• Design: The Center of the Circle
    In Chapter 13 of his energizing book, "The Circle of Innovation," Tom Peters argues that design should inform how we all work, at every level. For Peters, design is the ultimate key, and this makes a lot of sense to us.
  • Communicating For Both Sides Of The Brain
    Most email marketers have their customers segmented by various categories of behavior and personal characteristics, from age and gender to region and income. However, there is one attribute all people have, which is generally not taken into consideration in the creation of an email -- that is, whether the reader is right-brained or left-brained. Yet this factor is a major determinant in how an email -- or any communication -- is apprehended and processed. Understanding what makes right- and left-brained people different can help you to craft communications that work more powerfully for both types of customers.
  • Expanding Email Reach Via Social Networks
    Some email marketers say that the growth of social media directly challenges email's supremacy for communication. To me, now is a prime opportunity to expand the subscriber relationship to incorporate community, content sharing, feedback and user-generated content.
  • Once Again: Email List Growth Doesn't Equal Revenue Growth
    In last month's column I implored email marketers to replace ineffective batch-and-blast methods blindly focused on list growth with more meaningful lifecycle-based approaches that improve how the email program actually resonates with subscribers. When you isolate what works and doesn't, this hard data helps you quickly make the case for doing more of the former -- and get the resources you need to automate and optimize. Start with response measures, but understand that most open and click data reflect only averages. To improve your existing reports, measure response by subscriber profile segments. Then, measure and benchmark to these engagement metrics.
  • Presenting Your Email Results
    If you are like most email marketers, it's all you can do to keep the trains running on time, and things like reporting fall by the wayside. At some point, however, we all must pause to review our efforts, presenting lessons learned and recommendations to executives, creatives and colleagues. The presentation is generally created with the software we love to hate: PowerPoint
  • IAB Issues Email Data Management Best Practices
    The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of "Email Data Management Best Practices" on Thursday. I sat down with John Engler, vice president and general Manager of Unsub Central, and a member of the IAB subcommittee that developed the standards, for more insight into the recommendations.
  • Why Aren't We More Daring?
    Most ESPs now make it easy to perform a variety of A/B split tests, which let you send out two versions of an email to a limited portion of your list and then send the better-performing of the two to the rest of your list. So why aren't more marketers doing them?
  • Teens, College Students And Young Adults: Where Does Email Fit?
    As an Email Insider, you already know that email is a highly effective direct marketing channel. Even so, it can be hard to articulate why this is the case when confronted with constant questions about new channels such as text messaging or social network sites. This is especially the case when your target demographic is young and on the move. "Our consumers are all young, why in the world would we want to invest in email?" If you have ever faced this question, here is some ammunition for you.
  • Inspire Me!: Email's Ten 'Demandments'
    Kelly Mooney's "The Ten Demandments" is an essential handbook for satisfying today's informed, empowered and demanding customer. Mooney's sharp tips for the broader business world transfer naturally to the inbox. Know your email subscribers' "demandments" and direct your messages toward meeting and exceeding them.
  • September's Tips For Email Marketing
    With all that is being written about email marketing, I tend to struggle with finding ideas and content to write about without restating the obvious or appearing too simple in approach. Yet, there are times when returning to the basics is important. This is the time for checklists to counter all your great ideas. Top tips for September, given it's back-to-school season....
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