Transactional emails have an average open rate of around 50%, according to metrics from MarketingSherpa. In an opinion piece on MarketingLand.com, Chris Hexton, co-founder of email services company Vero, points out that newsletters only have a 20% open rate, making transactional emails 100% more effective than newsletters on average.

Two months after being acquired by Dropbox, Mailbox is releasing its iPad app. The company has been working on the app for years but it is finally ready to come out of beta. The app helps users manage and organize their email. It is designed to work well for both quick email management like when a user is quickly flipping through emails, as well as for when a user wants to sit down and respond to an email and may have a keyboard hooked up to their iPad.

ExactTarget has plans to expand its office in Atlanta and will invest $1.25 million in its expansion effort over five years, adding 225 new jobs to the area. Last October, ExactTarget acquired B-to-B software provider Pardot and will move into the company's existing office in the Atlanta area.

Although face-to-face sessions are ideal, email has shown itself to be a viable alternative for medical professionals treating patients with Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety related disorders. Nazanin Alavi, MD, of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, presented her findings at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting this week, explaining that in a 6-month trial involving 62 patients, those receiving treatment by email showed significant reductions in anxiety compared to those people receiving no therapy.

Tempo, an iOS calendar organizing app has released a new update that makes it easier for users to sync their calendar with their Gmail account. Tempo users can now invite attendees to meetings and share events with their contacts using the Gmail app for iOS instead of the native Mail client app on the device. Tempo takes details from a user's social media or email messages to add important details to calendar listings such as driving directions.

To promote its new Xbox One gaming console, Microsoft ran an email marketing offer today. Customers who signed-up for a preorder email notification on the Xbox One, would get a $10 Microsoft Store credit. The coupon giveaway is over now since too many people tried to abuse the the offer by implementing scrips, but Microsoft is still using the launch to collect email addresses.

Illinois governor Pat Quinn has signed a law that is designed to fight flash mobs of teenagers gathering in public places by targeting their electronic communications. The legislation states that an ISP must provide, "at a minimum, the name, e-mail address, internet service provider address, and location information (if available) of the person to which the communication identity is registered" if a law enforcement officer who has probable cause asks for it. The idea is to preemptively shut down these physical manifestations in the digital world.

Australian online retailer Oo.com.au has tapped digital marketing services company Responsys to help build out its digital marketing programs. The retailer, which sells products from housewares & electronics to fashion & beauty is tasking Responsys with creating an integrated cross-channel CRM program to build better relationships with its customers.

Brokerage firm LPL Financial was fined $9 million by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for 35 "separate, significant email system failures," as well as for making material misstatements to regulators during their investigation. LPL is also required to establish a $1.5 million fund to compensate potentially affected clients. This is the largest penalty Finra has ever handed out for an email violation.

Mobile payment services company Square has introduced a new service that will allow people to send money via email. The tool is called, "Square Cash," and right now it is only available in beta invite-only format. But the website's page for it shows an email to a friend with a $25 payment, with a Square email address in the CC line.