Email Peeps 61: Marco Ziero

How did you get into email? 

Before founding Palabra, my current agency, I was a partner in another digital marketing agency where I also held the role of CMO. One of my responsibilities was managing the newsletter, and when the agency decided to start offering email marketing automation services, I took on the task (and the privilege) of creating the service and building the team, as I was the only one who knew how to “play” with Mailchimp.

Later, when I sold my shares and decided to create Palabra together with my two business partners, I envisioned a vertically specialized agency focused solely on email marketing automation.

I have been connected to this wonderful discipline since 2015.

What could most ecommerce brands improve when it comes to email marketing?

Brands often approach email marketing with a focus solely on themselves and the products they sell, paying little attention to the people they’re addressing. They could definitely improve by sounding more authentic and “human.” Another key point is working towards sending fewer but better emails: more segmentation, more content personalization, instead of sending everything to everyone. Lastly, they should better leverage the phase of the customer journey where email marketing performs best—retention. Often, more effort is placed on acquiring new leads and contacts rather than effectively nurturing existing ones, guiding them not only to make their first purchase but also their second, third, and rewarding those who show strong loyalty to the brand.

Which Italian brands are killing it when it comes to email? 

Tough question. 🙂

The entire Calzedonia Group (Calzedonia, Intimissimi, Falconeri, Tezenis, Atelier Emè, Signorvino) makes extensive use of email within a highly integrated omnichannel strategy, as does the Max Mara Group (including Marella, Max&Co, and Diffusione Tessile).

A special mention goes to one of our clients, Banca Etica, which uses email not only to promote its products but also to inform about ethical finance and encourage reflection and participation. Their strategy involves highly segmented campaigns that take into account factors such as age, professional status, and the type of relationship recipients have with the bank.

In some ways, Veralab/Estetista Cinica also stands out, as they reward long-time newsletter subscribers and have an excellent preference center.

When you evaluate a new client account, what are some of the first things you look at?

In no particular order: the list’s engagement, the latest sent campaigns and contact frequency, the automations (how many there are and how they are structured), the database design, whether the ESP is integrated with other platforms and which data it collects, the onboarding process, the signup form, the data model, and how the collected data is used in the editorial plan to identify areas for improvement.

What’s in your email marketing toolbox?

Software:

The main ESPs we work with and Google Postmaster Tools; then all the tools for organization and personal productivity, from Google Workspace to manage documents and calendars, to Todoist for task management, and Slack for daily communication within the agency.

Are you using AI? How?

We use the AI tools provided by various ESPs, but we also leverage AI for our internal processes, especially during brainstorming sessions, to expand on ideas I have, suggest alternatives, or weigh pros and cons.

We can’t delegate all the work to AI, but starting with a drafted piece of content is definitely more effective than starting from a blank page.

What’s your favorite email campaign of all time? Why?

Without a doubt, the birthday newsletter from Really Good Emails.

It was a (very pleasant) surprise, and it really made me feel a strong sense of community. In terms of cost-opportunity, I think it’s an initiative that companies can easily replicate as well.

How do you see email changing over the next five years?

The requirements for landing in the inbox have become much stricter, so deliverability, which until recently was considered “technical stuff,” is now becoming a topic that communication and marketing professionals need to be aware of. And that’s good news, because the foundation of deliverability is consent and writing messages that are interesting and useful to the recipient.

I’m also curious to see if algorithms, which we already know so well from Google and social networks, will “invade” our email clients. They’ve already started to do so with the introduction of tabs (first by Google and more recently by Apple), but the sorting remains chronological (similar to the early days of social network feeds). If algorithms were to start determining what we should read first, it would be a monumental change—and I can’t say I’d welcome it with enthusiasm.