Stress-Testing the Email Channel: Learning From A Crisis

For 15 years, MediaPost has gathered the best and the brightest email marketing mavens to share their best practices, scope out the key trends, learn from one another. But never has the email channel been stress tested so thoroughly than in the last four months. The Summer 2020 edition shares the lessons learned from marketers pivoting their businesses and messaging needs to extraordinary circumstances as well as how they are pivoting to a new normal. What worked and what didn't? Adjusting to radically new circumstances pressed existing email content, personalization, CRM, sales and loyalty systems. Marketers from a range of brands will share the crisis shuffled best practices.

Moving forward, how are seasoned email directors already integrating the experience of the current crisis into future personalization and data strategies? How are they unwinding from the crisis from the crisis? What aspects of email messaging will return to normal and what changes for good?

The Summer EIS stays down to earth - focuses on how email marketers have become even more vital to building relationships with customers.

On the front end, where are brands sourcing their best data, tying IDs across channels, and vetting the tech that drives your best plans? And how is that smarter data fueling more creative audience segmenting, messaging, triggering? And do the new in-box tools like AMP, multimedia, interactivity really move the KPI needle?

The most beloved, longest-running meeting of the email minds focuses the Spring edition on practical examples of smarter tactics that will win the in--box awards of 2020.

Join the conversation #MPEIS

Conference Content Programmer:

Steve Smith, VP, Editorial Director, Events, MediaPost

Advisory Board:

Chester Bullock, Director, Marketing Technology, The RentPath Network

Email Insider Summit 2020 Attendees Include

Reasons and Benefits of Attending

Unparalleled access and knowledge sharing with the leading minds in the Industry
Morning Sessions – a marketers-only agenda of peers sharing with peers their best practices, case studies, and newest tactics which can all be applied to your marketing strategies
Noon Roundtables – open, off the record, discussions of the morning's topics and how they relate to marketers' own business and experience.
Afternoon Activities allow attendees to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings while forming relationships that last well beyond the conference
Cocktails and evening dinners bring the group together over casual conversations and delicious meals
Be part of driving the Email Channel forward as a key component of marketing campaigns, within your company and the industry
Unlimited access to stay in touch with the office: WiFi enabled conference room and quiet office area; opportunities in morning to stay up to date at the office; afternoon five hour break in order to stay on top of duties
Congenial, relaxed experience. Attendees are working together to move the industry forward
Enhance your Email initiatives with new solutions learned and partnerships gained

Register for this event

Wednesday, 07/08

Day 1 - Personalization: A Strategy, Not a Tactic

From grand brand strategy to everyday execution, we open the Spring EIS drilling into the next generation of approaches to going one-to-one with your customers. How well have one-to-one strategies served email marketers during the crisis?

12:30 PM ET

Opening Remarks

MC: Steve Smith, VP, Editorial Director, Events, MediaPost @popeyesm

12:40 PM ET

Keynote: Stress-Testing ‘Customer-First’ Messaging: McD’s Emergency Pivot

For McDonalds the 2020 CRM plan had always called for a shift to customer-led messaging…until the Covid-19 crisis strapped a rocket to that plan. Catherine Thacker takes us for the unexpected ride, as email quickly emerged as a critically important channel to maintain a dialogue with customers during crisis. What did McDs learn about its customers’ needs, about balancing a customer-first approach, engagement and conversion? And as locations open up, how will consumer behaviors change and require new approaches to messaging?

Interviewee: Catherine Thacker, Director of CRM, McDonald's
Interviewer: Steve Smith, VP, Editorial Director, Events, MediaPost @popeyesm

1:05 PM ET

Sponsor Spotlight Presentation

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1:15 PM ET

Panel: Notes For an Emergency

During the Covid-19 crisis, email went from being a central channel to customers to being the ONLY one. From communicating essential information about sales policy to safety, store closings to special offers, email had to carry an unprecedented load in recent months. What did we learn? About our own infrastructure? About the limits and possibilities about this channel? About our owqn customers? We ask our marketers to reflect on what they learned, and what has the Covid-19 crisis changed our approach to email for good?

Moderator: Lisa Singer, Event Editorial Manager, MediaPost
PanelistS: Kristie Doak, Senior Manager, Database Marketing, PGA Tour; Linda Yu, Director-Outbound Marketing, Zillow

1:40 PM ET

Q&A with 7-Eleven: When Personalization Is Mission Critical

Greater personalization, dynamic content and geo-targeting are on every e-mail team’s wish list. But when the Covid-19 crisis hit, these “nice-to-have” capabilities became “need-it-now” for 7-Eleven. As lockdown policies and store procedures often varied by county and zip code, getting the accurate content to the right customer raised the stakes on personalization considerably. We explore how this crisis has accelerated 7-Eleven’s messaging journey and taught it a load of new tricks.

Interviewee: Sonia Williford-Gill, Manager, CRM, 7-Eleven

2:05 PM ET

Sponsor Spotlight Presentation and Trivia

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2:15 PM ET

Roundtables

Content Is The Best Medicine - Joshua Margulies, Director of Integrated Brand Marketing, Jacksonville Jaguars

Success Story Singalong - Leslie Jurgens, Director of Loyalty & CRM, Fresh Thyme
What worked? Our open roundtable invites veterans of EIS and newcomers to share the little and big email wind from the last few months.

Personalization When It Matters - Heather Grimstead, TheKnot
Every email marketer is on a perpetual path towards better perosnalization of their messaging. Has this exceptional year accelerated or disrupted the personalization plan?

Thursday, 07/09

Day 2 - It's All About Execution

Day 2 of EIS drills into the messaging toolbox to see what is working, from interactivity to testing, dynamic creative to timing and cadence, marketers from a range of brands share their best practices, hard lessons learned.

12:30 PM ET

Welcome Back

MC: Steve Smith, VP, Editorial Director, Events, MediaPost @popeyesm

12:40 PM ET

Keynote: Personalization on the Fast Track

Keynote: Allie Donovan, Director of Email and Retention, Brooklinen

1:05 PM ET

Sponsor Spotlight Presentation

1:35 PM ET

Panel: Messaging the Crisis: Rethinking Content

The Covid-19 crisis forced all marketers to pivot their messaging sharply and quickly. For most brands, the usual sales pitch felt inappropriate, The email channel became critical to effecting the right tone, voice and information. How did brands meet the content challenge? What messaging is resonating best with customers now, and how does messaging unwind from crisis mode to a new normal?

Moderator: Lisa Singer, Event Editorial Manager, MediaPost
PanelistS: Stephanie Fagan, Director of Email Marketing, Spartan Race, Inc.; Mike Lawson, Copywriter, Beardbrand

1:45 PM ET

Case Study: Policy Genius and RedFin Co-presentation

PresenterS: Jessica Owen, Associate Director, CRM, Policy Genius; Katie Raynolds, Marketing Channel Manager, Redfin

2:00 PM ET

Sponsor Spotlight and Break

2:15 PM ET

Roundtables

Stress-Testing Testing
Chester Bullock, Director, Marketing Technology, RentPath
A/B Testing is core to email marketing. But what happens when Disaster strikes and other priorities take precedence? Does testing have a role in crisis messaging?

What people are saying about this event

"The Email Insider Summit was the most productive conference me and my team have ever attended. The event featured great speakers and sessions, and the venue was incredible. We love what you guys do. THANK YOU!"

- Eleni McCready, Director of Brand Marketing + Media, Lilly Pulitzer

"The Email Insider Summit is one of the best conferences I've attended when it comes to the world of email marketing. The intimate setting allows great conversation with peers and I love all the gold nuggets I pick up from the sessions... nuggets of opportunity that are leveraged to improve the email platform here at FedEx."

- Andrew Bailey, Senior Marketing Specialist, FedEx

"It's hard to find another industry event with a such a high concentration of quality content and presenters. If email rules your day, make time in your schedule to attend the Email Insider Summit."

- Andrew J. Brawley, CRM Manager, KinderCare Education.

"What a great conference! Hands down the best conference I have ever been to. So impressed about the overall coordination and access to some of the top email minds in the world. I am extremely thankful I had the opportunity to attend."

- Matthew Neibert, Director, Email/Web Development, Integrated Retail, Sears

"The Email Insider Summit was the best conference I've attended in my six years in email channel optimization/database marketing. There was a balanced ratio of vendors to brand attendees so the discussion was rich and the networking was second to none. Great content and really great attendees. A very well done event!"

- Rosanna Martinez, Sr. Database Manager, National Instruments

"Big kudos to the Email Insider Summit. The event was extremely well organized and executed. I'm sure a lot of time and energy went into the planning and management of the event. To the attendees, it appeared flawless. Thanks again for a very enjoyable conference - it was great, and I learned a lot."

- Jim Fisher, GM-CRM Fulfillment & Email Operations, General Motors Company

"MediaPost does a great job of balancing the attendee list with varying perspectives to drive content rich discussions. I walk away from these events with new ideas, new perspectives and new friends. MediaPost brings together the brightest minds in the industry, bar none."

- Nicole Matuga, Senior Manager, Digital Media Acquisition, Experian Consumer Direct

"The Email Insider Summit is one of the most inspiring and insightful events I've ever attended. So many great industry minds all in one cozy lodge. I brought back a wealth of practical and actionable learnings that I'm already putting to great use. I can't wait to attend again."

- Wayne Miller, Sr. Digital Marketing Manager, Zumba Fitness

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Stress-Testing the Email Channel: Learning From A Crisis

Conference Content Programmer:

Advisory Board: