Hubspot INBOUND 2021: iOS 15, ADA compliance, and the best time to send emails
I recently had the opportunity to speak with over 1,000 attendees at Hubspot INBOUND 2021. INBOUND is a fully immersive, online conference centered around sales and marketing tips, tricks, and trends. This year attracted a speaker line up that included the likes of Oprah and myself.
While Oprah delivered a passionate final presentation around her path to success, I engaged in a spitfire conversation: is email marketing really worth it? In a mere 30 minutes, we discussed everything from subject lines and CTAs to how Gen Z engages with email differently than any other generation.
We do email marketing sequences all-day-every-day over here at Barnett Strategies that generate big results for our clients. Recently, we lead a lead gen campaign for Pivvot, a location data and analytics company, that generated 4x more leads via email.
So, as promised, here are my answers to three questions left unanswered.
iOS 15: Is doomsday for email marketing coming?
Q: “Hey Chris, I hear a lot of conflicting predictions/concerns regarding iOS 15. What are your thoughts on the situation?”
Obviously for us email marketers, iOS 15 is going to suck. But we got through the invention of spam, right? And COVID-19’s effect on marketing. We’re quite creative adapters. I have faith that we’’ll do what we always do: keep trying.
However, keep in mind, open rates are only one metric in a slew of potential email marketing metrics: the number of emails sent, the number of emails delivered, the number of contacts contacted, contacts that click through to your website, download rates, and reply rates. I suggest you track all of these metrics week-over-week. Your highest priority metrics will be determined by your marketing goals (sales, website traffic, leads, meetings booked, etc.).
One of my favorite metrics to track is email engagement rate. It’s an easy way to compare the effectiveness of one email messaging A to email messaging B. To calculate engagement rate for email, simply divide the total engagement (downloads, clicks, replies) by the total number of emails delivered and multiply by 100.
For example, for 1,000 emails delivered and 50 engagements.
50/1000 x 100 = 5% engagement rate
So, here’s how I recommend adapting to the iOS 15 email open rate change: widen what you are tracking.
ADA compliance in email marketing
Q: “What are your tips for ensuring emails are ADA compliant?”
Let’s first look at what constitutes an accessible email. To be accessible, an email must have a logical reading order, use headings for textual differentiation, have a sufficient contrast between the text color and other colors, provide alt text for images, and include a meaningful subject line.
Hubspot offers a number of templates to help you create emails that are ADA compliant. However, as a general rule when it comes to email, simple (and personalized) is often better.
The best day and time to send out emails
Q: “Chris, what’s the best way to analyze the best time and day to send emails if you email nationally? Hubspot doesn’t seem to have this data anymore.”
To some degree, the timing of an email depends on your audience, your content, and what you’re promoting. I would recommend doing A/B tests of the same email to different contact groups either at a different time on the same day or at the same time on different days and compare metrics.
To repeat the above in more accessible terms:
Example of Strategy #1
Send Email A at 6 a.m on Tuesday
Send Email B at 6 p.m on Tuesday
Example of Strategy #2
Send Email A at 11 a.m. on Monday
Send Email B at 11 a.m. on Wednesday
It’s also worth noting that Hubspot has done extensive research on the best days/times to send emails, which you can find a summary of here.
Interested in learning how Barnett Strategies can help you navigate iOS 15, ADA compliance, and when to send out emails? Give us a holler! This is what we do all day everyday.
P.S. Is email marketing really worth it? We totally think it’s worth it. 🙂 And if you’re still not convinced, read this case study.