I recently read a New York Times article that likened abandoned cart email programs to having a salesperson chase you out of the store and down the street after deciding not to buy -- and it got me thinking. Leveraging behavioral-based information to drive, segment and target your email marketing messages is what is going to lead us to the relevance pot of gold, but we need to be smart about it. As marketers, we have to ask ourselves, "How would I feel if someone sent this email to me?" And if the answer is anything but positive, you need …

With email, it is easy to get stuck in a rut and send a message that lacks anything that will interest the majority of your readers. Every once in a while, it is worth stepping back, looking at your messages and asking the question, is this message boring?

In a channel as new as email, we have the privilege of constantly testing and discovering best practices. We get to watch -- and participate -- as the "rules" of the industry evolve and change. That said, we also operate under the domain of tried and tested rules of the business world. In their book "Death to All Sacred Cows: How successful business people put the old rules out to pasture," David Bernstein, Beau Fraser and Bill Schwab challenge us all to think beyond "Sacred Cows." As they use the term, a Sacred Cow is a "saying, motto or aphorism …

Trend forecasts are the columnist's last resort at the end of the publishing year. Here, at the midpoint of this year, I'd like to look at five macro trends that promise far-reaching impact on your email program.

According to comScore, more than 10 billion video clips are viewed online every month -- providing companies big and small with an incredible opportunity for cost-effective branding, product display and demonstration. Ironically, the ability to incorporate streaming video into an email campaign was practiced in the early days of the commercial Internet, yet stymied when inbox providers and software developers started blocking javascript in email for obvious security reasons. With cutting-edge video technologies now available and the pent-up demand for video integration with email from both marketers and consumers, inbox providers are heeding the call by developing new programs for …

The rise of social media is changing subscribers' expectations of the email channel. At the same time, there's much that social network communities can learn from email.

The market is forcing marketers to address more complex questions than most have the bandwidth, resources and budgets to address. There's a lot of talk about retention marketing these days. In down times many organizations constrict, focusing on retaining customers, maximizing profits and controlling expenses. In good times, companies tend to think about new acquisition options, testing new channels and expanding reach in the marketplace. Two years ago the major goal of most companies we talked to was growing their consumer/b2b database. Today, it's about making money with what you have.