GM. 🫶
This is Web3 Espresso ☕—the Web3 Newsletter for creators, marketers, and coffee drinkers looking to understand how Web3 technology is changing the world we live in.
Hello 😎,
I have been silent for a few months, and it’s good to be back. Think summer, back-to-school mayhem, and the soft launch of my digital marketing agency, Rise Digital have kept me away for too long.
I am happy to be back ❤️
Going forward, I will continue to publish the Web3 Espresso newsletter ☕ once a month instead of once a week. I can’t keep up with all the changes that are happening in Web3 and my aim is not to create a news site but to share with you my views and analysis on the macro changes that are happening on the internet. Thank you for all your support throughout the months.
This week, I wanted to explore how Web3 technology is changing one of our favourite digital tools: email.
Read on.
What’s in store today:
🥡 The Weekly Roundup 5 in 5
| 📧 | Web3 Messaging: Is the future of email a Wallet?
PS: You’ve got mail
Web3 and email—where are we going?
What does the future hold?
IA Your weekly ChatGPT Prompt
Let’s go! 🥤
🥡 5 in 5 …
The Five Stories You Need to Know This Week
Mastercard Teams Up With MoonPay for Web3 Push 👉 see it here
Maison Margiela Debuts First Web3 Gamified Mint 👉 see it here
The Evolution of Marketing in Web3: Insights for 2023-2024 👉 read it here
Marco Casali reveals 43m NFT yacht concept Freedom 400GT 👉 read it here
Michelin launches NFT collection 👉 read it here
| 📧 | Web3 Messaging: Is the future of email a Wallet?
Email has been our daily companion since the 1990s - 🖐️ raise your hand if you still have a yahoo.com or hotmail.com email. Still today, over 350 billion emails are sent every day. From a marketing standpoint, we thought email had lost it’s sparkle to social media messaging and whatsapp messaging as a means for brands to connect with their audiences. But we find that email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing channels to nurture and encourage repeat business.
Email marketing is a powerful and essential tool for businesses because it allows them to connect with their audience, promote products or services, and build customer relationships through direct communication.
PS: You’ve Got Mail
Over the past twenty years, email has played a pivotal role in the way we communicate online. It started out as a simple text-based correspondence tool but has since grown into a global tool that has changed how people and businesses connect and communicate. Here are some of the ways email has changed over the years:
More accessible: Initially only used on desktop computers, the smartphone has meant that email communication is now available everywhere and anywhere.
Fighting spam: Email got a bad rap in the early 2000s because of spam and viruses. This led to an increase in the use of spam filters, which enhanced their security features to protect against phishing and malware.
Integrated marketing: Initially, emails were only text-based, but now they support multimedia content, including images, videos, and interactive elements (such as quizzes and polls). This also led to content being shared across multiple channels, such as social media or blogs. It’s become a key component of an integrated marketing strategy.
Personalisation: Personalised communication is what users want. We can now use data to personalise email communication based on past content consumption or preferences. This is done by segmenting your email subscribers by interests and demographics.
Hello funnel: Email automation means you send emails based on a trigger or specific actions. This can be a welcome email after someone has subscribed to your newsletter or made a trial purchase. Email automation has allowed marketers to nurture their future clients and maintain communication lines open.
Data Analytics: The power of digital marketing lies in its data and the analysis and resulting decisions that can be made from it. In email, we look at how many times users open emails and click on the email to assess whether it was a good engagement tactic. These insights and key metrics allow for continuous improvement.
GDPR and Privacy Regulations: We used to be able to send emails to everyone and anyone. In Europe, data protection laws like GDPR were put into place to ensure that this didn’t happen. It’s changed how we can collect, store, and manage email subscriber data and ensure that emails are received when wanted.
Email has changed significantly in the last 20 years and it’s become a pillar of digital marketing communication. As we move forward, we can ask ourselves: How are new technologies like Web3 changing the way we communicate or use email?
Web3 and email—where are we going?
So researching this article, I found that Web3 Email is a thing. But first, let’s see how users communicate in a Web3 world.
The basic premise of Web3 is that it is a version of the internet that is centred around self-sovereignty and inclusion. It allows you to take ownership of your data and digital assets. Web3 uses decentralised blockchain technology to operate, which brings security and transparency to the way we use the internet.
For those that have just arrived and missed the introduction to Web3 - I encourage you to read previous articles like An introduction to Web3 or 10 Ways Web3 will change the world to get an idea of the philosophy behind Web3 technology.
The Wallet
When you start operating in Web3 you quickly understand that you need a wallet. I personally use Metamask but there are others (please do your research) and it’s always a good idea to get more than one wallet. I also store my cryptocurrency on a cold wallet (an offline wallet, which means that your cryptocurrency is stored off the internet); in my case, I use Ledger.
A wallet is a key component of Web3 as it stores your private keys. This is data that allows you to access and manage your blockchain-based assets, like cryptocurrencies and NFTs, in a private and self-custodial fashion.
Key features of Web3 Wallets
Peer-to-peer: Web3 wallets allow you to send money from one wallet to another through a blockchain network without the need for an intermediary like a bank or payment platform.
Multiple assets: Web3 wallets can be used with a variety of blockchain networks and applications, which means you can trade / share cryptocurrencies or NFTs from a single interface.
Security: Web3 wallets use strong encryption to protect private keys from hackers and other third-party threats.
Interoperability: Web3 wallets can interact with other Web3 applications.
Privacy: Web3 wallets do not require users to share their personal information with third-party providers, which means you can maintain greater control over your digital assets and personal data.
ENS Domains
When you connect to a Web2 interface to buy crypto or an NFT, it will ask that you connect your wallet and a unique key. You can also get a Web3 username using ENS.domains. Once you do this, it somewhat simplifies this process by allowing you to create a unique address with a +.eth extension and link that to your wallet. For example, I created a Web3 username (nicolebooth.eth) which allows me to enter one username on any Web3-enabled interface to link to my wallet.
So what does this mean going forward and where is the link to email?
Web3 Messaging
Web3 messaging enables you to send messages directly to users' wallets, somewhat resembling email functionality but on a wallet-to-wallet basis. Compared to traditional email services, Web3 emails want to offer a more secure, private, and decentralised email experience. It gives users more control over their data and communications is encrypted.
So right now, the key differentiators with a traditional email are privacy, decentralisation, and possibly censorship resistance. Which means that your personal information is protected and you own your own data.
So what I hear you say? So it’s more secure and private and I’m protected if Google vanishes from the universe.
Well, as always, I like to put my marketing hat on and look at technology from the perspective of how it can improve brand communication with their audience.
In a Web3 world, marketing is bottom-up and incentive-driven. The user is incentivized through rewards (tokens, NFTs, and sometimes cryptocurrencies) to take a certain action. This helps brands build stronger connections with their potential customers and share their brand story with a captive audience. Look at how Starbucks used its incentivised loyalty program to share its brand story and values and drive growth.
Direct Messaging with Rewards
Web3 messaging opens up new avenues for targeted and personalised marketing, which, when combined with tokenization, allows you to reward desired behaviour and incentivize user engagement.
So what does this mean?
These new tools allow you to create individualised incentives that encourage closer ties with users by providing a reward (a token, an NFT, or crypto) in exchange for actions like sharing content, making recommendations, or providing feedback. These personalised and token-driven approaches to marketing empower individuals to actively participate and engage with brands on their own terms.
You can also leverage NFTs to create limited-edition digital collectibles, virtual experiences, or exclusive access to content, thereby increasing brand visibility and fostering brand loyalty. NFTs enable you to tap into the growing trend of digital ownership and provide memorable and valuable experiences to your audiences. By integrating NFTs into marketing campaigns, brands can create a sense of scarcity, exclusivity, and personal connection that resonates with their target market.
All this is done through the wallet.
Examples of Web3 Messaging Tools
PERCS - an all-in-one marketing tool that lets brands communicate with wallets
What does the future hold?
Although Web3 messaging services are promising and could potentially define the future of communication in Web3, the adoption rate is still very low.
In contrast, nearly everyone who uses the internet uses email.
I don’t see email disappearing anytime soon. But it’s interesting to see how technology is helping brands find other ways to connect with their audiences and if rewards can be shared, then everyone wins.
Next month, I will take a look at how Web3 marketing tactics have helped Nike, one of the biggest brands in the world, cement their legacy with the next generation—today.
IA - Your weekly ChatGPT Prompt
This week I wanted to share an article from marketing guru Andy Crestodina. He shared his 13 ChatGPT prompts for on-point targeting when thinking of your content strategy:
👉 👉 👉 Read it here
That’s all for this week… 🫶
Please note that I do not recommend or endorse the companies and organisations mentioned in this newsletter. This content is purely informative and not a recommendation. Always be mindful of where you connect your wallet. Always do your own research. 💛