- Think Z
- Posts
- I Hate Remote Work
The TL;DR:
Let’s Chat D2C: Email Marketing in 2024, how it’s changed, and why I am so excited for Attentive AI.
What I’m Thinking about this Week: I hate remote work, so how can we still be nearshoring at SCALIS effectively?
The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Mike True, Co-Founder & CEO of Prescient AI, a media mix optimization platform.
App Highlight: Deel
Upcoming Events: Get ready for the pinnacle of Ecommerce innovation – DTCx7 Global.
Let’s Chat D2C - Email Marketing in 2024
Email marketing in ecommerce is navigating through significant changes, particularly in deliverability requirements set forth by major email providers like Gmail and Yahoo. Effective in early 2024, these updates are designed to enhance email security, improve user experience, and ensure emails reaching users' inboxes are relevant and safe. So what changed, and what does it mean for you?
Enhanced Email Authentication: Email senders are now required to implement stricter authentication protocols, including DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and SPF (Sender Policy Framework). These measures aim to combat phishing and spoofing attempts, ensuring recipients can trust emails.
One-Click Unsubscribe Process: To improve user experience and reduce unwanted emails, both Gmail and Yahoo have introduced a mandate for a one-click unsubscribe process within emails.
Prompt Processing of Unsubscription Requests: Senders are expected to process unsubscription requests within two days.
Spam Rate Thresholds: Gmail and Yahoo have set spam rate thresholds to safeguard users from spam. Gmail requires brands to keep spam rates reported in their Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and recommends not reaching a rate of 0.3% or higher. Similarly, Yahoo enforces a maximum spam complaint rate of 0.3%.
Inactive Account Policies: Google announced that starting in late 2023, it began deactivating accounts that have been inactive for at least two years. This policy underscores the importance of list hygiene and targeting engaged users to avoid poor delivery outcomes and harm to the sender's reputation.
Emphasis on User Engagement: Email providers are emphasizing user engagement metrics more to determine the relevance and quality of emails. Low engagement rates may lead to emails being filtered out of the primary inbox, urging businesses to deliver content that resonates with their audience.
Optimization for Mobile Devices: With a significant number of email opens occurring on mobile devices, there's a push for senders to optimize emails for mobile viewing. Emails that are not mobile-friendly may be penalized in terms of deliverability and user experience.
These changes aim to improve the overall email experience for users, ensuring that inboxes are not flooded with unwanted emails and that received emails are relevant, secure, and engaging. Implementing the latest authentication standards, maintaining clean email lists, creating engaging and mobile-optimized content, and respecting user preferences for unsubscribing will be key to navigating these changes successfully.
Overall, these updates are making the integration of AI into Email platforms even more critical, as the brand/marketer currently makes too many segmentation and sending decisions. This is one of the reasons I’m so excited about Attentive AI - I got a sneak peek of it last week and it’s going to be a game changer!
What I’m Thinking About This Week - I hate remote work, so how can we still be nearshoring at SCALIS effectively?
First, I’ll start this section by noting that I am biased. Not only do I find in-person work to be significantly more productive, but I also think it’s WAY more fun. Some of the most fun times of my life came during Electriq’s stint in our San Diego office.
However, remote work is here to stay and has undeniably reshaped the global workforce landscape, with profound implications for both individuals and the economy. This shift is not just a temporary adjustment but a permanent change for many companies, with giants like Facebook and Twitter announcing plans to allow many employees to work remotely indefinitely.
Pros and Cons of Remote Work
Pros:
Increased Flexibility: Remote work offers employees greater flexibility, the ability to work from anywhere, and allegedly allows for a better work-life balance (but I actually think with expectations around Slack being always on, etc., that work has crept way more into our personal lives than when we were working in an office).
Cost Savings: For employers, remote work can reduce the need for office space, leading to significant cost savings (but I think the ROI of having an office for the team to work at and collaborate can not be understated).
Cons:
Isolation and Stress: Blurring boundaries between work and home can lead to feelings of isolation and increased stress. It’s also TERRIBLE for folks just entering the workforce, and it’s been extremely difficult to hire recent college grads at a fully remote company because they want to leave their house, go into the office, make friends, and enjoy that community aspect.
Challenges in Communication and Collaboration: Remote work hinders spontaneous interactions that foster creativity and team cohesion. Gone are the days of jumping into a quick brainstorming session or meeting the team for lunch.
Productivity Drop: The shift towards remote work has enabled a trend of quiet quitting. I have plenty of friends who do yoga during the day, head to the golf course, etc., but their Slack is “on,” so they are “working” - this seems great at first glance, but the damage this can do to a company can not be understated (and eventually you’re going to get fired).
How SCALIS Plans to Nearshore and Combat the Challenges of Remote Work
So, if you read some of the past week’s newsletters, you might wonder how I’m super bullish on nearshoring but hate remote work. The cost savings and talent coming from Brazil is too great to ignore, so we’re going to make it work in a few ways:
2 hubs: We have a 3-person team in the US based in Miami and an 11-person team (soon to be 14) in Florianópolis, Brazil. We MAY consider having a 3rd hub in the US for a strategic hire, but we will not be expanding beyond that (at least at this size).
Quarterly Retreats: Our first one is in May! The entire team is getting together at a house in Florianópolis for a week to work and spend the weekend hanging out together and doing fun activities.
Weekly Updates: Every Sunday, I send out an email to the entire team letting them know what happened last week (wins, losses, opportunities for improvement, etc.) as well as what we’re looking forward to accomplishing in the coming week.
Recurring Update Meetings: These are frequent but SHORT all-team meetings to keep the team connected but not distracted. Any meeting longer than 30 minutes (and really 15 minutes) and you’ve got team members doing other things on their laptops versus actively listening and engaging in the conversation.
Team Member Feedback: The best thing I ever did at Electriq was ask every team member on a quarterly basis for 3 things that we’re not doing that we should be doing. I then compiled these suggestions into a massive list and walked the team through how we were addressing, considering, or potentially unable to address them. This really drives home the point that the team is critical in shaping the organization’s growth, culture, and overall future.
Slack Huddles: We strongly encourage the team to huddle on Slack to chat about ideas or issues that come up throughout the day versus writing out long messages.
I strongly believe that enjoying the company you work at extends beyond just clocking in for a 9-5, and building interpersonal relationships outside of the office has always been a big unlock for our productivity and ultimate success.
This Week’s The D2Z Podcast
#99 – Media Measurement and Optimization
🎧 Listen Now 🎧
In this week’s episode, I sat down with Mike True, Co-Founder & CEO of Prescient AI, a media mix optimization platform. Specifically, we explored the following:
💰 The nuances of advertising measurement across various platforms, from the complexities of attributing sales in the music industry to navigating the post-pandemic e-commerce terrain.
📲 Invaluable insights into aligning teams and gathering user feedback to sculpt product features.
😎 The differences between selling on Amazon versus Shopify
🚀 The importance of strategic conversations in shaping product direction.
App Highlight - Deel
What is it: Deel is an all-encompassing HR platform designed to streamline the management of global teams, integrating payroll, compliance, and HR services across over 150 countries.
Differentiator: Deel stands out by offering a unified platform for hiring, managing, and paying international teams compliantly, eliminating the need for multiple tools, and simplifying global HR processes.
Starting Price: Deel offers a free version for businesses with fewer than 200 people, providing significant savings. Hiring contractors on their platform starts at $49/mo per contractor.
How we use it: To manage offer letters, onboarding, and payment of our team in Brazil.
Upcoming Events
Get ready for the pinnacle of Ecommerce innovation – DTCx7 Global.
Join me on April 3, 2024, as we bring together the brightest minds in the industry across North America, EMEA, and APAC for two days of unparalleled insights, networking, and groundbreaking strategies. The lineup includes brands such as Shinesty, Jaxxon, OBVI, OLIPOP, TUSHY, and many others!
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