• by Stephanie Miller , April 20, 2010

Email marketers often don't test new ideas or approaches because they are afraid they may not do it well, or that they won't be able to read the results accurately. Chris Marriott, VP, Global Agency Services for Acxiom, shared some commonly held false notions that he urged marketers to avoid. He spoke as part of a panel at the Email Insider Summit Monday morning.

Never assume, he said, that:

-All eyeballs are created equal

-The last click should get all the credit (There are many activities that are valuable which don't drive specific conversions, like thanking renewing customers or sending birthday wishes)

-Targeting does not matter with inexpensive media like email (It does! Consider that relevancy is the single biggest driver of both inbox placement and response.)

-The winning version for clicks may not be the winner on conversion

-All your customers will utilize your preference center (Marriott advises not to expect more than 20% to visit.)

- Your customers won't notice if you collect data and don't use it (They will!)

- Your best channel is ALWAYs your best channel (e.g.: if your content is "stale" after 24 hours then a text may be better than email)

- Channels work alone (It's not a single exposure that motivates action).