Talk about a potentially winning segmentation strategy. Kelly Briggs of the NHL's Dallas Stars said email language is different for season ticket holders from general fans.

On a panel about acquisition at the Email Insider Summit, Experian's Justin Orgel said clients are starting to benefit from the Facebook custom audiences program, which helps improve targeting on Facebook, to grow an email list. So, through targeting, there's an opportunity to close the gap between Facebook fans and email addresses. For example, when a brand has 1 million Facebook fans, but only 500,000 addresses, there's an opportunity to capture addresses from the other 500,000.

At the Email Insider Summit on questions of accomplishments over the past year, Katherine Youngblood of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) said adding an element of dynamic content into emails was a proud moment. That came in the form of a countdown clock in emails that helped move some expiring inventory. Also, IHG added opportunities for customers to offer reviews of their stays.

The initial panel at the MediaPost Email Insider Summit promises to focus on engagement as a major challenge in email marketing. It's been a hurdle for years, but there has been major movement in the right direction, according to moderator Stephanie Miller of the DMA.

Amazon's email chief Donald Parsons recalled at the Email Insider Summit an email the company mistakenly sent out earlier this year congratulating the winner in the BCS championship before the game was played. The misstep made ESPN.

Amazon email chief Donald Parsons says "pace" is critical when considering relevancy at scale. Top of mind is maintaining customer tolerance.

Donald Parsons, who heads global email for Amazon, says in his keynote address at the Email Insider Summit tabbed "Having A Party With A Million Of Your Closest Personal Friends" that "email is a conversation." It's a "trope," sure, but important to keep in mind.

Morgan Stewart, CEO of Trendline Interactive, is back as MC of the Email Insider Summit. He just asked for a show of hands from first-time attendees and a huge amount went up. Of course, there are some veterans such as Oracle's Dennis Dayman and Acxiom's Ryan Phelan back. The spring conference has been in Captiva Island, Fla. for years. Now, for the first time, it's moved to Amelia Island in the northern part of the Sunshine State. Stewart says the acceleration of content marketing, the explosion of mobile and regulatory challenges should be key topics.

The Email Insider Summit could be the best yet, starting with a keynote address from Donald Parsons, who heads global email for Amazon. As one industry executive said: we're all held to a standard Amazon sets. So, they're should be plenty of inspiration.

When it comes to measuring ROI, some search pros play games with the numbers just to justify the role of paid vs. organic in delivering on a brand's goals. That's what Will Uppington, head of product development at BloomReach, said during "Business Intelligence" panel wrapping up the Search Insider Summit this morning. "I think it's completely false," Uppington said, referring to analytics that purport the contribution of paid search to a campaign's overall ROI without also factoring for the role of organic search results. "I think a lot of people know this, but they report it up," he said, mainly …