• by Chad White , August 3, 2010

Back on Jan. 18, 2007, I wrote my first Email Insider column. Three-and-a-half years later, I've now written over 100, sharing insights from my research, giving advice on strategy and tactics, and commenting on industry trends present and future.

It wasn't all 24K gold, but I'm proud of everything I've written and hope that my columns got you thinking and occasionally sparked changes that made your email program better. Here are a few of the columns I'm most proud of:

"When Subscribers Use SWYN, You Win." Ever use the term "share with your network," or SWYN? Well, this was the column where I coined the term. I was an early advocate of the social sharing of email content and continue to be a strong supporter. I shared research on SWYN adoption in later columns (see "FTAF Vs. SWYN") and will have new research on the subject in my next column.

"The Achilles' Heel Of The Email Marketing Industry." I wrote this column in 2007; I still feel that our industry's greatest weakness is an underdeveloped educational and training system. The email space is very fortunate to be experiencing rapid expansion, but that necessarily means that many new people are coming into the industry with little to no experience. While several good books have been published in recent years and there is more news and blog content out there than ever, there's also a lack of structured learning opportunities. Also, social media may already have more of a presence in university marketing programs' curricula than email marketing. There are many opportunities in this realm to do better as an industry.

"The Executive Knowledge Gap." While trying to educate our own, there's the additional challenge of teaching executives the right way to do things in order to maximize lifetime value, customer experience and brand value. Executives are vital partners in email marketing being successful, but too often are impediments to responsible and profitable changes. Inspired by stories I heard while writing the Executive Series on Email Marketing, this column surely contains anecdotes that still resonate with many of you. With the recession still altering marketing priorities and budgets, this is an ongoing opportunity.

"Email Designs Are Neglecting The Needs of Boomers." In terms of number of comments, this column was my most popular. I've noticed few changes in the creatives of the retailers that I track, but I hope email marketers are discussing the issue of readability for upcoming template redesigns, considering the demographic changes that our country -- and most other countries -- are currently experiencing. If a considerable segment of our audience has trouble reading our emails, then it almost doesn't matter how clever our designs and copywriting are, or how compelling our promotions. There's a basic level of accessibility that many email marketers are not currently reaching.

"Why Aren't We More Daring?" I firmly believe that a culture of testing is the best indicator of an email program's future success, so I've been periodically alarmed by the low level of testing that's done, particularly in light of changes at ESPs that make testing easier. In this column and others (see "I Double-Dog Dare You!" and "Great Design Doesn't Always Follow The Rules"), I've encouraged email marketers to try new things and to break the rules on occasion. If you don't already have one, develop a testing calendar of elements to begin A/B testing. Sometimes small, simple changes can have big effects on performance.

Thanks to all of you who have read, recommended, tweeted and commented on my columns over the years. I truly appreciate it. And thanks to my fellow Email Insiders past and present for creating such a dynamic and inspirational space for the email marketing industry to hold conversations.