In just three short years, DDMA has gone from being a niche discipline to take centre stage in the development of offers, messages and experiences that span virtually every customer touchpoint. Rather than just sitting in marketing alone, CMOs, CEOs and business leaders globally are beginning to realise the importance of DDMA and integrating it into other business functions.

Just as UK ISPs begin sending piracy warning emails, the U.S. abandons its identical initiative. Rather than being threatening, these emails are intended to be educational, informing people of what's happening on their connection and pointing them toward all the legal ways they can watch the latest DVD releases. There's just one problem: It doesn't work.

Getting locked out of your account sucks. Almost everyone has experienced the frustration of forgetting a password, losing the phone on which they receive two-factor authentication codes, or jumbling the answer to a security question. Facebook wants to fix the process of account recovery -- and replace email as the hub of online identity management in the process.

When you need to design an email campaign, what's your first step? Answering that question will be a little different for every designer or company -- and it depends on the size of your team, your resources, and what you're looking to accomplish.