2009 marked a critical year where mass awareness and adoption of social media collided with a global financial crisis. The result? Consumers became more skeptical, conscientious, and empowered -- all at the same time.

Among my forecasts for next year: Inactivation campaigns will become more important, thanks to ISPs giving weight to engagement metrics when determining whether to deliver to the inbox or junk folder or to block email. More preference centers will be launched. And, opt-out processes will become friendlier and more effective at retention.

The altitude is 8,000+ feet, it's full of snow, and 140+ have descended on Park City, Utah for the biannual Email Insider Summit hosted by MediaPost. I've been involved in this event as an advisor, speaker, moderator, roundtable lead and programming chair since we began putting these on in 2005. I continue to marvel at what a great event this is, for several simple reasons: networking, networking, networking. After all, why do we go to industry events in the first place?

One of the greatest strengths of email marketing has always been its measurability, especially compared with other channels such as print, broadcast and direct mail. The breadth and depth of available email metrics, however, is something that a lot of email marketers don't take advantage of. Or, they simply don't delve much beyond the basic open, click and bounce metrics.

In email deliverability blogs and in conversations with clients, there seems to be an underlying expectation that domain-based reputation systems at top ISPs will cure all deliverability problems for commercial mailers. I'm increasingly concerned that this excitement from email marketers is based on unrealistic expectations of how domain reputations actually works. Domain reputation is a very good thing -- but it's not going to cure all your deliverability ills.

I'm going to come right out and admit that I don't know if there is a concrete answer to that question. I know there are a lot of opinions, but is there really an answer? Sure, we can look at sales results to see if people responded to an email, but unless a retailer tests their creative with and without the Black Friday or Cyber Monday handle, there is no way to know.

Happy Cyber Monday, folks! It's that day of the year online retailers look forward to, especially given 2008's miserable numbers. This year, the National Retail Federation is projecting a nice growth over 2008. Black Friday is usually a precursor to Cyber Monday and if that is any indication, then we should expect more people hitting the sites and buying less. That's right: average order value will be down, but more people buying in a tight economy should = more sales revenue.

Case study: Tweaking its targeting techniques, an online retailer improves its loyalty program, Results far surpass previous email campaigns, with a targeting impact that's "off the charts."

Watching football on Thanksgiving has become part of the American tradition, but you might notice something nontraditional during the games this year that you can relate to your email program. Over the past couple of seasons, an unconventional offensive formation known as "the Wildcat" has spread throughout the NFL. Taking a conventional approach to your email marketing might seem a safer bet than trying new things, but an "unconventional" approach might not seem so risky if it's born of the same sound reasoning as the Wildcat formation.

Are you ready for the biggest retail email day of the year? I'm speaking, of course, of Cyber Monday, which is this upcoming Monday, Nov. 30. I expect it to easily be the biggest retail email day of the year -- and probably the biggest ever.