The Apple Watch and Email: What to Expect

By Rachael Thomas, Design Consultant at Salesforce Marketing Cloud

The Apple Watch is here, and digital marketers want to know exactly what it means to their email campaigns, metrics, strategies, and design. Here’s the run-down.

1. The Apple Watch only displays plain text versions of emails

Like most other smartwatches, the Apple Watch renders plain text. However, unlike other smartwatches, it can render the entire email instead of truncating it.

Gone are the days that we treated plain text like an annoying younger brother that got our emails past spam filters. With the adoption rate of the Apple Watch, it’s a relevant message format again.

  • Email messages sent as multi-part MIME messages are opened as plain text on the Apple Watch.
  • Emails that are solely HTML and not sent as multi-part MIME are not rendered. Rather, Apple Watch notes that “The full version of this message isn’t available on Apple Watch. But you can read it on your iPhone.”
  • Some Email Service Providers, like Salesforce Marketing Cloud, automatically create a plain text version from an HTML email before sending. The Apple Watch picks up on this, and displays the plain text. However, for marketers that haven’t cleaned up this automatic plain text version, there are usually some latent elements that the watch doesn’t support. The body content is instead preceded by “This message contains elements Apple Watch can’t display. You can read a text version below.”
  • There is no hand-off option to easily and immediately open the email on your iPhone directly from the Apple Watch.

2. There is less space to communicate the message

If marketers loathed the mobile inbox, they now have even less copy real estate to work with on the Apple Watch. Here are the character counts that you have before the lines truncate on the 38mm screen.

  • From Name: 15 characters
  • Subject Line: 16 characters
  • Pre-header: 35 characters

3. No clicking or tracking is enabled

Unfortunately, the Apple Watch doesn’t allow you to click any links in email. This makes sense, since the Apple Watch does not have a browser app. However, coupled with the fact that there is no option to open the link or the email immediately on your iPhone, this can limit the effectiveness of email marketing. Brands with high-tech audiences may see a dip in their open rates.

  • Links are non-actionable. The URLs are spelled out where they are used in .html, but they are grayed out and not clickable.
  • Images’ URLs that are used in HTML are listed in the order they appear in the code.
  • Opens on the Apple Watch cannot be tracked.

Features We Want on the Apple Watch

Email marketing is all about actionable data, and we want to remove as many steps for the user to complete those actions as possible. Here are a few things we’d love to see on the Apple Watch in future software updates:

  1. Direct app interaction within emails from brands that have apps for the Apple Watch.
  2. An easy iPhone hand-off for users who want to click links or open emails directly from their watch to their iPhone.
  3. The ability to interact with Apple Passbook via email on the Watch — clipping coupons, cards, etc.

Apple Watch Best Practices

The Apple Watch has many email limitations, and it’s impossible to truly track. The Apple Watch sold out in 30 minutes online; its popularity may indicate a high adoption rate in the future. Digital marketing is about adapting to new technologies, and the smartwatch is no exception.

There are ways that marketers can capitalize on this new “glance” culture. If 3 seconds is the normal attention span to convince a user to take an action in an email on a mobile device, you can expect 1.5 seconds or less for the Apple Watch. 97% of users only open an email once*, so it’s an uphill battle to convince them to take extra action to open up an email or website on an extra device.

1. Always create a plain text version of your emails

  • Move away from one plain text version for all sent emails. Customize your message for each send.
  • Put your important information at the top. You have 4 lines to convince your user to keep reading.
  • If you use links in plain text for the sake of other devices, put them toward the bottom of the email.
  • Don’t “design” the plain text email. Character space is real estate, and it’s tempting to make it look pretty with multiple “-” or “=” and line breaks. Don’t waste your real estate.
  • Clean up your plain text emails if your ESP automatically generates them for you.

2. Compel the user to take immediate action

Asking users to open your email or website on an extra device is a tall order. It’s time to pull out all the stops.

  • Convince the user that action is acutely time-sensitive. (Ex: Flash sales, promotions that expire in less than a day, etc.)
  • Make your emails and messages important must-reads.

3. Use alternative forms of tracking metrics

It’s not possible to determine if your plain text email is being opened on a smartwatch versus a user that simply prefers plain text on their device of choice. However, with the high adoption rate of the Apple Watch, it’s time to start thinking of plain text versions as the smartwatch version.

Here’s how you can get a rough idea of your smartwatch users in your subscriber lists:

  • Use Promo Codes that you can track on the backend that are exclusive to users that receive your emails in plain text. Use something short, sweet, and easy to remember.
  • If you must use a link, make it one that is easy to remember as well as unique to plain text receivers. Shortcodes are the new black.
  • Ask for exclusive or specific feedback on social media in your plain text messaging. (Ex: Hashtag giveaways)
  • Develop an app for the Apple Watch to track these users more consistently.

4. Create exclusive smartwatch messaging and marketing initiatives

Use the opportunity with this new device to build an exclusive club around users that open your emails on their smartwatches. The technology is new, edgy, and exciting, and smartwatch marketing could make these new experiences and feelings a part of your brand perception.

  • Use messaging and sales exclusive to the smartwatch audience. Make users excited to open up your emails because they know that there’s a secret sale or message just for them.
  • Use cross-channel promotion on social media and digital marketing to tout your smartwatch club.
  • Use your emails in conjunction with messaging on an Apple Watch app.
  • Keep it exclusive. Develop a “fear of missing out” among users that aren’t currently opening your emails on their smartwatches. This will drive more opens.

Conclusion

Apple designers Jonny Ive and Marc Newson have said that the wrist is the perfect place for technology; it’s also the perfect place to reach your audience more frequently and intimately. Messages on smartwatches are consumed in “glances,” and consumers will decide if your email is worth reading based on subject lines and preheaders. Since the Watch renders plain text, that gives marketers a great opportunity to tailor messages directly to this audience.

Time will tell if the watch makes an impact on the market. However, users with Apple Watches are technology enthusiasts and most likely have a little money to spend. This demographic is a marketer’s dream, and it’s worth the extra effort to connect with them.

Source: Litmus