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10 MIN. READ
Your company has put the work into your B2B email marketing campaigns. You have segmented your customer lists and then segmented some more. You know where each potential buyer is in the purchasing process. And you've refreshed your marketing materials and updated your contacts. You were ready to push the button to start emailing – but then Apple iOS 15 came into the picture. These changes will greatly impact your ability to track your efforts.
But don’t panic. You’ve faced more devastating changes to your marketing strategy and survived (a.k.a. COVID-19). You completely re-tooled the way you did business, and you can survive this change as well.
At its core, the Apple Mail Privacy Protection highlights the company’s commitment to protecting its users online.
Getting back to COVID-19, much of the emphasis on online data protection is due to the pandemic’s effect on the workforce. With many white-collar employees working from home, data breaches increased dramatically. In fact, manufacturing cloud-related incidents increased by 230% in the second quarter of 2020 alone.
All it takes is one person in your company to open one email or click on one unsafe link, and your business could become a statistic. The 2021 State of Phishing and Online Fraud Report noted that 6.95 million new phishing and scam sites were created in 2020.
Apple’s Hide My Email feature generates a unique, random email address for users. This feature allows them to protect their true email address. The random one automatically forwards emails to the user’s personal inbox.
The Mail Privacy Protection elevates this email security. It prevents senders from knowing when the recipient opens an email. It removes the tracking pixels from images and masks the user’s IP address so that senders can’t track the recipient's online activity or determine their location.
The largest update that Apple iOS 15 delivers is that the features work with any email provider. Gmail accounts, business email accounts and personal accounts using Mail Privacy Protection all receive the same safeguards.
One of the easiest metrics to track is an email’s open rate. Many email marketers rely on this statistic to determine client interest. In reality though, the open rate is not the best indicator of a successful email campaign. It may help determine which subject line is more attractive in A/B testing, but it is an arbitrary figure at best.
Instead, create marketing campaigns around subject lines that are proven to attract the clients you want. Rather than checking open rates, dig a little deeper and track click-throughs and conversions. Track conversions by surveying your new customers. Ask them how they heard about your company and what inspired them to research your product and request a quote.
If your company uses a personalization feature that depends on the recipient's location when the email is opened, explore other ways to personalize your outreach. Many companies use location information to help a client find a local product distributor.
A clothing manufacturer may use location personalization to encourage clients to buy their product. The email informs the recipient that the nearest store is only three blocks from them. With the new Apple security feature, these types of emails wouldn't be able to locate where it was opened, making this type of personalization useless.
Instead, personalize your email using engaging content and clickable buttons. The clothing manufacturer relying on the open email to push information could pull the details from the recipient. They could create an email featuring several new styles, incorporating a “To find a location near you” clickable button. Click-throughs are a more reliable measure of engagement than the open rate. The manufacturer can still send the closest store information. It's a win/win!
Remember that not all emails need to sell your product either. Emails that inform, educate or entertain can help you form a bond with potential customers. Let the leads learn more about your company and the value of your brand through the content that you send. Position yourself as a thought leader in your industry by sending timely market updates. Also, engage your recipients with a brief survey asking if they found the information helpful. If not, ask what specific industry information would be more valuable.
Even with the new changes that Apple has implemented, email remains a vital tool in your marketing arsenal. With B2B email marketing, you receive a return of $44 for every dollar you invest in your campaigns.
Why does an email campaign have such a high return on investment? Again, one thing that the recent pandemic has taught businesses is that face-to-face meetings aren’t always necessary. In fact, 70-80% of B2B decision-makers prefer socially-distanced marketing. Buyers spend less time in meetings, freeing them for higher-level tasks and making them more productive employees.
The online market isn't restricted to only smaller purchases either. In fact, 70% of B2B decision-makers research, buy and re-order items over $50,000.
You will always find naysayers who claim that B2B email marketing is dead now that Apple iOS 15 has entered the fray. Nothing could be further from the truth. Apple iOS 15 will cause your company to re-think its segmentation, metrics and content. That’s not such a bad thing. Even the best campaigns need a reset from time to time. In the end, B2B email marketing will always win the day.
But email marketing can only be successful with the right prospects. With an IndustrySelect subscription, you can access over 400,000 US manufacturers and find company and contact profiles with ease, so you know you are targeting the right people. Try out a free demo today, loaded with 600 company profiles (see a sample profile here).
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