After spending the last three weeks at a client summit, on vacation and recovering from both, I found I had a lot of reading time and experienced a general "deafening" to what's been happening in our space. This is a nice change, since normally I am so deeply entrenched in my beloved world of email and eCRM that I have difficulty getting an outside perspective to help freshen my thoughts and approach.

Google's acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion last year should have been a wake-up call to all marketers that online videos are ready for prime time. Many retailers wisely took note and have been increasing their use of online videos, integrating them into their email marketing campaigns.

There actually was an interesting report that came out this week that I wish I had thought of, put out by a group called Hornstein Associates. Hornstein sent out a one-line email to the customer service departments of 49 highly respected companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart to see how long it would take them to respond. The email they sent simply said: "What is your corporate policy regarding the turnaround time for e-mails addressed to customer service?" And the results? Only half responded at all, and only 33% responded within the designated 24-hour period.

Dear Email Diva: You recently highlighted the need for newsletter publishers to provide better audience metrics to advertisers, in light of the increasing difficulty to register traditional open rates. Metrics that go beyond the traditional open rate can help newsletter publishers better represent value to their advertisers, particularly when conveying the message or increasing branding is the primary goal.

Have you ever baked a cake from scratch? If you have, you know that in order for the cake to rise and be edible you have to follow the recipe to a T. Baking is a science that demands a precise combination of ingredients working together to make an end product you'd be proud to serve to your guests. The same is true with analyzing your online marketing campaigns, and email campaigns in particular. If you only analyze your email program using opens, clicks and conversions, you may be leaving key ingredients out of your analysis -- key ingredients that …

While they are definitely savvy marketers, retailers have a reputation for being skittish when it comes to adopting new technologies. That said, major retailers are increasingly making use of Web 2.0 tools like video, blogs, RSS, social content sites and wireless delivery for its email campaigns.

Today's column will be a short one-- but I did want to mention that it's hard to believe we are less than a month away from the next Email Insider Summit.

Dear Email Diva: I work for a nonprofit education organization that sends opt-in newsletters to lists varying in number from 5,000 to 800,000. I've been pushing for a removal of non-responders for some time now, to help our open rates. I've been getting a lot of resistance to the idea. I've found several email marketing services that strongly recommend cleaning lists, but haven't come across the mother lode called industry standard. What's your advice? Clean 'em out or leave the deadwood be?

I'm now a member of the 40+ club, and my new status was greeted with a load of birthday email communications. Not only from friends, but from thoughtful brands, each of which remembered me in their own way. While 40 is a milestone, it is also a great time to razz your friends about getting old. So, I had a dozen or so personal birthday cards, the funniest being a singing baby from Super Laugh -- close to my heart, as my wife is seven months along....

If you see your email subscribers only as buyers, then you're thinking too narrowly. Your subscribers can also be your future workers, as many retailers have clearly discovered.