Evolution
I wrote about Email2 a few months ago: “Even as email service providers (ESPs) move up and down the stack to add offerings like CDP (customer data platform) and martech features (journeys, orchestration, omnichannel personalisation), the core email channel itself is evolving. The triad of AMP, Ems, and Microns – what I term as Email2 – will transform how customers engage with emails, and help brands in their continuing quest for deepening customer relationships.” I added: “Email2 will bring creativity back into email – brevity, smart copywriting, simplicity of design, and story-telling. It is about persuasion and nudging, rather than hard-selling. It is about getting attention first and brand building, rather than jumping straight into pushing for a purchase. Microns use the Subject line to create the excitement of earning rewards and thus grab attention in an Inbox of otherwise same-to-same Subject lines. Ems limit the display area to a mobile screen thus driving the need for a single, sharp message. AMP offers the opportunity to bring in interactivity – a touch or a swipe which draws the recipient in.” In the series, I also discussed new ideas like Hooked Score, Atomic Rewards and Progency.
In the months since I wrote the series, I have been thinking much more about Email 2.0 and its potential to enhance the user experience and solve the attention recession problem. In this series, I will reframe the Email 2.0 discussion around five innovations: Hooked Score, Atomic Rewards, Ems, AMP, and Progency. Together, they can engineer a habit revolution, convert the end customer’s “delete” mindset into “delight”, and make email cool again.
The reason channels like email retain their importance in the world of Instagram and Tiktok is that email is a push channel and emails are sent to identified users. Push channels are important because they help bring customers back to brand properties (website and app). In the absence of engagement on push channels like email, SMS and push notifications, brands will be forced to use intermediaries like Google and Facebook to do the outreach to their own customer base at prohibitively high costs. Push channels are an integral part of the “omnichannel personalisation” vision that brands have.
My company, Netcore Cloud, has been involved in the world of email marketing for more than 15 years. We began in response to requests from our enterprise customers to help them do “mass mailing” to lists – since we already had email expertise and were helping set up and manage their internal email servers. Through these years, email kept growing and growing. Now, Netcore does over 18 billion emails a month and serves brands globally. In India, our analysis shows that 75% of emails sent by brands to their customers go through Netcore’s platform. Email’s success has helped Netcore extend into additional layers in the martech stack – automation, journey orchestration, analytics, personalisation, and nudges (product experience.) Having been among the “originals” (early Email Service Providers), Netcore is now at the forefront of reinventing email.
