Recognizing the power of email to drive sales and accepting Cyber Monday as an established selling occasion, 52% more retailers sent promotional email on Cyber Monday this year than last year.

It never ceases to amaze me what a poor job some larger companies do when it comes to their email marketing programs. I'm not talking about small companies that -- perhaps -- don't have the time and resources to do it right. I'm talking really big companies that destroy their email brand equity every time they hit "send."

Smart people had many additional suggestions in response to my last column, about applications that make email marketers' lives easier. Let the helpful ideas begin!

There was a considerable build-up to Black Friday and the weekend's shopping, with special in-store promotions sent through email. I thought I'd call out some of the better promotions.

Let's talk about the whole idea of written communication. That is, after all, what email is. Television is visual as are, for the most part, print ads and banner ads. Radio is auditory. Mobile marketing is more of a haiku, as far as I can see. Email marketing, especially in the age of blocked images, is primarily the copywriter's realm. It is about stringing words together in a way that makes an impact.

Last week I used SnagIt for the thousandth time and was introduced to Basecamp. It got me thinking about all the cool tools eMarketers love and love to evangelize. So, in this season of being thankful and making gift lists, I asked my colleagues to share the fabulous apps that make their lives easier. Coincidentally, most of these tools are free or low-cost.

Your daily schedule probably rarely allows you to read more than a headline or two. If you are some of the lucky email marketers, you may have time to read a few newsletters, industry briefs and possibly belong to a few lists that talk about email marketing a lot and maybe attend a webinar. So, this column will focus on what everyone's talking about -- not solutions, but issues that are buzzing in the email space.

Let's have a moment of silence for the forgotten pages of email marketing, those lonely and neglected pages that haven't been updated in two years or more or --gasp! -- haven't been altered from the default template set by the vendor.

A few weeks ago I spoke about releasing a Brand Equity Index that would attempt to measure the overall impression that a customer might have of a company based on its total email marketing efforts. By total efforts, I mean the effect that not only a company's in-house lists generate -- but also the effect that third-party sponsorships, newsletters, and affiliate networks have on that brand. Multiple considerations went into developing the index, including the percentage lift in Web traffic after an email is sent, frequency, and list quality. We tried to provide a level playing field so that small …

If you are considering testing to find the best day of the week to send your email, the Email Diva has some advice for you: don't bother. Or, perhaps, make this the LAST thing you test, after you have optimized your user experience, opt-in page, format, creative, copy, links, subject line and offer.