Hey, email marketers and enthusiasts!
We’re back this month with the top stories, tips, and tricks from the last month in the world of email deliverability. Enjoy!
New branding capabilities with Apple
Apple’s Business Connect tool will soon allow companies to display their brand name, logo, and department in emails, phone calls, and payment interfaces on iPhones, enhancing brand visibility and recognition. The new Branded Mail and Business Caller ID features aim to make identifying legitimate businesses easier for users, with the updates beginning to roll out later this year and into 2025.
“Apple will let businesses customize how they appear in emails and phone calls on the iPhone… [they] can add their brand name and logo in ways that will pop up in iPhone apps used for email, phone calls, and payments.”
- Read the full article: The Verge: “Apple’s new feature lets brands put their stamp on emails and calls to your iPhone”
Gen-AI and hyper-personalization
The team here at Validity is pretty excited about how AI will change email marketing. For starters, generative AI will soon enable hyper-personalization, especially for ecommerce, by automating and scaling tailored marketing messages using shopper data, overcoming barriers in data capture, comprehension, and content creation. This advancement makes it possible for even small to mid-sized businesses to deliver near-individualized marketing at scale affordably.
“AI can then produce unique and optimized messages per shopper. What’s more, the software to hyper-personalize those messages is becoming affordable for even small and mid-sized merchants.”
- Read the full article: PracticalEcommerce: “GenAI Nears Hyper-Personalization at Scale”
Halloween-themed spam spiking
Halloween should be more fun than scary. But Halloween-themed spam is spiking, especially in the U.S., as cybercriminals look to exploit holiday shopping trends with fake giveaways, costume deals, and phishing scams.
“On the darker side, around 40 percent of Halloween-themed spam was identified as misleading or outright scams. These messages often take the form of phishing emails, many disguised as giveaways and goodie baskets from well-known retailers.”
- Read the full article: Bitdefender: “A Haunting Spam Surge: Halloween-Themed Spam and Scams Flood Inboxes Worldwide, Bitdefender Antispam Lab Warns”
AI and email optimization
AI will transform much more than marketing personalization. It’ll also help enable advanced audience segmentation and predictive content, which will result in higher email engagement and revenue. Through automation, real-time A/B testing with AI tools will enable marketers to continuously optimize campaigns.
“A/B testing has been a long-standing practice in email marketing, but AI brings a new level of efficiency to the process. Instead of marketers manually comparing two versions of an email, AI can test multiple elements—like subject lines, images, and text—at the same time. AI can assess which combination performs best for different groups and provide real-time results.”
- Read the full article: Blockchain Council: “How AI Improves Email Campaigns”
FTC secures record-breaking fine for spam
A recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) action against Verkada highlights the significance of CAN-SPAM compliance, with the company fined $2.95 million for violations like failing to include an unsubscribe option and a physical address in emails. Though the case also involved a major data breach, the FTC leveraged CAN-SPAM infractions to secure the record penalty, signaling a warning to marketers on email practices.
“The complaint also alleged that Verkada violated CAN-SPAM by “flooding prospective customers with a barrage of commercial emails,” failing to include the legally-required unsubscribe option, failing to honor opt-out requests, and failing to include a physical postal address in its emails.”
- Read the full article: Frankfurt Kurnit: “FTC Gets Record Penalty in CAN-SPAM Enforcement Action”
Check back next month for our November roundup!
And if you want to stay on top of the latest news and trends, watch our monthly email webinar series, State of Email Live.