• Was Shutterfly's 'Oops' Response Picture-Perfect Or Out-Of-Focus?
    Are you a Shutterfly email subscriber who received the online photo service's errant "Congratulations on your new arrival!" email in your inbox recently? Maybe you shrugged, laughed, deleted the email or did all three. Or, like hundreds of other recipients, you took to Twitter or Facebook to tease or scold the company on its misfired message. Errant emails like Shutterfly's are almost inevitable in email marketing. Your mistake might not generate the same social and news media heat, but you should be ready for anything and have steps to manage it in your disaster-preparation plan.
  • Defining Your Key Performance Indicators
    During MediaPost's Email Insider Summit in April, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Chris Marriott (The Relevancy Group, LLC), Florence Ho (Wyndham Worldwide), and Nancy Shaver (Experian Marketing Services) to discuss our approach to defining and measuring attribution, a practice that haunts so many brands. While we covered a variety of topics, one of the most fundamental attribution challenges that we discussed was that many brands do not define, own and measure their key performance indicators (KPIs). It seems that many companies are thinking about KPIs, but don't really know how to begin defining them. In …
  • You've Got (Too Much) Mail
    Recently I asked someone, what would cause you to unsubscribe from your favorite brand's email? His response: receiving too many messages. While that isn't a surprising answer, it was interesting to note that he actually WAS interested in the content, but it came too frequently for his liking. It's important that messaging meets consumer expectations of frequency. Check out these tips to stave off that unsubscribe and keep consumers engaged with your messages.
  • Overcoming Obstacles To Relevant Marketing
    There are several different names for relevant marketing: personalized marketing, individualized marketing, one-to-one marketing, micro marketing are some we've heard. Lots of companies want to do it, primarily for two reasons: customers are objecting to "one size fits all" spam, and vendors believe that relevance raises response rates. But whatever you call it, and regardless of your motivation, there is little consensus on how to communicate in a meaningful and unique way to each of your customers.
  • More Email Marketing Double-Dog Dares
    Since email is a fast-moving, fast-evolving channel, marketers must be experimenters to succeed at a high level. With that in mind, I dare you - no, I double-dog dare you - to test these out-of-the-box, bleeding-edge, and fun/weird ideas:
  • Mobile Isn't Mobile Without Email
    The smartphone really isn't a mobile device anymore, it's an appendage that one simply doesn't go anywhere without. Apps are so abundant and readily available, there's an endless world of experiences for anything you can think of, some more valuable than others. There's even an app called "email," which happens to be on the front screen of all mobile devices, and is the one users spend hours a day checking and interacting with.
  • Surprise And Delight Your Best Customers
    I travel a lot and spend many nights in hotels for my job. So it's really nice, for example, when a hotel chain surprises me with a temporary bump in my status, upgrading my room to a large suite. That "surprise and delight" acknowledgement shows companies appreciate my loyalty and that the money I (my employer) spend with them time after time can make me an even more devoted customer. Your best customers appreciate these gestures, too. They might be in your loyalty or rewards program, if you have one, but adding an email-marketing program that thanks these top-tier customers …
  • Why Yahoo's DMARC Policy Matters to Marketers
    When Yahoo became the first major mailbox provider to publish a DMARC reject policy last month, most of the discussion about it focused on immediate implications. Clearly there are a few, but the big picture is far more interesting: As a direct result, the entire email ecosystem will become a little safer in the near term, and potentially a lot safer in the foreseeable future -- and that's great news for marketers.
  • Integrating Email And Social To Enhance Performance Of Both
    As a marketing strategist, I am intrigued by how "The Voice" leverages digital marketing to generate excitement and boost audience participation. Social media plays a key role in the show, which is best exemplified by the "Instant Save."
  • Demographic Data Is Dead: Get Action Through Live Data Instead
    I'm going to start this column with a pronouncement: demographic data is dead, and that's why email marketing is more relevant than ever.
« Previous Entries