Email Marketing: Knowledge, Best Practices & Tips

Email Marketing Don'ts

2011-07-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

It's difficult enough getting the word out and attracting the right attention to your campaign. Whether it's for a cause or a way to help generate business and attention, you don't want to put out the wrong message. Otherwise, you could be doing far more harm than good. It's important that you take the right approach and learn from the mistakes of others.

Here's a list of some of the biggest don'ts when you're devising an email marketing campaign:

Begging for Patronage
You want to constantly make people aware of your products and services, but if you beg someone for their patronage, you run the risk of really turning potential business and clients off. Instead of begging, which comes across as needing or desperate, think of ways in which newsletters and information can seem more like an update to what's happening in your business. Sometimes letting people know that your company or organization is still active and taking new steps can be enough to keep them interested in your products or services. Don't bombard people with endless attempts to sell yourself.

Spamming
Some might argue that spamming is an overall effective approach to business, but by no means should you do this – and do not associate with these people. Do not send spam emails regardless of what anyone says. If you're just throwing email addresses that you come across onto your email list, you're likely to get deleted quickly and harm your online reputation. Instead, get in touch with the people who really want your services. If you're not sure who your specific demographic is, then use a company like SurveyHead that will put you in touch with those who really want your business.

Graphic Heavy Content
You don't want your emails to seem stagnant, but there's a big difference between adding a few well placed images that spice up your message and making your emails look like a cartoonist threw up on them. Having flashing banners and animated gifts can send the wrong message to people you're trying to do business with. You want to come of as professional. So remember, less is usually more. (There is, however, a definite time and place for a well placed animated.gif)

These are some common email marking mistakes that people often make. You want to ensure that you're taking the right approach with your business. Otherwise, you may have had the best of intentions, but you could end up shooting yourself in the proverbial foot with some bad approaches.

Please share your thoughts!

Tell Me What You Want:Email Preference Centers

2011-01-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

After you get a subscriber you want to keep them. Let your subscriber choose what emails they wish to receive from you and how often. This is not only a great best practice but can also save potential unsubscribes. Here is a great example of an email from GE toting their preference center. So Tell Me What You Want, What You Really Really Want!

Mobile Sign-Up in Direct Mail

2010-10-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a direct mail example from Dick's Sporting Goods where they promote their social media and Mobile Sign-up. This is a great example of using direct mail to promote online endeavors.

Do you have other examples?
What has worked and not worked for you?
Do you use mobile for your marketing Campaigns?

Transactional Emails Can Provide Big Returns

2010-10-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

A transactional email is an email that is sent in response to an action. The most common types of transactional emails are order confirmations, ship confirmations, and order tracking emails. Transactional emails are generally high performers. On average they have seven times the open rate and four times the click rate when compared to bulk email. Also, transaction rates (i.e. purchases) can be four to eight times higher in transaction emails compared to bulk emails.

Here are a few reasons why these types of emails perform so well are:

Transitional emails are sent to already engaged (purchasers) email addresses.
The recipients in most cases are expecting an email after a transaction and then interact with it once it arrives.
Since the recipients are already engaged with your brand, they have a higher chance of making another purchase from the transactional email.

10 Transactional Email Best Practices:

Say "Thank You" in the email
Send optimized transactional emails using HTML
Include your branding
Include dynamic product cross-sells using product recommendation engines, or seasonal offers
Provide a link to track order and shipping status
Include some site navigation in the email creative
Test the Inclusion of an offer ($ off, % off, free shipping, etc.)
Include links to all of your Social Media efforts
Promote email sign up
Do not include an offer in the subject line or as the main message

Let me know when you are ready to begin or enhance your Transactional Emails!

Bank of America Steps It Up To Stop Spammers

2010-09-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

It is a sad reality that there are unscrupulous folks that send spam and fishing email. Some of the most authentic looking and most dangerous spam I have seen in my in box have been from fishers trying to replicate Bank of America Emails. These fake emails usually notify me that my account has been frozen and then encourages me to click on a link or to reply with personal information.

Today I received a legitimate email from Bank of America. This email introduces updates they are making to their emails. This includes a new look, personalization, a security checkpoint, alert information and more. I am sure the flood of B of A spoofed emails has been a headache for the bank. Hopefully these changes will solve the issue and stop the spammers.

Here is the email I received from Bank of America:

Here is more on the B of A alerts:

What do you think about the changes Bank of America is making? Do you think an email redesign will slow down the spammers? What else should businesses do to stop spammers? Share your thoughts!

Email Client Market Share : Report On The Top 10 Email Clients

2010-09-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

Fingerprint recently released a report on the top 10 email clients.

Right click the image to see a larger version.

Data was collected from 250,000,000 email recipients using the Fingerprint analysis tool. This chart shows the top 10 email clients by market share. This wasc Compiled February 24th 2010.

The Top 10 are:

Email client (Market share)
1- Outlook (43%)
Outlook 2003 and earlier ( 34%)
Outlook 2007 (9%)
2- Hotmail (17%)
3- Yahoo! Mail (13%)
4- Gmail (5%)
5- Apple Mail     (4%)
6- iPhone (4%)
7- Thunderbird      (2.4%)
8- Windows Live Mail (Desktop)                (2%)
9- AOL Mail (1.2%)
10- Lotus Notes    (0.4%)
Others (8%)

Does anything in this list surprise you?

NOTE:
Email clients are recorded when images are loaded within an email. Some email clients block external images, or are not capable of displaying HTML email. That includes non-current models of Blackberry, and other mobile devices unable to view HTML email. As a result these are not tracked and do not appear in the report.

Furthermore, the report only shows the top 10 email clients detected. In total there are over 3,000 different clients. Because of this diversity we recommend analyzing your own mailing lists to gain the most accurate information, since results can vary greatly depending on your lists' demographics.

Invitations In Email: Make It Fun and to the Point

2010-09-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

From time to time you might want to send an invitation to your subscribers. Maybe there is a private event, a new store opening, a special sale or other event that you would love your subscribers to attend.

I recently saw a great invitation email from Shutterfly. Shutterfly uses a template very similar to personal event email invitations (namely “e-vite”) to promote their “exclusive sale”. It gives the user a more personal, special feel, just like they are being invited to a special party by their friend. Simple, personal, and straight to the point. Nice!

The Subject Line is: Feel the love. Save 20% at our invitation-only Insider Sale.

How To Get More Clicks: The Secret Revealed

2010-08-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Email Marketers are always trying to find ways to get openers to click their emails.

Does a 20% off coupon parlay more clicks than Free Shipping?
What day of week generates the best results?
What about time of day?

In a recent email Urban Outfitters took the direct route – they asked for the click. The email below is giving their subscribers an “Exclusive First Look” at their new styles. To seal the deal they make it clear that items are only available by clicking the main image from the email.

Giving email subscriber an exclusive look is a great way to reward them for being part of the Urban Outfitters email list. UO makes their subscribers feel special. This will hopefully convert non-clickers into clickers and then purchasers.

Well done.

Here is the creative.
The subject line is simply Exclusive First Look

P.S. Is it just me or do the Urban Outfitter models make you depressed? I love the brand but whenever I see their gaunt models I wish I were able to tell them a joke to make them smile and then feed them something hearty.

How To 'Undo' A Gmail Message

2010-08-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

The ability to "undo" an e-mail has been a little known feature of Google's e-mail service since last year. But in the past few days, it appears to have been improved.

Google Operating System, an unofficial blog that shares Google news and tips, noted this weekend that a user now has up to 30 seconds to take back an unfortunate message.

In reality, the feature doesn't actually pull back an e-mail that's already gone, it simply holds your message for 30 seconds before sending it out -- just in case you change your mind.

A Google spokeswoman confirmed Monday that the 30-second option was added early this month.

When the feature first rolled out in March 2009, you had to be super-quick to use it. It only allowed five seconds to take a message back.

Enabling the feature is a bit complicated if you're not familiar with Google Labs, the place where the company lets users test out experiments with Gmail and other Google projects.

And it's worth noting that, because it is a testing space, anything in Labs is subject to change.

But, at least for now, here's how to avoid instant e-mail remorse.

To enable 'Undo Send':

1. Log in to Gmail and go to Google Labs. If you've never gone to Labs before, click the word "more" in the very top left corner, then scroll down and click "even more."

2. In the column on the right, click "Labs." It's next to the icon of a beaker filled with green stuff.

3. Click "Gmail Labs" in the column on the right.

4. Scroll down almost all the way to the bottom until you see "Undo Send." Click "enable" and the feature is now on. Then scroll the rest of the way down and look in the bottom left corner for the "Save Changes" box. Click it.

5. Now, go back to the main Gmail page and click "Settings" in the top right. You should also see your green Labs beaker icon there now -- this will let you go straight to Labs from now on.

6. Scroll down to "Undo Send" -- it should be right above "My Picture." Your default should be set to 10 seconds. But you can use the drop-down bar to stretch that to 30 seconds.

7. Scroll down and hit "Save Changes."

8. To undo an email, just look for the box at the top of the screen that will have the words "Your message has been sent." After that, you should see the "Undo" option. Click that and you'll be sent back to the e-mail's draft form, where you'll have 30 seconds to edit or delete it before it goes out.

This is from: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/08/23/undo.gmail/index.html?hpt=T2

Point of Sale Email Capture: A True Story

2010-08-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

I recently decided to revisit the idea of working out. In all honesty I have run out of excuses not to start working out. Today's task was to purchase running shoes. I went to my neighborhood Big-5 (Big-5 is a sporting goods store located in the Western US) and bought shoes. During the transaction the sales person on the floor also managed to obtain my email address.

The conversation went like this:
Salesperson: Here is the size 11 you had asked for.
Me: Thanks.
Salesperson: Do you use email?
Me: Yes.
Salesperson: Would you like to sign-up for our email program and get 10% off?
Me: Sure.
He hands me a pen and a sign-up form and continues talking.
Salesperson: Email is great because we save money by sending less mailers and we can pass those savings onto our customers. You will receive your welcome email and 10% off coupon in about 24 hours.
Me: Great.
I scribbled my email address on the form and handed it back to the salesperson.

Here is the three inch by two inch sign-up form.

Big-5 did a great job.

The sales person asked the right questions and provided just enough information to seal the deal.
He was not overbearing or annoying.
He had the form and a working pen at the ready.
He verified the email address once I gave it to him.
The form was clear and easy to understand.If I did not provide an email address in the store but kept the form, I could always sign-up at a later date online.

Well done!

Here is the welcome I received as promised in about 24 hours. The Subject Line, which could be better, is Subscription Notification

Do you have any POS (Point of Sale) real-life stories? Please share them with us!

RE: at the start of the subject line? Good idea? Bad Idea?

2010-08-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

I recently received this question in my inbox from an EmailMoxie.com reader.

"I read somewhere that the use of 'RE:' at the start of an email subject line gives the message a better chance of not being thrown in a spam filter. Is this true?"

What do you think about adding RE: to the beginning of a subject line? Is it deceptive? A good idea? Does it work? Share your thoughts with us!

Quality Check – It's a Dirty Job But Someone's Got To Do It

2010-08-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

As any serious marketer knows, quality checking your products is imperative. This could be an email, a billboard, a catalog, an online advertisement or anything else that is public facing. Quality checks are not glamorous but they are necessary. Don’t neglect this important step!

Here is an example a friend of mine sent me. Cutting off the tags from a recent gift from the Disney Store displayed a missed text addition. Oops.

Here is the front of the tag – Nothing wrong here.

Here is the back – the manufacturer (or someone along the production process) neglected to add logical text to this valuable product space.

Do you have any other examples of marketing mistakes? If so, please share them with us!

Give Your Emails Some Personality

2010-08-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

For many email marketers the number one goal of an email is to generate revenue. If an email does not perform, an opportunity can be lost. This is great – but can also lead to stagnant emails. Once in a while it is nice to mix things up.

Send an email that is not about generating sales but about building relationships, passing along a funny story, or telling your subscribers more about who you are as a company, as an email marketer, and as a person.

Your subscribers might be interested in hearing more about your employees, the city your business is in, about the models you use in your emails etc. Give them something to talk about.

Here are two great examples.

The first is from Eddie Bauer. They introduce their company dog, Eddie, and talk all about him on their Facebook page.

The second is from TheLadders.com. This email is all about the company and includes pictures.
The Subject Line of this email is simply Photos of us.

Do you have any examples of emails that take a break from marketing and send a new message? What are your thoughts on emails like this?

Ready, Set...Reactivate!

2010-08-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that email marketing lists can get stagnant. Your subscribers are not responding to your emails at the rate you would like and you are not sure what to do.

The answer is run a reactivation campaign. You can reactivate your inactive subscribers!

Here are some interesting reactivation related stats, tips and tricks:

1. More than 80% of email marketers send the same content to all subscribers.
HINT: Use creative segmentation to send your subscribers what they like at the cadence they like.

2. 30-60% of most subscriber lists are inactive.
HINT: Be sure to identify your inactives and reactivate them.

3. Nearly 30% of most subscriber lists re-engage during the holiday season.

4. Not all marketers define inactivity based on the same criteria.
HINT: Create an inactive definition for your email list and test it frequently.

5. We Miss You campaigns have proven to be effective in reactivating recently lapsed buyers. Messaging Tactics for inactives also include Aggressive/Unconventional Subject Lines, Aggressive Offers & Creative Treatments, Reactivation Series, Polls or Surveys and Changes in Frequency.

6. Include click data into your strategy to incorporate recommended items based on click inference into the content.

7. Define and analyze your Inactive subscribers to gain an understanding of their past behavior with your program (especially for any seasonal purchase behavior).

8. Re-Integrate reactivated subscribers back into the email message stream.

9. Don't let subscribers become inactive in the first place– create lifecycle messaging.

10. Be relevant – keep subscribers engaged from the start of the customer journey.

Here are some reactivation creative examples:

Share your reactivation stories with us! What has and has not worked in your reactivation campaigns?

Email Marketing: There Is Some Good Right?

2010-08-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Email Marketing is typically not a glamorous or an overly useful endeavor in the larger scheme of world events. It's not like email marketers are saving lives, curing diseases, or solving world problems. The Nobel Prize or a Hollywood Star on the Walk of Fame will never be given out for the best email marketing campaign. However, there is some good that email marketing does on a local and global level. The next time you are at a social event and someone asks you what you do, you can stand proud and announce “I am an email marketer!”

Five good things about email marketing:

Emails bridge the world. You send an email to your friend in Prague or to the guy down the street about the latest Nordstrom sale without having to worry about your phone call waking him up or having an uncomfortable silence. You can share your thoughts with anyone anywhere without having to actually talk to them. Brilliant!
Email raises awareness and support for worthwhile events and organization. Many not-for-profits and other do-gooders utilize email to get their message out in force.
Email saves trees. Please, don’t print emails unless you need to.
Email is supportive and complimentary to social media and helps advance new technology. Many pundits feel that social media will destroy email. I disagree. Email and Social Media works well together much like peanut butter and jelly, bagels and cream cheese, and Bert and Ernie.
Email is everywhere! Try to name one person who you know that does not have an email address. Off the top of my head I can only name one – but she is only eighteen months young! (By the way, I can name three adults who are not on Facebook. Facebook, and other social media sites, will not be the end of email. Hey, you need an email address to log in to Facebook right?)

Top-Performing Advertising Channels

2010-07-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

In a recent survey, marketing executives reported that email is the strongest-performing advertising channel. Behind Email was Search, Offline, Affiliate Marketing, Display, Direct Mail, Social Media and Mobile.

This data is from Datran Media's 4th Annual Marketing & Media Survey, 2010.

Share your thoughts on what will be the next big marketing channel. Can Social Media be number one in the future?

Bridging the Offline/Online Experience

2010-07-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Retailers who have brick-and-mortar locations and an online presence frequently struggle on how to bridge these two unique, but vital, customer touch points.

Some of the Offline/Online struggles and questions are:

What are the best ways to promote in-store email sign-up?
How do we promote our stores in email?
How do we train our store associates to ask for email addresses?
Will promoting online over in-store result in lower performing stores and the cannibalization of our customer base?

Here is a good example of an email that World Market sent after an in-store email sign-up. This email provides the best of both worlds. It adds the person to the email marketing list, promotes the benefits of online shopping, and also drives the customer back to the store with an in-store only offer.

What are some solutions you have found to the Offline/Online struggle?

Please share your thoughts and ideas with us.

Yahoo! Mail Is Turning Links Blue By Default: Get The Fix

2010-07-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

There is a new issue occurring in Yahoo! Mail.

What's happening
In some cases Yahoo! Mail is turning links blue by default

The solution
The workaround is to overwrite the Yahoo style by declaring it with an embedded style within the section like this:

Here is an example of the pesky blue links:

Here this is fixed:

Here is an example of how to fix this:

Original:
< a href=" http://%%track%%/dyn598" style="padding:0 8px 0 16px; color:#FFFFFF;" title="Mirrors" target="_blank" >Mirrors< /a >

Updated with Changes:
< a href="http://%%track%%/dyn598" style="padding:0 8px 0 16px; color:#FFFFFF;" title="Mirrors" target="_blank" >< span style="color:#FFFFFF" >Mirrors< /span >< /a >Mirrors

This example will set all links as black:
< style type="text/css" >
.yshortcuts { color:#000000; }< /style >

If you need to change more than one link color you will need to create classes.

In this example there is a class created for the links in the header and for the links in the footer.

.header .yshortcuts { color:#666666; }
.footer .yshortcuts { color:#FFFFFF; }

The class name would need to be added to the table tag or tag that contains the links.

Here is an example of the header class added to the table tag.

< table width="619" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="header" >

If there is text that is being highlighted as a popular search term by Yahoo! you can place an < a > tag around it to stop the underlining and blue box.

Here is an example of how you can do this:

< a style="color:#000000; text-decoration:none;" >System text copy that is being underlined by Yahoo!.< /a>

Please note: I added spaces before each < > in the above code. This is so the code displays correctly in this post. Remove the erroneous spaces when you try this in your Emails HTML.

As always, be sure to test your mailing after adding these snippets of code to ensure that it isn't causing any new breaks in other mail clients. Let me know if this update works for you.

Header Redesign: Simple Changes Can Make Big Differences

2010-07-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

Header text is a must have best practice for any serious email marketer. This text will display in an email even when images are blocked and formatting is not quite right. This actionable area, at a minimum, should deliver the point of the email and have a link to the online version. Header text should be clear, clean and actionable.

The specialty kitchenware retailer and culinary mecca, Sur La Table, recently updated their email header text. The new text not only follows header text best practices, but it also conserves precious email real-estate, and looks great.

Here is the updated header text. Notice the links are all click-able and are in one line at the top of the email.

Here is the original header text. The text is not all click-able, is a bit long-winded, and takes up valuable, above the fold, email real-estate.

What do you think about these updates? Have you updated your header text? Please share your experiences and thoughts with us!

When Your From is Done: Updating Your From AddressPart II

2010-07-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

In March 2010, I had a similar article to this about updating a From address. Here is another example of updating ones From address.

There comes a time in most email marketer’s life that the email address he or she sends from needs to be changed. This change might be warranted because of an IP update, a change to a new email marketing service provider, a hosting update, for ascetic purposes, or other reasons.

When a change like this must be made, what should be done? Two of the most critical goals are, one, to do your best to be sure deliverability does not suffer when the new email address is used and, two, that subscribers recognize that the email is from you and do not hit the spam button. After a thorough white listing process what’s next? Do you alert your subscribers about the new email address, if so how?

Diapers.com recently tackled this issue. In their case they were updating their ‘from’ email address, diapers@diapers.messages4.com, to the easier to digest diapers@baby.diapers.com.

This retailer of all things baby sent an email to their subscribers explaining that to better serve them they are making some ‘technical upgrades’ to their website including changing the address that they send email from. The message requests that the subscriber does one of three things.

1. Right click on the from address with the email, select "add to contacts."
OR
2. Right click on the message before opening it, select "add to contacts" or "add to people I know.
OR
3. Click "add to address book" from within the email next to the from address.

This message is clear, simple, and sincerer.

One update that Diapers.com should make to their creative, however, is add the new email address to the header of the email. Here is a good example from Current Catalog.

This way the subscribers will be more conscious of the change since it is in the top of the creative and top-of-mind.

Here is the creative from Diapers.com. The subject line is: We're updating our email address‏

Here is another example. This one is from Kenneth Cole.
The subject line is: Add our new email to your address book

Two Email Tools That Every Marketer Needs

2010-07-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

I found two great email marketing tools on Email Expert.org. These will come in handy for anyone who works with email marketing data and email addresses.

The first is an email validation tool.
The second is an an email extractor tool.

Email Validation tool
This tells if an email address is real.

Email Extractor Tool
This does lots of data organizing and extracting. Let's say your client sends text and emails combined and wants us to pull out the emails. This will do that.

Features also include:

Extract emails without repeating the same email
Display total extracted emails
Select different separator for each email (or enter your own)
Group emails by number specified by you. Each group is separated by new line.
Option to sort emails alphabetically
Option to extract or exclude email containing only certain string
Option to extract web addresses instead of email addresses

How will you use these tools? What other email tools do you use? What other email tools do you wish you had?

Adding Facebook Like To Email - The Secret Is Out

2010-07-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

A recent hot topic in Email Marketing has been adding the Facebook Like icon and functionality to email.

Here is how this works:

1-They can select the icon. This will take them to a new URL where the Like is registered.

2- They can select the icon. This will take them to a new URL where the Facebook Like is registered.

The simplest way and the one most likely to work for most users is to use the following code.

Instructions
1. Change the URL to the page you want ‘liked’
2. Change the img location and upload your likebutton image.

This is still a new tool. Lookout for enhancements and feature updates.
Please email me if you would like a text version of this code. JordanLane@EmailMoxie.com

Data Append Mishap

2010-07-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

I am a fan of quality steak and well run email data appends. In this example the high end steakhouse, Fleming's, is batting.500. They serve some of the best steaks in the world and unfortunately had a misstep in a recent data append.

I have been a Fleming's email subscriber for some time. I diligently open each email looking for the next delicious deal. Recently I received an email from Fleming's with the subject line: Email Communications from Fleming's. Interesting, I thought. When I opened the email I instantly recognized this as an email append message. I was being auto opted in to receive emails from Fleming's even though I was already an active subscriber. Oops...

This screen shot shows the append email, and past emails I have received. As you can see I regularly receive their emails.

How did this happen? My guess is that they ran a data append, acquired my email address from some database, but neglected to exclude already subscribed email addresses from their final list. They not only emailed subscribers but paid someone for this match! Double ouch.

For those who do not know an email data append is typically ran like this: You take non-email address customer data (name, address etc.) and run this against a database looking to match an email address. Once you acquire an email address you send an email notifying the person that you are opting them into your email list because you have a past relationship with them. This newly acquired subscriber must be given the option to opt out in the append email.

One positive, however, is that the email append creative Fleming’s used is really sharp. They explained why I was receiving the email, provided ample ways to opt-out, and also told me more about who they are and what they offer their customers

Email Deliverability tougher in US than Europe

2010-07-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

ReturnPath recently released their 2009 Global Email Deliverability Benchmark Report.

Some Key Findings Are:

E-mail deliverability varies by international region, with European marketers enjoying the best chances of reaching consumers' inboxes.
In the second half of 2009, only 80.1% of permission-based commercial e-mail in the US and Canada was delivered to the inbox. This represents a slight increase from the first half of the year.
The percentage of mail delivered to the "junk" or "bulk" e-mail folders remained flat at 3% in the July-to-December time period for the United States and Canada. During the second half of 2009, 16% of e-mail messages was not delivered at all, a slight decrease from earlier in the year.
Commercial European mailers saw a more favorable picture, with 85% of e-mail delivered to the inbox.
In Europe, only 3.6% of permission-based e-mail was sent to "junk" or "bulk" e-mail folders, while another 11% was missing or not delivered at all.

What is the difference between North America and Europe?

According to George Bilbrey, president of Return Path, the difference between the US and Europe is due to ISPs' approach to filtering

"North American ISPs tend to use reputation more when deciding if an e-mail gets delivered, and European ISPs do much more content delivery filtering."

Asia Pacific outperformed both Europe and North America with 86.9% inbox placement, only 3% of e-mail sent to the bulk folder, and only 10.7% missing. Interestingly, in China, e-mails were more likely to get delivered if they were sent from within the country.

Have you seen your delivery rates change? Do you email more than one country? Do the rates vary based on country or region? Share your thoughts!

Product Ratings and Reviews: A Recipe For Success

2010-07-07T13:39:00.000-07:00

Product ratings and reviews are a powerful and proven tool to boost sales, build brand loyalty, gain valuable insight into your customers and products, improve your organization, and to generate buzz about your products, service, and website. This all sounds fantastic, but...

How is this done?
What is the best way to run a ratings and review program?
What are some pitfalls and best practices?
Where do I begin?

Review requests are typically sent to purchasers via email after a set amount of time following the purchase. One week after delivery is a good rule of thumb for marketers to use — but your wait time can vary based on your sales cycle. Be sure to account for shipping times and delays prior sending the review request, and keep in mind that it would not be good if the request was sent prior to the customer receiving the product or having time to adequately enjoy or use the product. Many email service providers, eCommerce solutions and product review vendors can automate the entire email and review process. I recommend jumping on this opportunity if it is available to you.

Here are some of the key components to a seamless review process.

Be sure you have a good looking email review request creative. List the product name (and have a picture, if possible). Ask for the customer’s feedback, address the customer by first name, list the purchase date, and present an offer or sweepstakes for completing the review. Be sure to have links to your website and other eCommerce sites. Don't miss this opportunity to make another sale. Remember, you are emailing someone who recently made a purchase from you. They could very well purchase again from this email.
Create a clear and easy flowing review process. Don't make the reviewer guess what they need to do next in the review process. Also, do not make this too time consuming.
Make the review submit button clear and obvious.
Give the reviewer the ability to view and edit his or her review prior to it being posted.
Once the review is posted send a follow-up email to the reviewer letting him or her know that the review was successfully submitted, thanking the customer for the review, where the review is (they might want to tweet it to their friends), how to edit or remove the review, the details of any offer or sweepstakes for making the review, and what to do if you never made a review and someone else has submitted this in your name.
Analyze reviews once they have been posted. If someone gives you a rave review, blog about this, tweet this, highlight this in one of your marketing emails. Tell the whole world how great your customers say you are. Be equally as proactive if you receive a bad or scathing review. Try to solve the reviewer's problems or issues. The bottom line is to take the good, bad, and indifferent reviews and work to make your products and business a better place and have the best customer experience as possible.

Here is a real life review experience I recently had with ratings and reviews. This is a review request for a picnic table I recently purchased. Take special note to the flow of the review process. This entire process, from when I first opened the initial email to the Thank You For Making a Review email, was about four minutes.

Step 1: The Request To Review
I received the request for a review. The Subject Line and From address was very clear.

Here is the email creative. Notice that it lists the website I purchased from, uses my First and Last Name, has an image of the product, the product name, there is an offer and the link to write the review and the product name is in blue while the rest of the text is black. This is very clear, concise and well done.

Step 2: The Review Process
Once I clicked the Write A Review link from the email, I was sent to the review page. This page was branded with the companies navigation bars (just in case I wanted to make another purchase) and the review process was clear. Notice how the item I purchased is again listed and contains a picture.

Here are the categories in the review page.

- Review Headline
- Rating (One to Five stars)
- Pros
Here are the Pro category options. I could also add my own.
Attractive Design, Cleans Easily, Comfortable, Easy To Assemble, Weather Proof, Well Constructed
- Cons
Here are the Con category options. I could also add my own.
Difficult To Store, Not Weather Proof, Poorly Made, Tough To Assemble, Unattractive Design
- Best uses
Here are the Best uses category options. I could also add my own.
Decks, Lawns, Patios, Porch, Relaxing, Entertaining
- Describe Yourself
Budget Shopper, Midrange Shopper, High-end Shopper
- Primary Use
Business, Personal
- Comments
- Bottom Line
Yes, I would recommend this to a friend, No, I would not recommend this to a friend
- Nickname
- Location
- Add images or video to the review
- Preview and then submit

Step 3: Thank You Email

Within a few seconds of submitting my review I received a Product Review Notification email.

This was an all text email that Thanked me for submitting my review by my first name and location, displayed the review, listed a link to update the review, and a link to remove the review.

The only information that was missing in this email is how the drawing for the $100 gift card works. This was the offer listed in the Request To Review email.

Suspend Your Email Subscription

2010-07-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

You are excited about an upcoming vacation or trip. Your subscribe to a million different email lists related to travel. Airlines, cruise ships, travel destinations etc. Then your trip is canceled or delayed. Boo Hoo.

Now you have three email options –

Ignore the travel emails in your inbox and become inactive.
Go through the tedious unsububscribe process or simply hit spam on all the emails that you signed up for and no longer want.
Periodically open the emails and dream about the vacation that might not happen.

Recently I saw an unsubscribe page from a company called Vacations To Go that offers a nice forth options for the delayed traveler. They offer an option to suspend your current subscription and then choose a month when the subscription will restart. Vacations To Go also offers a frequency option of once a week, once a month, and every two months. This is smart – especially in the fickle and highly competitive travel industry.

Here is the opt out/out down page from Vacations To Go:

What other creative opt downs have you seen?

Is Email Dying?

2010-06-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

For some reason people are getting more and more concerned that email is slowly but surely going away. Some feel that social networking sites and text messaging will completely replace email. This is simply not the case. Email is here to stay. Here is why.

10 Reasons Why Email Is Not Dying

People still send hand-written letters via snail mail. They could easily make a phone call, send an email, text message, or status update. Email is familiar and useful.
Nearly all sites on the web that require registration require an email address.
Email notifies you of updates from social networks.
There is not any evidence yet that Google Wave really is the next big thing and will catch on a large scale. Plus you need an email address to sign up for Google Wave.
Email is universal, and social networks are not. Nearly everybody on the web has an email address. Also, most places of employment give employees email addresses. Meanwhile, a great deal of employers are banning workers from accessing social networks while on the job.
There are plenty of people who have no interest in joining social networks. Frequent news stories about security, privacy, and reputation issues do not help convince them.
Email is still improving and evolving. It hasn't screeched to a halt with the rise of social media. There is still innovation going on, and integration with social media. Email and social media complement each other. They do not rely on each other.
Even social networks themselves recognize the importance of email. Never mind that they update users about community-driven happenings via email. Recently MySpace launched its own email service.
More social media use means more email use. The people consuming the largest amount of social media are also the people consuming the largest amount of email.
As far as marketing is concerned, email is doing pretty well, as many companies continue to struggle to find the right social media strategy to suit their needs.

What are your thoughts on the longevity of email?

Deliverability Update (and maybe a Game Changer): Yahoo!, Gmail and others create new commercial email folders

2010-06-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Yahoo!, Gmail and other email providers have started moving commercial email into separate non-Inbox folders, even organizing it by categories such as ‘shopping’, ‘travel’ and ‘finance’.

This means that by default, email will no longer be delivered to the Inbox at those domains. Some good news is that it appears when this occurs, it will also no longer go to the ‘spam’ folder either. There also does not appear to be a whitelist workaround except for address book entries, not even for SenderScoreCertified or Goodmail Certified Email senders.

Does this mean the end of all of our deliverability problems? Will it dramatically decrease domain performance to those email providers? I can’t say now, but we’ve begun tracking it more closely and you should as well.

What do you think about this technology?

Here's the screen shot from my Yahoo! account showing the new ‘Shopping’ folder:

This is an application developed by OtherInbox that users have to download to ‘sort’ their email. It’s available only for Yahoo! And Gmail right now, but the other webmail and software providers will get added soon. It doesn’t seem to catch ‘all’ commercial email yet, but the vast majority is identified and moved and I have verified clients who were in the Spam folder also got moved to the right commercial folder.

More details on this application can be found here.

Yahoo! describes and promotes it here.

It's important to remember that since it’s an application, it requires users to agree to separate terms. As a result, it won’t reach critical mass anytime soon.

REPORT: Google share of searches at 72 percent for May 2010. Beats Yahoo!

2010-06-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

Experian Hitwise announced that Google accounted for 72.17 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending May 29, 2010. Yahoo! Search, Bing and Ask received 14.43 percent, 9.23 percent and 2.14 percent, respectively.

The remaining 74 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 2.03 percent of U.S. searches.

Click Here to View the Entire Report.

Five Minutes With Jordan Lane - The Exclusive Interview

2010-06-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

Click Here to read an Exclusive Interview with Jordan Lane! The interview is featured on The NetElixir Blog.

Grow List Via Automatic Opt-In: Is this a Good or Bad Idea?

2010-06-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Email Marketers are always trying to find new and effective ways to grow their email list. This can include noble and unscrupulous tactics. One tactic I have noticed more and more is having an automatic email opt-in at purchase.

It is a great practice to have an email sign-up box at checkout. It is an acceptable best practice to have this sign-up box pre checked. But now purchasers are being opted-in without even seeing a check box. This is called an automatic opt-in.

The fact is that the check box can be removed and still CAN- SPAM compliant. I have seen some retailers experience a 25% or more increase in email sign-ups from checkout. These are already engaged customers. Many of them might want to receive email from you. But many of these new subscribers might not expect to be added to your list.

You will want to check with your internal legal and privacy council before making this live on your site. Also, you will probably need to make a change or revisit your privacy policy. Expect slight increase in opt-out from initial welcome email (you do have a Welcome email, right?).

So the question is: Is Growing Your Email List Via Automatic Opt-In a Good or Bad Idea?

Share your thoughts with us.

Here is an example of a common checkout page. In this case the email sign-up box is pre-checked.

Here is the same checkout page with an auto opt-in. There is not an email box at all. But once you enter your email address in the checkout form (anywhere on the form) you are opting-in to receive email. This is not a question of legality but a question of good business practices.

A Mysterious New Trend In Email Marketing

2010-06-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Games of chance, and the allure of winning big, have captivated humans for as far back as anyone can remember. From the infamous, and often crooked, shell game to making it big on Wheel of Fortune, people love to take risks with the hope of a big reward.

I have noticed a similar big payoff reward in email marketing involving mystery savings. The idea is simple. Offer your subscribers the chance to win big savings, cash, or prizes. All they need to do is click a link, go to a store with a code, or enter a code a checkout. The catch is that only a small percentage of the recipients will be a big winner.

Below are a few email creative examples utilizing this idea. There are a variety of ways that a campaign like this can be run. One way is to break up your subscriber list and send each segment a different offer. You could send 50% of your list the worse offer, 30% the second worse, 20% the next best, and 10% the best offer. The segmentation on this type of campaign is almost limitless. Have fun and take a chance on this type of email campaign! Let us know your thoughts and experiences with mystery savings emails.

Love Your Customers

2010-06-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Lurking somewhere in your email list and hiding among your web analytics data, your best customers are waiting to be discovered.

This Saturday I received a letter in the mail. The envelope was nondescript and the return address was a P.O. Box I did not recognize. It looked and felt like the type of envelope that contains a new credit or ATM card. When I opened it up I was pleasantly surprised — inside was a letter from the Director of Customer Care at The Home Depot and a $50 gift card. The letter was thanking me for my online business during the past year!

I have to admit, I did spend a lot of money at The Home Depot over the last twelve months. I was in the midst of a variety of large scale home improvement projects that required the purchase of a washer, dryer, refrigerator, barbecue, sinks, cabinetry plus much more — all bought online. Before I received this letter I did not feel especially loyal to The Home Depot, despite having spent a lot of money with them. But if something better came along, I would not think twice about purchasing from a competitor.

I put some thought into it and determined that I bought from The Home Depot for four main reasons:

They have competitive prices.
They have a strong online presence.
They offered free shipping and other great offers in their emails.
They have online ratings and reviews. I want to read what others think about a product before I purchase it.

What is the moral of the story?

Know your best customers.
Thank your best customers often and appropriately. The Home Depot not only thanked me with this letter, but they gave me a gift card, a VIP email address and VIP phone number to their customer service if I ever need it.
Don’t assume that your best customers will always be your customers. Give them a reason to continue to do business with you.

Here is the letter I received from The Home Depot:

The Great Gender Debate

2010-06-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Online and offline marketers should always try to keep their marketing databases and lists updated whenever possible. This data can include current email address, postal address, name, age, and gender to name a few. Having this data is one thing. Using it successfully and appropriately is another. Sure, first name personalization is great. Geo-targeting is awesome. Age appropriate marketing rocks. But what about gender?

Do men only want to receive content geared toward men? What if one of these men wanted to purchase something for a lady in his life? What about those whose gender is not known? What should these people receive?

There is a particular retailer that I used to love. I usually purchased items from them in-store. This past Christmas I purchased something for my wife from this retailer online via an email. From that point on I have only been receiving the female version of the catalog at my home. In this case this retailer assumed that since I bought one female item that I am an exclusively female shopper. This is a risky and potentially costly assumption - partly because of the way they have treated me since then, this retailer is no longer my favorite.

I recently saw an Express email that helps alleviate gender misunderstandings. There is a link towards the bottom of the email which links to the other gender. The female version of the email that links to the male version while the male links to the female. Brilliant!

It would be great (and maybe lucrative) for Express to highlight this feature and move it up in the email. This is like sending two emails to your list for the price of one! A simple test should tell if moving this link has any positive or negative results.

Here is the complete female version:

Here is the complete male version:

URL in the Subject Line? - http://www.R-U-Serious??

2010-06-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

I was reading a ClickZ post today about what you should and should not do in email. One suggestion struck me as odd. It was that you should put URLs in the subject line! Really? Why? The author thinks this is a good idea and might catch on.

With the popularity of Tiny URL and other link reducing sites this is entirely possible.

How do you feel about this?

Would you click on an email with the subject line Click here to register: http://tiny.cc/58vqd Win Big!

Share your thoughts with us.

Think You Know CAN-SPAM? Prove It!

2010-06-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

CAN-SPAM, officially known as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003, is one of the most important online marketing topics. Take the CAN-SPAM quiz by clicking this link. Let's see how good you really are.

Share your results with us. You can email them, tweet them, or post them here. GOOD LUCK!

TAKE THE QUIZ NOW!

Discount Codes in the Email Subject Line

2010-06-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Retail Email blog did a great job with its Subject Line Hall of Fame 2009.

It found that the most significant subject line trend of 2009 was the use of discount codes. Rather than forcing subscribers to open an email to take advantage of a discount code, retailers decided to experiment with putting the full call-to-action in the subject line. This tactic puts business metrics ahead of email metrics and changes the game on email reporting since a subscriber can convert without even opening the email.

RitzCamera, 8/22 — Super Student Special, 10% OFF (Use Coupon Code 1828)

JCPenney, 9/9 — Use Code 32GIFT to Get Free Shipping!‏

JCPenney, 11/8 — Want Free Shipping? Use Promo Code 49SANTA At JCP.com!

JCPenney, 11/26 — Use Code 25MERRY & Get Free Shipping!‏

Bluefly, 12/1 — Today Only! EXTRA 15% OFF Handbags & Shoes with Code HOLIDAY15‏

Ann Taylor, 12/8 — 30% Off All Full-Priced Items with Code WINTER + Free Shipping!

Sears, 12/15 — Hurry, savings end soon! Enter coupon code EXCLUSIVE‏

Linens ’n Things, 12/18 — Jingle your way to Savings! HOHOHO Coupon Enclosed!

Linens ’n Things, 12/19 — 4 Days Left to Buy More Save More! HOHOHO Details Inside.

Linens ’n Things, 12/21 — Hurry, Only 24 Hours Left to Save up to $24 with HOHOHO!‏

This is a great suggestion and well worth a test.

Email Mishaps and Remedies

2010-06-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

It is inevitable that sometime in an email marketer’s life, there will be a mistake in a live email deployment. This could come in the form of the wrong subject line, missing or broken images, mismatched offer codes, incorrect content, a down website just to name a few.

How should mistakes be handled? Yes, sticking your head in the sand or pretending that the mistake did not happen sounds like a good idea, but facing the error head-on might be the better option.

Before you send a knee-jerk apology email (which could compound the original mistake) or yell at your fellow email marketers, take a deep breath and review these questions:

What was the result of this error? Is the error worthy of an apology email? If there is not any harm in the mistake it might be best to do nothing.
What is the upside of sending an apology email?
What is the downside of sending an apology email?
What should the apology email look like? What about the subject line? Should I use humor? Should I be serious? Should I include an offer? How much information should be included about the error?
Who should receive the apology email? Openers, clickers, purchasers, best customers, or everyone?

Here is recent example of an apology email a friend of mine sent me. Not only did this email deploy with a test in the subject line but it was also sent twice – at the exact same time!

In this case Boingo Wireless sent a very heartfelt and humorous apology. They did not include an offer and did not ask the recipient to do anything. In the end this might benefit Boingo Wireless as this “mistake” makes it rounds amongst email marketing circles.

Here are some other well-executed 'whoops moment' emails and subject lines that have graced my inbox recently. Try to imagine the thought process these companies used when they designed their apology campaigns. A little acknowledgment can go a long way to keeping customers happy in the long run.

Brookstone
Subject Line: Oops, that was embarrassing… FREE SHIPPING EXTENDED

Threadless Newsletter
Subject Line: Oops! We're sorry.

HP
Subject Line: Whoops, now it's working

Newport News
Subject Line: We're So Sorry: Take 20% off TODAY

Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau
Subject Line: RESEND: Be Our Guest in Scottsdale

ShapFX
Subject Line: We’re Sorry...Take 20% off ANY PURCHASE!

Taking Social Media To The Next Level

2010-05-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I planted my summer garden. As I waited for the bumper crop of fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and beans to pop out of the soil (it will be about a three month wait), I gazed around my garden and noticed that something was missing. My yard needed a picnic table. I went inside, hopped online, and found the perfect table. I placed my order online with a company call CedarStore.com, received a confirmation email, and called it a night.

This morning when I checked my email inbox I had a Facebook friend request from something I did not recognize. It was from Cedar Store. This was the online retailer that I purchased the table from the day earlier.

I did not immediately put the two together, but once I did I thought how nice it was that this retailer took the time to look up my email on facebook and ask me to be its friend. I have not seen retailers do this before. I am not sure if this site has some sort of magical script that queries order email addresses and sends them facebook friend requests, or if some furniture aficionado took the time to look me up and send the request. Either way this is a great touch.

The takeaway from this is:
If I do not become a fan of this company there is no harm or foul. I receive erroneous facebook friend requests all the time which I ignore. But if I do become a friend of this company on facebook (or any other social media site) then they might have a customer for life in me. Whenever I think about purchasing furniture, I will remember this experience. CedarStore.com's facebook page is clean, clear, and has over 700 friends. I have not yet decided if I will click the friend button. Would you?

Fix For Gmail and Hotmail Firefox Spacing Issue

2010-05-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

To many email coders and testers this is not a new news item. But if you are not aware of this rendering issue and fix - then this could be a lifesaver.

The issue is that extra spacing can be included around images in email HTML, when viewed in Gmail through Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome (But not Internet Explorer). Hotmail has a similar issue. This fix works for both Hotmail and Gmail.

The best way to work around this issue is to add the style declaration to every image, i.e.:

It's also worth remembering that this also affects triggers, templates and anything else you may have that is mailed but isn’t part of the day to day html builds. Don't forget your triggered and transactional messages

Has this affected you and your email campaigns? Post your comments!

Most Popular Subject-Line Keywords

2010-05-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a USA Today Snapshot that deals with internet and more specifically email marketing. This lists the top 10 most popular subject-line keywords. This comes to us from Experian Marketing Services.

Are there any keywords that surprise you?
Are there any that you think should be on the list that are not there?
What about ones that you don't think are as popular?

Share your thoughts with us!

Grow Your Email List With Your Offline Catalog

2010-05-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

One very important goal of any email marketer should be to consistently grow his or her email lists with quality names. One great way to do this is to invite your offline customers to join your email list. Harry and David did a great job of this in their recent Mother's Day catalog. They are using their offline catalog to promote their email marketing programs. They not only have an offer but also promote why someone should sign up for their email list. Nice!

Twelve Email Marketing Must Haves

2010-05-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Email marketing is an ever evolving art. It morphs and changes from one hot topic — or "must have" — to the next. Below are twelve current hot topics in email marketing listed in no particular order. Any serious or casual email marketer should know what these are and should use as many as them as he or she can in their email marketing endeavors.

1) Welcome or Welcome Series
Everyone likes to feel welcome when they join a group. This is especially true when someone opts in to your email marketing program. Be sure you make these new subscribers feel welcome. Send an appropriate and timely welcome (and maybe an offer) to newbie’s to your list. Better yet, design a Welcome Series. A Welcome Series is a string of welcome emails that not only says hello to the new subscriber but also can provide them more information about your brand and what you offer.

2) Segmentation Strategy
Careful, well though out, and flawlessly executed email segmentation is crucial to the modern day email marketer. The days of loading and blasting your list are over. Take a look at this post by clicking here to learn more about email segmentation strategy.

3) Testing Plan
Testing is one of the most important actions an email marketer can take. Be sure to test frequently and use the results of your tests. Re-testing is another good habit to get into. Some examples of common email tests are subject lines, personalization vs. no personalization, dynamic content, creative versions, time of day, day of week, various offers, gender, offer code in the subject line, and location just to name a few. The options are endless.

4) Survey Campaigns
Email is not a one way medium. Be sure you “talk” to your subscribers and email recipients. Ask them what they like and dislike about your emails and your organization. Pick their brains on new ideas and solutions to problems. Your subscribers can be your best advocates and your worst critics. Be sure to leverage their opinions and thoughts with an email survey.

5) Anniversary, Birthday and Other Special Campaigns
Everyone likes to be rewarded and recognized. Send your subscribers a special email just for them. This could be an anniversary email thanking them for being on your list for a certain amount of time, a purchase history/thank you email, a happy new year email, or some form of a birthday email or other thank you. Get creative with your special emails for your subscribers.

6) Triggered Campaigns
Every time someone initiates a transaction with your website, be sure to capture this action and respond via a triggered, automatic email when appropriate. This could be sending an email when a subscriber updates his or her preferences, places and order, has an order shipped, asks a question, posts a review, etc. These touch points build brand recognition and loyalty. You can also use these one-off emails to entice more people to join your email list.

7) ReMarketing (Abandoned Cart Campaigns)
One especially important and potentially lucrative triggered campaign is the abandoned cart (a.k.a. ReMarketing) campaign. This is an email sent to someone reminding them to purchase items/processes which have been abandoned — or left — in their online shopping cart. ReMarketing is a great way to nudge potential purchasers into converting.

8) Social Media Integration
Everyone seems to be tweeting, Facebooking and doing other awkward sounding social media actions. Be sure you include these important social media outlets in your emails. Allow subscribers to rave about how great you are on various social media sites or browse your corporate social media pages. Email marketing must adapt as the marketplace and subscriber preferences change.

9) Personalization and Dynamic Content
Use personalized or specialized imagery, product placement, or text when you can and when appropriate. Instead of saying “Dear Customer” in your message, it is much nicer to use your recipient’s first name — ‘Dear Balthazar” as an example. Also, utilize the data that you have on your subscribers. Some common dynamic content strategies are using different messaging based on the customer type, location, nearest store, browse or purchase behavior, recency, or email interaction.

10) Opt-down
One great way to save a potential unsubscribe is to offer an opt-down option. An-opt down is when your give your subscribers the option of receiving less email instead of them opting-out completely. This is a win-win. You keep the subscriber in your list, and the subscriber only receives the number of emails they request.

Here is an example of the opt-down from Eddie Bauer. This retailer offers one email per week and one email per month opt-down options.

11) Email Change of Address (ECOA)
ECOA is a list maintenance and hygiene process that keeps your email lists up-to-date by identifying incorrect addresses and updating them with accurate ones. Companies like Experian can take your bounced or inactive email lists, run them through their database, and return you updated email addresses for certain subscribers who match in their database. This helps identify past subscribers who have since switched email addresses but have not notified you of the change.

12)Email Append (eAppend)
Email append is a list growth and acquisition process that takes an offline customer's contact data and appends a valid email address to them. Companies like Experian can take a list of your offline customers, run them through their database, and identify customers with known email addresses to add email to their contact information. This helps grow your email list and reach your known customers through email. Be sure to use a reputable source for the append. You do not want to contaminate your list with bad email addresses.

That’s all twelve of them!

What do you think is the most important must have item for email marketers today? Which is the least important? What else is out there that should be included in this list? Share your thoughts below if you think there's something else worth mentioning.

Unsubscribe Confirmations Can Be Legal, Effective

2010-05-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

I recently unsubscribed from Omaha Steaks email because I was subscribed with more than one email address and no longer wanted to receive duplicate messages. After unsubscribing via email, I was sent a real-time “We removed your email address” confirmation message. I had never received an email like this before (I am told other businesses also practice this), but it soon got me thinking — is it CAN-SPAM compliant? How will affect the user experience? What about complaint rates?

I checked with a CAN-SPAM compliance team to see if this type of email sent after an unsubscribe was CAN-SPAM compliant. I learned that unsubscribe confirmation messages like these are, in fact, compliant because “the CAN-SPAM Act explicitly exempts this type of email in their definition of ‘transactional or relationship messaging.’ The law provides an exemption for ‘notifications of a change in the recipient’s standing or status with respect to a subscription.’”

Since the unsubscribe email was deployed right after I clicked the unsubscribe button, I did not feel like my request was being taken advantage of. It also helped that the the email from Omaha Steaks used very clear, heartfelt and thoughtful language in their message. They did a great job with this post opt-out email all around, from the subject line ("We removed your email address...") to the signed note from the owner.

Does sending an email to recent opt-outs work for all email marketing programs? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.

Click here to Take the CAN-SPAM quiz. How did you do?

Top 20 U.S. Direct Mail Marketers

2010-05-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years there has been a significant decline in the amount of direct mail (a.k.a. snail mail) sent in the United States. But why does my mailbox still overflow with junk mail? It seems that as direct mail marketing budgets have been slashed and some companies pull back from sending mail, others see that as an opportunity to send more. ChangeOfAddress.org decided to research which profit and non-profit organizations are currently sending the most snail mail.

Here are the results:

Top 10 For-Profit Mailers

Publishers Clearing House - They are the overall largest sender of direct mail in the U.S.
The Economist Group
Conde Naste
Direct Brands
Consumers Union
Omaha Steaks
Rodale
Hachette Filipacchi Media
International Masters Publishers
Boardroom

Top 10 Non-Profit Mailers

Smithsonian Institute
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Habitat for Humanity
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
March of Dimes
World Wildlife Fund
Paralyzed Veterans of America
Humane Society of the U.S.
Alzheimer's Association
National Wildlife Federation

56% of all the top 50 mailers in the U.S. are for-profit organizations. 44% of all the top 50 mailers in the U.S. are non-profit organizations that are either soliciting for donations or attempting to collect on pledges via mailers.

Is your mailbox overflowing more than you email in box? What are some solutions to this paper overload? Do you recycle your junk mail? Have you ever successfully opted out of a snail mail catalog?

Share your thoughts!

Nice Animated Gif | Is It Fall Already??

2010-05-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Neiman Marcus recently sent an email with:
(1) a super early mention of Fall 2010 - we are only just into Spring... Be Prepared For Christmas Emails in August this year.
(2) a very nicely done animated.gif.

The subject line for this email was: TREND REPORT: The Preview of Fall

Here is the animated.gif:

* The animation only runs once in most browsers. Please refresh the page to see it more than once or open the image in a new browser window*

An Easy Way To Build Your Subscriber List

2010-05-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

I recently made an online purchase from The Home Depot. In the shipping notification email I received, they included an email sign up call to action. This is a great way to ask an already engaged customer to join your email list. Placing this above the fold helps to ensure great visibility and hopefully a whole bunch of new subscribers.

Orbitz uses a nearly identical opt-in link in their confirmation email, except in their case they choose to use a text-based rather than graphic call-out box:

Going back to tried-and-true direct marketing principles, it's no secret that your most recent customers are your most important customers. When sending order confirmations, marketers should look to strike while the iron is hot by including an opt-in link, preferably at the top of the email.

Email Can Make Any Boring Day Interesting & Profitable

2010-05-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

Are you stuck in an email rut? Do you send your campaigns on the same schedule week in and week out? Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday UGHH!

How about a mid week refresh? Liven up your campaigns. Try something new and different. Take a chance.

I saw this fun creative (with a stellar offer) from Banana Republic.
The subject line was cute and interesting: TGIW. 40% off two items--today only.

Let us know what you do to shake up your campaigns or if you see any other good examples.

E-Mail Creative: Is Text Replacing HTML?

2010-05-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

There was a movement a few years ago (circa 2001 to 2005) to get rid of HTML emails and move to an all Text format for most all email marketing programs.

A few of the arguments in favor of all text email were:

HTML may have deliverability issues.
HTML is time consuming to create.
Recipients may have images blocked.
HTML does not always render the same across email platforms and browsers.

Take a look at this ClickZ article for more on this argument in 2004.

Needless to say all text emails never caught on and replaced HTML. HTML heavy emails are the norm in most email marketing endeavors and the four arguments above have not been email format killers. Alternative text helps solve the blocked image issue and displaying a rich text version helps for devices that do not render HTML. But recently I have seen more and more almost all text emails.

Here is a recent example from Old Navy. Old Navy generally sends HTML heavy email. In this case everything in the email is text except for the small logo at the top.

Will sending text heavy emails be a new trend?
Why is this occurring? What is the benefit?
Will the HTML vs. Text email argument rear its head again?
Let us know what you think!

Offer At Unsubscribe: Desperate or Brilliant?

2010-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Personal Creations.com has an offer on their unsubscribe page. The goal is to entice potential unsubscribers to stay on the list by giving them an offer. This looks like a clever way to stop an unsubscribe - but it also looks like a act of desperation.

Does it work? Is it a good idea? Share your thoughts with us!

Transactional Email Message Best Practices

2010-04-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Do you send transactional email marketing messages? Transactional messages include order confirmations, shipping confirmations, demographic updates, registrations etc.

Here are some transactional message best practices:

Since the main communications objective of transactional emails is to give the user their order/shipping information; the message should be presented clearly and above-the-fold with minimal visual clutter.
A good ratio of transactional data vs. promotional offers within a transactional template is 70/30 with the promotional content further towards the bottom
Consider making the total width of your transactional template 580 pixels for easy printing in case the user wants a physical record of their purchase. Most transactional templates have regular email widths of 650-700 pixels, but it's something to consider.
When providing the user with recommended products based on their purchase, product content should be placed within a right hand column. This column should take up 35% of the total email width, with the other 65% reserved for the main order content.
The overall design of the template should be minimal since it's only meant to present one message.
Include a link to opt-in to receive email! A transactional message doesn't necessarily mean the user is also a subscriber of the main email program.

Here is a great example of a well done order confirmation from 1-800-flowers.

Creative Standout: Men's Wearhouse

2010-04-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Recently I found this email from Men's Wearhouse in my in-box. I really like the way the creative compartmentalizes and categorizes the various parts of this email. This helps with the fact that this creative is really, really long. This reads more like an online newspaper than a email for men's wear.

The various topics in this creative are:

Editor's Spring Picks
Coupon
Sizzling Savings
Products
Style Tips
Survey
Etc.

"Mad Libs" Registration Forms Help Fill In the Blanks

2010-04-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

Many of us remember Mad Libs. But how many of us knew that Mad Libs style registration processes can increase form completions?

For those not familiar, Mad Libs are books that have a short story on each page, but with many of the key words replaced with blanks. Beneath each blank is a category, such as noun, verb, place or name. One player asks the other players, in turn, to contribute a random word as specified by each blank, but without revealing the context for that word. Finally, the completed story is read aloud. The result is usually silly and somewhat nonsensical but altogether fun.

A recent article by Luke Wroblewski of Yahoo! Inc. shows how using Mad Libs pays off when designing registration forms. Looking at one registration form before and after switching to a Mad Libs format, the results show that switching to a Mad Libs style form increased form completions by 25-40%. Wroblewski points out that two versions of this form are being used at Vast.com and Kelley Blue Book.

Who knew that forms could be so much fun?

Printing Email Coupons Finally Gets Easy

2010-04-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

It has been the bane of countless email marketers as to how to incorporate coupons, coupon codes, bar codes, and other traditionally offline discounts into email. We want these offers and discounts to be easy to redeem and print, but how can it be done?

A few key questions come to mind:

Does the recipient need to be redirected to a separate, print-friendly landing page, or does the email link to a printable PDF?
Do they need to print out the entire email directly from their browser or from a screen capture? (This can lead to problems if the email prints on multiple pages or if the coupon gets cutoff.)
Does the recipient need to write down a code and bring it to a store?

Starbucks recently deployed an email with a great solution to this age-old conundrum – they have print functionality within the email itself. When Print This Email is selected, the recipient's default printer displays. Printing is as easy as a simple click. This solution not only makes printing email coupons easy, but also utilizes the subscriber's default printer settings which ensures a clean, readable print.

A Welcome Series Is A Good Thing

2010-04-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason I can't get the country song, Rain Is A Good Thing, by Luke Bryan, out of my head. Because of this I am naming this post in the honor of this really catchy, but sometimes annoying, tune.

As most email marketers know sending a welcome email to welcome new subscribers to your list is a fabulous idea. (Click here to view 45 welcomes from top retailers)

A Welcome Series is an even better idea. A Welcome Series is sending more than one welcome to new subscribers in a certain order that allows you to introduce your brand to them. This series can be done before this new subscriber is added to the full circulation list, or it can compliment the full circulation emails they will receive.

Here is a short, three email, Welcome Series from XBOX Live.

The first email welcomes the subscriber. They are alerted that over the next 30 days he/she will be receiving more emails. The second welcome asks the subscriber to invi his/her friends to Xbox. The third welcome introduces the subscriber to the various games and other items that they can purchase from Xbox.

The Outdoor retailer REI runs a 12 part Welcome Series. This includes a welcome, preference update, credit card signup, outlet, benefits plus more.

Here is a list of the 12 emails in order
Member Mail #1: Welcome
Member Mail #2: Email Preferences (Current Subscriber)
Member Mail #2: Email Preferences (New Subscriber)
Member Mail #3: The Co-op
Member Mail #4: The Dividend
Member Mail #5: Visa
Member Mail #6: Stewardship
Member Mail #7: More Benefits
Member Mail #8: Educational Opportunities
Member Mail #9: Online Adventures
Member Mail #10: See the World
Member Mail #11: REI-Outlet

Here are the Welcome Emails from REI in order.

Member Mail #1: Welcome

Member Mail #2: Email Preferences (Current Subscriber)

Member Mail #2: Email Preferences (New Subscriber)

Member Mail #3: The Co-op

Member Mail #4: The Dividend

Member Mail #5: Visa

Member Mail #6: Stewardship

Member Mail #7: More Benefits

Member Mail #8: Educational Opportunities

Member Mail #9: Online Adventures

Member Mail #10: See the World

Member Mail #11: REI-Outlet

Animated GIF Done Well

2010-04-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a great example from Bumble and Bumble on using an animated GIF. Nice job with the images and the Spring message!

Here is the entire email creative.
The Subject Line is: April frizz? Fret not (+ free shipping on ANY order starts now)

You Want To Know What? Are Email Demographic Forms Too Intrusive?

2010-04-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

Email Marketers are hungry, sometimes starving, for subscriber’s personal information. How much is too much on a demographic form? And how/when do you ask subscribers for more information in a way that they will actually respond positively?

I recently saw a great example from Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill of how to request a boatload of subscriber information in a seemingly unobtrusive and gentle fashion. The keys are to make your subscribers feel needed, appreciated, and welcomed when they read your emails and when they divulge their personal secrets. Also, in the case of Rubio's, they did not even have to give me a coupon or discount! But, offering a discount can be helpful.

Rubio's sent me an email asking me to join an exclusive panel where I can give my opinion and advise the restaurant on what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong, and what they need to be doing. This in itself is a great idea and goes well beyond the typical subscriber survey.

Once I clicked through the email I was sent to a page where I updated my demographics, answers a bunch of questions, and join the panel. The questions went well beyond the typical date of birth, gender, and location. They also asked my marital status, eating habits, education level, how many kids I have, how large my bank account is, plus much more. Makes the US census look like it is not intrusive at all!

The end result for me is that I did not feel like I was being hounded for the information and who knows, it might be kind of fun to see where this advisory panel idea goes. Rubio's is doing something different in email marketing.

Here is the email creative.
The subject line is: An Exclusive Invitation for You

Here is the extensive demographic form:

An Email Marketer's Perspective On Promoting Twitter

2010-04-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

So you or your organization has a Twitter account. Great! But now what? You might have a question or two that needs answering before you can really create synergy between your email program and Twitter.

How do you entice your customers, potential customers, and other interested individuals to follow you?
Are you or your organization struggling on how to promote your Twitter presence?
A great way to promote yourself is using email. But what should the email look like?
What should the email subject line be?
Should you include an offer? If so, how will the offer work?
Why would someone want to follow you on Twitter?

These are all valid questions and concerns worth considering before diving into Twitter promotion. Recently I came across this email from Dick's Sporting Goods promoting their presence on Twitter. They approach the subject line, email creative and offer aspects very clearly and carefully. Looking at the email more closely, one can see many best practices of Twitter promotion in action.

The subject line, "Exclusive 20% Offer – Follow Us on Twitter Now!" is direct, short, and to the point – it conveys the most important aspects of the email very concisely and also provides a call to action. Equally important, the email contains simple bullets explaining the value of following Dick’s on Twitter. Just as marketers should explain the value of signing up to receive emails on the registration page, marketers should use the introductory email to explain the benefits of following a Twitter account. This provides incentive to the recipient and also helps earn their trust. Lastly, the email provides an exclusive offer contingent upon sign-up, along with a clear call-to-action.

By making use of these best practices, Dick’s is doing a great job of promoting their Twitter account over email. I’d encourage all email marketers to take a closer look at examples like these and begin marketing their Twitter accounts more effectively.

Here is the email Subject Line:
Exclusive 20% Offer – Follow Us on Twitter Now!

Buried in Spam? – You Are Not Alone

2010-04-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Recently I read a report on the prevalence of spam (i.e. unsolicited or non-opted in email) and recent spam trends.

Here are a few one liners from the article:

9 out of 10 e-mail messages are still unsolicited.
In June 2009, the average e-mail account received more than 100 spam messages per day.
A recent 3,000-person e-mail survey found nearly half of people continue to click on these messages, even if they know spam is a problem.
There’s some evidence that social networks, like Twitter and Facebook, are "easy targets" for spammers.

What can you do? The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a Web page with tips for how people can reduce and avoid spam. However, the agency acknowledges that "you will probably not be able to eliminate it."

Here are some tips:

Don't give your email address out arbitrarily.
Check privacy policies before submitting your email address online.
Be aware of options selected by default.
Use filters - Many email programs offer filtering capabilities that allow you to block certain addresses or to only allow email from addresses on your contact list.
Report messages as spam - Most email clients offer an option to report a message as spam or junk. If your has that option, take advantage of it. Reporting messages as spam or junk helps to train the mail filter so that the messages aren't delivered to your inbox.
Don't follow links in spam messages - Some spam relies on generators that try variations of email addresses at certain domains. If you click a link within an email message or reply to a certain address, you are just confirming that your email address is valid.
Disable the automatic downloading of graphics in HTML mail - Many spammers send HTML mail with a linked graphic file that is then used to track who opens the mail message—when your mail client downloads the graphic from their web server, they know you've opened the message. Disabling HTML mail entirely and viewing messages in plain text also prevents this problem.
Consider opening an additional email account (like Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail etc.)- Many domains offer free email accounts. If you frequently submit your email address (for online shopping, signing up for services, or including it on something like a comment card), you may want to have a secondary email account to protect your primary email account from any spam that could be generated. You could also use this secondary account when posting to public mailing lists, social networking sites, blogs, and web forums. If the account start to fill up with spam, you can get rid of it and open a different one.
Use privacy settings on social networking sites.
Don't spam other people - Be a responsible and considerate user. Don’t forward spam.

How much spam do you see on a daily basis?

Crossing the Boundary of Permission E-Mail Marketing – Cross Brand Promotion

2010-03-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

I don’t usually like to feature articles and posts that are not original, but I will make an exception in this case. I ran across an interesting article by Simms Jenkins titled When a Rose Isn't a Rose in Permission-Based Marketing.

This discusses the authors experience when he received an email marketing message from a sister company of a brand that he was subscribed to. He had not opted in to the sister companies email. Is this spamming? You be the judge.

One afternoon, I was minding my own business when an e-mail landed in my inbox and prompted me to do a double take. Not in a "wow that is something uniquely cool" kind of way. But in a "legitimate brand just spammed me" kind of way.

Some may shrug their head and say "duh." Still, I was surprised, frustrated, and wanted to try to make sense of this.

Here's what happened: I received two e-mails from two different brands within two minutes - RedEnvelope and ProFlowers. I sensed something was wrong.

I had previously opted in to receive e-mail messages from RedEnvelope. While I rarely buy from RedEnvelope, its e-mails are generally well done. On the other hand, I haven't had any contact with or purchased anything from ProFlowers in years. I unsubscribed from e-mail marketing lists for ProFlowers and other florists because they were sending out too many e-mail messages.

As an e-mail marketing purist and true believer in permission-based e-mail marketing, I replied to RedEnvelope, asking why it transferred my e-mail address to ProFlowers. I also replied to ProFlowers asking exactly how, when, and where I opted in to this list.

The good news? Each quickly replied to my queries, which is often a surprise. The bad news? Representatives at both companies didn't fully understand the concept of permission marketing.
RedEnvelope responded:
"I apologize for the confusion, however Proflowers is our sister company which is why you have received an email from them."
I hope you, dear reader, find this as unsettling as I did. After about 10 exchanges with customer service, one rep from RedEnvelope, Stephen S., provided the following explanation about how and why I was added to ProFlowers' database.
"Basically Proflowers owns RedEnvelope. We are one in the same company operating in the same offices. No information was sold/given to any third party affiliate.

...RedEnvelope and Proflowers are the same company. We operate in the same database with the same customer base. Our customers know that RedEnvelope and Proflowers are the same company because of the logo's that are displayed on each website. If you go to www.redenvelope.com, you can clearly see proflowers at the bottom where it reads, "Our Family of Brands". We even offer proflowers and Shari's berries items on the redenvelope site. Because we operate in the same building under the same management, no information has been given to any third party affiliate."
Indeed, San Diego-based Provide Commerce owns RedEnvelope and ProFlowers. However, none of that matters to me. Nor does it automatically transfer my permission from one company to the other. I didn't sign up with Provide Commerce (the parent) or ProFlowers (the sister), so the background family noise is irrelevant to me. I would assume 99 percent of their customers feel the same way.

The official response from Grace Lee in its PR department is:
"Through our emails we offer a wide range of gifting options, and great savings and deals that consumers might not otherwise receive. In our privacy policy we state that we may offer free electronic newsletters and promotional e-mails for products and/or services offered on any one or more of our sites, such as the email you received from a sister company of RedEnvelope. If anyone wishes to unsubscribe to our emails, there is an unsubscribe link at the top of the page, or they can call our Customer Service Department at anytime."
When I asked Lee if she thought this practice of non-permission was generally acceptable and in the customers' best interest, she replied:
"Consumers give permission to receive emails from our family of brands through our privacy policy."

Most people don't consider the privacy policy to be part of opt-in; Provide Commerce is committing an egregious offense in my book. I wish I could say that this circumstance is a rare exception, but the sad reality is that many companies see this as fair game.

Customers typically don't know or care who the parent or sister company is. Unless I sign up with the corporate parent or a broad newsletter that outlines what I'll be receiving (and why), I better not get an e-mail from another brand, company, or anything else affiliated with whom I provided my consent to for future mailings.

"These are customers! Why assume that they will want a sister brand?" said Stephanie Miller, VP, market development at Return Path and a fellow ClickZ columnist. "It's a great way to increase spam complaints and unsubscribe requests. It is OK to cross-promote. Why not send a great offer from RedEnvelope, featuring ProFlowers? That way, RedEnvelope serves its customers with cool, timely offers and adds value to the relationship."
A cross promotional e-mail would have been acceptable and probably relevant. But a full transfer of my e-mail address from RedEnvelope to ProFlowers is unacceptable.
Did RedEnvelope violate CAN-SPAM? Nope. Did it cross the boundary of permission e-mail marketing? Absolutely.

Bill McCloskey, founder of Email Data Source, disagrees and offers an alternative view of this practice. (He analyzed ProFlowers' recent Valentine's Day campaigns and called it one of the more inventive and successful e-mail marketers.

"I think the definition of best practices is often misunderstood," McCloskey said. "Best practices should refer to the e-mail practices that ultimately generate the most revenue, not some arbitrary code of conduct. If you spam people, your delivery will go down, you will be blacklisted, and you will make less revenue. In the case of cross promotion and sharing of sister company lists, the standard we need to look at is: does this practice increase or decrease revenue in the short run and in the long run."

It's not my intent to embarrass either RedEnvelope or ProFlowers. My goal is to highlight a continued gap in e-mail marketing - a battle between people who care about permission-based e-mail marketing and those who "blast" e-mails to a "list."

Advocates of permission-based e-mail marketing must keep fighting the good fight. If we don't, we'll all just be sending e-mails instead of delivering relevant, valuable, and targeted messaging to people who asked for them.

What's your take on this situation?

The Plight of the Abandoned Cart

2010-03-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

We have all been guilty at one time or another of abandoning our shopping carts. Maybe we couldn’t find our credit card, or the shipping costs shocked us, or we simply lost interest in our purchase.

Whatever the reason for the abandonment, the simple fact is that the vendor has let untapped revenue slip between their fingers.

Experian CheetahMail’s new white paper, The remarketing report: Benchmark data and analysis for connecting web behavior to email marketing explains the value in marketing to abandoners, reporting that sending reminder emails to abandoners who do not convert after the first abandoned cart email can boost campaign revenue by up to 33 percent.

But why do website visitors abandon their carts in the first place? A study by PayPal and comScore found that 45% of US online shoppers had abandoned shopping carts multiple times in just three weeks. The average cost of abandoned goods in those shopping carts was $109. In the same study, 46% of online shoppers said high shipping charges was a “very important reason” for ditching their carts.

Other reasons for abandonment included:

Wanted to comparison shop: 37%
Lack of money: 36%
Wanted to look for a coupon: 27%
Wanted to shop offline: 26%
Couldn’t find preferred pay option: 24%
Item unavailable at checkout: 23%
Couldn’t find customer support: 22%
Security concerns: 21%

What can online retailers do about curbing abandoned carts and making the sale?

Optimize the checkout process. Make the purchase process as simple and seamless as possible. This includes providing estimated shipping costs, delivery dates, and total costs early and obviously in the checkout process. Make it clear that the transaction is safe and secure. Offer an easy way to contact customer service. Post the return policy in an obvious location. Have a clear and easy to read progress bar throughout checkout. Pre-populate saved customer information. Provide multiple payment options.
Run an abandoned cart (remarketing) program. Abandoned cart programs are a great way to convert abandoners into purchasers. Remarketing programs send emails to abandoners enticing them to complete the purchase.
Consider providing an incentive to buy. This could be a frequent buyers program, wishlists, online coupons, free shipping offers, a "save your cart" feature, or special buyers clubs, to name a few. The incentive does not always have to be monetary, though, and our recent study has shown that not all businesses should offer incentives within their remarketing messages.

For more information on how to create successful remarketing campaigns, be sure to read the latest research, The remarketing report: Benchmark data and analysis for connecting web behavior to email marketing.

Please Pause My Email

2010-03-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

We have all been here. We go on vacation or on a trip off the grid and can't check email for an extended amount of time. When we return our in box looks like a wasteland of outdated offers, now irrelevant messages, and other cyber waste. DailyCandy has a pretty cool feature to help clean up, or rather avoid, this mess. They offer a feature where subscribers can pause his or her subscription. This is kind of like putting your newspaper delivery on hold while you are on vacation (for those who still get a newspaper) or stopping your snail mail for a set period of time with the good old USPS.

This looks to be a win-win. Subscribers have more control over their email and will have a more clean inbox. DailyCandy has a way to please their subscribers, send less emails that will not be viewed, and can mitigate potential bounce removes. Nice!

When Your From is Done: Updating Your 'From' Address

2010-03-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in most email marketers' lives when the email address he or she sends from needs to be changed. This change might be warranted because of an IP update, a change to a new email marketing service provider, a hosting update, aesthetic concerns or other reasons.

When a change like this must be made, what should be done? Two of the most critical goals are:

Do your best to ensure that deliverability does not suffer when you begin sending from the new email address.
Make sure subscribers recognize that the new 'from' address is you and do not hit the spam or unsubscribe button in error.

After a thorough whitelisting process, what’s next? Do you alert your subscribers about the new email address, if so how?

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (MFA) recently tackled this issue. In their case they are updating their ‘from’ email address, 'mfamail@mfa.org, to info@email.mfa.org. The reason for the switch is not made clear in the email creative — nor does it need to be. However, the new email address does contain some similar characteristics as the original but uses 'info' before the '@' instead of 'mfamail.' The 'info@' handle is more accurate and widely recognized than 'mfamail@.'

MFA sent this email prior to using the new email address. This is smart for a variety of reasons:

This allows time for subscribers to update their contact list with the new email address prior to the new address going live.
Sending information about the new email address while still using the old email address should help with deliverability once the new address is used. It is less effective to send a change-of-address email using the new email address because there is a chance that some recipients never see the email due to spam filtering.
MFA is also following a best practice by asking their subscribers to add their email address to their safe senders list (i.e. address book) in the header of the email. Adding this to the footer text would also be a good idea.
MFA is also wise to limit the creative message to just the email address change — this eliminates the possibility of such vital information getting lost among clutter.

Here is the creative from Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The subject line is: "Our e-mail address is changing"

A Primer On Email Subject Line Testing

2010-02-23T17:01:00.000-08:00

Subject line testing is not a new concept to email marketing or to this blog. However, it is an important key to email marketing success. Subject line testing is easy to do and offers concrete results, but is often neglected.

Below is a typical inbox. Which subject lines best grab your attention? Which approach would work for your brand? Which one do you think is the worst performing? There's only way to know - test it out!

Keep in mind:

Best-in-breed email programs consistently test their subject lines.
It is important to verify your past findings and current theories about subject lines instead of making assumptions.
If you can increase your open rates even slightly by optimizing your subject lines, the potential to increase click and transaction rates increases.

Do:

Be clear and direct.
Be short – keep subject lines to 50 characters or less. (test this out to make sure shorter is better for your brand)
Do tell subscribers what’s new in this message.
Remind subscribers when sales/events are ending.
Try wistful, fun or emotional subject lines.
Test personalization, symbols (%, $) and capital letters. Also, I have seen pipes (|) used successfully.
Set your subscribers' expectations during the opt-in process about what kinds of emails they'll be receiving.
Try incorporating offer codes in the subject line.

Don't:

Be deceptive.
Be too long-winded.
Deviate from your brand voice too much.
Scream (use words in all CAPITAL LETTERS).
Test once and then make long term decisions.
Be afraid to have fun!
Don't confuse newsletters with promotions. If your email is a newsletter, put the name and issue of the newsletter in your subject line. If your email is a special promotion, tell the subscriber what's inside. Either way, don't write your subject lines like advertisements.

Subject line recommendations and solutions are not a one size fits all solution. Discover for yourself about what works best for you and what does not work. Don't forget to document both your testing failures and successes. You do not want to forget what worked and did not work as you perform more tests. Also, you do not want to lose any testing knowledge as employees come and go.

Some subject line testing scenarios include:

Short versus long.
Mentioning a product type (shoes, savings accounts, cars, travel destinations).
Mentioning of brand or style type advertised (Nike, Cargo Pants, Harry Potter, Rolling Stone, Jolly Ranchers).
Using and testing placement of free shipping, percent-off or discount offers.
Using language indicating urgency (limited time sale, 3 days only, etc.).
Using language evoking curiosity or inspiration.
Using first name personalization
Including the company name.
Using capitalization and abbreviations appropriately or intentionally inappropriately (Di$count 4U!).
Including offer codes in the subject line.

A sample subject line test scenario: The 10-10-80 split

10% of the subscriber list received Subject Line 1.
10% of the subscriber list received Subject Line 2.
80% of the subscriber list received the winning Subject Line.

The winner is most often determined by unique open rate but not necessarily all the time. In the case of including an offer code in the subject line, the winner might be determined by the number of sales generated by that offer code. In this case the subscriber does not even need to open the email for you to make a sale because they can often see the code from the preview pane alone.

If you are having a difficult time deciding what subject lines to create, get inspired by the content of the email or by your web analytics data (to see which content is recently popular on your site and which popular keywords are driving traffic).

When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what's inside, and the worst subject lines sell what's inside. But don’t take my word for it – you need to test, test, test this for yourself.

♥♥♥ Hearts in subject lines ♥♥♥‏

2010-02-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month I saw an email with something unique in the subject line - a heart. This is from Tommy Bahama and is pretty cool. Since that time I have been testing how to do this in my own subject lines. I also reached out to Tommy Bahama for some insight on how they did it.

As luck would have it I was able to figure this out the same day that Tommy Bahama contacted me and let me know their story and secrets. I am not going to give away their secrets, but keep an eye out for more symbols in subject lines. This could be "the" new trend in Email Marketing.

President's Day, Presidents' Day. Who knows. Who Cares?

2010-02-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

There has been a discussion amongst email nerds about what is correct in a Subject Line: President’s Day or Presidents’ Day. I thought Presidents’ Day is correct since this day honors multiple Presidents. Others argued that President’s Day is correct since this day honors Washington only. To put this argument to rest, I did some inbox diving for President’s Day, Presidents’ Day and other variations in subject lines.

Here are the results listing the sender and the subject line. What do you think about these? Please share your thoughts!

Results:

34 Subject Lines were analyzed.
20 used Presidents’ (59%)
10 used President’s (29%)
4 used another variation (12%)
2 used both another variation and President’s in different emails (6%)

The longest Subject Line was: Presidents Day Deals: LG 42" 1080p LCD HDTV $999.99, Sony Blu-ray Player $176.99, Altec Lansing Speaker System $89.99, Pentax Digital Camera $62.39,..

PRESIDENTS’
Ebates: Save big with Presidents' Day sales and Double Cash Back‏
Bluefly: EXTRA 20% OFF Presidents' Day Sale - Now Up To 75% Off!
eBags: Presidents' Day Weekend Sale - Our Best Deal is Back
HP: HP's Presidents' Day Sale STARTS NOW!
Disney Store: Presidents' Day Sale Starts Today! Up to 25% Off
Bass Pro Shops: Save up to 50% during our Presidents' Day Sale
Colorful Images: Celebrate A Presidents' Day Flag-Waver, Valued Customer, with FREE S&H
Current Catalog: Extended for 24 hours! Double savings at our Presidents' Weekend Sale!
Bluefly: Project Runway! See Who Won Last Night + Presidents' Day Sale!
Bass Pro Shops: Presidents' Day Sale – Save up to 50%
Amazon.com: Presidents' Day Shoe Sale Up to 45% Off, Plus Free Shipping at endless.com‏
Dick’s Sporting Goods: Final Hours to Save Big on Presidents' Day!
Overstock.com: Presidents' Day Sale + Last Day $1 Shipping
Lane Bryant: Last Chance For Presidents' Day Savings + New Must-Have Tees
HP: HP's Presidents' Day Sale - Save up to 50%
Radio Shack: Preview our Presidents’ Day 48-Hour Sale!
Cooking.com: President's Day Weekend Savings - Save up to 75%
The Sportsman’s Guide: Presidents' Day Sale! Savings Coupon from The Guide...
Bluefly: Presidents’ Day Sale featuring COATS – Now Up To 75% Off!
Newport News: Presidents' Deal: FREE SHIPPING for one more day.

PRESIDENT’S DAY
Ann Taylor: President's Day Sale: Take An Extra 40% Off Sale + 40% Off 1 Full-Priced Item!
Ann Taylor: Shop Our President's Day Sale Now! 40% Off 1 Full-Priced Item + Extra 40% Off Sale Items
Office Depot: Hurry In for President's Day Deals + $10 Coupon
Norm Thompson: President's Weekend Event: 15% MORE OFF SALE!
Sam’s Club: Save big during the Serta® President's Day Mattress Event; online and in-Club Feb. 10-15, 2010!
Spiegel: President's Day Weekend Savings! EXTRA 25% OFF Already-Reduced Styles!
Office Depot: Celebrate President’s Day All Week + $20 Coupon
Banana Republic: Celebrate President's Day with 25% off! Today only!
LOFT Outlet: President's Day Sale: 50% OFF Spring Styles + Free Shipping
Ann Taylor: This Weekend Only--Our President's Day Sale! 40% Off 1 Full-Priced Item + Extra 40% Off Sale Items

OTHER
LOFT Outlet: Presidents Day Sale...Savings Throughout The Store!
Banana Republic: Happy Birthday Mr. President! Save up to 40% + Free shipping.
Macy’s: Free Shipping + 2-day specials at the Presidents Day Sale!
Buy.com: Presidents Day Deals: LG 42" 1080p LCD HDTV $999.99, Sony Blu-ray Player $176.99, Altec Lansing Speaker System $89.99, Pentax Digital Camera $62.39,..

Email Marketers Lending A Hand to Haiti

2010-02-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

It is refreshing to see how many companies and email marketers have forgone their normal creative and rigorous mailing schedules to assist with earthquake relief in Haiti. Some organization simply added a link or image asking for help, while others dedicated entire emails and product lines to help Haitians in need. Over the past few weeks there have been a variety of help Haiti emails. Organizations such as Omaha Steaks, Coldwater Creek, Buy.com, Ralph Lauren, Sport Chalet, Overstock.com plus many more have shown their support.

Here are some creative and subject line examples:

Coldwater Creek
Subject Line: Join us in Haiti's recovery effort.

Sport Chalet
Subject Line: Haiti Relief - Donate your shoes

Ralph Lauren
Subject Line: Join The Global Relief Effort For Haiti

Email Marketing in a Difficult Economy

2010-02-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

The economy is one everyone's mind. How has email changed because of the economy? Here are two telling charts. These display what percent of email subject lines contained an offer in Q1 2008 and Q1 2009. What a difference a year makes!

Email Marketers are sending more types of offers more frequently.

Subject lines with no mention of an offer decreased by nearly 44%
The number of subject lines including the mention of a free gift
increased over 100%
The mention of a percentage off in the subject line increased 20%
The inclusion of a dollar off amount increased 52%
4.5% of these campaigns included a combination of offers such as
Free Shipping plus 25% off
Free Shipping offers increased 32% when comparing January and February, 2009 with the same time period in 2008
The minimum spend requirement for Free Shipping appears to be decreasing many clients that offered free shipping at $150 or $200 have dropped to $100 or $150 respectively

Here are a couple creatives addressing poor economic times.

Discount Codes in the Email Subject Line

2010-02-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

The Retail Email blog did a great job with its Subject Line Hall of Fame 2009.

It found that the most significant subject line trend of 2009 was the use of discount codes. Rather than forcing subscribers to open an email to take advantage of a discount code, retailers decided to experiment with putting the full call-to-action in the subject line. This tactic puts business metrics ahead of email metrics.

RitzCamera, 8/22 — Super Student Special, 10% OFF (Use Coupon Code 1828)
JCPenney, 9/9 — Use Code 32GIFT to Get Free Shipping!‏
JCPenney, 11/8 — Want Free Shipping? Use Promo Code 49SANTA At JCP.com!
JCPenney, 11/26 — Use Code 25MERRY & Get Free Shipping!‏
Bluefly, 12/1 — Today Only! EXTRA 15% OFF Handbags & Shoes with Code HOLIDAY15‏
Ann Taylor, 12/8 — 30% Off All Full-Priced Items with Code WINTER + Free Shipping!
Sears, 12/15 — Hurry, savings end soon! Enter coupon code EXCLUSIVE‏
Linens ’n Things, 12/18 — Jingle your way to Savings! HOHOHO Coupon Enclosed!
Linens ’n Things, 12/19 — 4 Days Left to Buy More Save More! HOHOHO Details Inside.
Linens ’n Things, 12/21 — Hurry, Only 24 Hours Left to Save up to $24 with HOHOHO!‏

This is a great suggestion and well worth a test.

What Does the Future of Email Marketing Hold? An Interview With Jordan Lane of Email Moxie.com

2010-02-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Jordan Lane, founder of EmailMoxie.com, was recently interviewed on the website BubblegumKitten.com. Here is part of the interview. Click here to view the entire interview with Jordan Lane.

BubblegumKitten.com – Tell us a little about how EmailMoxie.com started.

Jordan Lane- EmailMoxie.com started as a place where I can put down my thoughts, observations, and learnings about email marketing- and share them with anyone who is interested. Email marketing is fascinating because it is always evolving and people are always asking what other people are doing and looking for examples. Email Marketing is like a big game of follow the leader. Everyone is looking at what everyone else is doing and them imitating them. For example, one question many of my clients, co-workers, and network friends would ask me frequently is what is a good creative for a welcome campaign. Instead of providing some sort of vague answer I created a post on my blog that not only displays 45 welcome creatives from the best in the business, but also lists the subject line and other statistics. (see the August 11 2009 post on emailmoxie.com) EmailMoxie.com is a great place to learn more about email marketing. It’s as simple at that....
Click here to view the entire interview with Jordan Lane.

A Marriage Made in Heaven or a Passing Fling? Your Corporation Facebook Profile

2010-01-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

What started out in 2004 as a fun place for college students to post pictures and link up with friends, Facebook has morphed into a social media juggernaut. Fortune 500 companies and the hole-in-the-wall restaurant down the street have a Facebook profile. Facebook boasts more than 200 million active users as of April 2009. More than 6 million users become fans of pages each day. More than two-thirds of Facebook members are outside of college. And the fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older. Also, there are more than 30 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

All this activity sounds great. But how can corporations benefit from a site like Facebook? And is it worth jumping into the Facebook fray?

How can corporations benefit from a site like Facebook?

Facebook can create brand loyalty, promote good and services, increase goodwill, and connect with individuals who love what you do. In order to get the most out of Facebook corporations need to create stellar profiles to keep their fans coming back for more.

Here are some ideas:

-    Engage your fans. These Facebookers are fans because they like you. Allow them to shower you with praise and give them reasons to return to your profile and share your profile over and over again.

-    Create Facebook only events, promotions, and specials. Running a Facebook only promotion will not only promote your brand, but it will reward your loyal fans and will keep you top of mind.

-    Keep your content fresh. Publish new videos, content, and updates constantly. Facebook estimates that more than 30 million users update their statuses at least once each day. Active Facebook users demand updated content.

-    Utilize surveys and other voting applications in your profile. These not only give your fans a voice, but also keeps them engaged. Try to make the surveys fun whenever possible.

-    Integrate Facebook content on your corporate web page and IN YOUR EMAIL! This includes adding links to attract more fans and to remind a fan to return to your profile page. Also, create a place in your Facebook page where visitors can sign-up for your email.

-    Get creative with Facebook features. Some of these features include photo albums, active discussion boards, two-way communication, engagement ads, and virtual gifts.

Is it worth jumping into the Facebook fray?

- YES if your corporation has the time, energy, and passion to not only create a Facebook profile but to support, monitor, and update it. Also, having a company policy about posting on company sponsored social networking sites can help prevent problems. Damaging, conflicting, and inaccurate content, and leaking corporate secrets should be avoided.

Click here to view a useful article with five Facebook case studies involving corporate profiles. This article provides real world examples on how corporations are benefiting from Facebook.

Timely, Personalized and Appropriate Email – Go Team!

2010-01-22T14:33:00.000-08:00

To the chagrin of Dallas Cowboys fans everywhere, the Minnesota Vikings recently advanced in the NFL playoffs. A friend of mine is a diehard Vikings fan and received the email below just as the game ended. (For the record, I verified that my friend is not a bandwagon jumper or Favre follower - but is a 100% certified and valid Vikings fan.)

NFL shop.com did a great job with not only the creative, but the subject line, the time they sent the email, and the segmentation. As far as I can tell only those with a preference set as being a Viking fan received this email.

The subject line was: Your Minnesota Vikings Just Won - Order Now & Get Free Shipping Over $75

What Is On Your Subscribers Mind. Why don't you ask?

2010-01-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning.
- Danish Proverb

Now that the holiday 2009 dust is settling it is time to put away the decorations, crunch revenue numbers, take a deep breath, and prepare for next year. This might also be a prime time to get feedback on your holiday email and marketing programs. Sure you can pour over at the numbers, talk to your customer service groups, and check on returns to see how everything went. But don’t make the mistake of forgetting to check with the people who helped make it all happen – your customers. Beyond thanking them for opening their wallets to you, ask them how they felt about their purchasing experience with you, and solicit honest feedback. One of the best ways to gain insight of your subscriber base is through a survey.

Surveys can engage and entertain your email subscribers, but more importantly they allow you to obtain direction for and improve the relevancy of your emails. You can survey your subscribers on product preferences, popular offers, preferred shopping days, overall purchasing experience and the list goes on and on. Surveys also allow a great opportunity to update your subscribers preferences.

Surveys can come in many different shapes and forms. Here are a variety of examples from different verticals. Some of the emails main focus is the survey, while others incorporate a survey as a banner in a more comprehensive marketing message. Be sure your survey fits your brand and your customers – and have fun!

Interesting Facts About Google

2010-01-13T17:07:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting post I found about our good friend Google. Its not related directly to email marketing, but it is always a good idea to see what Google is up to and has been up to :) Click here to view the original post.

Google is a search engine that began in 1996 as an assignment by the two bright students of Stanford university, but ever since then it has grown to become of the most powerful companies. Today, Google Inc. is the highest earning company on the internet and it has emerged as a dominating company in its field. Besides, this there are plenty of facts about Google that are less know to the public. Here is the list of some of them:

99% of Google’s annual revenue is obtained from Adwords.
The 2008 advertising revenue of Google was $21 billion.
1.35% of the US’ Adwords advertisers make up 80% of Google US ad revenue.
Adwords was previously known it used to be called Adwords Select. The top banner position was sold old school style through a program call Adwords Premium.
Google’s pricing mechanism where the winner pays the runner up’s price was devised to prevent super-inflated bid prices but the second-price auctions resulted in higher prices for Google right away.
In 2009 Google began showing ads based on their previous online activities. User patterns are segmented in 20 categories and roughly 600 subcategories.
In 2008, 80% of 80,000 typo-squatting domains in the US alone were funded through Adsense.
Google’s query forecasting models are founded in their efforts to understand and predict Adwords pricing and click patterns.
Although it doesn’t like to talk about using user data, Google cross references everything. “We have temperature data, weather data, and queries data, so we can do correlation and statistical modeling.”
In the last 10 years Google’s latency has gone from 1000ms to 200ms.
In the last 10 years Google has made seven major re-architecture changes.
Compared to 1999 Google’s index is now 100x larger but they update it 10,000 times faster.
Google catalogued its trillionth web page in 2008.
To translate one sentence Google does a million lookups in a multi-terabyte data structure.
To punish itself for artificial link inflation (paid links) Google penalized itself in 2009 by lowering the PageRank of its Japan domain from PR9 to PR5.
Since January 2009 Gmail regularly beats YouTube in market share by US visits and is the 2nd most popular Google property.
The 3 largest traffic drivers for Gmail are Google, Facebook - and Yahoo! Mail…
To encourage developer teams to move to new servers Google uses auctions where teams bid how many extra computers dedicated to their service it would take for them to move; the lowest bidding team wins.
In 2007 Google announced it will award $20 million to the 1st private team which builds a robot - and puts it on the moon.

Jordan Lane Featured in eMarketing and Commerce.com

2010-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Jordan Lane has a featured article in eMarketing and Commerce.com. The article is titled All About eMail - Video in Email, A Primer. Click here to take a look!

Will Video Make The Email Star? Definitely

2010-01-04T15:31:00.000-08:00

Every so often there is a new, hot topic in email marketing. Many of these hot topics are adopted widely and eventually become commonplace across the email marketing industry. Some past examples include the 'view online' header link, forward-to-a-friend functionality, and social media links. The latest hot topic in email marketing is video.

Why is video in email the new hot topic even though it has been around for a while?
There are a number of compelling reasons why video is such a hot topic. These include:

The expense of creating and hosting video is falling.
Rising access to high-speed Internet has given more people the ability to view videos online.
Video viewing increases engagement by adding context to products and building brand identities.
It has become easier and easier to create videos. It is hard to find a digital camera or cell phone today that does not also have video creation capabilities.
Video allows email marketers to stand out more not only in the inbox, but in blogs, and other media and social avenues.
As the email channel matures, so do email subscribers. Simply receiving an email is no longer the novelty it once was. Subscribers are demanding and expecting more of their emails.

The video-as-landing-page strategy
Over the past year or so there has been some dabbling with adding video in email. But due to rendering issues, deliverability problems, time and resource constraints, file sizes and other obstacles, video has not taken off or become a permanent fixture in most email marketing messages. One proven workaround is by using animated GIF images in lieu of actual embedded videos.

Before we get into Animated GIFs, let’s explore two other common ways that video is currently delivered in email. One, is with an image or other call to action that links to a video. In this "Preview Our New Commercials – Watch Now" example, the Watch Now button redirects to a URL and then plays a video.

The second common technique is displaying an image of what looks like a video. When the “play” button is selected, the viewer is redirected to a URL where the video plays. Both of these strategies are examples of linking to video via email.

One of the major considerations of these two strategies is that the consumer is taken away from the email to an external website. For some retail or traditional 'conversion' businesses, this means that the viewer would then require additional direction on that landing page indicating how to convert or make a purchase. This can be difficult especially if the video is on a standalone page, hosted on YouTube, or on some other social media or video site. Essentially the email marketer is ceding some control by linking to an external site to view the video. But for media and publishing businesses who rely less on traditional 'conversions' and more on advertising revenue, landing pages offer a great venue for display ads as well as pre/post-roll advertising. The implications of landing pages depend largely on your particular line of business.

Animated GIFs as video substitute
An Animated GIF file is a layered graphic file that moves frame by frame to give the appearance of motion. Animated GIFs are most frequently used in web advertising banners, but there has also been a recent surge in the use of Animated GIFs in email. One interesting use, beyond flashing letters or moving icons, is creating what looks like a video embedded in the email content. These videos present a visually unique and impressive message, and when used effectively, create visually engaging emails that deliver a “wow” factor that stagnant images cannot. To really catch the attention of email openers, be sure to place the most interesting Animated GIFs above-the-fold.

In the past, one major problem that email marketers were having with Animated GIFs was creating the appearance of video while keeping file sizes manageable. While clunky video-to-GIF plug-ins have been around for many years, only recently has the technology been able to streamline the conversion of video into highly compressed and legible Animated GIFs. There is a company called Live Clicker that turns Animated GIFs into what they call Video GIFs, which are essentially their version of an advanced Animated GIF. Getting a little help with Animated GIFs is not a bad idea if you want to make sure you do this process correctly.

When dealing with Animated GIFs, it's important to remember that they are not actual video files even though they now can take on the appearance of video. Animated GIFs cannot offer many of the features that true video offers, such as player controls (pause, fast forward buttons, etc.) and perhaps most importantly, audio. Certain browsers and email applications will also render the speed of the animation differently from computer to computer.

What are the best practices, tips and other information for using Animated GIFs in email?

Use video as a primary call-to-action, rather than supporting visual element. You want your subscribers interacting with the video, not just passing over it. Make the animation the focal point of the email.

First and last impressions are key. Ensure the first and last frames of the video look good and display the call to action because only the first frame of an Animated GIF will display in Outlook 2007 (Outlook 2007 only displays static images). If your video is not set to loop infinitely, the last frame of the video will be the "last frame standing" once the animation completes, so be sure to include a call to action there as well.

Pay attention to your video infrastructure and try to keep the size of the animated GIF to a minimum. You should experiment with dithering and frame rate to reduce the bandwidth load required of the end recipient. Reducing the number of colors per frame from 256 to 128 can also reduce the size of a video GIF by a quarter without noticeably impacting output quality. Do not create videos that require greater than 150kB – 200kB/sec in data transfer to display properly.

Measure the connection speed of visitors on your web site to get an idea of the percent of your email audience on dial-up. If a high percent of your audience is on dial-up make sure you test your Animated GIF thoroughly before deploying to your entire list.

Never use Flash or Javascript to attempt to get video to play in email. This will cause rendering problems on a number of email applications as there is no industry standard when it comes to such technologies.

Most web videos are typically no longer than thirty to forty-five seconds. Animated GIFs should be even shorter to keep file sizes down. A best practice for longer videos would be to use landing pages, along with subtitles or text displayed throughout the video to maintain attention.

Now you know how to best deploy the new hot topic in email marketing – good luck using Animated GIFs!

A similar version of this article also appeared in eMarketingandCommerce.com. Click here to view this article.

Jordan Lane Featured in Marketing VOX!

2010-01-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

Jordan Lane, from EmailMoxie.com, was featured Marketing VOX! Click here to read the article or see below.

Repurposing GIFs for Email Marketing

Marketers leery of the pitfalls of video email marketing can get the best of both worlds by repurposing a Web 1.0 technology: GIFs - or Graphics Interchange Format - as a substitute, according to Jordan Lane, at Email Responsibly, a website managed by Experian CheetahMail.

It is a stable alternative for a format that, while promising, is still in early days with glitch-prone technology and oftentimes surprising additional costs.

Viewers' experience can be surprisingly poor with online video, a recent study by video analytics company Tubemogul found. Rebuffers are commonplace, occurring in 6.84% of all streams. When they happen, viewers navigate away 81.19% of the time rather than wait for the video to re-load.

Still, though, the allure of video marketing is hard to resist - it is seen as a top strategy for 2010, according to SEO; Forrester Research predicts the global online video advertising market will reach $7.2 billion by 2012.

Nostalgic Twenty-Somethings

Animated GIF addresses many of these issues, Lane argues in his post. First, though, an explanation of GIF: it is a compressed file format that can loop static images together to create low tech mini-movies. In 1996, animated GIFs were cutting-edge Web art, but have since been supplanted by flash animation and streaming video.

Recently, though, there has been a resurgence of its use in banners, primarily driven by twenty-something web designers nostalgic for the technology of their teens (via Globe and Mail).

There has also been a recent surge in the use of Animated GIFs in email, according to Email Responsibly.

Technology advances that streamline the conversion of video into highly compressed animated GIFs now keep file size manageable, Lane notes.

There are disadvantages to using animated GIFs as a substitute for true video, on the other hand, starting with lack of player control and the fact that some browsers and email applications process the animation differently.

Tips
If marketers do opt for animated GIFs, Lane suggests the following:
Make the animation the focal point of the email so subscribers interact with the video - not pass over it.
Make sure the first and last frames of the video look particularly good because only the first frame of an Animated GIF will display in Outlook 2007 and if the video is not set to loop infinitely, the last frame of the video will be the "last frame standing" once the animation completes.
Keep the size of the animated GIF to a minimum. Reducing the number of colors per frame from 256 to 128 can decrease the size of a video GIF by a quarter without noticeably impacting output quality.

12 Days of Christmas all at Once

2009-12-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

Many email marketers ran a Days Of Christmas campaign this year. This is when specific offers are only available on certain days. Below is an interesting email I saw from a company who was doing a Days Of Christmas email campaign. Now that the campaign is over they are offering the same deals on all days at once. This is a very interesting concept. Lets see if this catches on.

This type of campaign has some pros and cons.

The pros:

Customers can still get a deal they might have missed.
If the customer already purchased they can get the same deal again.
The end of the year revenue for this type of campaign is probably decent.
This is a great way to clear out overstocked and undersold items.

The cons:

I doubt the item will be shipped or received by Christmas.
This is another email to a subscriber list that has been hit pretty hard during the regular days of Christmas campaign.

Here is the email. It is all text. The subject line was Day 23: All Previous Deals Back for 1 Day Only!

Here is the landing page. All of the deals can be selected by day.

You Are Checking Your Email On What? Top ISPs.

2009-12-21T10:59:00.000-08:00

Like the many flavors of ice-cream, consumers have a variety of ways to check email. But which is the most popular? Does Hotmail trump Gmail? Does anyone use AOL Mail anymore? What about Lotus Notes 6?

Below is some information to help address these questions. Before I provide the information here are a couple points to keep in mind:

This information was pulled as of December 2009. So, in a few seconds, hours, days, weeks of years – the results could change.
This information is from a very email active and large B to C clothing retailer with both an online and brick-and-mortar presence.

ISP    % of Total
yahoo.com 22%
aol.com      16%
hotmail.com 13%
gmail.com    9%
comcast.net 6%
msn.com 3%
sbcglobal.net 3%
verizon.net 2%
rr.com   2%
cox.net   2%

It's important to note, however, that someone could be using a protocol to read their web-based email messages inside Outlook or another desktop client. This would increase the share of Outlook and not that of the web-based domain. Aggregating the top 50 ISPs for this companies email list amounts to about 85% of the total list. It is safe to assume that at least 15% of the subscribers are receiving and/or reading their email through desktop email software such as Outlook. A study in June 2009 of over 300 million email opens showed the following breakdown of email client popularity:

Email Client     Popularity
Microsoft Outlook     39.63%
Yahoo! Mail 15.65%
Hotmail     15.35%
Apple Mail     8.25%
iPhone / iPod Touch     5.78%
Gmail 5.51%
AOL Mail     2.76%
Lotus Notes 6 1.72%
Thunderbird 2     1.12%
Others     4.23%

The study was conducted only in email clients that display images by default.

Will your privacy be compromised online?

2009-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

The 2010 Census is nearly under way, but don't expect an e-mail from the U.S. Census Bureau asking you personal questions in its head count of America.

If you do get one, it's a scam.

"Like most large organizations, we have seen e-mail scams and phishing attacks that cite the U.S. Census Bureau," agency spokesman Neil Tillman wrote in an e-mail.

The Census Bureau stresses that it will not request personal information from you via e-mail, such as PIN codes, passwords, Social Security numbers, credit-card numbers or other financial account information.

A news-based phishing scheme like this one is one of several risks you face online. Cybercriminals have gotten craftier, often looking toward popular trends and events -- such as tax season, the mortgage meltdown and the growth of social media -- to scam people into giving them sensitive information.

To protect their privacy online, computer users need to stay informed about the criminals' methods and to learn basic principles of caution.

Online attackers have information on millions of consumers, said Ravi Sandhu, a professor of cyber security at the University of Texas at San Antonio. However, he added, the rate at which they can use that information is considerably lower.

"It's a bit like a lottery. To have identity theft actually occur against you, you need to have a little bad luck. There is some comfort in numbers," Sandhu said.

In addition to criminal scams, corporate data breaches can leave your privacy compromised.

As of September 22, there have been 379 data breaches reported by the Identity Theft Resource Center in 2009, affecting more than 13 million records. Companies with data breaches included financial institutions, travel companies, health care operations, and schools.

"It's not one or two companies that are acting irresponsibly with consumer data," said Andrea Matwyshyn, a law professor who teaches technology regulation at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. "It's a large-scale problem where industry norms of care are arguably not adequate to address the challenges of data security optimally."

Safeguard your Social Security number

Exercising caution before you submit sensitive information can save you a lot of aggravation down the line.
For instance, most businesses really won't need your Social Security number, the key number for identity theft, so think twice before you provide it online.

Social Security numbers are used "to establish new lines of credit or for tax purposes. How many things are you doing online that have to do with taxes?" said Linda Foley, co-founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center.

So before you share the information, be certain that you are on that Web site of a real company -- as opposed to an imposter conducting a phishing scheme. Also, ask yourself why a Web site would need your Social Security number, said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance.

"I always encourage consumers to supply the minimum amount of information possible. A lot of times, you get these long forms and you get the little star that's required, but people are collecting other [data about you]," Kaiser said. "Don't fill it out if you don't want to."

Still, even visiting a legitimate Web site has its share of risks, because online attackers may inject malicious content onto them by hacking them or placing advertisements that deliver malware, Sandhu said.
If a criminal does obtain your Social Security number and creates a fraudulent identity, it can be a much bigger hassle than if he or she uses your credit card number.

Credit card companies often pick up the tab for fraudulent charges, and they send you a new card with a different number. It's more difficult to get a new Social Security number, and a stolen identity could affect your credit rating.

Where is your information going?

If you conduct an online transaction that requires you to reveal personal data, the online privacy policy will explain whether your information could be shared with third parties.

A company may tell you in that policy it will share your data with its "trusted partners" and however it deems appropriate in the course of business, said Matwyshyn, editor of the upcoming book "Harboring Data: Information Security, Law, and the Corporation." "That's a signal that your data is going to be licensed many times over, and it's going to be touched by a greater number of hands."

That becomes a problem, Matwyshyn said, because "you're only as good as the weakest link in the chain." That is, the "trusted partners" who can access the data may not have optimal security.

Storing sensitive data such as a credit card number on a business' Web site, though convenient, may also pose a risk, Matwyshyn said.

"The longer they store that credit card number in their systems, the longer the period of time that someone else can gain unauthorized access to that credit card number," she said.

Privacy at the mercy of others

Even if you practice a high level of caution with how much you reveal about yourself online, other people may inadvertently expose information about you.

For instance, a friend or relative may post a photo of you on a blog or social networking Web site that reveals your name, shows a street sign indicating your address and displays your car's license plate number, Kaiser said.

Kaiser recommends periodically looking up your name on one or two search engines to see the personal information about you on the Internet but adds that search probably won't tell you whether someone stole sensitive information, such as your credit card, address or Social Security number.

For that, monitor your credit report for suspicious activity, suggests the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act allows you to access a free credit report each year from each of the three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

"Just like in health care, you should be the first one to notice when something goes wrong with you," Sandhu said.

"If you don't perceive a symptom and convey it to a physician, nobody's going to be able to help you," he said. "So here, also, consumers need to be vigilant and watch over their accounts and look out to see if anything strange is happening."

Defending yourself
•    Make sure your Web browser, operating system, virus protection and spyware protection are up to date.
•    Use a firewall.
•    Visit businesses' Web sites by typing the addresses into your browser, and check for typos.
•    Don't click on links or attachments in e-mails addressed to a large number of recipients.
•    Don't click on links from companies soliciting your business.
•    Consider why a person or business needs information about you before you provide it.
•    Include a site adviser on your Web browser to tell you whether a Web site is questionable.

Sources: Michael Kaiser, Ravi Sandhu, Linda Foley

This article is from CNN. Please click here to view the original article.

Managing Email Subscriber Expectations During The Holidays

2009-11-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

The holidays are a time of goodwill, cheer, and full email inboxes. During this time of year, many email marketers struggle to find the correct balance between sending too many emails during the holidays (and therefore experiencing high unsubscribe and abuse complaints) and not sending enough emails (and seeing stagnant sales as a result). I recently saw a Zappos.com campaign that does a great job at helping to solve this issue – they notified their email subscribers about what they can expect to see in their inbox from Zappos.com this holiday season.

This fresh yet simple email explains when Zappos.com will begin their increased holiday email schedule. It also explains on which days the subscriber should expect to receive emails, and then reminds the subscriber to keep Zappos.com in mind for their gift purchasing needs.

Zappos.com, however, does not seem to allow their subscribers to opt-out or opt-down from the holiday specific campaigns. This is a feature I would look at implementing in the near future to mitigate unsubscribes and abuse compaints. Other than that, this is a great idea for many businesses as it keeps the customer informed and treats their relationship with respect.

Nice job!

The subject line of this email was, “Get Ready! A Sneak Peek Of The Zappos Holiday Season Is Inside!” Here is the creative:

Love J.Crew? We love you too - Retailers Promoting Social Media

2009-11-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

J. Crew provides a great example of how a retailer is promoting their Facebook page! I love how you can only view this intriguing offer if you check out their page.

Also, the subject line is great: Love J. Crew? We love you too

Southwest Airlines' Updated Email Program is a Winner

2009-11-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

I have been a fan of Southwest Airlines for years. They seem to truly want to please their customers and are always making changes to the way they work to make processes better. Some recent changes that they have made for the better are assigning a boarding range instead of everyone in the boarding group crowding together, they take credit cards for in-flight services, you can check in online 24 hours prior to your flight, some pets are allowed in the cabin, and now their email program has improved when a flight has been booked.

One pet peeve I have had with Southwest in the past is that once I purchased a ticket for a flight online I would get an email confirmation at the point of purchase, but nothing else. My confirmation would then get buried deep in my email in box. When the time came for my flight and I needed my confirmation number, I would have to go deep in box fishing to find it. This confirmation could be buried under thousands of emails. Now this has changed.

Southwest sends the initial confirmation email at the point of purchase.
A reminder email, with the important confirmation numbers, is sent a few days prior to the flight. Now I have all the confirmation information I need without having to fish into my in box for the original confirmation email!
And then I was sent a survey after my flight asking how Southwest Airlines did. The survey was short, to the point and well done.

Here is the confirmation email I received at the point of sale. In this case I purchased the ticket a little less than a month before the flight.

Here is the email subject line: Ticketless Confirmation - LANE/JORDAN

Here is the reminder email I received four days prior to my scheduled flight.

Here is the email subject line: Jordan, your trip is right around the corner!‏

Here is the survey email I received the next morning after my flight. The survey email was delivered in Rich Text so it will be easy to read on mobile devices and for those who do not have images turned on.

Here is the email subject line: Survey: Your Most Recent Southwest Airlines Flight‏

The survey was short and fun!

Here is the survey Thank You!

Nice work Southwest Airlines! Do you have any email experiences with airlines? Do you have other examples of transactional campaigns done well? Please share with us.

Put Some Pizzazz In Your Registration Page

2009-10-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Email Marketers live and die by their email lists. Having the right email registration page can make or break your program. Many email marketers try to be overly cleaver or overly stuffy with their registration pages - this turns off potential subscribers and customers.

I found an email registration form and process that is easy to understand, refreshing, comical, and honest. This is for the daily deal site shirt.woot.com. (shirt.woot.com is one of the four woot sites. woot.com, shirt.woot.com, baby.woot.com, wine.woot.com and sellout.woot.com.) Why not start building the relationship at the point of email capture? This is what woot.com does.

Here is how Woot does it.

One, the Registration location is easy to find on the homepage. "Hi, are you new? Start here." is welcoming and clear. If you are not new, you know where to Log in.

Two, the form itself is clear, funny, and not intimidating.

Three, if I make a mistake the error message is lighthearted and clear. There is no question what I need to do to make the form right.

Once I hit "woot me", there is not a Thank You for filling out the form, but I was redirected back to the home page where I can start shopping.

The next morning I received a Rich Text Welcome. This welcome was lighthearted and informative. It explained how the various woot.com sites work and what I can expect when placing an order, tracking and order, and what to do if I have questions.

Woot! Woot!

Google and Microsoft: The Battle Over College E-Mail

2009-10-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

College students used to complain about dining-hall mystery meat. Their new gripe? Puny e-mail inboxes.

Students have been howling that school e-mail accounts are too small to handle their daily deluge of mail and attachments. To address that problem, a growing number of colleges and universities are outsourcing their e-mail. The companies swooping in to manage student accounts for free? Google and Microsoft. Like search, software and operating systems, campuses are a burgeoning battleground for the tech titans. (See pictures of the college dorm's evolution.)

Google now manages e-mail for more than 2,000 colleges and universities, enabling students to transform accounts capped at 100 mb into Google-managed inboxes that allow for 70 times as much mail. Microsoft also provides free Web-based mail for thousands of schools, including colleges in 86 countries. Once colleges switch systems, students keep their .edu e-mail address while upgrading from stodgy campus access pages to speedier, sleeker Google (or Microsoft) log-ins.

Kirk Gregersen, senior director for Microsoft's Live@Edu program, says many schools that already rely on Microsoft software and services are comfortable expanding the relationship by letting Microsoft manage Web-based student e-mail.

Early adopters of Google, such as Northwestern, are lately being joined by Cornell, Georgetown and Temple, to name a few. Google's Apps for Education program has gained significant momentum as student tech demands mount and budgetary pressures strain campus IT departments. Handing the e-mail keys over to Google helps schools avoid costly server upgrades while capitalizing on Web-based e-mail's popularity among students. Eric Weil, managing partner for Student Monitor, a national college-focused market research firm, says the average college student has two or three personal e-mail addresses, and Gmail's popularity among students has doubled over the past two years. (Read "Google's Chrome: Taking Aim at Microsoft — and the iPhone.")

In the 2008 national Campus Computing Project (CCP) survey, 42% of schools reported that they had already migrated or were about to migrate to an outsourced student e-mail service. Another 28% said they were considering switching. CCP founding director Kenneth Green says many of today's first-year students like to use the Web-based e-mail they grew accustomed to in high school, just as many stick to an existing cell phone number rather than get a new dorm number.

Brown University is among the legion of schools now testing Google-managed messaging. Brown Junior Sarah Bolling says she hopes her school Googlifies permanently because she gets about 300 e-mails a week and misses important class messages when her tiny 250-mb school inbox overflows. She's not alone. More than 60% of Brown students have already been forwarding their messages to Gmail accounts, says Donald Tom, Brown's IT support director. He says the switch could help reduce a planned multimillion-dollar expenditure to upgrade Brown's tech infrastructure.

Of schools in the 2008 CCP survey that reported having outsourced e-mail already, 57% said they had opted for Google, while 38% had partnered with Microsoft. In addition to e-mail, Google's free Apps for Education offering includes voice- and video-chatting capabilities as well as collaborative word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and website-creation software. Google Apps shed its beta, or trial, label in July, reassuring decision makers. Microsoft, which is refining its own Web-based Office software, grants every student 25 gb of free online storage space.

When Notre Dame hired out their e-mail to Google last year, the school saved $1.5 million in storage and other tech costs, says Katie Rose, Notre Dame's program manager for enterprise initiatives. Student e-mail satisfaction ratings rose 36% after the switch. Arizona State estimated that its savings with Google were $400,000 per year. Washington State University, meanwhile, expects to save about $100,000 by working with Microsoft. (See the top 10 Microsoft moments.)

What's in it for Google and Microsoft? Not revenue. Neither company charges for outsourced e-mail. In its contracts with schools, Google forgoes the $50 annual fee per user that it charges companies and promises not to impose ads on students or faculty. Microsoft makes a similar pledge. (Read "Can Microsoft's Bing Take a Bite out of Google?")

Even if it doesn't boost short-term profits, Google hopes serving schools for free will help broaden acceptance for Web-based e-mail and software services, says Jeff Keltner, who heads Google's Apps for Education team. Keltner says administrators appreciate not just cost savings but security benefits. "They walk away saying my data is probably safer in Google's data center than anywhere I would house it myself," he says. "And they appreciate the advantages to having data in the cloud, rather than residing on phones or laptops, which are devices that tend to get lost."

Timothy Chester, chief information officer for Pepperdine University, which recently partnered with Google, says his staff is 20% smaller than it was three years ago. Taking advantage of Google's economies of scale means that his smaller team can focus more on improving the way computers are used for learning on campus. "We want our staff working more with students and faculty and less on the nuts and bolts of delivering technology."

This article first appeared on www.time.com. Click here to view the original article.

CAN-SPAM QUIZ: ARE YOU COMPLIANT?

2009-10-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

Every so often it is prudent to take a refresher on fundamental email marketing topics and best practices. CAN-SPAM, officially known as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003, is one of the most important online marketing topics. To follow is a CAN-SPAM QUIZ. Test your knowledge to make sure your emails are compliant.

You can also check out my other CAN-SPAM related blog post, CAN-SPAM: Just The Facts, by clicking here.

This quiz is from Bronto.com. You can see the original quiz by clicking here.

QUESTION 1
CAN-SPAM is only applicable in the United States and overrides any state level spam laws.
- True
- False

QUESTION 2
Updates to CAN-SPAM are managed and produced by the FCC.
- True
- False

QUESTION 3
Which of the following is not acceptable under CAN-SPAM?
- A physical street address in the content of the sender
- A PO box address in the content of the sender
- Having an opt-out link
- Sending marketing email to anyone regardless of whether they’ve actually opted-out

QUESTION 4
What’s the maximum number of pages a user is allowed to land on or be redirected to after clicking on the unsubscribe link in an email?
- One page
- Two pages
- Three pages
- Four Pages

QUESTION 5
How quickly after a user unsubscribes must you remove them from your marketing lists?
-Five days
-Ten days
-One week
-One month

QUESTION 6
How long must the unsubscribe link in an email remain active for a user to click on it?
-Five days
-Ten days
-One week
-One month

QUESTION 7
Transactional email is defined as that which you think the recipient would most likely convert on.
-True
-False

QUESTION 8
Transactional email is exempt from CAN-SPAM.
-True
-False

QUESTION 9
Which of the following headers must accurately reflect the sender?
- The friendly from
- From address
- Subject
- All of the Above

QUESTION 10
You must send to at least the following amount for CAN-SPAM to be in force?
- Any Volume
- 100
- 1,000
- 10,000

QUESTION 11
Violation of CAN-SPAM can result in monetary fines and possible jail time.
-True
-False

THAT'S IT!
Keep on reading to view the answers.

Question 1
The answer is “True.”
CAN-SPAM was written into law in 2003 as a federal measure to ensure that all email adequately identifies its origin, allows a user to remove themselves from future mailings and provides the government and ISPs a right to action against anyone not following CAN-SPAM requirements.

Question 2
The answer is “False”.
While the FCC contributes to CAN-SPAM via email sent to cell devices, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) owns and updates the core requirements of CAN-SPAM. The FTC is also the governing body in legal prosecutions.

Question 3
The Answer is “Sending marketing email to anyone regardless of whether they’ve actually opted-out.” CAN-SPAM is very clear that once a recipient has opted out of receiving your email, you may not contact them again for further marketing opportunities. With an unsubscribe, this is akin to a Do-Not-Call list with telephone numbers.

Question 4
The Answer is “One page.”
To avoid senders having overly complicated or confusing opt out mechanisms to keep list attrition at a minimum, a sender is allowed to have the recipient take one action after landing on the unsubscribe page from an opt-out clickthrough. At that point, they can click on a confirm button, check a box, etc., but a sender cannot require them to sign into an account and perform other actions to be removed from the list or require a fee.

Question 5
The Answer is “Ten days.”
You must remove a recipient from mailing lists or suppress sending to them within 10 days of receipt of their opt-out request as mandated by law.

Question 6
The Answer is “One Month.”
To ensure that recipients have enough time to actually click on an unsubscribe link in an email, you must support the unsubscribe link and the resulting landing page for at least 30 days.

Question 7
The Answer is “False.”
CAN-SPAM clearly defines transactional email as one which “facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship.” This definition prohibits marketing messages from being labeled as transactional although it does allow for marketing content in a transactional email.

Question 8
The Correct Answer is “True.”
Since transactional email falls under strict definition by the FTC, it is exempt from the commercial email restrictions. But, it is advised that a sender get input from someone who’s an expert in email law to certify that the content does apply to the transactional definition.

Question 9
The Answer is “All of the Above.”
All of these must accurately reflect the originator of the email message. Failure to do so is considered fraudulent and in direct conflict of the transparency spirit of the law.

Question 10
The Answer is “Any Volume.”
Any amount of email sent, regardless even if it’s just to a single recipient, is covered by CAN-SPAM. There are no volume thresholds.

Question 11
The Answer is “True.”
Violation of CAN-SPAM can result in monetary fines and jail time depending on the number of offenses and intent of the sender. Over the years, many people have received either or both as they’ve been found guilty of breaking CAN-SPAM regulations. Also, a sender in violation can face civil damages from private ISPs attempting to recoup damages lost by sending mail to their recipients.

Holiday 2009 - Your Plan For Success!

2009-10-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

As all email and online marketers know, Holiday 2009 is just around the corner. This is the time of the year that can make or break not only a quarter or year, but a company. Do everything in your power to ensure 2009 finishes with a bang! EmailMoxie is here to help you succeed!

Here are two great sources for you.

The first is The 2009 holiday marketer: Benchmark and trend report. This comes to us from

Experian Marketing Services. The 2009 holiday marketer: Benchmark and trend report has some interesting points well worth your consideration, especially for all of you email marketers out there looking to gain an edge on the competition this winter.

Taking a look at the data from the report, there are a number of relevant tidbits that merit a quick shout-out:

Email’s “eco-friendly” reputation may not hold as much sway with environmentally-conscious customers as you thought, so don’t cancel the print catalogs just yet.
“Surprising to many, Behavioral Greens, which are the group of consumers that are most green aware according to Experian Simmons, account for nearly half of all catalog purchases.”
Shorter really is sweeter when it comes to email subject lines during the holidays. Take a look at the EmailMoxie post on this subject by clicking here.
“All industries with the exception of consumer products and services experienced the highest open rates when using subject lines of 25 characters or less last year.”

Click here to download The 2009 holiday marketer: Benchmark and trend report.

The second terrific resource for holiday planning is the Retail Email Holiday Season Guide 2009. Click this link to download this report.

This report is based on data tracked from more than 4,700 emails from top 100 online retailers during the fourth quarter of last year. This guide includes benchmarks and advice on when to begin your campaigns, how much to increase your email volume, which days to send on, and how to stand out in the in box during the busy holiday season.

Last year nearly 90% of major online retailers increased their email volume during the holiday season, with retailers boosting their send frequency by 43% on average compared to the pre-holiday period. WOW!

Other topics covered in the guide include:

Cyber Monday 2008, may not have been "the biggest online shopping day of the year" as billed. But it was the most popular day of the year to send retail emails, with 70% of retailers sending at least one email on that day. Helping you make your scheduling decisions, the guide also details other days among the 20 most popular days to send retail email last year.
You will also see examples of the "18 Phases of Christmas." This is the 18 strategies that retailers use at different points in the holiday season.
Tactics for standing out in the inbox, such as using video, which is an up-and-coming tactic, and animated gifs, which were used by 22% of major online retailers in at least one email during November and December last year.
Strategies to employ during the final days before Christmas, including promoting e-gift cards, which were mentioned in more than 20% of retail emails during the three days before Christmas last year.
Numerous examples of subject lines used last year during the various phases of the holiday season to help you devise your subject lines for the crucial November and December months.
Holiday header launch dates: percentage of retailers that introduced a holiday header, beginning on 10/20/09.

Hopefully this will help you to have a great 2009 holiday season. Remember, that the quality of email sent can be much more important than the quantity. Be sure your emails are honest, timely, relevant, follow best practices, and done right! Let us know how EmailMoxie.com can help you make Holiday 2009 your best season yet!

Jordan Lane's Post Featured in September 2009 Cheetah Spots!

2009-09-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Jordan Lane's post, Is Share-With-Your-Network Killing Forward-To-A-Friend?, is featured in Experian-CheetahMail's September 2009 Newsletter, Cheetah Spots!

Click here to read the Is Share-With-Your-Network Killing Forward-To-A-Friend? post on EmailMoxie.com.

Click here to view the September 2009 Cheetah Spots.

Here is an excerpt from the first paragraph of the post.

"Share-with-your-network (SWYN) is a relatively new phenomenon in the email marketing space. SWYN includes social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg etc. Some email pundits believe that SWYN is slowly but surely putting an end to forward-to-a-friend (FTAF) functionality in email. I don't believe this is the case."

Click here to read the entire post Is Share-With-Your-Network Killing Forward-To-A-Friend? on EmailMoxie.com.

No Payments, Budget Watching And Other Email Trends

2009-09-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

This holiday season, as the economy tries to make a comeback and people will be watching their wallets closely, many shoppers will be looking for deals or delayed payment options. The good news is that many retailers will be offering a variety of deals. We are already seeing this in email.

Here is an example of a header image used in a recent Spiegel email. This offers no payments until January 2010.

Sephora does something for the shrewd shopper who does not want to spend a mint but still wants a quality product. Sephora bundles products together and offers a reasonable price. This is something that we will be seeing more and more of as the holiday season approaches.

The Subject Line for this email is: Value-packed kits for $40 - or less

I like the creative RoadRunnerSports has below. The subscriber is asked to only pick one prize. This also ties in with International Talk Like A Pirate Day. From what I can tell, all three "prizes" linked to the same page. This is a fun creative that is memorable.

The Subject Line for this email is: You Have 24 Hours to Claim Yer Pirate Treasure Inside!

What trends do you see in email right now? How do you think Holiday 2009 will do for retailers? EmailMoxie.com want to know your opinion!

Are You An Email Addict?

2009-09-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

According to a 2008 AOL survey of 4,000 e-mail users in the United States, 46% were "hooked" on e-mail. Nearly 60% of everyone surveyed checked e-mail in the bathroom, 15% checked it in church, and 11% had hidden the fact that they were checking it from a spouse or other family member.

You can view the study Death by Information Overload, Harvard Business Review, September 2009, by clicking here.

Now if I can only find a twelve step program I can participate in online...

Are you an email addict? Share your story.