• Testing Creative: Measure Copy, Too
    In last week's Email Insider, I talked about testing creative in emails, but didn't give enough attention to the copy or power of the words. So, I asked my lead content strategist to give you her perspective on testing this area of the equation to balance my opinion.
  • Let Supply And Demand Set Publisher Frequency
    My last Email Insider column ("What's the Best Frequency? Who Cares!") drew this reaction from Eytan Abrahams of SourceMedia: "As a publisher, I stopped reading after this line: 'If you are a publisher, this is still a reasonable question.' (OK, so I did read the whole article ...). What is the magic answer for publishers to this question?" We all want that magic answer, Eytan! For publishers, the frequency drivers are different than those for marketers:
  • Content Segments: Full-Course Meals Or Bite-Sized Treats?
    Last week I wrote about how email is such a tiny slice of the cross-channel marketing pie, and that it's up to those of us working in the kitchen to cook something up to get a bigger cut. In the coming weeks, I'll explore strategies and tactics we can use to simultaneously improve program performance, delight recipients, and raise the channel's profile.
  • List-Building Hall Of Shame
    Dear Email Diva: I am looking for any research that shows the level of registration of consumers when given an opportunity to opt out vs. no opportunity to opt out, with the exception of not pressing the submit button. In a perfect world, we would be able to generate white list data and have a high conversion rate. Are the two points mutually exclusive?
  • Testing Email Creative
    What makes great email creative? Is it the design, format, use of images -- or do you simply roll it all up into what you call a good customer experience?
  • Email: The Oatmeal Cookie Of Marketing?
    Email has been around for a while now, and for many, it works well. The ROI is great and that's that. Marketers in new media are like kids in a candy store. Once they've sampled malt balls, they move on to taffy pulls. Email is like grandma's oatmeal cookies: reliably tasty, but easy to forget when you're sucking on a gobstopper.
  • Helping People Become Better Email Users
    At DMA Annual last year, I had a guy drop by the Email Experience Council's booth and start asking questions about us. I gave him the big picture and told him that if he really wanted to see what we were all about, he should go to our homepage and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter. His response really struck me. He said, "Whoa, another email newsletter? I get too much email as it is."
  • CAN You SPAM?
    Dear Email Diva: I understand the provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act, but it seems this does not prohibit the sending of an unsolicited email as long as you comply with the rest of the law. Is this true?
  • Build Versus Buy
    Today's column is themed with the Webinar that Datran Media and Avenue A|Razorfish are hosting tomorrow, March 18, entitled "Email Delivery Systems: Build, Buy or Rent?" I've written several articles on this subject since 2005. One article was entitled "How to Select an Email Service Provider"; another, "Email Isn't Free." Each spoke to pieces of the decisions marketers are facing today in choosing the optimal technology for their consumer-facing email.
  • What's the Best Frequency? Who Cares
    One question that email marketers continue to ask all the time is "How often should I email my subscribers?"If you are a publisher, this is still a reasonable question. But for most other businesses, it's so last-century, so old-school, so Web-1.0, so... you get the picture. The better, though more complicated, question might be: "What demographics, preferences and behaviors can I use to drive a continuous program that maximizes the lifetime value of my customers?"
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