• by Bill McCloskey , August 9, 2006

Deliverablity. This is the main topic of discussion these days in the world of e-mail marketing. But I wonder if we spend nearly the time we devote to white listing, ISP relationships, and Goodmail to actually thinking about what is getting delivered in the first place. There is a decided lack of creativity that goes into our electronic epistles, with rare exceptions.

I continue to marvel at the time and care companies such as Lexus devote to their outbound marketing efforts, but yet they seem the exception that proves the rule. Alcoholic beverage companies might come up with a holiday e-mail that has interest once a year, but where is the ongoing humor that Tanqueray expends on its messages?

For all the thought that Scion puts into its messaging when it targets the gay community, thousands of others find it difficult to come up with unique messaging for any market sector.

Generic images. Text chosen not for its impact, but for its ability to slip through spam filters. Copy with all the subtlety of the ads in the back pages of comicbooks. Where is the e-mail that impacts my life, makes me laugh out loud, furthers the brand equity I have with the product or service?

As an industry, we've embraced mediocrity, become more concerned with permission than persuasion. We've embraced the transactional but turned our backs on the transformative.

E-mail is the most intimate and powerful of marketing channels, and yet it is rarely used that way. A few weeks ago, I wrote about theater producer Ken Davenport, who sent out a thank-you note to those who filled the seats at his show on Saturday night and encouraged them to bring their friends to share the excitement the next week. There was a guy who understood the power of the medium and possessed the creativity and enthusiasm that more people in our industry need.

How about telling me a story that arcs over several days or weeks? How about engaging me in a dialogue on how to market to me--a real, two-way conversation, and not just a survey. How about reintroducing rich media into the e-mail mix, something that seems to be hard to find these days. How about giving me a real reason to care about your brand?

All too often, we get instead (as has been reported in this column) the car company that can't be bothered to put an e-mail newsletter together, the guitar manufacturer that would prefer not hearing from its customers through e-mail, the poor design, the broken links, the lack of a welcome letter, the lost opportunity, the missing graphics, the same boring message delivered ad nauseam.

What we need is the creative shop that embraces e-mail and transforms it, much like Crispin Porter + Bogusky have transformed television spots and Web ads. Some forward-thinking companies are doing it now: Unilever, Sara Lee to name a few. But for so many others, it is not deliverability to the inbox that they need to focus on; it is delivering on the experience I want when I opt in to be marketed to.