Voice in email marketing
Recently, I led a discussion for Only Influencers on voice tech in email marketing. This is a development which really excites me, as I think it will enable us to make email much more accessible than it is at the moment. With the likes of Alexa and Siri able to read out emails to customers, a whole new world of potential opens up. However, the format is not without its challenges – as I’ll explain:
Design issues
As email marketers, we’ve always been working in a visual medium. Adapting to make our emails work in audio is going to be a steep learning curve. Particularly as there’s no way to tell whether a customer is going to read your email on a screen, or have it read to them by their voice assistant. Any content is going to have to work in both formats – which isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Most current voice tech reads out HTML code – including the code for any emojis or images you’ve embedded within your copy. For example, if you add a smiley face emoji to your email, Siri will deadpan “Smiling face emoji”. And if you try any fun grammar or formatting tricks, Siri will garble it. However, as many of us know, weird formatting tricks, emojis, images and the like are often used to make emails interesting and engaging. There are definitely ways and means to get around this, and to create emails which are all the better for their enhanced voice-potential, but we’re definitely going to have to give this one some thought.
Privacy concerns
How can you be sure that nobody is going to overhear sensitive information contained within your emails? If you as a brand are using voice tech to open your emails, who is going to be listening to them, and can you be sure that this is a secure way to handle data? Not to mention the fact that some people find the idea of Siri and Alexa ‘reading’ their personal emails a bit creepy.
These are far from the only issues with voice tech and email – for example, as it stands, Alexa can’t click ‘subscribe’ or follow any social media links embedded within emails, which is not ideal for us marketers – but I’d like to move on now to the many ways in which voice tech is a good thing for email marketing.
Accessibility
This is, in my opinion, the most important and most exciting thing about this development. Voice tech will open up email to the visually impaired, which is a huge positive. In the past, we as email marketers have not thought enough about making emails accessible to the visually impaired (for example, did you know that 4.5% of the population cannot read certain colours against certain backgrounds due to colour-blindness? When have you ever been in a content or design meeting which factored in this kind of thing?)
It will also make email more accessible in general. For example, rather than waiting for quiet moments in which to check their email, your customers can have incoming messages read to them, enabling you to reach them while they’re driving, or cooking, or otherwise unable to look at a screen.
Personalisation
While some find the thought of Alexa or Siri reading their emails a bit invasive, others think it’s kind of cute. After all, while Alexa may be a machine, a lot of people think of her fondly, almost as though she’s an actual personal assistant. Personalisation is marketing’s golden key – the best way to build relationships between brands and customers. And what better way to build relationships with people than to have an actual, verbal conversation with them? I think there’s a ton of potential here, if we can work out how to harness it properly.
So, how can we start getting to grips with voice tech, and make the most of its enormous potential for email marketing?
Learn the language
As I mentioned, most voice tech software reads HTML verbatim. Honestly, though, that’s not such an issue. If your grammar and punctuation is on point, you’re off to a flying start. Think hard about where you place your graphics (if you’re using them at all). If you can get a good idea of how your copy will ‘translate’ to a robotic voice, it’ll be that much easier to craft great content which works in both formats.
Think about accessibility
Enhanced accessibility is THE major advantage of voice-tech for email marketers. It would be foolish not to max out this advantage as much as we possibly can!
Be adaptable
Email remains the most effective marketing channel of all because it is robust and adaptable. We need to make the most of that adaptability now. Campaigns and formats might need to be altered extremely quickly as this technology develops, so be sure to weave adaptability into your overall strategy.
Think strategically
Honestly, the very best way to avoid the pitfalls and harness the potential of voice tech is to consider voice in your overall strategy. Make it an integral part of your entire campaign, rather than a hasty afterthought.
Strategy is the key to getting the best out of any campaign, and making the most out of any new innovation. A clear strategy will allow you to connect with your customers like never before, and prepare you for any snags you might run into. If you’d like to learn more about how to create and execute a winning strategy, contact Let’s Talk Strategy today.
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jennatiffany
About the Author
Jenna Tiffany is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the IDM. She is the Founder & Strategy Director at Let’sTalk Strategy providing consultancy services across the digital marketing mix. Jenna has over ten years’ marketing experience within B2B and B2C and both client and agency side.
Industry recognised expert as an elected member of the prestigious DMA Email Marketing Council. Jenna provides marketing consultancy to brands worldwide. As a proven thought-leader, competent public speaker and publisher, Jenna can be regularly seen sharing her latest trends and key industry topics internationally.