MediaPost | Email Insider

Timeless Email Marketing Quips From The White House

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:34:10 -0500

As we head into February of a presidential election year, there's no doubt that the political season is in full swing. And with the State of the Union address, primaries and debates, there are always a number of funny quips that get uttered. As I was conducting my research of the presidential candidates, determining positions and forming my own opinions about these folks, I came across my fair share of entertaining quotes from present and past presidents. And being the passionate email marketer that I am, I quickly realized that these guys had a lot to say to email marketers at large.

Three Hotspots For Email Marketing Errors

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:08:05 -0500

Last week I published the 6th annual Oopsy Hall of Fame, which highlights email errors from top retailers. Pretty much every retailer I track contributed to the list, so it's less about the names and much more about the kinds of errors being made. Every year the hotspots for errors shift; my hope is that marketers will continually refocus on where errors are costing them the most. Here are three error-prone areas that were hotspots during 2011:

Response Modeling

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:28:27 -0500

Marketers for years have tried variances of mapping response to timing and trigger messaging. It absolutely makes sense in some cases. Yet if it's so successful, why isn't response modeling and behavioral targeting through email more pervasive in the space?

Behavior-Based Email Triggers? Let Me Count The Ways

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:49:43 -0500

If you want to make 2012 your "Think Big" year, as I've been encouraging in my recent Email Insider columns, adding or expanding the number of behavior-based triggered email programs you deploy should probably be on your list.

The Obligatory Post About Email Resolutions For The New Year

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:04:26 -0500

It may be late January already, but any steps you take to improve your email program are always timely and will pay off throughout the coming year. In considering my advice today, I thought about how pertinent the average person's New Year's resolutions are to email. Without further ado, here are some resolutions you might adopt to improve your program's results.

Welcome To The Beginning Of Email Marketing Conference Season

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:47:21 -0500

Ahh, it's that time of year again. The time when we look at our travel schedules and realize that it is Email Marketing Conference Season! The season kicks off with MarketingSherpa and wraps with Media Post's Email Insider Summit -- four months of immersing yourself in learning and innovating the email industry, one conference at a time!

Is What's Good For Deliverability Bad For Marketing?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:50:52 -0500

I'm on a bunch of interesting email discussion lists for email marketers, for email technologists and for anti-messaging abuse folks. From time to time, someone raises a question that really gets my mind going. This past week, someone asked (I'll paraphrase) "Are the demands of email marketing antithetical to the practices required for good delivery?" This is a really great question.

To Optimize Or Abandon: Balancing Data-Driven Decisions With Intuition

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:08:07 -0500

One of my favorite aspects of email marketing is that we have a distinct advantage in getting performance metrics immediately when we send a campaign. I jokingly refer to it as "design by the numbers." We get the instant gratification along with the long-time lessons associated with weeks and weeks of metrics reviews.

The ESP RFP Of The Future

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:03:18 -0500

I think most of you have been a part of an Email Service Provider RFP or RFI process at some point. For years, the RFP trend was a two- to three-year virtuous cycle, a long draw-out process with a lot of people chiming in who didn't really know much about email or technology. The frequency of switching was mostly attributed to either the need to compress costs or the advent of new people (email professionals had a two- to three-year tenure in roles). If you've been on one side of the other of these processes, it's painful for all involved. I honestly think these are a tremendous drain of time and effort, without a great deal of value.

Nine Steps To Getting The Big Stuff Done

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:07:42 -0500

In my previous Email Insider column, I urged you to think big in 2012: to identify the most critical aspect of your email program and focus on ways to improve it so that you can drive greater success and take your program to a higher level. This, of course, raises the perennial frustration among marketers: "How can I work on this big, important project when I'm already stretched thin on the work my boss expects me to do every day?" Below are several approaches to help you win over management, not just to get them to see things your way, but also to secure the resources you need:

Email + Social's 'Chuck Fruit Moment'

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:04:30 -0500

I was working at the Interactive Advertising Bureau a decade ago when I first heard the term "Chuck Fruit Moment." Chuck Fruit was the head of marketing for Anheuser-Busch in 1979 when he agreed to a meeting with a group of entrepreneurs set to launch the first all-sports television network: ESPN. Where others would have seen risk, Chuck Fruit saw a huge opportunity -- for his brand to own all of sports. He signed a $15 million deal to be the exclusive beer sponsor with the fledgling network, a move that is credited with not only launching the venerated cable TV brand, but establishing cable TV as a legitimate advertising channel in its own right.

Five Email Screw-Ups, And What To Do About Them

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:43:53 -0500

I know a thing or two about screwing up. With almost 10 years working in email marketing I, or the people who work for me, are bound to make mistakes once in awhile. I have nightmares about it. I have anxiety about hitting "send." Inevitably mistakes happen. As the legendary physicist Nils Bohr said, "An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." If that's what it takes, call me an expert. Let me share with you some of those mistakes and, in my expert opinion, the best way to handle them.

Nine Email-Related Companies To Watch In 2012

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:08:21 -0500

Instead of filling your inbox with more predictions for the year to come, I thought it would be much more useful for me to highlight some of the companies that I will be watching in 2012. Several of these companies shared their solutions on panels at Mediapost Email Insider Summits in 2011 and piqued my interest. Others are companies I have been introduced to by clients or trusted colleagues. Still others we already use on a regular basis. I've studied or used them all and consider all worthy of a quick look to see if they might be able to help take your program to the next level in 2012.

Will Your Email Marketing Be Socially Inept This Year?

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:20:42 -0500

There are so many ways one can "optimize" an email program. Depending on the maturity of your email program, your product or even your company can drive the needs of this optimization effort. But one thing is sure: no matter where you sit in maturity, you can benefit by more effectively integrating social into your program this year.

Social CRM Is Coming -- Are You Ready?

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:25:41 -0500

For a long time, customers have made it clear that if brands want to capture their attention in the inbox, those brands should have something valuable to say. Not just valuable information, but information that is valued by the individual recipient. In other words, a brand's messages should be individually relevant. This is a high standard for any brand. Most cannot live up to these expectations.These new tools are going to create a new sub-industry known as Social CRM. Social CRM is going to help us listen to our customers and give them the relevant messages they want. It is also going to help us partner with our customers to make our products and services better.

Holiday Season Email Marketing Highlights

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:54:19 -0500

The email marketing holiday season was a wild ride -- one that looked considerably different from past years and will surely set the tone for the 2012 holiday season. Here are some of the highlights that made this holiday season remarkable:

2012: The Year Of Thinking Big

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:53:45 -0500

In my final Email Insider column of the year, I'm not going to list the usual 2011 highlights or 2012 trends for email marketing. No checklists, or top 10 must-do lists or must-not-do lists this time. Instead, I ask you to do just one thing in 2012: focus on improving the single most critical aspect of your email program in order to drive significantly more revenue or conversions and to exceed, not just meet, your key program goals.

Does Google Have A Love/Hate Relationship With Email Marketers?

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:49:51 -0500

I am intrigued by the revelation that Google is testing email subscriptions within its paid search results. And it looks like the company is starting with Honda. There is conjecture that this may only garner a small conversion rate, but I find it interesting that a company that has made it so difficult for email marketers to engage with its subscribers is now encouraging email subscription -- if it can charge the marketer a premium for it (I bet).

Email Is Everywhere (Even, Ugh, The Bathroom)

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:25:43 -0500

Marketing trade publications have been declaring "the year of mobile" for many years now, but this was particularly true in 2011, when the reach and effectiveness of email increased primarily thanks to mobile and tablet devices. Many pundits focus on issues of mobile design -- as if mobile emails were just like regular email, but smaller. While design is an important consideration, I think we need to focus more on how mobile email actually changes overall behavior around email in ways that could be very interesting. I see three trends to watch:

Let's Make 2012 The Year Of Mobile Email

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:48:04 -0500

This was the year that mobile email began to take hold. More and more marketers began to see their mobile open rates increase. It was impossible to ignore the growing smartphone market as it began to outpace laptop and computer sales. And now that Apple is on to its second version of the iPad, the slightly-less-early adopters have jumped on the tablet bandwagon.

Last Column Of The Year: Looking Back

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:40:00 -0500

2011 has been an explosive year by all rights. We've seen social media achieve new heights in reach: one in every nine people is on Facebook! And it's integral to our lives; each Facebook user spends over 15 hours per month on the site. That's more time than most parents will spend helping their kids do homework in any given month. We've seen the advertising industry shift as well, with more scrutinizing of online advertising.

Build (Or Transform) A Birthday Email Program In Seven Steps

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:19:37 -0500

If you've been following my Email Insider columns for a while, you probably know that I'm a big fan of the "Happy Birthday" email. It's a "high ROI/low LOE" (level of effort) email that is customer-centric, can delight your subscribers, enhance your brand and engagement, and also add a revenue stream to boost your bottom line.

Attention, Not Permission, Makes Email Strategic Communications Asset

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:09:52 -0500

We refer to email as a permission-based channel, but permission is not really the objective of an email program. It's the cost of doing business, to be sure. Before anything else, you need to have earned the right to reach out to a customer or prospect through email. But the real objective of your email program is attention. If you're a parent, particularly of a child between four and 18 years old, you already know the distinction I'm talking about. No doubt you have permission to talk to your kids whenever you want. But do you always have your kids' attention? Permission just gets you in the game, but attention is where results come from.

Is 'IT DEPENDS' The Answer To Your Email Questions? Some Musical Responses

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:16:30 -0500

At MediaPost's Email Insider Summit this week, a number of interesting conversations were held, presentations made, panels put together (as always), and tweets tweeted. One of the conversations early on was focused on email marketing strategists' liberal use of the phrase "it depends." While some feel it is overused, others agree that it is a necessary evil, given there is no single solution for all email woes.

Is Email Inactivity Underaddressed -- Or Over-Hyped?

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:16:53 -0500

The most heated panel at this winter's Email Insider Summit has been "When to Say Goodbye." This group was asked to address the reality that more than half of most email subscriber files are inactive - meaning that subscribers have not opened or clicked on an email for some extended period of time. What should you do? Should you keep mailing, remove, attempt to reactivate? And how do you determine who stays and who goes?

Email Inactivity Is Woefully Underaddressed

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:26:09 -0500

Four years ago, when I started laying the groundwork for the recently released Email Engagement & Deliverability Study, whether subscribers engaged with your emails was considerably less important. Now that ISPs are increasingly using engagement metrics to determine deliverability, it's vital to maintaining healthy inbox placement, especially for high-volume senders. In that light, I was shocked to find that so many major retailers continue to mail chronically inactive subscribers.

Top Trends For Email Service Providers

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:43:00 -0500

As we sit at the Email Insider Summit in Park City, Utah, we realize that the industry has not failed us again. Another year of record growth in email volume, number of campaigns sent, increases in transactional messaging, more sophistication in customer segmentation and rapid increases in mobile messaging.

Make It Easy On Your Subscribers

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:22:02 -0500

Email messages today deliver more value than their 20th-century counterparts through improved design and content, images, branding, and integration with websites and social networks. However, all those gains can come at a price: overly complex messages that sacrifice utility and usability for the latest email fad. Maybe it's time to consider that old design adage "Less is more" and simplify or streamline messages so that they serve both our subscribers' and our own needs without sacrificing the value that drives email's utility and ROI.

The Top-Five Things Email Marketers Should be Thankful for This Holiday Season

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:00:10 -0500

Like many of you, I gorged myself on Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday -- only to be left sleepy and desperately not wanting to attack the mound of dishes that lay ahead. As most of the family retired to the couch for some football, I picked up my Android for a quiet moment of Angry Birds before heading to the kitchen to scrub, quickly checked my email first (of course) and was compelled to reflect on what I am most thankful for: my husband, my happy, healthy children, my family and, given the economy, my job. This reflection quickly translated in my mind to the article you have before you -- so here you go:

What I'm Thankful For, 2011

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:07:39 -0500

Last year I wrote a column about some "not-so-obvious" things in the world of email that I'm thankful for. I focused on the people and technologies that keep email safe and secure. To be honest, I'm still thankful for all those things. While the fight against spam, phishing, spoofing and more wins many battles, the war continues and there is much work still to be done. This year, though, I wanted to turn my attention to more aspects of the email ecosystem that I think give us reason to be grateful.