• Write Your Congressman Today!
    It is fascinating to look at the email campaigns from political groups. The first thing you notice is that these folks are worse than me when it comes to spelling. Now I'm not taking sides, but the Republicans in particular are lousy when it comes to spelling, sometimes to pretty hilarious results.
  • Deliverability Makeover
    Dear Email Diva: I run AdFemme.com and its weekly e-newsletter. Each week I've noticed that fewer people get the email in their inboxes OR at all. The entire list is made up of people who registered on the site or via the forward link on the newsletters -- so they are high-converting and very interested in receiving the newsletters. What can be done to get the newsletters to everyone on the list and into their inboxes (not junk folders)?
  • How Much Is An Email Address Worth To Your Business?
    On the surface of it, measuring the value of email marketing is simple: 1,000 emails go out, 995 were delivered, 300 unique people viewed the message in HTML, 100 clicked on one of more links, and 30 purchased something. Thus, based on a causal relationship to direct response, anyone can demonstrate the value of the email channel to a business. However, few people in our space have found a formula that represents the true or implied value of an email address to a business. This is why many will ask, "how should I build an email database?"
  • Value Of Email Address A Gap In Marketer's Toolkit
    Last week's column by Chad White explored the variety of refer-a-friend programs used by retailers. Let's put that and every other topic around email marketing in perspective -- if marketers can't establish clear ROI of our email file, how can we optimize the subscriber experience and obtain necessary resources?
  • Email List Trends Review
    We've been monitoring the number of active legitimate email marketing lists, and have been noticing some interesting trends. In general, we see a steady build-up of the number of lists sending emails from October through the Christmas holidays, followed by a steep decline. Last year the decline remained relatively steady from January to October, but this year we are noticing an almost immediate recovery.
  • Sending Text Or HTML (Multipart MIME) Messages
    Dear Email Diva: I would like to test sending Multipart MIME messages, but do not know how to implement. Is there any way you can provide detailed instructions on how to build and send these messages?
  • Landing Page And Site Optimization
    You create a great email program, you optimize creative, timing and targeting; the recipient finds it interesting and clicks through to the Web site. Touchdown! Or is it? Just how well is the user paid off for his effort once he reaches the Web site? Landing pages and direct response Web experiences can make or break the email marketer. Most companies develop site experiences based on marketing intuition instead of empiric data regarding the way a page, a group of pages or tasks are performed on a site.
  • Retailers' Refer-A-Friend Programs Vary Widely
    FOR ONLINE RETAILERS with limited store presence, word of mouth can be invaluable. While send-to-a-friend (STAF) programs can be useful to just about any retailer for generating viral buzz, refer-a-friend (RAF) programs appear to have their niche with some of these store-poor retailers, particularly those with higher-end products. Unlike STAF, which forwards a newsletter along to a friend, RAF programs send an email that introduces the friend to the retailer.
  • Loose Ends
    This column will provide some follow-up and updates for items mentioned in past columns. An e-mail scam artist finally gets caught; another scam becomes immortalized on "Saturday Night Live"; companies claim "we don't do e-mail," despite much evidence to the contrary.
  • E-mail For PR Firms
    The E-mail Diva discusses the fine points of delivering press releases electronically. For instance: Is a press release ever considered spam?
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