The average open rate for an email marketing message in Australia is about 22 percent, according to a February 2013 report from Australian email marketing firm Vision6. The company gathered the data from emails that it sends on behalf of other companies. According to the report, the sales and marketing sector had the lowest unique open rate in the first half of 2012 at 11.1 percent. However, that number went up to 14.19 percent during the second half of the year. Advertising and media, on the other hand, had a higher open rate of 20.7 percent during the first half …

Chuck E. Cheese's has created a new photo app that encourages diners to take photos of "Say Cheese Here!" signs located throughout the pizza chain's restaurant in order to activate the app's augmented reality camera. Diners are encouraged to snap photos of their experiences while at the chance and then share their photos online. Under the Share Memories tab, the Chuck E. Cheese's website asks fans to submit photos and videos of their favorite Chuck E. Cheese's experiences to an email address. The chain will then post approved content to its Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest pages. The chain will continue …

Spam-fighting organization Spamhaus became the vicitim of a large distributed denial-of-service attack this week raising awareness of the security threats posed by millions of poorly configured Internet Domain Name System (DNS) servers. The attack was launched in the form of a spoofed email which appeared to be from Spamhaus and was sent to tens of thousands of DNS resolvers. The DNS resolvers responded to directly to Spamhaus generating a huge volume of traffic, a method spammers use to take down a network by directing huge volumes of useless traffic to it.

Consumers check their email more often than they browse the web or check Facebook on their mobile phones, according to a new report from IDC Research that was sponsored by Facebook. According to the report, which studied the mobile habits of almost 7,500 18-44-year-olds over a week in March, 78 percent of respondents said that email was the activity they did the most on their phone, 73 percent chose web browsing, and 70 percent chose Facebook. The report also revealed that 84 percent of mobile phone users' time is spent communicating via text, email and social, and only 16 percent …

There is a new iPhone app on the market called Sunrise lets users send emails directly from your calendar. The app pulls data from Facebook, LinkedIn, and the contacts already listed in your phone. You can tap on an attendee from any given event on your calendar, which will bring up a contact card which includes the person's Facebook photo, their professional experience, and the option to call, text, or email them.

Austrailan weight loss company Bride Body has grown its database by collecting emails through an opt-in box on it website, as well as collecting addresses at wedding expos. According to the company's founder Grace Bowe, more than 60 per cent of its customers were on the company email list prior to making a purchase.

Mobile and social are changing the email marketing landscape, argued Richard Fleck, VP of strategic services at Responsys and Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing at a panel at SESNY this week. "Email is the hub of all digital messaging," said Jenkins, as he revealed the most common goals for email marketing are very similar to the leading objectives for mobile marketing. But email has a higher ROI, he pointed out. Fleck's tips on how marketers can keep email relevant include: integrating with mobile and social, using integrated lifecycle display, and adopting predictive churn mitigation programs.

For Sundeep Kapur, director of strategic e-commerce marketing at electronic company NCR Corporation, personalization in email is more than just knowing what your customer's name is and then formatting an email ,"Dear So and So." In an interview with Direct Marketing News, Kapur said, "It's nice if I address you by your name, but it's even better if I can remember what you did the last time or if I know what you like." He recommends that email marketers use data to get to know customers better and create messaging based on their behavior.

Integrated digital marketing is helping Shutterfly keep its print photography business alive and well in a time when Kodak and Fujifilm have folded. With $641 million in sales for 2012, an increase of 35% over 2011, the company depends on smart digital promotions. Triggered emails and database integration are at the center of this game plan. The company's four main brands --Shutterfly, Tiny Prints, Wedding Paper Divas and Treat -- have their own databases, but they can share from each other hoping to move customers from one brand to another. "For instance, a Wedding Paper Divas customer who bought save-the-date …

Forty-six percent of Mother's Day themed emails will be sent during the week before the holiday, according to data from Experian Marketing Services. It's not a big surprise, since Experian has found that 80 percent of transactions are triggered by emails sent in the 14 days before the holiday. Consumers like a good deal in these emails. According to Experian's data, there is a 32 percent transaction rate increase in emails that include an offer-based subject line. In addition, there is a 15 percent revenue increase for those emails.