Benign as it may seem, Facebook Login is actually "the embodiment of evil," according to Dave Hendricks, President of email ad server LiveIntent. "You don't want to use it," he told those in attendance for MediaPost's Email Insider Summit, on Tuesday. Positioned as a quick and simple way to sign in to new online services, Login allows third-party sites to authorize users using Facebook infrastructure. By taking this shortcut, however, consumers (unwittingly in most cases) surrender their data to Facebook, which is then free to manipulate and monetize it pretty much any way it likes, according to Hendricks. By Facebook's …

While many marketers are consumed by internal -- or at the very least, intramural -- battles concerning the attribution of customer behaviors (especially sales), BookRenter.com Director of Customer Acquisition & Retention Jean-Michel Boujon said he's more interested in some shadier characters getting attribution for his email marketing efforts -- you know, the grey or black market of the digital attribution world: malware, adware, and their ilk.

Normally, that would just be a snarky headline for a live blog at a MediaPost event, but the truth is it was actually a very keen insight delivered by Amazon Director of Outbound Marketing Donald Parsons during his keynote on Day Two of the Email Insider Summit. And it's one every marketer, in every category should understand about consumers: They're not necessarily always-on and always engaged. Sometimes, they're just doing mindless stuff that may or may not have anything to do with the thing you are trying to market to them. Or, if you think like Parsons and his team, …

No, not the apparel kind of buttons some consumers purchase on Amazon.com, but the outbound marketing kind that generate engagement and sales for all sorts of product categories on the etailer's platform. Parsons, director of outbound marketing at Amazon, and the opening keynote on Day Two of the Email Insider Summit on Kiawah Island, SC, Tuesday, opened with a discussion about which "buttons" work best in outbound email messages. For a long time, he said, "Learn More" ruled the day. "We can't knock it off," Parsons said of the "learn more" call-to-action, which has been one of Amazon's "longest winners," …

These days, what does it take to be a great email marketer? First, you have to be a data scientist, says Donald Parsons, Director of Outbound Marketing at Amazon. "You got to know how to find the voice of your customer in the data," Parsons tells attendees of MediaPost's Email Insider Summit, on Tuesday morning. You have to be social media expert. "It's not about changing channels," according to Parsons -- but, "what you discover [with social] is how your customers are speaking to each." Social is where you learn about "voice." You also have to be an attribution master, …

Better use of content libraries, increased attribution — as well as outside creative partners that know your brand — could be key for marketers when it comes to advanced email tactics. "Even if you know your segment, you need to have the content libraries where you can send a message that resonates," says Michelle Casey, vp/global strategic services of Alchemy Worx, in speaking at MediaPost’s Email Insider Summit. Additionally, in this regard, she says: "You need your marketing messages lined up; your seasonal messages lined up.”  Increasingly, many believe having good partners are important to develop email creative. “We …

Based on the comments of a panel by that name at the Email Marketing Insider Summit this morning, they're sort of like old practices in other forms of marketing. You know, creating relevance, engagement, interest and desire by doing something creative that breaks through to the consumers you want to reach. That's more or less the example that Warby Parker Retention Marketing Manager Kellen Malstrom said the prescription eyeglass marketer utilizes with great success. "We have a product that people buy every 2.3 years, on average," he said, adding that, "It's timing, since we have such long times between purchases."

Impossible as it may seem, the NBA has spent the past decade or so trying to separate the season-to-season success of its teams from fan engagement. And, while nothing can take the place of wins, rings, and shiny trophies, the effort is going quite well, according to Sasha Williams, director of customer loyalty at The Indiana Pacers. "It's about building strong relationships," Williams told attendees of MediaPost's Email Insider Summit, on Monday.

That may sound like the kind of existential question you wouldn't expect to hear at an email marketing summit, but that's what "beyond the coupon" panel moderator TowerData CEO Phil Davis, asked to wrap things up. "Free shipping," chimed DealNews CEO Daniel de Grandpre, citing the success of Amazon Prime and it's copycats. "Make it easy," added Roxanne Joe, Director, Marketing Strategy, Orchard Supply Hardware, echoing the success of Amazon Prime. "The easier you can make it, the easier to explain the benefits," the more successful it will be. "There's a lot to be said about status and unique experiences," …

The best loyalty marketing programs aren't simple points-based systems for consumers to earn cash-based merchandise or values, but the ones that create engaging and sustaining consumer experiences. That's what Epsilon Vice President-General Manager Dino Michetti told Email Marketing Insider Summit attendees during the opening "beyond the coupon" panel.