Email marketing analytics have led Dela Quist, CEO of London email marketing specialist Alchemy Worx, to discover a sweet spot for how long subject lines should be. He says open rates climb when the subject lines are in the 50-character range or 80-character range. But, perhaps counter-intuitively, they fall in the middle, when the length is 60 or 70. Research culled from 250 million messages sent over the past two years, with 660 different subject lines, has led him to believe that a 50-character subject line touting a "powerful" offer is appealing (30% off Spring Getaway flights to Florida on Delta). And a longer 80-character-plus line describing a newsletter in enticing …

Email marketers talk about how sophisticated their craft has become. It's no longer about mass-mailing and hoping for the best -- strategies that carried tags such "batch and blast" and "spray and pray."

Well, close. Turns out Jimmy Buffett is a resident of Captiva Island.

Long ago when dreaded pirates ruled the open sea, the famous Captain Jose Gaspar captured fair young maidens and brought them to the calm shores of a secluded island off the coast of Florida. Time past, his legend grew, and in the 1870's the peaceful solitude surrounding the area became ideal for homesteaders to take root and make their fortunes. The beautiful land that was destined to become an exclusive Captiva Island hotel resort was destroyed by hurricanes in 1921 and 1926.

Among the provocative insights provided by Microsoft's David Barlin, who works on Hotmail and instant messaging operations, was that company research shows that an integrated campaign involving search and display ads can yield transactions some 22% to 56% of the time.

This has NO relevance to the morning sessions whatsoever, but we spoke with Gerry Widmer, a top executive at BlueHornet's San Diego HQ last night, and he confirmed our preferences for the best "experiences" in dining in the SoCal city.

ExactTarget researcher Morgan Stewart is giving credit to Apple for developing "a killer ap" by finding a way to deliver email -- the same that lands on a computer -- onto its iPhone. It gives them "a big competive edge."

At the Summit yesterday, the attendees largely agreed that text messaging has a robust furture. But most left no doubt they believe email will continue to be the principal form of communication over the near and long-term, and fertile ground for email marketers.

At the Summit yesterday, the attendees largely agreed that text messaging has a robust future. But most left no doubt they believe email will continue to be the principal form of communication over the near and long-term future, and fertile ground for email marketers.

Software developer ExactTarget came to the Summit with a defiant message: "Subscribers Rule!." More academically: Marketing today is bottom-up -- top-down is as moldy as dial-up. Give consumers info they want, when and where.