Have you ever thought about how great it would be if we could insert interactive elements into a regular static booklet? Carousels, purchase buttons, videos, gifs, animations… Imagine how it could diversify our promotional materials and which new horizons it can open for the pharmaceutical industry.
Yes, we know it is currently impossible, but the future is near at hand…
After all, a few years ago they thought the same thing about emails. Today an interactive email format known as Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) is storming all business industries and has already got to the life sciences.
What are AMP emails and how can they benefit your business? Let’s discuss the potential of AMP emails in pharma, how to work with them in practice, what are complexities and pitfalls, and decide if it is ultimately worth it.
The interactivity matters. Trends of the new decade
Ideas akin to that of the interactive booklets come into users’ heads because it is expected that interactive technologies will soon enough be able to literally peel our banana.
60% of customers say COVID-19 has changed their relationship with technology. Another 67% of customers say their expectations for good experiences are higher than ever. That sets the new standard of customer experience for marketers.
High interactivity of marketing materials is what all marketers are working on. Thus, a channel like social media took the center stage in customer engagement strategies as it is much easier to catch customers in Instagram that they visit several times a day. Interactive quizzes and polls are now the third most popular story format. Another clear case is Buzzfeed which has conquered most of its audience, providing above all interactive, engaging content.
In the same way, video used to be, and remains, your biggest opportunity. It conquers the market in the new decade as now we are looking for information on YouTube almost as often as on Google.
Viewers say they retain 95% of a message when obtained via video.
All the generated statistics is only intended that interactive content works and should be deployed.
In fact, such tools are an integral part of many industries’ business strategies.
79% of marketers say they plan to increase the use of interactive content in the next 12 months.
Will these channels be relevant in the pharma industry?
Of course, you can split the messaging across different channels. For instance, effectively use email, which for many years has occupied the reigning position in communication with the HCPs.
What is AMP? How to Use it in emails?
Before you ask the “What is AMP for email?” question, you need to first learn what is it and why businesses put much effort into learning how to use it. AMP technology allows you to create dynamic content in the email body. This technology allows sending interactive content to HCPs. Email receivers can fill out surveys or order samples, respond to invitations, view carousels, and perform many other actions right in the email. An AMP email may include:
- Carousels and accordions;
- Surveys;
- Catalogues and leaflets;
- Feedback forms.
Another benefit is that it allows to speed up the loading of web pages on mobile devices. This is important because, just as we do, physicians read emails primarily on their smartphones (60%). The mobile-friendliness of AMP emails plays a significant role in their marketability.
AMP eliminates the need to open another web page to perform any actions. You can click on an element and the content appears right on the same page. You are not leaving the web page you’re on and email works like an autonomous web page. All actions may be performed right in the email body.
Dynamic content also opens a new world for deeper personalization across all channels via the reuse of the content in question.
77% of marketers agree that interactive content has “reusable” value, resulting in decreased production times and multiple exposures.
How to Use AMP in Pharma?
Surely, the main value of AMP emails for pharma is in the development of email campaigns considering their interactive nature. It allows you to feature various types of content on your website within the email, reducing the need to recreate it.
It may turn your static email into an appealing, user-driven story. Earlier, HCPs had to go directly to sample sites and leave their information there to order samples. The AMP technology removes this little inconvenience.
AMP emails also complement other communication channels, allowing the creation of rep-triggered email campaigns containing eDetailing and self-detailing presentations for HCPs to examine on their own. In the email body, HCPs may also schedule a call with a medical rep, as well as evaluate the quality of the session.
Can we add surveys to the email?
Of course, a pharma company can send surveys of any length right within the email.
Does AMP email support video?
The answer is, yes. You can send promotional videos or video materials from your pharma webpage and add them to your mail.
But perhaps the most common use of AMP emails is to invite doctors to participate in various conferences and events. AMP simplifies the process of registration for HCPs and eliminates the unnecessary bouncing between pages.
How to Send AMP Emails?
Sending an AMP email is not as easy as sending a regular email we all are used to, but it is definitely worth the effort. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to send this kind of email:
Choose an email service provider (ESP)
Not all email service providers support sending AMP emails, so first you should think about a platform that is suitable for your goals. Some of the platforms that do support it are Gmail and Yahoo.
Validate your email
To be able to create AMP for emails and send them, you need to make sure that your email address is authorized to do so. Most ESPs require you to authenticate all addresses that are meant for sending AMP emails, so check beforehand if you’ve met all the requirements.
Incorporate all the necessary components into your email
There are certain AMP-enabled elements that allow you to create any interactive email. There are three types of AMP components that can be added to your email: media, dynamic, and AMP layout. On the official website, you can find a full list of these components that can be included in your email.
Add a fallback
Not all email clients support AMP, meaning that you need to have an alternative version ready just in case. All the AMP elements should be substituted with HTML, which will make it possible for all recipients, even those that cannot view AMP emails, to see your message.
Test your email
Testing your emails before actually sending them is crucial, since you never know how your message might look in different browsers and target operating systems. By using AMP Playground or similar tools, you can easily preview and test your email to see if you’ve built it correctly.
Send your email
After testing your email, you can finally send it without any hesitation; and this is generally how a whole email campaign will unfold. However, remember that every ESP might have their specific guidelines regarding AMP emails, so ensure that you comply with the requirements and follow their instructions before you send anything.
The process of creating and sending AMP in emails heavily depends on the chosen ESP, so before you start crafting your email, first consult the documentation for specific instructions on sending these types of emails on certain platforms.
AMP: challenges and pitfalls
Accelerated Mobile Page was first officially launched by Google in 2019 and has become a real boom in digital email marketing. However, the problem at that time was that Google remained the only platform that supported this format, which implied obvious technical limitations. And even though a few years have passed since then, there are still many limitations that make many marketers avoid AMP.
- Only a handful of ESPs support AMP
Most email service providers don’t support the MIME type needed to create AMP emails. Outlook withdrew its support of AMP a few years ago, and Apple never even considered adding it. And even though the demand is rapidly growing, there is still no news regarding the support being added across Apple devices. It’s possible that due to the pressure and unwillingness to stay behind most ESPs will decide to finally allow their users to experience the full power of Accelerated Mobile Page, but not for now.
- Tracking the performance is much harder compared to the traditional email
It is not enough to just check such metrics as “delivered”, “opened”, and “clicked”. AMP goes well beyond that. Many marketers are reluctant to use such emails due to the complexity of performance tracking, and the only way to tackle this issue is by acquiring other methods and tools for tracking performance metrics.
- AMP emails have an extremely short lifespan
No more how great your coding is, or how well your email provider supports AMP, it will inevitably fail. There is nothing you can do about it other than to make sure you always include an HTML version of your email just to make sure that either way, the recipient will receive all the important info.
- AMP doesn’t always work on mobile devices
Even though AMP renders on mobile devices in some situations, it is not always displayed correctly, or even displayed at all. The best way to deal with this problem is to include a plain text version in your email so that your clients will get it in any case, no matter what.
At first look, it seems like AMP is not the most popular feature right now. However, it is still in development, and more features will emerge in the near future. Moreover, the state of AMP in 2023 is much better compared to the days when it first appeared on the market. It has noticeably improved, has better support, and is much easier to implement. And things will only keep getting better.
Pulling off AMP emails might not be an easier task to tackle, but, just like any other tool for marketing, by putting some effort into it, you will enhance user experience and boost engagement. More and more platforms are now considering enabling the support of AMP, so it’s likely that in the future, we’ll see even more of it!
See examples of AMP emails in eWizard
The interactive capability of AMP is too great to be bypassed. Considering all challenges, we had passed the “testing” period and mastered all the subtleties of this format. Now our team of dedicated email marketing professionals have solid experience in the development of AMP email for pharma on the base of eWizard platform. In the future, we plan to extend this functionality to diversify the experiences for HCPs and patient engagement.
Dynamic content inside eWizard mail templates offers a variety of ways to create interactive emails and improve:
- exposure and click-through rate;
- customer experience;
- your messages into an interactive and dynamic story;
- insert interactivity keeping your brand’s consistency.
Would you like to hear more about our expertise in the development of dynamic email content and take a look at some AMP email examples? Fill out the form below and our experts will reach out to you!
