metric\" -- aka, it doesn't pay the bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things like \"likes\", \"hearts\", \"opens\", and \"pats on the back\" are all vanity metrics. You can't trade them for bread or even crypto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you should look for (and measure) is engagement.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few tips to help you measure engagement so you can get the most out of your email marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope they help you like they've helped me in the last few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1. Start measuring and tracking ACTIONS.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is something that will be harder for the tech oligarchs to squash because there are a few ways to track actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, you can track clicks inside your EMS (email marketing system) for the time being (e.g. inside ConvertKit, I can apply a TAG to anyone who clicks a specific link in my emails):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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caption for image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This helps me gauge how interested readers are about a given idea (e.g. tracking interest based on the tag you apply to a given blog post), \"call to action\" or offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to add redundancy, you can create a REDIRECT link on your site using something like Pretty Link or RankMath. Then use THAT url inside your emails, and measure engagement that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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caption for image<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another benefit to this \"redirect\" solution - while most likely not tracked inside your EMS, you can track this in Google Analytics (or equivalent analytics software), so you can still get useful \/ actionable information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2. Start sending emails with a purpose.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I believe we live in a time where people are drowning in information (not to mention: noise + distraction).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A way to make your email marketing the most effective it can be is to send emails with intention<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that \"intention\" shouldn't be to 'inform.'<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, your \"intention\" should be concrete, e.g.:<\/p>\n\n\n\n