A previous post referred to the release later this month of a “2009 Email List Growth Study,” which will offer some survey results on best practices to build an email database. The study was conducted by ExactTarget, the Email Marketers’ Club and the Center for Media Design at Ball State University. Those interested in obtaining a copy can visit: http://email.exacttarget.com/lp/lp.aspx?id=3356

Some conference attendees listening to a local ESPN radio station this morning may have heard an ad for a competitor. The spot for email service provider (ESP) Constant Constant promised businesses to “help … generate the almighty referrals” and plugged a trial offer. The publicly traded ESP has been running the campaign since last September and management has suggested it is helping grab new customers, which it said grew 54% in 2008 to 253,400. But its CEO Gail Goodman said on an earnings call last fall that “the majority of the campaign’s impact is expected to be seen in …

Marketers place a lifetime value on a customer on an email list based on their purchasing activity. For Netflix, it could be $9. At US Airways, maybe $2. But now with social networking booming, a question emerges: How to place a similar value on a person who is an active participant on a company's Facebook or MySpace page (or a similar venue, maybe Twitter). And marketers are now in hot pursuit. They agree that a person who simply visits the page and is a static follower is of minimal value. But people who can be tagged as influencers, …

Later this month, ExactTarget, the Email Marketers' Club and the Center for Media Design at Ball State University will release the "2009 Email List Growth Study," which will offer some survey results on best practices to build an email database. Morgan Stewart, director, research & strategy at ExactTarget, wrote the following in an email with a preview of findings at the bottom: Marketers were asked to rate 18 list-growth tactics based on three criteria: quantity of names acquired, the quality of the names acquired and overall return on investment (ROI). The study also compares tactics used in 2008 …

An acronym moving into the email marketing lexicon: SWYN. It stands for "share with your network." SWYN provides email marketers the opportunity to capitalize on the growing social network space. Icons in an email allow a person to easily post the message on a Facebook or MySpace page. Marketers hope it sets off a viral campaign. It's a new version of "forward to a friend." Silverpop says "combine the targeting and metrics of email with the reach of social networks, and you've entered a whole new world of possibilities." On Captiva Island this afternoon, no doubt many …

Tamara Gielen, who moderated a panel on how to build an email list, has been sending out a daily "BeRelevant" newsletter for email marketers since 2005, dating back to her time at Ogilvy and before that eBay -- both in Brussels. In fact, the Belgian got her job at eBay because of it. The newsletter/blog features summaries and links to a variety of articles marketers may finding interesting or helpful. Gielen, who works out of her kitchen in a small village outside of Antwerp, now has her own consulting business and runs a social network for email marketers. …

To build its email list, Papa John's has launched a pilot program where computers have been placed in its stores for people to enter an address. Customers then receive a thank you in the form of a discount -- but not immediately. The coupon comes via email, which allows the pizza chain to verify the addresses. The program, which is only in a few markets, has potential since when customers show up, they often have a few minutes of idle time before their order is ready, said Bob Ford, who heads online marketing at Papa John’s. He spoke on …

As Pier 1 turned to a different strategy to build its email list, the retailer encountered perhaps an unexpected hurdle. Pier 1 began asking its employees to collect email addresses from customers when they were making a purchase. The employees were given an incentive to do it. Part of their bonuses were tied to entering email addresses in a database. And Pier 1's list did get larger, with a 380% lift in its email capture rate, said Jefferson Haddox, direct marketing analyst at Pier 1, during a panel discussion. But Haddox said "our associates are smarter than …

Interesting point made on a panel by Megan Regard Walsh, email marketing manager for Williams-Sonoma: What happens when the economy gets healthy again and shoppers have become accustomed to heavy discounting? It may then be hard to put the genie back in the bottle. As a result, Williams-Sonoma has been careful to avoid what so many other retailers have turned to: sending out emails offering significant discounts. "What's going to happen in six months when everything is full price and people have been trained to look for a discount all the time?" she said after the panel. …

In my panel on email measurement this morning, we talked about how taking an "engagement methodology" approach is simple in concept, but difficult in execution. Dela Quist, CEO of Alchemy Worx, walked through analysis he did on his own email newsletter. Taking open and click data and trending it over seven issues gives some pretty interesting insights. For example, while the issue open rate is about 50%, the open reach over time is closer to 80%. So if all you have is the issue open rate, to try to improve it you might test subject lines or day of week …