• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 3, 2022

The holidays are over, and the cold winds of January are upon us. How are brands planning to cope as the twin threats from COVID-19 and privacy kick up anew?

By crafting emails to “best provide what your subscribers want to receive, when they want to receive it,” according to the 2022 Email Marketing Guide, a paper from Tinuiti, featuring experts from several companies. “Subscribers agreed to grant you front-door access to their inbox; it’s your job to provide an experience that confirms that was a good decision,” it adds. 

Here are some predictions that support this scenario:

• Privacy will impact metrics — "Brands will need to pivot from top-funnel KPIs (opens and clicks) to down-funnel KPIs (purchases and conversions) for triggers and automations” — Emily Clarkson, director, CRM & email, Tinuiti.
• Email will be affected by the death of the third party cookie and iOS updates — “We’ll see more investment into integrations available within ESPs (email service providers) to more easily allow sharing data and audiences to other channels.” — Kellie Collins, associate director, CRM & email at Tinuiti 
• Brands will respect the new privacy measures in their digital marketing and personalization strategies — “At the heart of these efforts will be loyalty programs that allow marketers to continue engaging their customer base with 1:1 campaigns while also collecting the zero- and first- party data that’s crucial for sophisticated campaigns” —  Rachel Cowlishaw, associate director of strategy, retail at Movable Ink
• Email strategies will influence text — "Text is a much more personal channel and defaulting to batch and blast (just like in email) won’t keep customers engaged long term — Christine Watson, director, CRM & email, Tinuiti
• Email will work well with text--“Email campaigns will need to be thought of more in tandem with SMS efforts rather than as one or the other — Jane Serra, vice president of marketing, Justuno
• Mobile messaging will provide hyper-personalized experiences for shoppers — when done well — “Make sure that the experience is seamless and that your messaging provides real value to your subscribers rather than simply causing a disruption to their day.” — Mary Miller, senior strategist, CRM & email, Tinuiti

How can brands get around the disappearance of the open rate as a valid metric? By signing up subscribers at the very top of the funnel. 

“Brands need to collect visitors’ contact information ASAP; once that visitor disappears into the digital void, they’re gone,” Serra writes. “When an email is captured, you have an opportunity to continue the conversation and push them further ahead on their journey.”

What next? Brands can use banners, exit overlays, and UTM targeting in the middle of the funnel. 

Mirror email campaigns onsite via banners as well, targeting UTM parameters for visitors when they click through. Showing the same offer
or coupon code when those visitors are onsite creates a more streamlined and clean brand experience. 

Now we get to the bottom of the funnel (a good place to be if you’ve done your homework).

“Bottom-funnel visitors are those that are most likely to purchase, and those that your email campaigns are going to be the most successful with,” Serra notes. 

This is the place to provide dynamic displays of related products in the shopper's cart — when they’re about to check out. An easy way to think of these is a bit like the candy and magazine displays at the grocery store checkout.”