Are one to two emails a day from Neiman-Marcus too much from a clothing retailer? Not necessarily. But it may be too much for other companies. Some "on-the-street" consumer research from Jeff Ginsberg, chief eMail officer, The eMail Guide and Morgan Stewart, chief executive officer of Trendline Interactive, showed video from a number of people -- their direct observations. One middle-age man said he appreciated email from Saks Fifth Ave, for example. "I proactively go to them. Their communications are not overwhelming." "Consumers are a lot like flakes -- snow flakes; no two are the same," …

Getting those social marketing tabs -- right at the top of emails -- works really well. Tony Bombacino, chief marketing officer of Restaurant.com, says the company had big results when it came to putting a Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks links -- right at the top of its emails. People want to talk about stuff, he says. "This was a no brainer," he says. "I agree with Morgan Stewart [chief executive officer of Trendline Interactive] email is the foundation, the digital glue." Don't look at marketing channels separately, he also says. All digital channels need to …

"It's easy to lose the personal touch; it's easy to get disconnected; says Tony Bombacino, chief marketing officer of Restaurant.com. "It's a tricky thing." Bombacino says his company sends three emails a week. Mostly, he says, the problem is too many emails talk "at" consumers ("push" marketing) not "to" consumers. Restaurant.com gets 30% to 35% of its revenue from email. It has four million monthly uniques, and claims consumers have saved $500 million. "There is no right answer," he says. "It's most important to listen first." Bombacino says research for its site reveals that customers want to have …

Veteran email executive -- and master of ceremonies for the Email Marketing Summit -- Morgan Stewart, chief executive officer of Trendline Interactive, says the email movement in the industry "was like crossing over the Donner Pass." That makes a nice segue, being that this winter's Email Marketing Summit is in Park City, Utah. "My one encouragement: Dive In," he says. "This one of the friendliest groups you will find." Steward warns, however, email isn't about being in a silo -- it's about including social and other mass media, something many marketers are looking at.

Looking for better real-time email campaigns? Cut back on your email templates. In a lunchtime presentation at the MediaPost Email Marketing summit, StrongMail says travel group IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) moved to better real-time -- and right time - marketing and got big results. Ryan Deutsch, vp of emerging media for StrongMail, says the company streamlined some 400 email IHG templates down to one -- and got big results. IHG say millions were saved, according to StrongMail, and it raised its unique open rate to around 59% from 34%, and its click-to-open (CTO) rate to 37% from 19%. …

MediaPost's Email Insider Summit is ready to commence here in Park City, Utah after a bit of a delay because the Salt Lake City airport -- suffering from heavy fog and what is called "inversion", clouds and air getting trapped -- got shut down late Sunday. All is well now. And the beginning afternoon session will launch with keynoter Tony Bombacino, chief marketing officer of restaurant.com, talking about what is "right". That is delivering and demystifying "the Right Offer to the Right Person at the Right Time through the Right Channel" concept. Bombacino will talk up big time success …