Online retailers sent their subscribers an average of 4.1 messages last week, a 22% increase over the same week last year. Friday was the most popular sending day, possibly reflecting an increase on cross-channel promotions designed to reach consumers before weekend in-store visits. 

Automated emails that are triggered by an action (such as subscribing to a list or making a purchase) can be even more effective when coupled with behavioral data for improved targeting. For example, a message to a new subscriber might have very different content if the signup had never purchased before, as opposed to an opt-in that occurred on the customer's first purchase. Learn some simple content changes that can make radical improvements in results.  Read the full article on the Silverpop blog.

Politicians may write the laws that govern the country, but they must abide by those that govern the inbox. As election day nears, the volume of email from the candidates is escalating, while response rate begins to wane. Campaign strategists are turning towards social media to amplify the most shareable content and to take some of the burden off of email so that it performs at its peak.

ExactTarget's $95.5 million acquisition of marketing automation company Pardot last week reflects a maturing email services marketplace, where companies are aggregating increasingly sophisticated services into a single platform in order to obviate the customer need to piece together a best-of-breed solution with multiple providers. Marketing automation in particular underscores the move towards individually targeted emails, which reach customers at the peak of engagement and command higher click rates. 

New research from GetResponse has found that an email's open rate is highest within the first hour of receipt. During this period messages in the study saw a 23% open rate. The emails remaining unopened in the inbox between one and two hours saw the open rate plummet to 9.5%, and during the next hour to 6.3%. The research also found that the most responsive send times were between 8am - 10am, and 3pm - 4pm. 

Anyone who has emailed Paul Jones, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, since June 1, 2011 has received an auto-response informing the sender that he is no longer on email and not coming back. After analyzing all of the communications channels available, Professor Jones decided that email took the most time and yielded the least useful communication, and said that "holding onto email is like a bike racer on training wheels." Instead, he can be reached through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Skype, even YouTube - almost anyplace but the inbox. On Thursday of this week he will give a talk about …

StrongMail today announced the release of MessageStudio 7.1, enhanced with new CRM features. Third-party data overlay and enhanced lifestyle marketing capabilities highlight the new functionality.

Last year, 18% of shoppers made purchases on mobile phones, a figure that is expected to multiply this year. Retailers can be prepared for the mobile rush by designing emails with mobile users in mind, optimizing content and offers to engage users who are on-the-go and easily distracted, and understanding the crosschannel holiday consumer buying cycle. Read the full article at MultiChannel Merchant.

Facebook launched Custom Audience Ads three weeks ago, allowing marketers to retarget their existing customers and prospects on the site by uploading a list of their email addresses and/or phone numbers. Some early results are emerging, showing that the program is yielding worthwhile ROIs with respect to customer re-engagement and conversion. 

Any retailer already knows that email influences online holiday shopping. Well now we know how much - 80%. That is the percentage of respondents to a new survey by Yesmail who claim that email promotions "somewhat" or "strongly" influence their decision to buy online. Another key point in the study is that fully 1 in 5 have already begun their holiday shopping by October, which helps explain this year's season-creep.