• The Road to Email Success Is Paved With Strategy
    We've been spending more and more time with marketers on planning their digital programs -- something too few email marketers are committed to. There seems to be a disproportionate amount of time spent reviewing email and campaign management technology (features) as opposed to the strategy that is meant to drive the use of that technology. Is your marketing team investing enough in the strategy behind your email programs? Here are a few questions to ask yourselves to be sure.
  • Track, Evaluate, And Diversify To Drive Email List Growth
    A healthy database of subscribers is at the core of any successful email marketing program. And growing the database is a top priority for 38% of email marketers, according to research I recently completed, working with the Email Marketers Club and Mike Bloxham of Ball State's Center for Media Design.
  • Even More Laughs! Humor In Retail Email, Once Again
    Back in December, we wrote about "laughs and gaffes" in retail email. While the economic times are still uncertain for many marketers (and consumers), moods are starting to swing into spring. (It's sunny in Seattle! Woo hoo!) Seems like a great time to revisit the topic of inbox humor and look at how senders have been delivering cheer.
  • Are You Using The Right Metrics?
    In these days of tight marketing budgets, you must rely on relevant and accurate reporting to stay on top of your email program's performance and defend your company resources. You need to know the four basic strategies to measure performance as well as the metrics that measure correctly.The scalpel is handy, after all, but you wouldn't use it to carve a turkey. If you choose the wrong metric, you could overlook major problems that imperil performance or email's significant contributions to your company's performance.
  • Where to Place Your Precious Email Investments
    It's time we all stopped pretending that "investing in email" is the same as "doubling the frequency." Investing means using data to make intelligent decisions about how to improve results. Without that knowledge, we are all just groping in the dark to understand the true drivers of response and revenue.
  • The Executive Knowledge Gap
    he recession has a put a spotlight on email marketing, with executives suddenly intensely interested in what their email marketing staff are doing.In some cases, this spotlight hasn't been entirely positive. Executives seems to have a significant knowledge gap about email marketing best practices. This gap, combined with the extreme urgency to generate as much revenue as soon as possible, has led to some surreal internal discussions and counterproductive directives.
  • What Makes Email So Sexy?
    Beauty, the proverb tells us, is in the eye of the beholder. As someone who loves the flexibility, variety, potential, and business benefits of email, I am grieved at the many industry articles I read that lead off with a reference to email as being "not sexy." Email IS sexy, and I can prove it. My argument turns on the definition of "sexy," which, in an advertising and business context, calls to mind attributes such as "enticing, enriching, versatile, artful" and so on. I hope the following descriptions will get your heart pounding just a little faster when you next …
  • Some Insight From The Insiders: Emerging Email Technologies
    Once again I was fortunate enough to attend the Spring Email Insider Summit in Florida. This year I moderated a roundtable discussion on Emerging Technologies, specifically: things that leading email marketers have their eyes on through 2009 and beyond. While I will omit the names of the members of the roundtable in an effort to protect the innocent, I think the ideas we shared are both valuable and interesting for other marketers to contemplate.
  • It's Time to Ignore The Law
    A bill was introduced in the Canadian Parliament at the end of April titled the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA). This new legislation is the Canadian government's attempt at stemming the tide of unsolicited messages. If you typically send true opt-in messages, you are in good shape. However, if you read the bill in its entirety, it casts light on a shade of gray that many in the email world have used to opt someone into their list who -- from the perspective of the recipient -- did not want to be included. The ECPA raises the question of what …
  • Be Your Subscribers' Best Friend: Design for Dynamic Content By Alex Madison and Lisa Harmon May 12, 2009 Imagine how strong your brand's relationship with subscribers could be if you knew each one intimately and could send personal emails to all of them. So far, the closest you can get to this email inbox utopia is to construct dynamic messages based on your subscribers' unique interests. First, determine your technical capabilities and the available touchpoints from which to gather subscriber data. We never recommend requiring subscribers to give you more than the essentials at …
« Previous Entries