However, without knowing more about survey participants, this data may paint a rosier picture of actual authentication rates among web publishers as a representative whole. Authentication rates will vary by publisher depending on their relationships with users.

Many consumers still consider email to be their preferred channel for receiving brand communications. Much of the data suggests that email has become more important, not less, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Three of the most common key performance indicators (KPIs) for email are still open rate, clickthrough rate and click-to-open rate. But figures from email service and marketing technology providers show variations in those KPIs in North America depending on a variety of factors, including geography, industry, seasonality and the types of email messages being sent.

Email newsletters. Publishers integrate commerce content into general newsletters, and some even produce dedicated commerce newsletters to reach higher-intent shoppers.

That’s especially true when compared with email, which experiences far lower open rates and takes longer for a consumer to notice. Types of time-sensitive messages often include sale previews and last chance messaging to let consumers know about expiring offers. As a replenishment mechanism: While not commonplace, this is an area to watch. Brands can receive an order via text message.

Open rates soared during the early days of the pandemic. Acoustic, a marketing tech firm, found a 23.8% jump in open rates worldwide between February and March. In 2021, marketers will build on this growth in an intentional manner, keeping in mind that customer-centric emails often perform the best, and improving in areas such as personalization, testing, measurement, and acquisition.