During summer holidays, focus may change but email is still email

• During, Email

6 min. (1285 words)

during-summer-holidays,-focus-may-change-but-email-is-still-email

The dog days of summer are upon us! There’s an astronomical explanation for the name, but for most of us the “dog days” are a time of year when the kids don’t have school, everyone is piling into the car for road trips and vacations are finally around the corner. In the good (or bad, depending) old days, this time of year was a chance to disconnect. Now, we’re all on our mobile devices while filling the tank in Montana during the family road trip. But, though we’re still connected, our email and digital habits do change. Sometimes you ignore your phone when taking a noon nap on the beach, but eventually, you’ll pick it up and see the free shipping and deeply discounted promotional email. But you’re on vacation, taking things a bit slower and not conforming to your normal 8 to 5 routine.

Email is still email, even in the summer

That’s right, just because people go on vacation doesn’t mean they cut the digital umbilical cord. Numerous articles offer advice on how to check email and still enjoy your vacation, while others estimate that 60% of employees check work email while on vacation, and still others offer strategies for disconnecting altogether.

People just can’t seem to tear themselves away from those screens! Booking hotels, flights, tours and other vacation related activities require an email address for confirmations and itineraries. And then there are the other screens in our lives—email overshadows everything. Consider the phenomenon of second screening while watching TV: 41% of respondents to a Nielson survey said they text or read/send email while watching TV. Email is a uniquely pervasive activity that isn’t deterred by TV programming that is designed specifically to attract and hold our attention. If Stranger Things doesn’t keep our full attention, why would a family vacation?

The fact of the matter is that email is vital even while on vacation – email is the documentation of our online lives.

Human patterns and e-commerce

It’s a safe bet that we’ll all continue shopping online, even poolside. E-commerce makes it almost a foregone conclusion that we will shop everywhere. But in the summer months, the when, where and how of our online shopping changes. During most of the year it’s assumed (and proven by some studies) that Tuesday and Thursdays, anywhere from 8 a.m. to lunch in local time, are the best times to engage with the average email recipient. That assumption always has to be followed by the caveat that all of these metrics are highly variable depending on the demographic, population and nature of the sender’s business. Nothing should be taken at face value. Days and times should be constantly tested.

Those human patterns change in the summer as we go on vacation, have increased demands on our time because kids are out of school, or simply spend more time enjoying the weather. This change might translate into time-sensitive offers not having as much impact as during the rest of the year, except, of course, when tied to specific holidays like July 4th. American audiences have been trained to expect them. But, people are catching on to that tactic; they are getting accustomed to seeing these deals extended past the actual holiday:

opt in. 
  • It’s even more important to ensure that your emails are optimized for small screens. If the assumption is that we’re getting away from our desktops and laptops when we go on vacation, then we have to assume that we’re more reliant on our mobile phones and tablets. We’ve long assumed the small screen is the first screen experience and studies have shown that a second open on a larger screen is 65% more likely to click through. That doesn’t negate the fact that we have to ensure a good, usable and engaging experience on that first, smaller screen. 
  • Deliver authenticity in every email. Selling galoshes and warm wool clothing in the dead of summer is not delivering value or demonstrating that you’re operating in the same hemisphere as your recipients. Referencing sparklers, kids out of school, holidays, warm weather and other relevant topics help your product seem relatable to the recipients’ immediate needs. Test your calls-to-action and subject lines to ensure they’re not tone deaf. Track your opens, clicks and unsubscribes to ensure that any deviations or summer experiments are viewed through a baseline lens to capture your successes and failures. Remember, email is iterative. It requires time to build a good healthy list and a keen understanding of the metrics and analytics available to email marketers. 
  • Keep on top of your deliverability. No matter how great the offer, or clever the subject line, nothing matters if the email doesn’t arrive to the inbox. Keeping track of spam complaints, blacklistings and unsubscribes will ensure that you understand the inbox potential of each segment. If you’re thinking summer is a great time to send a giant email to people who haven’t opened your emails for months and months, if not years and years, think again. The effects will be as deleterious as in other months. Use caution and set realistic boundaries for when you sunset unengaged recipients. These are the most likely sources of complaints and other actions that are bound to hurt your overall campaign and cause email bounce for engaged users to wind up in the junk. 
  • Traveling means privacy. More accurately, people travelling on vacation may end up in certain areas that are now covered by stricter privacy regimes. GDPR is a great example. It applies to any person in the EU regardless of citizenship. A French citizen on vacation in Los Angeles isn’t covered by GDPR, but when they return to France they are. It is important to understand how the various privacy regimes may affect your business and follow practices that comply in accordance with these regimes. 

    • We’re almost halfway through the dog days of summer. Soon all the heat, trips and sunburn will be a happy memory and people will fall back into their usual email habits. But, while there is still time, there’s no reason you can’t make small adjustments to your email program that will make this its best summer yet.  

    Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.


    About The Author

    Twilio SendGrid. Len serves as an evangelist and proponent of best practices and drives thought leadership and data-driven insights on industry trends. Len represents Twilio SendGrid on the board of M3AAWG (Messaging, Malware, Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group) as vice chair in addition to co-chairing the Program Committee. He’s also part of the MAC (Member Advisory Committee) of the Email Experience Council where he serves as the organization’s vice chair. The EEC is owned by the Direct Marketing Association of America, a nearly 100-year-old organization where he also sits on the Ethics Committee. In addition, Len has worked closely with the Email Sender and Provider Coalition on issues surrounding data privacy and email deliverability.




    102 comments

    6. It is actually a great and helpful piece of info.
      I am happy that you just shared this useful information with us.
      Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you
      for sharing.

    7. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation however I to find this
      topic to be really something which I think I’d by no means understand.
      It kind of feels too complex and extremely huge for me.
      I am looking ahead on your next put up, I will attempt to get the grasp of it!

    8. Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed!
      Very helpful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such information much.
      I was looking for this particular info for a very long time.
      Thank you and best of luck.

    9. Hi, Neat post. There is a problem along with your site in internet explorer, could test this?
      IE still is the market chief and a large part of people will omit
      your wonderful writing due to this problem.

    11. I have fun with, result in I discovered exactly what I
      used to be having a look for. You’ve ended my 4 day long hunt!

      God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye

    12. Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses?
      If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise?
      I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any assistance is very much appreciated.

    13. Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just
      your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and
      everything. But imagine if you added some great images or
      videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent
      but with images and clips, this blog could undeniably be one of the greatest
      in its niche. Fantastic blog!

    15. I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting
      article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if
      all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the
      web will be a lot more useful than ever before.

    32. I do agree with all the concepts you’ve presented in your post. They’re very convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too quick for novices. Could you please extend them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.|

    33. I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I don’t know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!|

    34. Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The style and design look great though! Hope you get the issue resolved soon. Kudos|

    35. wonderful issues altogether, you just gained a new reader.
      What may you suggest in regards to your post
      that you made some days in the past? Any sure?

    37. Great goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too fantastic. I really like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still take care of to keep it smart. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a tremendous web site.|

    39. I enjoy, result in I found exactly what I used to be looking for. You have ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye|

    40. Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon on a daily basis. It will always be helpful to read content from other writers and use a little something from their web sites. |

    42. Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon everyday. It will always be interesting to read articles from other authors and practice something from other web sites. |

    44. Wow, fantastic blog format! How long have you been running a blog for? you made blogging look easy. The total look of your site is excellent, let alone the content!

    46. It is truly a great and useful piece of info. I am glad that you simply shared this useful
      information with us. Please stay us up to date like this.
      Thanks for sharing.

    54. Great article! This is the type of info that are meant to be shared around the web. Disgrace on the search engines for no longer positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my web site . Thank you =)|

    58. Hi there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it’s truly informative. I’m going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future. Many people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!|

    61. I do accept as true with all of the concepts you have introduced for your post. They’re really convincing and can definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are very brief for beginners. May you please lengthen them a bit from next time? Thanks for the post.|

    62. Hi there! This post could not be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this write-up to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!|

    63. Link exchange is nothing else except it is just placing the other person’s weblog link on your page at suitable place and other person will also do similar in support of you.|

    64. I’m really inspired along with your writing abilities as smartly as with the layout to your blog. Is this a paid topic or did you modify it yourself? Anyway stay up the excellent quality writing, it is uncommon to see a nice blog like this one nowadays..|

    69. Hi there everybody, here every person is sharing such knowledge, therefore it’s good to read this weblog, and I used to pay a visit this web site all the time.|

    73. I used to be recommended this website via my cousin. I’m now not sure whether this submit is written through him as nobody else recognize such particular about my difficulty. You’re amazing! Thanks!|

    76. Howdy! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!|

    79. Everyone loves what you guys are usually up too.

      Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the awesome works guys
      I’ve included you guys to blogroll.

    101. Pingback: keto diet site:youtube.com
    102. Pingback: cork gay dating

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published.