Marketers have long treated email validation as a one-time safety check—a quick cleanse of the list to remove invalid addresses and prevent bounces. If the delivery didn’t fail, the address made the cut. But in 2025, that mindset is doing more harm than good.

A deliverable email address doesn’t mean the address is good—it just didn’t bounce. Deliverability says nothing about whether the inbox is a real, active human who wants to hear from you. Unfortunately, too many email and identity systems still stop there.

But the evolution of next-generation email validation—Validation 2.0—doesn’t stop at syntax or deliverability. Adding real-time signals like behavior, risk, and identity indicators shifts validation from a static check to a continuous process that monitors every email address, not just when it enters the system, but as it ages, engages, or decays.

The best-in-class providers tap into billions of permissioned behavioral signals to identify invalid and untrustworthy addresses, helping teams identify risk sooner.

Fraud moves fast. Inboxes are created for single-use, and the line between a real customer and a bot can be hard to spot. An email verification batch job from last month won’t catch a newly compromised inbox, and a deliverability check won’t detect a surge of promo abuse from hyper-disposable or high-velocity domains. That’s where real-time systems come into play.

The next generation of email validation frameworks must layer behavioral intelligence—open patterns, age, velocity, device signals—on top of traditional email hygiene logic to screen for indicators of real user activity while flagging suspicious patterns like disposable addresses or account farms. This will be crucial to protecting both marketing outcomes and data integrity.

What Static Checks Miss—and Why It Matters

Legacy email verification tools tend to ask three questions: Is the syntax right? Is the domain live? Will it accept mail? That’s fine for catching typos. But it misses the bigger picture: real-world usage.

What about the address created to claim a one-time offer, never to be used again? Or the inbox that passed deliverability checks but hasn’t opened a message in a year? Or the 200 lookalike addresses spun up in an hour to exploit a referral program?

These aren’t edge cases. The Data & Marketing Association states that over 17% of marketing databases include “undetected low-quality emails.” These records appear valid but show zero engagement—or worse, signs of abuse—when examined more deeply.

And the impact isn’t subtle. Low-quality addresses skew A/B tests, suppress engagement metrics, inflate acquisition costs, and erode sender reputation. They quietly dilute campaign ROI and increase exposure to fraud.

Behavioral Intelligence at the Point of Entry

Real-time email validation works where it matters most: the moment an email enters your system when a user submits a form, signs up, or checks out. Knowing whether the address exists is only the most basic step, but whether it behaves like a real person’s inbox is important. Is there recent engagement? Does the address exist across multiple platforms? Are there standard usage patterns—or suspicious ones?

That immediacy is crucial. Waiting for a batch verification cycle means fraud and bad data are already in the system, feeding downstream models, personalization, and segmentation logic. By then, the damage is already happening.

Behavioral intelligence also reveals silent risk—inboxes that don’t bounce, don’t click, don’t convert. They just sit there, dragging performance down while remaining technically valid. Traditional validation never questions them. But smarter systems do.

An email can go from trustworthy to risky overnight. Maybe it was abandoned. Maybe it’s now a recycled spamtrap. Or maybe it’s simply no longer active. But if validation only happens on import—or once a quarter—those shifts won’t be caught in time.

Email validation is an always-on discipline that monitors email health across the lifecycle, surfacing risk signals at critical points: re-engagement, login, checkout, and beyond. Trust in data isn’t something to verify once and forget. It’s something to earn every day.

Not Just Protection—Performance

The benefits of next-generation email validation extend beyond risk mitigation to improve reach, optimize audience quality, and strengthen personalization. Campaigns reach people, not just inboxes. Metrics reflect true performance, not inflated lists. And email marketing ROI—still among the highest in digital channels at $36 per $1 spent, per Litmus—is protected.

Marketers no longer have to choose between scale and precision. With next-gen email validation, cleaner, smarter email data in real time fuels every program it touches—from acquisition to automation to loyalty. And in an environment where trust is harder to earn and easier to lose, email data needs to do more than just pass the syntax test and connect to a real, trustworthy customer. When email data reflects behavior, everything downstream performs better.

The post Is Your Email List Truly Clean? appeared first on MartechView.

Email marketing is entering a new era in 2025, fueled by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). According to the latest State of Email 2025 report by Litmus from Validity, AI is not only reshaping how emails are created and analyzed but also redefining how marketers connect with customers at scale. The data is clear: AI is poised to become a foundational element in the marketing tech stack, driving greater personalization, efficiency, and return on investment.

AI’s Expanding Role in Email Marketing Operations

Marketers are embracing AI at an accelerating pace. Nearly 29% of those surveyed believe that AI-powered content generation and analytics will be the most impactful developments in email marketing this year. By the end of 2026, 70% anticipate that up to half of their email marketing operations will be AI-driven. An additional 18% expect AI to handle even more, between 50% and 75% of their tasks.

In practice, this shift is already underway. 49% of marketers are using generative AI (GAI) to create static copy for emails, while the use of GAI for image generation has seen a 340% increase from 2024 to 2025. AI’s influence also extends into analytics, with 41% of marketers leveraging it for tasks like advanced segmentation, behavioral prediction, churn modeling, and customer journey optimization.

Also Read: Is Gmail’s AI Search a Game-Changer or a Privacy Nightmare?

Challenges Remain: From Privacy to Personalization

Despite the enthusiasm, AI-driven email marketing is not without challenges. The report notes ongoing obstacles such as:

• Constant mailbox provider updates
• Evolving privacy regulations
  
• Unpredictable consumer engagement patterns
  

Even as AI streamlines operations, 22% of marketers still struggle to prove or measure ROI effectively. When it comes to personalization, key pain points include:

• Efficient content creation (17%)
  
• Collecting and analyzing the right data (16%)
  
• Measuring personalization impact on email performance (15%)
  

Investment Equals Impact

One of the clearest takeaways from the report is the strong correlation between investment and performance. Companies reporting email ROIs between 36:1 and 50:1 are significantly more likely to:

• Allocate 25%–50% of their marketing teams to email
  
• Dedicate 15% or more of their marketing budgets to email campaigns
  
• Achieve email open rates above 40%, nearly double the industry average
  

As Cynthia Price, SVP of Marketing at Litmus/Validity, said, “The brands seeing the strongest email marketing results moved beyond traditional tactics to create sophisticated, data-driven programs that respond to individual customer needs. Successful marketing teams invest strategically in both technology and talent, recognizing email isn’t just a cost-effective channel — when executed thoughtfully, it’s a high-performing business driver.”

Also Read: Why Email Marketing is Crucial for Lead Generation

Noteworthy 2025 Trends

In addition to the AI boom, the State of Email report outlines several emerging trends shaping the industry:

• Faster Email Production: Just 6% of teams now take longer than two weeks to produce an email—down from 62% in 2024.
  
• Content Creation as a Priority: 30% of marketers say content creation is the most important skill when hiring for email marketing roles.
  
• Interactive Emails Are the Norm: 97% of marketers include at least one interactive element, with CTAs and buttons leading at 35% effectiveness.
  
• Data Privacy Still a Pain Point: 14% cite privacy compliance as a major challenge—a number that spikes to 23% in organizations with larger email budgets.
  
• Industry-Specific Strategies:
  
  • Retail and professional services use email for brand awareness and engagement.
    
  • Tech companies focus more on leveraging purchase history and driving conversions.
    

Final Thoughts

As AI continues to weave itself into every facet of email marketing—from creation to analytics—the most successful brands will be those that invest wisely in both technology and talent. The State of Email 2025 report paints a compelling picture of an industry that’s no longer about just sending emails—it’s about building smarter, faster, and more meaningful customer connections.

Marketers who adapt to this AI-driven future today will be the ones leading the conversation tomorrow.

The post AI Is Transforming Email Marketing in 2025: What You Need to Know appeared first on MartechView.

On March 20, 2025, Google unveiled its new AI-powered Gmail search feature, promising faster and more relevant email retrieval. Rather than relying on a strict chronological order, the system first highlights “most relevant” messages, potentially sparing users from inbox overload. Yet, concerns about data handling and privacy persist. A December 2023 survey of 1,162 U.S. adults by StartMail found that 95% worry about AI’s impact on personal privacy, with over 40% reporting deep concerns about AI scanning personal emails. Does Google’s latest foray into AI offer a welcome convenience, or does it risk users’ privacy?

How the AI-Powered Search Works

While Google publicly refers to this update as “AI-enhanced search,” many suspect it runs on the company’s Gemini AI platform. Gmail’s new search approach goes beyond simple keyword matching by considering recency, the frequency with which you click on emails from certain senders, and your regular contacts. For example, if you search “reservation,” the AI might rank booking confirmations (like flight details or restaurant receipts) at the top.

By default, Gmail now sorts results under “Most relevant,” but users can switch to a “Most recent” view for a traditional chronological list. Some users report that this relevance-based ranking is a lifesaver for crowded inboxes. In contrast, others worry that changing the order may hide brand-new emails or obscure why certain messages are prioritized.

Also Read: Why Email Marketing is Crucial for Lead Generation

Gemini AI’s Data Practices

Google emphasizes that it does not use general Gmail content to train its AI models without permission. However, if you actively invoke an AI feature (for example, asking the AI to summarize an email or draft a reply), that content is processed to deliver the requested service. The following table, curated concerning insights from Topview.ai, summarizes the key data practices:

Key clarifications:

• If you delete an AI conversation or turn off the “Gemini Apps Activity,” Google retains recent interactions for up to 72 hours to facilitate service delivery and process feedback.
  
• A small percentage of chats may be selected for quality review (with personal identifiers removed) and could be stored for up to 3 years even if you delete your history.
  
• Although Gmail’s general inbox content is not automatically used for AI training, any snippet you provide to the AI (for instance, to generate a summary) is processed and stored for model improvement.

Also Read: Inbox or Spam? How New Rules Impact Email Deliverability

Public Sentiment

The StartMail survey highlights widespread concern about AI scanning private correspondence. Ninety-five percent of respondents are worried about AI’s broader privacy implications, and over 40% are specifically concerned about AI reading personal emails. Many experts believe that confusion over how AI processes and retains data contributes to this mistrust, especially when details are hidden in lengthy privacy policies.

“Integrating powerful AI into something as universally used as Gmail requires clear communication. While the ability to rank important emails is beneficial, Google must clearly define how long user data is retained, why it is kept, and who ultimately has access. Without that clarity, user trust is at risk.” – AI Analyst at Topview

Recommendations for Users

1. Check Your Search Preferences
   Gmail defaults to “Most relevant.” If you prefer a traditional chronological view, you can switch to “Most recent” with a simple click.
   
2. Review Gemini AI Activity Settings
   In your Google Account’s privacy controls, you can pause or delete AI interactions to limit data retention. By default, AI chat data is stored for up to 18 months, though you can adjust this setting to 3 months or up to 3 years.
   
3. Stay Cautious with Sensitive Content
   Avoid using AI to summarize or handle highly confidential emails. Once processed, the content may be stored for model improvement even if anonymized.

Conclusion

Google’s AI-powered Gmail search offers a smoother and more efficient email experience by leveraging advanced algorithms to surface key messages. However, the balance between convenience and privacy remains a key issue. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into everyday tools, users must decide whether the benefit of faster, more intuitive email search outweighs the potential privacy risks. Both Google is responsible for maintaining transparency and users to manage their privacy settings actively.

The post Is Gmail’s AI Search a Game-Changer or a Privacy Nightmare? appeared first on MartechView.

In today’s digital-first world, businesses have various tools to generate leads. There are countless ways to attract and convert potential customers, from social media campaigns to paid advertising. However, despite the emergence of new channels, email marketing remains one of the most powerful and reliable lead-generation tools. Why? Because email offers a direct, personal, and scalable way to nurture relationships and turn prospects into loyal customers.

The Power of Email in Lead Generation

Email marketing stands out because it allows businesses to directly communicate with their audience, tailor messages, and nurture leads over time. Unlike social media, where algorithms determine who sees your content, emails land straight in a recipient’s inbox. This direct access makes email critical in any successful lead-generation strategy.

Emails also provide measurable data. Marketers can track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, allowing them to refine their strategies for maximum engagement. This data-driven approach helps companies identify what resonates with their audience, leading to better targeting and results.

How Email Supports Lead Generation

1. Building and Nurturing Relationships
   Unlike cold calls or generic ads, email marketing allows brands to build long-term relationships with prospects. By providing valuable content, businesses can keep leads engaged until they’re ready to purchase.
2. Personalization and Segmentation
   One of the greatest advantages of email marketing is its ability to personalize content. Businesses can segment their email lists based on demographics, interests, or previous interactions. Personalized emails have higher open rates and engagement because they speak directly to the recipient’s needs and preferences.
3. Cost-Effective and High ROI
   Compared to paid advertising, email marketing is cost-effective. According to studies, email marketing delivers an ROI of $42 for every $1 spent. Automation tools allow businesses to scale their email campaigns without significantly increasing costs.
4. Lead Nurturing Through Drip Campaigns
   Email drip campaigns are an effective way to nurture leads over time. These automated sequences send relevant content to prospects at the right stages of their buyer’s journey, keeping them engaged and moving them closer to conversion.
5. Encouraging Engagement and Conversions
   Email is an excellent tool for guiding potential customers toward conversion. Through calls-to-action (CTAs), special offers, and well-crafted messaging, businesses can encourage recipients to sign up for demos, download resources, or purchase.

Also Read: Inbox or Spam? How New Rules Impact Email Deliverability

Best Practices for Email Lead Generation

1. Create a Strong Lead Magnet
   To build an email list, businesses need an enticing lead magnet—something valuable enough for prospects to exchange their contact information. Examples include free e-books, whitepapers, webinars, or exclusive discounts.
2. Optimize Your Signup Forms
   A well-placed and well-designed signup form can make a huge difference. Whether it’s on a website, blog, or social media, make sure the signup process is simple, clear, and compelling.
3. Craft Engaging Subject Lines
   The subject line is the first thing recipients see, determining whether they open the email or ignore it. To increase open rates, keep subject lines short, intriguing, and relevant.
4. Personalize Your Emails
   Addressing recipients by name and tailoring content based on their preferences improves engagement. Advanced email tools allow dynamic content that changes based on user behavior.
5. Provide Value in Every Email
   Instead of pushing sales, focus on offering value through informative content, industry insights, and helpful resources. Providing consistent value builds trust and keeps prospects engaged.
6. Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
   Every email should have a clear CTA that guides recipients on what to do next—whether it’s signing up for a webinar, downloading a resource, or scheduling a consultation.
7. Test and Optimize
   A/B testing different subject lines, email formats, and CTAs can help businesses understand what works best. Regularly optimizing campaigns ensures better results over time.

Case Study: A Real-World Example

Let’s consider a SaaS company that provides project management software. Initially, they relied on paid ads to generate leads but found that many visitors left their website without signing up. To improve lead generation, they implemented an email strategy:

• They created a free e-book on “Best Practices for Remote Project Management” as a lead magnet.
• A signup form was placed on their website and blog, offering the e-book in exchange for an email address.
• Once leads signed up, they received a welcome email followed by a drip campaign that introduced key features of the software, shared customer testimonials, and provided a limited-time discount.
• Over a period of three months, the company saw a 40% increase in qualified leads, with a 15% conversion rate from email campaigns.

This case study highlights how a structured email strategy can significantly improve lead generation and conversion rates.

The Future of Email Marketing in Lead Generation

Email marketing continues to evolve with technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation make email campaigns smarter by analyzing user behavior and optimizing send times, content, and personalization. Interactive emails, such as polls, surveys, and embedded videos, also enhance engagement.

Additionally, privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA shape how businesses handle email marketing. Companies must prioritize transparency and user consent while ensuring compliance with data protection laws.

Also Read: Master Email Deliverability: A Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

Email remains a cornerstone of effective lead generation in an era of social media and digital advertising. Its ability to deliver personalized, cost-effective, and data-driven campaigns makes it an invaluable business tool. By implementing best practices—creating compelling lead magnets, personalizing content, and nurturing leads—companies can leverage email marketing to drive sustainable growth and long-term success.

The post Why Email Marketing is Crucial for Lead Generation appeared first on MartechView.

Deliverability may not be the most interesting aspect of email marketing, but it is the most important. It doesn’t matter how good your creatives or offers are if they never reach the inbox. 

Getting to the inbox is getting tougher. Earlier this year, Google and Yahoo started enforcing new requirements for bulk email senders. Fortunately, the requirements help reputable email marketers by making best practices mandatory. 

Here is your guide to why the requirements were implemented, the impact and cost of deliverability problems, and how to ensure your email always goes through.

Why are email deliverability rules getting tougher?

“Google, Yahoo, and many other mailbox providers are getting increasingly frustrated dealing with spam,” said Al Iverson, Industry Research and Community Engagement Lead at Valimail. “So you have requirements that are tightening up, meant to make it harder to send unwanted and unsolicited emails.”

How big is the spam problem?

“The latest figure I saw was something like 347,000,000,000 emails sent daily,” said Cynthia Price, SVP of Marketing at Litmus. “And over half of those, depending on which metrics you look at, are estimated to be spam.” That’s 173,000,000,000 spam emails a day.

“The internet service providers, the Googles and the Yahoos and the Microsofts of the world are trying to do everything they can to hold down the fort and protect our inboxes from mayhem,” said Price.

What are the new requirements for bulk email senders?

The new requirements codify the very well-tested best practices of email marketing. 

“Best practices are now transitioning to literally written-up requirements that mailbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo post on their website and say, ‘These are the things you have to do now,’” said Iverson.

The requirements focus mainly on authenticating outgoing emails, reporting spam rates, and the ability to unsubscribe from email lists easily.

Authentication

Bulk email senders — generally those sending emails to at least 5,000 addresses a day — must use the following:

• The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) helps prevent domain spoofing by allowing senders to identify the email servers sending emails from their domain.
• DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) adds a digital signature to outgoing emails, verifying that an authorized sender sent the message and wasn’t tampered with. 
• Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) helps domain owners specify actions to take when an email fails authentication and enables reporting on email authentication results.

Also Read: Master Email Deliverability: A Comprehensive Guide

Spam rates

Google says bulk senders must keep their reported spam rate (i.e., the percentage of outgoing messages reported as spam by recipients) in Google Postmaster Tools below 0.1% and “avoid ever reaching 0.3% or higher.”

Yahoo says the spam rate must be below 0.3%.

Unsubscribe

Yahoo and Google require organizations to make it easy for people to unsubscribe. 

This means: 

• Use of functioning list-unsubscribe header, which supports one-click unsubscribe for marketing and subscribed messages.
• Have a visible unsubscribe link in the body of the email.
• Process unsubscribe requests within two days.

“No more trying to hide the unsubscribe link or sending people to a landing page with a phone number on it,” said Price. “I see lots of that still happening, and that’s just got to stop. People need to be able to remove themselves from your list because if you force them to stay on it, you are frustrating them further and encouraging them to mark you as spam every single time.”

The cost of email deliverability failure

According to Mailtrap, the cost of undelivered emails for U.S. businesses is:

• $164+ million daily
• $1.1+ billion weekly
• $4.9+ billion monthly
• $59.5+ billion yearly

Deliverability problems cost more than $15,000 for every million emails sent, according to a report by Validity.

“A lot of people don’t understand they have deliverability problems until it’s too late,” said Price. “Much like a credit score, it takes time to build it back up and be recognized as a safe sender.”

Email deliverability success rates are increasing

• Over the past three years, the average deliverability rate improved from 94.26% in 2020 to 96.43% in 2023. 
• The average bounce rate was 1.98%.
• Over the past four years, the ecommerce industry has seen the biggest improvement in deliverability rates (10.28% rise) and a drop in bounce rates (0.7%).
• The overall average unsubscribe rate decreased 26.32% over the past four years. 
• The overall spam rate decreased by 44.4% in 2023 compared to 2020.

Source: Selzy Email Marketing Performance by Industry, 2024 Benchmarks

Also Read: Gmail Tabs: Still a 2013 Problem?

Consumers hate email deliverability failures, too

Businesses are not the only ones upset when an email fails. Consumers want emails when the content interests them and are unhappy if they don’t get them.

According to a report from Mailgun:

• When emails from a brand regularly land in spam, 52.7% of consumers say they would either feel frustrated, lose trust or unsubscribe.
• Over 70% of consumers check their spam folders to see if important emails are missing, and almost 33% find it annoying when they find emails from brands in their spam folders.

Source: Mailgun’s Email and the Customer Experience 2024 report

Email deliverability best practices

Tighter regulations are also clearer regulations. Yahoo and Google are making the requirements very clear to everyone. 

“The good news is they are trying to be transparent about their algorithms, how they measure bad practices, and what they look for,” said Price. “It’s important to stay up to speed on what those are. What are you supposed to be doing?”

These best practices can be summarized as “DO NOT SPAM.” Send relevant content to people who want to hear from you. 

Monitor your inbox placement rate. This tells you if your email program works and when mailbox providers block messages.

Keep your email lists clean. Ensure there are no spam traps, unknown users, or inactive subscribers. Use a double opt-in process to reduce inactive and spam addresses on your list. Use a contact verification solution on your existing list, and be sure new addresses are verified as they are added.

Send regularly and consistently. Spammers send emails in different volumes and not at set times. Be sure your email volleys are similar in size and sent at regular intervals.  “Implement a preference center so subscribers can say, ‘Actually, I only want one email a month from you, or I want every email you’re ever going to send,’” said Price. “You’ll have both types in your audience, but treating them all the same is where people get into trouble.”

Monitor sender reputation. Sender reputation is the combination of IP reputation — the trustworthiness an IP has based on its sending history, and domain reputation — the trustworthiness of an email-sending domain based on engagement, spam complaints, bounce rates, and more. It is one of the main factors mailbox providers use to determine whether messages should go to the inbox, the spam folder, or be blocked entirely. A Sender Score is a numerical representation of your sender reputation; you can check it for free at SenderScore.org.

Also Read: Mastering Marketing Automation: A Comprehensive Guide

Use BIMI to boost trustworthiness

Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) place a brand logo on your emails; this proves your emails are from a verified, trustworthy sender and are OK to open.

“There are a couple of simple things that should be at the top of my mind, but the most basic of which is just to make sure that the content you’re sending is relevant and valuable to the audience,” said Price. “And that’s the hardest thing to solve for, but that will keep people from thinking of you as spam and marking you as spam.”

UPDATE: Google made BIMI even more important by adding further verification to Android and iOS. Last year, Gmail added a checkmark icon for senders using BIMI to more clearly “identify messages from legitimate senders versus impersonators.” However, Gmail wasn’t available for people using their phones until now.

“BIMI-verified check marks are now displayed on Android and iOS,” the company said in a blog post. “Gmail on the web will display a verified checkmark for senders who have adopted BIMI with a registered trademark (VMC). Over the next few weeks, users will also see those verified checkmark icons while using the Gmail application on Android and iOS (Apple Mail or other mail applications are not supported).”

• Google’s Help Center can assist in setting up BIMI. 
• Information about BIMI and the latest news can be found on the working group’s website. 

Should I warm up my IP address?

Warming up an IP address involves gradually increasing the number of emails sent from a dedicated IP address over four to six weeks. Is it important for deliverability? Absolutely.

“If you have a dedicated IP, 100% you need to be warming it up,” said Price. “One of the biggest signals for the ISPs when looking at email behavior that’s coming into their systems is somebody sending from a fresh IP with a lot of volume.”

Establishing a safe sender history with ISPs is essential. Doing large mailings without that history is a giant red flag for providers because that’s how most fraudulent emails — phishing, spam, malware, etc. — are sent.

“Feed a little wanted mail at first, growing that volume over time,” said Iverson. “You’re spoon-feeding the baby. Let the baby digest it and understand it won’t hurt them or their users.”

Can sales engagement tools hurt deliverability?

Sales engagement tools like Salesloft, Clari, and Outreach can potentially harm deliverability. The problem is not the tools themselves, though. It is how the sales team uses them. 

“There’s a whole spectrum of sales assistant tools; some are good, and some are bad,” said Iverson. “There are tools to find sales leads, intelligence tools to find contacts and information, etc. If you’re using that to target individuals one-on-one, you won’t trip the trigger of a spam filter.”

Problems crop up when sales use them to send large emails while ignoring best practices.

“Nothing is inherent about those tools that make deliverability harder,” said Price. ”It’s just that a lot of times what we have to do is coach sales teams that the same best practices still apply.  So it matters who you’re emailing. How did you get the contacts and put them in the system? It’s okay to send a cold email, but again, ensure it’s relevant to the buyer.”

However, as you know, the sales teams’ actions are outside your control, and their email behavior can impact your email reputation. 

For one thing, relying heavily on templates can result in inadequate personalization. As a result, recipients are more likely to mark messages as spam in a mass email, which can hurt your reputation. It also won’t help sales because people won’t be responding.

That’s a key point to drive home to sales, who may not understand how the deliverability rules have changed. For both them and you, relevancy is everything.

The improper configuration of email authentication protocols (like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) is also a problem. Many tools automatically take care of this, but it is still worth monitoring when reviewing deliverability metrics. 

The most reliable way to protect your brand’s email rep is to set up a separate IP address for sales. That way, you don’t have to worry about being harmed by someone else’s behavior.

Also Read: AI in Email: Focus on the Basics

10 words to avoid using in emails

Email marketers know which words to use to get readers’ attention. Unfortunately, so do email scammers. 

A recent study by ZeroBounce analyzed spam emails to identify the 10 most dangerous words. The study used machine learning to analyze large datasets and assigned a weighted score based on frequency, click-through rate, and damage. Keep them in mind when writing email campaigns and checking for spam issues.

Source: ZeroBounce

Unsurprisingly, these words relate to money, the most popular and riskiest word. The good news is that unless you are in financial services, you won’t need to use them often. 

Interestingly, “Free” — the ultimate sales gimmick word — has the highest appearance frequency (2,266) but the lowest click-through rate (0.56%). Maybe we are all getting wiser.

Driving engagement with Gmail’s new summary cards

Gmail is rolling out new dynamic summary cards to improve user experience by making information easier to find. They can also help with deliverability.

The cards — coming first to Android and iOS, provide quick access to key information in messages: package delivery dates, flight times, bill due dates, concert ticket details, etc. Users can also take actions directly from the summary card, like tracking packages, viewing orders, viewing tickets, getting directions, setting reminders, and managing airline bookings.

Deliverability bonus: From a deliverability standpoint, emails that offer dynamic content and immediate value are more likely to be opened and engaged with by recipients. The cards can also help cut down on spam complaints. By providing timely and relevant information through these cards, senders decrease the likelihood of their emails being flagged as spam. Content that users perceive as valuable leads to fewer complaints and a more favorable sender reputation.

Enhanced sender reputation directly results from increased engagement rates, which Gmail prioritizes. Making the most of summary cards should improve open rates, click-through rates, and overall email performance, leading to stronger deliverability and favorable inbox placement.

The post Inbox or Spam? How New Rules Impact Email Deliverability appeared first on MartechView.

Email has long been one of the most reliable marketing channels for getting your messaging in front of your customers. Whether it’s content in the form of a weekly newsletter, a personalized promotion, or an important account update, marketers need to trust that their message will be delivered and that they’ve optimized those messages to get maximum engagement.

This guide explains the most important things to know about sending emails your customers want to receive and that inboxes will not block.

Because email is one of the most complex ways you can communicate with customers and prospects – through different mail clients, different ISPs, mobile and desktop, etc. – there are a lot of obstacles that can get between you and your intended recipients.

Below, we look at each factor you must consider to succeed in email.

The key factors:

• Element groups
• Compliance
• Trust
• Infrastructure
• Audience
• Content
• Toxins
• Traps
• Experimental

Compliance

Compliance has emerged as one of the most essential factors to consider in your email marketing strategy, especially given growing privacy and accessibility concerns.

For starters, before you send emails, you must ensure that your audience has permitted you to send emails to them. Permission means that the recipient has given you explicit and informed consent to send messages to them. This happens when your subscribers opt-in through a sign-up form.

A double opt-in email is one thing to consider if you are having severe deliverability challenges. The double opt-in requires the subscriber to confirm that they sincerely want to receive emails from you or your brand. This can be executed as a “welcome” email.

Also Read: Forget the ESP! 4 Email Marketing Initiatives That Drive Real Growth

Trust

Landing on safelists is one of the best ways to ensure your messages reach your subscriber’s inbox. It is also one of the most important strategies for building a positive sender reputation. Sender reputation refers to the reputation of your email-sending IP address that signals to email inbox providers whether or not you’re a spammer. Depending on your email service provider (ESP), monitoring your sender reputation may require investment in additional software.

Email authentication protocols, such as DMARC and DKIM, are also available and will be explained in the next section.

Infrastructure

Emails don’t just get sent on their own. There is a robust list of elements you need to consider to have an effective email marketing infrastructure.

For starters, there’s the Domain Name System (DNS), known as the phonebook of the internet. The DNS maps a domain name to the IP address hosting the website, and the IP sends mail to a particular entity with a different domain name.

A Mail Transfer Agent is software that transfers electronic messages from one user to another using an SMTP server, which enables outbound email. A Mail User Agent is the system that enables emails to be sent and received. These two separate pieces are key to getting emails through to your customers and prospects. In the email space, providers are either physical MTAs or MTAs in the cloud.

A Sender Policy Framework is also required as an email authentication method that detects forged sender addresses during the delivery of your email. On the other end, the user’s inbox uses a POP3 Server. When subscribers complain, feedback loops ensure that these complaints are routed to the sender so they can be acted upon.

Your IP address is typically associated with a domain name or subdomain through the DNS. Subdomains help your customers recognize your brand’s name through the top-level domain; this prevents phishing attempts.

If you consider adding BIMI (see the Experimental section below), two critical steps come first. Logo trademark ownership is a key element that is necessary for implementing BIMI. You also need to apply for a Verified Mark Certificate. Lastly, for the brand’s logo to be displayed, the email must pass DMARC  authentication checks, ensuring that the organization’s domain has not been impersonated.

Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and conformance (DMARC) is not only mandatory for BIMI; it is also a general email authentication protocol that helps administrators prevent hackers or other bad actors from impersonating (spoofing) their organization or domain. Another authentication protocol is DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM).

Also Read: The Email Marketing Renaissance: Beyond the Blast, Building Relationships

Audience

Building a positive relationship with your audience is another important component of email marketing; these relationships are critical for reaching your subscribers’ inboxes. A valid email address is one of the most valuable information you can receive from your customers. Marketers typically upload email addresses as lists in the email service provider or database or automatically insert them through a form on a website.

From here, you should be employing segmentation based on each subscriber’s level of engagement. This includes opening and clicking on specific links within your email. Understanding what this data means about your audience will help drive strategic decisions in your email marketing program. For example, knowing what inbox providers your audience uses will give you insight into how they view and interact with your messages and what tactics work best to help you meet your email marketing goals.

Send Time Optimization (STO) is another element that can assist you in reaching your audience; if your subscribers aren’t opening emails sent first thing in the morning, try sending them in the afternoon or evening. Finding the optimal send time can be challenging, but determining what is best is worth your time.  This is also an automatic ability in some ESP, so the system analyzes the best time to send based on past behavior.

Personalization is a strategy that involves creating content specifically for the individual subscriber. Knowing your audience (the people behind the email addresses) and how they prefer to consume your content. For example, providing a subscriber Preference Center gives your audience a portal to update their communication preferences; it allows subscribers to choose what types of emails they want to receive, how often they want to receive them, and the opportunity to opt out of your messages.  You can also derive this information from Progressive Profiling and analyze their behavior in an email or series.

Send frequency should be based on gauging how frequently your audience interacts with your emails. If you are sending too frequently, you may see a drop in your open rates. There is such a thing as sending too many emails, and your subscribers may not want to receive messages that aren’t directly relevant to them regularly.

Content

The content provided within the email is just as important as the infrastructure and strategy behind it. From creating compelling subject lines that drive opens to using responsive designs that adjust to all devices — mobile, desktop, etc. — the content of your email will be the main driver of results.

The structure of your email, whether HTML or plain text, should be scannable and easy to read. When building your emails, readability is critical, but have you evaluated whether the content is relevant to your audience?

Relevance is a key element to consider before sending an email. If your audience doesn’t care about the content you deliver, they won’t be opening your emails very often.

Regarding relevance, having an email marketing calendar will help create a strategic schedule for your email campaigns. Use your data to determine what days and times have the highest engagement rates to build out your calendar.

Most email service providers have new, innovative capabilities in their toolbox. Interactive emails can drive increased engagement from subscribers. Emojis are another element that can make your message more relatable. However, knowing your audience should be the driving force behind whether you implement emojis in your subject lines and emails.

Transactional emails do not require the recipient to be opted in; they are confirmation emails triggered by a user’s action. These emails provide an opportunity to gain new subscribers with a simple call to action.

Also Read: New Bulk Email Sender Rules: How to Stay Out of the Spam Folder

Toxins

Now that we’ve shown you what good elements can do for email optimization and deliverability, it’s time to look at the bad elements your marketing team should avoid. We divide them into toxins and traps (see below).

You must be aware of several toxic elements before creating and sending your email. Hard bounces are permanent delivery failures that indicate an invalid email address; removing these will significantly improve your deliverability. Full mailboxes or vacation responders cause soft bounces. While these aren’t as detrimental as hard bounces, it is important to keep an eye on these email addresses, as some may need to be removed if they continue to result in soft bounces.

A no-reply email address typically sends your emails directly to the junk folder. Use a “reply to” address instead, and reap the benefits of higher delivery rates and brand awareness by including your brand’s domain in your sending address. When your recipient marks an email as spam, it is considered a complaint. Too many complaints will hurt your deliverability rate and sender reputation.

Legally, you can buy or rent email addresses, and the law does not require consent from the recipient. However, using a purchased list is one of the quickest ways to end up on a block list.

Your email content can also contain toxic elements. URL shorteners are commonly used in phishing attempts, and inbox providers flag shortened URLs as spam. Image-heavy emails that take a long load will aggravate subscribers, who may mark your email as spam or simply unsubscribe from your program.

Traps

Finally, while toxins may harm your email marketing, traps will further hurt your efforts. Several traps, usually configured by a company’s IT department, ensure the intended recipient never sees your messages.

Corporate filters are an unforgiving filter for corporate email servers. Desktop filters are filters that your subscribers set up in their inboxes. Consistently relevant content can help you stay in the inbox, but falling into too many spam folders will significantly impact your sender’s reputation and delivery rates.

If you land on a blocklist, a list of unreputable and untrustworthy senders, you’ll have trouble getting your emails to your subscribers.

Internet service providers (ISPs) also have traps that can hurt your email deliverability. Grey spam traps are set up by ISPs using recycled email addresses to flag spammers. On the other hand, Pristine traps are fake email addresses created by corporate IT departments or ISPs to identify and redirect spammers to the spam filter.

Experimental

Now that we’ve shown you the good and the bad of email marketing elements let’s look at a few that are still relatively experimental today but are being increasingly used.

For example, everyone is talking about artificial intelligence right now. AI is rapidly evolving and will be part of nearly every business process in the future. For email, strategies including segmentation, personalization, and messaging will be quick wins for implementing artificial intelligence in an email marketing program shortly.

Accelerated Mobile Pages, or AMP for email, are dynamic emails that allow email marketers to embed interactive features — rotating carousel images, confirmation buttons, and even direct-purchase calls-to-action. While many brands are experimenting with the different atoms of AMP elements, the ultimate goal is to drive customer conversions (purchases) directly in the body of the email without ever visiting the website.

Brand Indicator for Messaging Identification, also known as BIMI, is an experimental element that brands have been buzzing about since the concept was first introduced several years ago. The idea is that by combining and properly configuring elements from the Trust and Infrastructure families, brands can display their logos next to the sender name in the inbox.

BIMI is one element you need to start investing your time in to properly configure everything necessary for implementation. This includes DMARC and VMC and ensuring that your organization owns the trademark to your logos (see Infrastructure above).

Voice assistants are everywhere, taking commands from mobile users and repeating information back to people regularly. Have you considered how your subject line or email will read aloud to your audience using voice assistance? Use too much text, and your subscriber will probably lose interest for seconds. If there is too little text, your message will be easily forgettable. Finding the right balance will take practice, but voice is an element worth experimenting with with more emerging voice-enabled devices entering the marketplace.

Also Read: AI Cold Emails: Hit or Miss?

Metrics

Now you know all the factors informing an effective email marketing strategy. But how about measuring the results? To be honest, it’s a moving target right now as the traditional open rate metric is under assault — for example, from Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection — and there is an increasing recognition that clicks are not a fully reliable guide to meaningful engagement, let alone conversion.

The post Master Email Deliverability: A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on MartechView.

Are we reliving 2013? It feels like it. While that year isn’t exactly nostalgic, many marketers I’ve spoken to recently are fixated on an old problem: Gmail’s Primary tab.

It’s as if we’ve hit a rewind button. Back in 2013, when Gmail introduced its tabbed system, the email marketing world was sent into a frenzy. The idea of emails being sorted into categories like Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums was revolutionary then. Everyone seemed terrified of their emails ending up in the dreaded Promotions tab.

I recall spending countless hours reassuring clients that the sky wasn’t falling. Yet, the plea was constant: “Don’t put me in Promotions; get me to Primary!”

Now, fast forward to today, and the same panic is circulating. Marketers are obsessed with forcing their emails into the Primary tab, believing it’s the holy grail of email deliverability.

But why? Let’s dive into that.

Also Read: AI in Email: Focus on the Basics

The Promotions tab is not Death Valley

Let’s clarify: the Promotions tab is likely where you want your commercial emails to appear. When customers navigate to the Promotions tab, they’re often in a mindset to explore products or connect with brands they’re interested in.

Conversely, the Primary inbox is typically reserved for personal and essential communications. Users might even resent sifting through marketing messages in their Primary tab.

I’m puzzled by the recent resurgence of anxiety about the Primary tab. Perhaps a LinkedIn post or Slack message ignited this fear. Marketers seem to equate landing in the Primary tab with guaranteed success.

When I inquire about their concerns, they often cite declining engagement rates and a high percentage of Gmail users as reasons for their worry. While it’s tempting to be blunt, their messages simply aren’t resonating with their audience.

It’s time for bulk email senders to evolve. They must adopt more sophisticated strategies like segmentation and personalization to deliver tailored content that appeals to individual customers, regardless of the email tab.

Unfortunately, many companies prioritize quick fixes over strategic improvements. Successful email marketers know that building strong relationships through relevant content is the key to long-term success, not gaming the system.

3 sustainable ways to get your email seen in Gmail

Using tricks or shortcuts to reach the Primary inbox is not an email strategy but a hack.

So, let’s look at how you can achieve greater sophistication and relevance in your email messages. That’s what will get your email seen and acted on.

Add, update, and modify your segmentation plan

This shouldn’t be a surprise; we’ve been discussing segmentation since well before 2013. Here are two examples:

• Changed engagement: In the past, I frequently traveled, so I eagerly opened airline emails for mileage offers. My travel habits have changed today, but I still engage with airline emails.
• Consistent engagement: I’m a loyal customer of Woot! I open their emails daily, and their dynamic product offerings keep me returning.

These examples highlight the importance of using customer activity data to inform segmentation. While I’m a superfan of certain brands, others might prioritize different products or services. Effective marketers create segments to cater to these diverse preferences.

Segmentation is foundational to successful email marketing. Do you have a robust segmentation plan in place? Does it accurately reflect your customers’ behaviors and preferences? Are you regularly updating and refining your segments?

When building your segments, consider purchase history, purchase frequency, price sensitivity, and engagement levels. Adjust your email frequency and content based on these segments to optimize results.

Remember, segmentation without execution is pointless. Ensure your messaging aligns with your segments to maximize impact.

Also Read: Mastering Marketing Automation: A Comprehensive Guide

Allow customers to opt down

If you’re uncertain about engagement levels—beyond simply relying on open and click rates—consider offering customers an opt-down option instead of a full unsubscribe.

Include choices for altering email frequency or preferences within your unsubscribe flow. This data can provide valuable insights into subscriber preferences beyond traditional metrics. Look for patterns in opt-down selections to understand which content resonates and which doesn’t.

Introducing a new engagement metric, the saving rate can be beneficial. This measures the number of subscribers who modify their preferences rather than unsubscribe entirely.

Make a stronger case for investing in email

I unearthed slides from a few years ago. Surprisingly, only the creative elements required updates; the core strategies remained relevant. This revelation highlights the ongoing challenges facing email marketers. While email is often perceived as a cheap and easy channel, the reality is far more complex. Marketers juggle limited resources and time, prioritizing campaign execution over strategic refinement.

I’ve consistently advocated for demonstrating email’s ROI to secure necessary investments. Incremental improvements, such as developing new segmentation plans or automating tasks, are essential for long-term success.

However, the email landscape is evolving. Recent changes in sender authentication requirements from Google and Yahoo! Mail underscore the need for ongoing adaptation. Anticipate further changes in spam definitions and engagement metrics as AI influences ISP algorithms.

Email marketers must embrace modern strategies and avoid relying on outdated tactics to thrive. The future of email demands a forward-thinking approach.

Also Read: AI Cold Emails: Hit or Miss?

The sustainable path for email

While I might be tempted to take a break, I know I’ll spend the coming year incorporating this advice into my conversations with marketers.

Email marketing is undoubtedly challenging. Nevertheless, the data is clear: email consistently delivers a strong return on investment. We must advocate for its value to secure the necessary resources for email marketing. Engagement rates will decline without adequate support, and concerns about the Primary tab will become secondary to more significant issues.

The post Gmail Tabs: Still a 2013 Problem? appeared first on MartechView.

We are often asked whether we are using ChatGPT in email marketing campaigns. (This question becomes more frequent as major ESPs rush to release their version.) Despite genAI’s proliferation, we find the answer easy: we don’t use it for content, aside from maybe using it to generate ideas or as a rudimentary starting point.

For final content generation, your team’s creative minds are far more refined and empathetic to the audience’s needs. That said, there are three distinct ways we do recommend leveraging AI in your email marketing—and they shouldn’t be new to you:

• Send time optimization
• Personalization/segmentation
• Product feed recommendations

Let’s look at each in detail and the steps needed to do them well.

Also Read: Forget the ESP! 4 Email Marketing Initiatives That Drive Real Growth

Send time optimization

Send time optimization is a relatively under-used technique that helps email marketers dial in the right week, day, and time to send messages. These can be set in a couple of ways:

• Identifying the right send time for each subscriber
• Adjusting the overall time for a message based on performance data

The other piece of send time optimization isn’t just when to send an email; it’s whether to send an email. Einstein, Salesforce’s AI product, has particularly good audience saturation algorithms that identify the subscribers in danger of being over-communicated and those who could use more communication.

A great example of already available (and likely underutilized) email AI functionality is the power to build complex decision trees that automatically optimize the send time for each consumer. Email marketers can use AI to find the moment and intervals to maximize user engagement.

Also Read: The Email Marketing Renaissance: Beyond the Blast, Building Relationships

Audience segmentation

Audience segmentation can take many forms: demographics, geographics, psychographics, family status, affinities, existing vs. prospective customers, etc. The more discrete your segments, the more you can tailor your messaging.

For instance, a CPG cheese brand might send nacho recipes to 20-something football fans and grilled cheese sandwich recipes to parents of young kids. Given the right data (which we’ll get to in a minute), just about any ESP makes it easy for you to build dynamic audience segments.

The best friend of great audience segments: a strategic welcome journey that brings rich data for deeper personalization early in the subscriber relationship.

Also Read: New Bulk Email Sender Rules: How to Stay Out of the Spam Folder

Product feed recommendations

Whether your brand is CPG or ecommerce, there are ways to personalize emails to make them especially relevant to each user. Examples include:

• Product recommendations (based on purchase, browsing, and abandonment histories)
• Refill reminders
• Tips and tricks for product use
• Recipes customized to user affinities
• Local sales or partner discounts on CPG products
• Etc.

We initially said these weren’t new, but this one isn’t. Amazon was the first to use this technology over twenty years ago.

Another intriguing way to experiment with AI is to explore your ESP’s available product-feed recommendations capabilities to measure the engagement and conversion benefits of automating email components.

Also Read: AI Cold Emails: Hit or Miss?

Preparing your email program for AI

To get good results from the above initiatives, you’ll need to get your house in order on two fronts: data clean-up and email templates.

The first step always involves data: make sure it’s clean and filtered and that you’re collecting the information you need to enable advanced segmentation.

Second, you must revamp your email templates to feature live text and dynamic elements, such as rewards points earned or membership status. Image-based emails have no custom fields, which limits personalization options immediately. We love to use content block templates in email design to streamline building dynamic, hyper-personalized emails.

These prep steps have the bonus of being beneficial without leveraging the AI functions mentioned above. You might as well start your prep now, even if you’re slow-playing AI.

Maximizing AI-driven features in your email program

Even though we recommend ChatGPT for limited use in email campaigns today, the steps you take to develop your AI muscles and campaign architecture will help set you up to use it when it is more viable.

Working through the use cases above will pay immediate campaign dividends and build a foundation for incorporating more AI technology in the future. You’ll know more about your audience and have richer data at your fingertips through today’s personalization initiatives, which will only help you leverage AI options to come.

The post AI in Email: Focus on the Basics appeared first on MartechView.

We email marketers are always searching for easier ways to do our jobs. We don’t want to skimp on quality, but we have had to learn how to do a lot with a little because we’re chronically understaffed and underfunded.

Marketing automation allows us to send regular emails that focus on predictable behavior. For example, we can email when a customer achieves a goal or reaches a trigger or intent point. It must be a substantial part of every email marketing program.

We work with major retailers that earn at least 50% of their email revenue from automated emails like triggers, transactional emails, and journey emails. These messages are highly relevant, tied to a customer’s action, and deliver value that should lead to a conversion.

Email marketers must continually review whether we’re doing marketing automation correctly. So, we’ve compiled this guide as a handy way to check your program to see if you’re following best practices.

It’s not a complete guide to marketing automation. Instead, use it as a cheat sheet on what marketing automation means for your company and what to consider to do it better and get the desired results.

Also Read: AI Cold Emails: Hit or Miss?

3 categories of marketing automation: Transactional, triggers, and journeys

Admit it: email marketers are brilliant at using terms that have either lost their original meaning or mean different things for different people in different circumstances. Below are the definitions for these three kinds of automated emails.

1. Transactional email

These mark a transaction–an exchange of value–such as an order confirmation or a payment receipt. They can be financial or contractual. They signify the exchange of commitments, such as payment for a service or receipt of that payment, and the fulfillment of that commitment.

Consider two popular transactional emails in retail ecommerce: the order confirmation and the shipping confirmation. The order confirmation is like an electronic receipt, while the shipping confirmation confirms that your purchase is coming.

Keep this archetype handy as you define a transactional email for categorization and legality to ensure you have covered all your bases.

For example, under U.S. commercial email laws and regulations (CAN-SPAM), a transactional email doesn’t require an opt-out link like a promotional email does. It is excluded from the regulations governing email because it is a necessary part of the transaction process.

Here are seven common transactional email examples and see how they confirm a contractual relationship or the company’s part in the transaction:

• Welcome email (Yes, really. It confirms a subscription.)
• Order confirmations
• Shipment confirmations or delays
• Out-of-stock notices
• Declined credit cards
• Warranty delivery
• Information about guarantee or other purchase protection
• Recall notices for purchased products

Keep these strategic points in mind as you develop your transactional emails:

Pay attention to email design

Design it so the personalized information you add to them is clear, concise, and organized logically. It should reflect the brand without distracting from the content and deliver key information such as order or shipment conditions so the recipient can see and understand it.

The design also must scale up for large orders. We don’t think enough about the design of confirmation emails for people who place large online orders. With a dozen items or more, these purchases can break a template or simply look bad.

For example, I might order one or two things from Amazon at a time. My sister, an interior designer, will order 40 items or more for her business. The design must look as good for a 40-item purchase as it does for one or two items.

Don’t forget to cross-sell or upsell

Have a cross-selling or upselling module in your transactional email to drive additional revenue. Transactional emails can be monetized if your country’s email laws and regulations permit it. You can suggest a related purchase or the next logical product a buyer would want. These can be critical for incremental revenue because customers are ready to buy.

Also Read: New Bulk Email Sender Rules: How to Stay Out of the Spam Folder

Send transactional emails promptly

Deliver them in 30 seconds or no more than five minutes after conversion. That’s because people just gave you their credit card numbers on the web, and they are understandably paranoid given all the attention on ecommerce fraud today. Lack of prompt delivery will skyrocket calls to your customer service.

2. Triggered email

We consider triggers to be one or two emails that launch automatically based on a customer’s action. To us, triggers are the short engagement emails we send when our customer does something to send us a signal. They don’t need to be a series or have major orchestration. We just need to send an email or two.

My definition departs from the email convention. We used to think of email triggers as any marketing automation that didn’t involve money. But with the rampant adoption of more data and information, better technology, and greater sophistication, we need to rethink.

Below are six common examples of triggers as we define them:

• Browse and cart abandonment emails
• Welcome/onboarding email series
• Post-purchase upsell or cross-sell messages
• Review requests
• Satisfaction surveys

Each of these emails can be a one- or two-shot deal. You might consider testing a three-email cart abandonment series because it’s close to conversion. But no matter what, these are short engagement automated emails.

You might be wondering why the welcome is transactional but not the onboarding. We’re glad you asked! The onboarding will educate you on brand, product, or service facets. The welcome, in essence, confirms your subscription.

Keep these strategic points in mind as you develop your trigger emails:

They must be evergreen

They don’t need repeated changes and updates and should be specific to the purpose or customer action you want.

Also Read: The Email Marketing Renaissance: Beyond the Blast, Building Relationships

Consider who should receive your emails

When you build a trigger, be sure you account for who should receive the message and the ones who shouldn’t. Many marketers make the mistake of trying to include as many people as possible in a triggered email but not whom they should exclude.

For example, a customer browses a product and then exits the site. They return later, put that product in a cart, and then leave the site again. Do you send a browse reminder, an abandoned cart notice, or both?

Answer: Send only an email about cart abandonment. Why? Because cart abandonment is much closer to intent.

Every trigger you create should have logic for “includes” (the people who should get your email) and “excludes “(the ones who shouldn’t).

You’ll have to widen your focus, look at your automated messages as an ecosystem, and think through everything. Every email automation will have different rules based on your products and audience. But the most important thing is your list of includes and excludes.

Messages need expert timing

Test to learn when most customers are in their inboxes and in the mood to pay attention to messages.

3. Journey emails

The email journey is a series of three or more emails that take the customer through a set of information designed to lead them to a micro or macro conversion.

Each journey email in the series has a specific function but isn’t a string of unrelated emails. They create a conversation across multiple emails. One builds on another with different content, but all remain focused on moving the customer down the path.

Each journey has branches and complexity based on actions or the lack of action, clicks, purchases, and the like. However, unlike transactional or triggered emails, whose messages can be singular and linear, journeys are generally more complex and dynamic.

Two journey emails B2B marketers use often are onboarding programs and post-purchase education.

Although journeys are common in B2B, they also can be useful in B2C email marketing for some purchases. A B2C email journey might be more simplistic and based on clicks, segments, or dynamic content modules that draw on past behavior to present content.

That level of sophistication makes it a journey. A less-sophisticated series with a linear path is a trigger, not a journey.

Also Read: Forget the ESP! 4 Email Marketing Initiatives That Drive Real Growth

Triggers are sophisticated in their targeting, but journeys are sophisticated in their messaging, timing, and approach.

Audit your email program to find out how sophisticated your post-purchase communications are. If you’re low on the journey scale, focus there because it will help you increase email revenue. (See more on email audits in the next section.)

Look at the balance between those categories to determine whether your messages address the customer experience and the customer’s journey with your brand.

Keep these strategic points in mind as you develop your journey emails:

Why should customers care about your email?

Understand and account for why a customer should care about the email. We might think we have a story customers need to hear before they buy, but that’s not always true.

Craft a storyboard

Use what you know about customer motivations to compose a storyboard that includes your customer segments, your includes and excludes (see Triggered Emails above), and the decision points along the journey where a customer can branch off to a new experience.

Testing: Because marketing automation is not ‘set and forget’

If I could take back anything people said about the benefit of automated emails, it would be “Set ‘em and forget ‘em.”

You can’t set up an automated email and forget about it. You set them up and test them to see how well they perform. You optimize them based on your testing. Then, you test and optimize again. And then, you keep checking on your automation to be sure they’re delivering the desired results.

Also Read: Beyond NPS: Why Customer Feedback Needs a 360-Degree Revolution

Keep these strategic points in mind for testing your email automation:

Have a testing plan

A testing plan should be part of your workflow when creating a new automated email or series. In this plan, you’ll define what to test and what timeline to follow.

You can test many things in your automated emails, from design to timing, content to sending orders, and cadence.

Pay attention to iterations for regular improvement

Could you add a second email to a stand-alone automation? What could you add to a series? How else could you improve it?

Look for ways to add sophistication to an email journey. Review and revise your testing schedule to deliver more results you could use to optimize your emails.

Audit every marketing automation

We learned a great lesson about this from our connection, Andrew Kordek, when we worked together in an email at a mega-retailer with stores, catalogs, and ecommerce.

Andrew would inventory every marketing automation every 3 to 6 months. He printed reports with all the statistics on every email campaign. We loved reviewing those reports and seeing our improvements and what the creative looked like. We could go into any meeting and be ready to report on performance, revenue, audience, and more. We kept these reports in binders and checked them regularly.

You can follow our example to track performance and check that the creative aligns with your brand. Set this as a recurring team task, not just one-and-done, and schedule time for team review sessions.

Also Read: From Legacy to LaaS: The Evolution of Loyalty Programs

Marketing automation: Your cheat sheet to email success

Marketing automation is the ultimate money tree. Once you launch your programs, you’ll find nothing like pulling reports and discovering how much money you made since the day before. It’s the most gratifying part of the job–seeing how the work you did six months before is paying off now.

The more automated programs you set up, the more revenue you’ll earn. But you can’t just flood the zone with automated emails. The best marketing automation is smartly planned to meet a strategic need. Then, it is given time to be developed, tested, optimized, audited, and improved regularly.

Incremental innovation pays off here. Start with something small and build on it to make it better. You don’t have to perfect the entire journey before you launch, but look for ways to improve it. And you will always find ways to improve them.

Here’s our final tip: If you think you’re done improving automation, you aren’t. But that’s a good thing! Because you’ll be excited about the progress you see and the money you’ll make.

Watching your programs grow because of the work you put in to help them succeed can be one of the most satisfying parts of your work as an email marketer. Savor it! Then, go back and look for one more improvement.

The post Mastering Marketing Automation: A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on MartechView.

A successful cold email program — or “prospecting,” if you prefer — takes careful handling. You’re contacting strangers one-on-one to persuade them to initiate a business relationship. It’s like calling someone you’ve never met to arrange a dinner date. (Do people even do that anymore?)

Cold emails take delicacy and precision. You have to show quickly that you know enough about your contact to have a reason for emailing them out of the blue and that engaging with you would drive a specific benefit.

Email automation can help you speed up sending cold emails, but you must be wary of sacrificing authenticity for scale. ChatGPT and other writing bots can give you workable first drafts that you can tweak to match your prospects. But you shouldn’t put your entire email-prospecting program on autopilot and expect good results.

Also Read: New Bulk Email Sender Rules: How to Stay Out of the Spam Folder

What would you do with this email?

I’ve been thinking about this since receiving the following cold email.

Hi <First Name>,

Congratulations on your remarkable achievements as an International Bestselling Author, Award Winner, and Keynote Speaker, all while leading <Company Name> as CEO.* It’s evident that your expertise and experience have made a significant impact in the industry.

For context, I’m [Name], a co-founder of [Name], an AI-based sales engagement software designed to accelerate business growth. Our platform offers multi-channel engagement, real-time data-driven insights, and customizable intent-based delivery.

We’ve had the pleasure of working with industry giants like Facebook, Marks & Spencer, and Transunion, and our team of email marketing consultants, each with over 10 years of experience, ensures exceptional results.**

However, we noticed that your email marketing strategy might have untapped potential. Our experts have identified key email metrics beyond opens and clicks that can provide deeper insights into your campaign’s success.***

If you’d like to explore how [Name] can further enhance your email marketing efforts, we invite you to join an exclusive strategy session. Simply initiate a chat with us at Holistic Email Marketing Exclusive Pitch Deck Chat. We have hundreds of bookings**** this month, showcasing the value our sessions provide. Secure your spot now to unlock the full potential of your email marketing campaigns.

Is this the worst sales pitch ever?

The best thing I could say about this email is that it gave me plenty of fodder to discuss what goes wrong when you turn your lead generation process to AI and automation. We help many of our clients craft their prospecting emails, and they don’t look like this.

• My first response: Who sent me this email? I couldn’t tell if it was someone in the same business as me — providing email services to clients and companies of all sizes and market niches — or a software company (badly) pitching me to use its AI platform.
• My second response: How did you get my name? I suspect this company used its AI-based platform to scour LinkedIn for names, email addresses, and company information. Then, it plugged all that information into its automation platform to create an email from a template.
• My third response: If you have the same clients I do, and you provide the same services that I do, and you know these are the services I provide, why are you trying to sell me the same services I offer to my clients?

Are you telling me that my agency, which, among other benefits, helps our clients discover their “untapped potential,” needs your help?

After 14 years as an agency, we’re doing pretty well. To imply otherwise is rather insulting. But if you know something I don’t, show me in the email so I have a reason to set up a call.

My overall impression: This email embodies everything bad about cold email, automated prospecting, and AI. It’s everything I have advised email marketers not to do. This was a big-time, confusing failure.

4 takeaways for better email prospecting

I will be the first to acknowledge that email prospecting is hard work. It would be best if you kept lots of prospects in the pipeline.

Still, you don’t have enough time in the day to research potential contacts, write a personal note to each one, and do everything else you have to as a business development specialist.

Also Read: The Email Marketing Renaissance: Beyond the Blast, Building Relationships

Having said that, I have some thoughts about what to do and what not to do.

• Don’t leave everything to automation

As I noted previously, you must be wary of sacrificing authenticity just to get the job done or turn the whole process over to AI and automation.

If your business development program relies heavily on cold email, your message must be more personal and persuasive. It needs to be sincere. You need to include many signals that indicate you have a reason to reach out to your recipients.

Harvesting names and contact info from websites or LinkedIn isn’t a best practice for anybody. Gathering information from these sources might be an okay way to start researching prospects, but you must comb through your data to sift out the best potential contacts.

• Tell me how you know me

Like anyone who has ever used an email to download a white paper, sign up for a free intro to a paid service, enter a giveaway, visit a booth at a trade show, or even subscribe to email updates, I’m not offended when a salesperson from that company contacts me later to see if I’m interested in buying.

But an email that doesn’t indicate any previous content? Out it goes.  And I didn’t do it, but I would guess another common reaction is to smash the spam-complaint button.

• Don’t just personalize — get personal

If you look back at the email I received, you’ll see it uses basic personalization:

• • My first name is in the greeting. It lists my company name.
  • It mentions my accomplishments (author, award winner, speaker).
  • It talks about companies I have worked with (the key point being that I worked with these companies. I didn’t see those brand names on the prospecting company’s website when I checked it out).

And no, flattery won’t get you anywhere with me.

• ChatGPT is a first-draft tool, not a final-copy generator

In reading over this email and the follow-up letter, likely generated because I clicked on a couple of the links in the original email for research for this article, I found several inconsistencies and odd wording choices, along with a typo or two.

The follow-up mixed first-person and third-person references in the same sentence. It’s a minor thing, maybe, but it sounded off — not a good thing for a prospecting campaign. Ultimately, the whole experience was confusing.

I don’t know whether the sender used ChatGPT or another writing bot to create the basic email or its follow-up or what rules they used to fill in the personal data. But I do know that somebody needed to review this message but didn’t. It doesn’t instill confidence or make me want to engage.

Also Read: Forget the ESP! 4 Email Marketing Initiatives That Drive Real Growth

A note about the technology

Once I sorted out the sender, I saw it used a third-party AI scheduling service. Upon closer examination, I saw references to “AI-optimized, spam-tolerant mailboxes“ for sending emails. What is a spam-tolerant mailbox? Is this a thing now?

This combination of AI and automation to send fill-in-the-blank cold emails with no context appears to be the latest iteration of the elusive silver bullet: the device that will solve all of your marketing problems.

Using AI for cold email outreach

Everything about this email confused and angered me. It raised more questions than answers. There’s no way you’ll get business from me because of that. Even if this company or the software they’re using observes the law, its poor execution is an example of AI technology gone bad.

I’m excited to see how we can use AI to streamline and handle the more mundane aspects of our daily business. But we need to exercise much more care in how we use it. Spam is still spam, even when it’s dressed up as AI.

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