MediaPost.com: email

Case Study Finds Clarity Surpasses Cleverness in Subject Lines

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:45:05 -0400

A email case study conducted by AWeber Communications pitted clevery-crafted subject lines (e.g. "Threadless’ Frequency Alert: Hot or Not?") against clearer and more straightforward constructs (e.g. "43 Free Animated GIFs For Your Email Campaign"). Clarity emerged as the clear winner, garnering an average of 541% more response across a range of engagement metrics.

Syrian President's Email Hacked Because of World's Worst Password

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:45:05 -0400

In February, over 3000 of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were released to the Guardian. This week, the hacker who obtained the emails explained how he gained access to the President's account once he identified the President's personal email address. "You always call the heads of regimes morons, so let's try to work like morons," he told The Times of Israel. Immediately one of the hackers working on the project tried the password "1234" and successfully logged in.

Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Tactics for Email

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:45:05 -0400

Cross-Selling and Up-Selling present email marketers with the opportunity to reach customers with targeted and relevant offers. Doing it well requires taking advantage of data from multiple sources (sales records and email behavioral data), recruiting resources that allow for the merchandising, analytic and technology solutions that product the highest likelihood of success, and identifying the most apporiate time to send each message.

A CrownFriedChicken.com Address of Your Very Own

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:45:05 -0400

If fans of a brand will wear a shirt with its logo, post on its Facebook wall or champion its products in Amazon.com reviews, might they also adopt its domain name for their own email address? Crown Fried Chicken thinks so, and is allowing its customers and fans to create their own @CrownFriedChicken.com email addresses.

Facebook Repairs Misconfiguration That Allowed Spam to Friend Lists

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:45:05 -0400

A hole in Facebook's scraping protections is blamed for a spate of spam emails sent from compromised email accounts to their Facebook friends lists. The messages were personalized, both with the spoofed sender's name and the name of the recipient. According to Facebook, the incident was isolated and "was neither a mass compromise of Facebook accounts nor any leak of private information."

Mobile Email Opens Climb to 36%

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:45:05 -0400

According to a new report by Knotice, mobile email open rate during the first half of 2012 was 36%, up from 27% for the last half of 2011. The report also predicts a "mobile tipping point" where brands will see the majority of their opens occurring on mobile devices within the next 6-12 months.

Datalogix Acquires Connection Engine

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 18:10:00 -0400

Datalogix, which aims to link digital media exposure with customer purchasing data, has acquired Connection Engine, a firm with expertise in multiple areas of email marketing.

The 4 Distinct Personalities of Connected Consumers

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:45:04 -0400

A new study by the IBM Institute of Business Value surveyed over 3,800 consumers in the U.S., U.K., China, France, Germany and Japan in order to determine how people interact with technology, brands and each other. The study revealed four distinct personalities of connected consumers: Efficiency Experts who use email and social media to simplify their lives, Social Butterflies who rely on social media, IM and mobile phones to call, text and tag their friends instantly, Content Kings whose principal motivation is to consume digital content including movies, games, music and news, and Connected Maestros who integrate news, entertainment and utility apps seamlessly into their lives.

The Rules for Email A/B Testing

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:45:04 -0400

Ask an email expert any question about email and the response is usually, "It depends. You should A/B test it to find out." No matter what you are testing, following the same set of rules produces the most accurate and replicable results. This list of 10 rules includes advice on how much, how long, what and when to test, as well as tips for interpreting results.

New Kindle Fire to Include Email App

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:45:04 -0400

Amazon revealed in the press launch of its new Kindle Fire tablets that for the first time the devices' operating system will have in integrated email application. The app will integrate with Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo!. Pricing for the new tablets will begin at $159 for the original Kindle Fire with the upgraded operating system, $199 for the 7-inch version, and $299 for an 8.9-inch HD version. These price points and the integrated email app will make the Kindle Fire an important mobile platform for email marketers. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos indicated in the press release that the original Kindle Fire captured 22% of tablet sales in the U.S. in its first year of sales.

Three Counterintuitive Tips to Boost Email Results

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:45:04 -0400

As email evolves, much of what were previously considered best practices are now counterproductive. For example, auto-inserting a name is not personalization; the Rule of 7 (which posits that your audience needs to hear your message 7 times before responding) is liable to earn more spam complaints than conversions; and double opt-in makes up in subscriber quality what it gives up in quantity.

The Inbox is the New Activity Stream

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:45:04 -0400

The latest version of Confluence (an enterprise Wiki developed by Atlassian) includes a feature called "WorkBox," which functions as a task management activity stream, similar to the way many people use and organize inboxes. Similar products are available by Asana Inbox and Yammer Inbox, and ail aimed at reducing email volume. External task management applications are an approach in contrast to task management within the inbox. Harmon.ie and Qontext, for example, aim to make the inbox more functional at task management, instead of trying to replace the inbox with a separate application entirely.

Epsilon Announces Individual Email Targeting by Time and Device

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:45:04 -0400

Marketing Services Provider Epsilon has launched the Email Response Network, allowing brands to automatically deploy messages to individual subscribers based on when they are most likely to click on them. Drawing on data from all its email clients and emphasizing clicks over opens, the service operates much like a targeted display ad network, serving email messages based on individual behavioral data. For example, a subscriber who regularly checks mail on her iPhone first thing in the morning would be more likely to respond to a promotion to download a new mobile app when on that device. A message requiring more consideration or deeper engagement which typically sees higher click-throughs from the desktop can be targeted to reach the subscriber later in the day when she is at her desk.

2012 OMMA Awards Finalist: Online Advertising Creativity Email: Campaign or Standalone, Digitas, Delta Air Lines

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:56:08 -0400

Delta’s 2011 holiday ecard took those who opened the email on a world tour, tying in season’s greetings with Delta destinations. The interface was simple yet inventive, a vertical scroller that users could navigate by swiping, sliding or clicking. Each slide represented a different destination, with a button to click to hear “Happy Holidays” said in the native tongue and other buttons that displayed facts about the city when hovered over.

Find the complete list of 2012 OMMA Awards Finalists here.
Winners will be announced at the 2012 OMMA Awards reception in New York on October 1, 2012

2012 OMMA Awards Finalist: Online Advertising Creativity Email: Campaign or Standalone, Engauge, Food Lion

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:55:51 -0400

This supermarket chain used email as a way to connect and activate its fans, both in the email content and through heavy Facebook integration. The four-week Holiday Bake-Off Promotion coincided with the winter holiday season. The campaign encouraged people to submit their favorite recipes using Food Lion’s Facebook tab. Once people submitted their recipe — in one of four categories — an email was triggered, real-time, using an API call in ExactTarget. The email had the user-submitted photo and the recipe in a shareable format that linked back to the brand’s Facebook page.

Find the complete list of 2012 OMMA Awards Finalists here.
Winners will be announced at the 2012 OMMA Awards reception in New York on October 1, 2012

2012 OMMA Awards Finalist: Online Advertising Creativity Email: Campaign or Standalone, Yesmail Interactive, HP Home and Home Office Store

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:55:26 -0400

With fun, engaging creative, Yesmail spread the word about an HP clearance event. At first glance, the email looks like a static email, with art displaying HP products. Then poof! One by one they begin to disappear in a puff of smoke. The playful message that shoppers needed to hurry or miss the best deals was effective: Compared to the same event the year before, the 2012 campaign saw a 132 percent lift in clicks, a 37 percent lift in conversion and generated a 29 percent lift in revenue per message sent, even with a send volume higher than that of the previous year.

Find the complete list of 2012 OMMA Awards Finalists here.
Winners will be announced at the 2012 OMMA Awards reception in New York on October 1, 2012

What Email Practices Have You Rethought Recently?

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:16:56 -0400

In this and past political seasons, one often-discussed topic is whether it's OK for a candidate to change his stance on an issue. If candidates change their opinion because their views and assumptions have truly changed and evolved over the years, then I would argue changing one's views is a positive sign. It can show a willingness to change and evolve as they learn more - through facts, real-world use cases and personal experiences. On the other hand, changing your stance simply to get more votes -- or because that's the way the wind is blowing -- is cowardly or calculating or both.

Overcoming the Challenges of SMS Messages