• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 6, 2021

The email marketing business is in a tumultuous period, judging by Essence of Email’s State Of Email Report—Q2 Overview.

On the one hand, there is the very threatening news that Apple is rolling out tracker blockers in its Mail app that will hider users’ IP addresses. This will provide consumers with:

• The ability to turn off open rate tracking 
• The ability to block your IP address 
• The ability to hide your email addresses. 

This, in turn, will affect segmentation, deliverability, flow setups and A/B testing on the part of email marketers.  

“Mail Privacy Protection will significantly impact open tracking accuracy, which can have several side effects on other downstream processes and decisions,” the study states. “Marketers will need to rely more on click data and other downstream data to determine accurate engagement stats.” 

Then there is the breaching of Microsoft Exchange servers during the first quarter. Unlike the SolarWinds attack, this was caught early in its widespread use. But it is still very threatening. 

On a sillier note, the study notes the emergence of AI-driven Email copywriting — Software like Nichesss, CopyAI, and Writesonic can help brands create social media posts, blog outlines and even corporate slogans.

Is it worth reading? Critics who have tested the systems find them “underwhelming.” Email copywriting still requires human intervention.

On the positive side, there are these new tools for tools that brands can utilize in their marketing:

Twitter’s Professional Profiles — These include “more details, including address and contact info, a verification badge, business category, and an updated layout that differs from the one used for personal accounts.”

Klaviyo’s Personal Benchmarks — This tool collects data and compares it to the data of 100 similar businesses, providing a bigger picture of the market. Also, Klaviyo is offering a new Conversational SMS feature.

Mailchimp’s integration with Moovly, a cloud-based platform that allows users to create multimedia content.   

Campaign Monitor’s partnership with Unsplash to provide email marketers with stock photography. 

Instagram’s new feature Drops, a tool that connects online shoppers with product drops without their having to leave the app. 

Meanwhile, on the email design front, the editorial look is taking over, particularly for apparel and jewelry brands. But there is one caveat: “The traditional email layout (think inverted pyramid) may not work with the editorial concept. This means no hero copy, no body copy outside of the image, and a centered call-to-action.”