Some pretty cool technology was presented by Tim Cook of Apple this week. In light of this new technology, what’s on the horizon for automotive marketing now that the iPhone 6 and watch are being released? Should automotive marketers rush to change their marketing strategy in response to Apple’s new device resolutions? Will buying behavior change? I think as automotive marketers we need to have both eyes wide open. I think we can all agree that Apple is known to disrupt entire industries – just think music, books, mobile, travel, etc! Also, think constant innovation.
I’ll give you my take on what changes I think are coming down the pike and how it will impact automotive marketing, especially automotive email marketing.
Take a New Look at Automotive Marketing
When you think about email newsletters you read and send, and even this newsletter that likely introduced you to this article, did you know that Apple’s current iOS devices account for almost 90% of the mobile opens recorded and about 44% of all opens overall? That’s astounding! So I think it’s probably pretty reasonable to say that the new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Watch will have a huge impact on how our subscribers interact with email – and how we will design for these different interactions.
For starters, Apple’s first foray into wearable devices can hardly be described as a tip toe through the tulips. Alongside a multitude of really interesting and interpersonal actions, such as sending heartbeats and sketches, they’ve launched the idea of “handoff” from the Watch to the iPhone into the realm of email. Handoff, or email triage will be a behavior that we’ll more commonly see – that is, reading a summary of an email on the Watch, then using an iPhone or another device to respond. The result could likely be even shorter attention spans and scenarios in which an email is judged based on a few lines of text-only content.
There no doubt will be a lot of surprises leading up to all three devices going mainstream, and many things we can’t even fathom yet until the masses start using them, and many more like them I’m sure. But here is what we can be certain of:
- A digital automotive marketing strategy is essential to your marketing. I’m not talking about a nice website.
- Think about Generation Z, seriously!
- Apple’s new Watch appears to be a text-only client, which means effective subject lines and opening text in your automotive digital marketing campaigns are more relevant than ever.
- We now must optimize our automotive email marketing campaigns for wearable devices.
- Opening email on mobile devices is more common than opening via desktop. This means as automotive marketers we need to make responsive design a priority in order to connect with consumers and sell more cars.
- As more people consume email on mobile devices, the standard for compelling content is higher than ever.
That’s my take. How do you think these new devices will change automotive marketing? I’d love to hear your comments.
Recent Comments