Footer Magnet
Once the email has been opened, the next question to answer is how to ensure that recipients do so again and again. This is where the email footer comes in. (For the purpose of the discussion here, we will keep our focus on email “opens” – and not worry about the main body of the email with the brand messaging. I will have some comments on that later.)
Email Footers today simply consist of a link to “unsubscribe”. This is because brands consider what they are sending as “content”. As I explained earlier, a change in the frame of reference will make marketers realise that what they are sending is not content to the email reader, but an ad. With that insight, it becomes obvious what an email needs: interesting content. The best place for this is the email footer. Two objectives are accomplished: there is no distraction with the brand message which comes first in the email, and by ensuring that the exciting content is in the footer there is a need to scroll the email which also ensures the brand message is seen.
I had written recently about an idea I termed “Dynamic Email Footers.” AMP provides us the mechanism to enable interactivity in emails. AMPlets can be thought of as small fragments with a specific purpose. All actions are done within the email itself, removing the worry a marketer may have that an action done in the footer will take the customer outside of the brand property. As I wrote: “What if a collection of AMPlets could go into every email in the world easily? This would be akin to how the addition of a code snippet plugs Google Analytics into any site. This adds a “dynamic” flavour to the footer – where the content can be generated when the email is opened and viewed rather than when it is sent – much like ads appearing across the Internet today… DEFs are a marketer’s dream come true; they can revolutionise not just customer engagement but also commerce. They can help reduce AdWaste by improving the efficacy of new customer acquisition. They can create new revenue opportunities for brands and rewards for customers.” In the essay, I discuss five types of AMPlets which can go in the footer: engagement, content, shopping, games, and ads.
Think of the email footer having a life of its own, with AMPlets which enable two universal wants: learn and play. Mu helps recipients unlock these AMPlets – thus addressing the Mu consumption challenge. They bring in a “fun” element in emails. They make recipients want to open the emails to experience the surprises that lie in store for them. [This essay has some additional ideas about what AMPlets can look like.]
I could unlock a quiz on a predefined topic of my interest, play a Wordle-like game, read a comic, solve a word jumble, browse a book summary, and much more. Each action is unlocked with Mu, which is earned by opening emails or providing zero-party data to the brand for a value exchange.
What the footer does is create something I find “useful” – always. For these few seconds that I engage, I get something interesting. Or it just serves as an attractive distraction in the busyness of daily life. Different strokes for different people. The key objective remains the same: no email unopened.
The magic tech that can now enable the creation of an infinite array of footer AMPlets is Gen AI.
