Podcast with Lauren Meyer - how to send it right

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Lauren Meyer, Chief Marketing Officer of SocketLabs, has a unique career path in marketing and technology. We discuss the challenges faced by email marketers and Email Service Providers (ESPs) in adapting to changes in technology and user behavior. Accurate tracking and negative metrics are vital for deliverability and recipient satisfaction. We explore the impact of Apple Mail tabs (iOS 18) on email marketing, focusing on sender guidelines and authentication. We also explore SocketLabs’ innovative solutions for ESPs, including email analytics and performance monitoring tools. Finally, we talk about AI integration in email marketing, which is highlighted for efficient campaign management, and share our love for… pizza.

Some quotes from the podcast:

"It's really about creating a trusted environment for our mutual customers, which is email recipients."

"The goal is really to help keep them safe, keep them happy in their inboxes, and protect our own brands from becoming targets of abuse."

"We're seeing the volume of emails increase year over year, and that's a good thing."

"Crowdstrike, unrelated to email necessarily, but a very recent example of how bad things are getting, how critical security is in our world on the Internet today."

The goal is to provide a happier experience for customers."

"So it's truly time to embrace the best practices that mailbox providers have politely been suggesting for probably about a decade at this point:" The goal is to provide a happier experience for customers."

"it's truly time to embrace the best practices that mailbox providers have politely been suggesting for probably about a decade at this point: really just focus on the recipient."

Some Q&A from the podcast:

Q: With the new sender guidelines from Google and Yahoo (Yahoogle), what are the primary takeaways senders should know?

A: The guidelines aim to create a trusted environment for email recipients by requiring authentication on all sending domains for bulk mail. This makes it easier for mailbox providers to identify senders and separate legitimate senders from bad actors. Senders need to embrace best practices, focus on the recipient experience, and build relationships rather than just boosting stats.

Q: How has Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) impacted email open tracking, and how are email platforms responding?

A: MPP has made email open metrics unreliable as email senders have lost the ability to accurately track opens in emails. Many email platforms are ignoring MPP as it’s challenging to separate human activity from bot activity, and the technology keeps changing, requiring constant updates. Most ESPs are unlikely to embrace making opens more accurate due to the complexity and rapidly changing nature of the issue.

Q: What role do tabs (e.g., Primary, Promotions) play in email inboxes, and should marketers be concerned about Apple’s upcoming tabs in Mail?

A: Lauren believes promotional emails belong in the Promotions tab, as recipients are in the right mindset to engage with them there. Trying to game the system and land in the Primary tab can lead to unsubscribes or spam complaints. While tabs can impact email performance, the success of landing in the Primary tab is often fleeting, and marketers should focus on providing value to recipients.

Q: What role could AI play in email marketing and deliverability?

A: AI could be used to provide better insights and recommendations for email programs, such as identifying opportunities to send more or adjust traffic shaping. However, it’s crucial to understand how the AI models work and ensure they provide recommendations aligned with best practices and deliverability goals.

Listen to the entire episode here ??