Four Things You Need to Know About Email on the Apple Watch

The Apple Watch is a personal device that favors personal messages. If your company utilizes email marketing, there are four critical things you need to know about how Apple’s new wearable technology will affect your campaigns.

Emails Display as Plain Text

Apple Watch detects marketing messages comprised of HTML and images. Instead of displaying a nicely designed and branded message, the plain text version will be displayed—but only after a lengthy warning: “This message contains elements Apple Watch can’t display. You can read a text version below.” 

To make sure that your emails have a plain text version, you must send email marketing messages using multi-part MIME, and define a plain text versionalongside the HTML version. 

Emails Without Plain Text Don't Display at All

If the plain text version is missing, a different warning displays: “The full version of this message isn’t available on Apple Watch. But you can read it on your iPhone.” 

The debut of the Apple Watch makes it absolutely clear that marketers have to optimize the plain text version of marketing messages for wearables like the Watch. 

Links are Disabled

Email marketing largely exists to drive traffic to websites, but there is no web browser on the Watch. As a result, links in the plain text version show up grayed out, and nothing happens when links are tapped.

Addresses and phone numbers are the exception. Apple Watch launches ‘helper’ applications to act on this content. Addresses launch in Maps, whereas tapping a phone number connects to your iPhone to make a call.

You might think that disabling links on the Watch renders email useless from a marketer's perspective. Reconsider this position—email can be a highly effective, engaging, and personal medium in addition to a revenue driver.  

Consider removing links from the plain text version of your emails, or placing them toward the bottom. Real estate is a precious commodity on the Watch's small screen, and the space near the top should be reserved for simple Watch-friendly brand messaging.

Opens and Clicks Aren't Tracked

Open tracking relies on a 1×1 tracking image loading in the subscriber’s inbox. Since most emails on the Watch default to plain text, these open tracking pixels are not displayed or loaded. And without links (or a web browser), tracking clicks are completely out of the question. Marketers will need to get creative with alternative success metrics, and encourage other types of interaction with Watch users.

In Closing

The Apple Watch will demand a shift in mindset in the email community. The Watch is a personal device that favors personal messaging. For marketers without a call center or brick and mortar locations, the options to engage with subscribers on the Watch are limited. 

At the very least, the Watch should encourage marketers to create a meaningful plain text version for each message—which is also a win for accessibility and deliverability concerns.