As practitioners of the art of email and eCRM, we continually try to expand how we test and evolve the channels to show this value exchange between a consumer business and email/site. One of the things I've put a lot of thought into is whether the email itself is the container of the message and content -- or is it simply the messenger, and the site is the true catalyst to the experience? Sometimes we get so drawn into our world of email, we think email is this holly grail of the message and forget about the rest of the …

When I spoke at the MarketLive eCommerce Summit a few months ago, the buzz was all about product reviews among the small to mid-sized online retailers in attendance -- which was an interesting contrast to all the buzz about social networks at the Email Insider Summit and other events. Speaking at the eCommerce Summit, Patti Freeman Evans, JupiterResearch's research director, said that product reviews can get you 80% of the benefits of social and user-generated content. The question among many attendees was: "How do I get product reviews -- and what do I do once I have them?" Of course, …

We have all heard the maxim, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." Darrell Huff wrote "How to Lie with Statistics" in 1954. Since then, his book has sold more copies than any other text on statistics. I recently flipped through this book and remembered why it is so good. First, it's funny. Huff was a writer and editor for Better Homes and Gardens, among other publications. He used this vantage point to pick example after example of lies told in the media through the misuse of statistics. Huff uses these lies -- some of which …

I've been listening to audiobooks during my morning commute this month; it's an inspiring way to start the day. Last week it was Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore's "The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage." Pine and Gilmore got through to me, particularly in chapter nine. There they argue that the highest, most evolved goal of business is to enact transformation in individuals. Customers desire self-improvement and change, and as business people, we need to provide avenues for them to enact those changes. If we aim to be transformative, then our true "product" becomes the …

Imagine a world without email? I just sent around the latest AOL report "Email Addiction" to my global team and some of the comments were fascinating, all coming from people that live and breathe email marketing. I had used two-year-old stats on consumer email behavior in many presentations over the years, so it was fun to see the newest statistics that recognizes that email is even more addictive than it was in the past.

In my previous Email Insider column, I outlined three of my favorite urban legends of email marketing: misunderstandings that take on the appearance of truth through repeated retellings. This time, I want to expose three lies that email marketers either tell or have told to them by people who should know better.

While it's still as important as ever to provide quality products and service, today's customers now look beyond quality for another value-add from your company. They're seeking that other big "E" (besides email, of course): a memorable experience. To stand out in the crowd, businesses now need to give customers something unique. Each touchpoint between customer and company contributes to this end-to-end experience, and email adds a crucial piece.

Dear Email Diva: Is it ever acceptable to send a B2B email marketing campaign that does not include a call to action? My interactive marketing agency uses HTML email campaigns to follow up with trade show attendees, using the list provided to exhibitors. The messages are along the lines of "hope you stopped by our booth, we can help you achieve your marketing/branding goals and look forward to speaking with you soon." There is no personalization, no call to action or any links...

Great theory and best practices will get you to the meeting table, yet when it comes down to measurement and performance we all have to answer to the bottom line: incremental revenue and profit. While email offers a return on investment of 40:1 (depending on which analyst you read), how do we represent incremental gains to the business and attribute these to the email channel?

Most consumers don't read privacy policies or contest rules or any of the other fine print composed by your email and legal experts. In the absence of reading your carefully crafted legalese, consumers rely pretty much entirely on their past experiences, common sense and perceptions of how things should operate to determine if you're "following the rules." Deviate from these consumer expectations and you'll likely find yourself faced with upset customers and subscribers that opt out of your email program or angrily mark your emails as spam. Here are four fairly recent cases where I think retailers tried to go …