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August 31, 2004

CAN-SPAM: A Headache for Channel Marketers
I'm interviewing Mark Littrell for EmailSherpa later today. Here's a recent article he wrote on Can-Spam in the context of B2B marketing, where the ramifications for remote sales forces and resellers are still being clarified.

In New E-mail Climate, Marketers Must Strive for Relevance
Kevin Newcomb highlights forthcoming deliverability developments like authentication, reputation and accreditation systems, all of which provide yet more reasons for sticking to the kind of best practices that have been around since the early days of email marketing; send relevant mails to people who want them.

August 27, 2004

Avon's Advanced Email Tactics
You'll forgive me for featuring links to MarketingSherpa email-related articles while I catch up on life post-vacation. But I wrote most of them (including this one).

Do You Gmail?
Al DiGuido explores some GMail issues for email marketers, suggesting some of the things you might do to keep your eye on the service and how its impacts on your efforts.

RSS Attracts Really Serious Money
As a little bit of background, it seems RSS is beginning to get some serious investment cash, suggesting that the technology has a promising future. Mind you, the same might have been said of many internet dot com flops. So you never know.

August 26, 2004

The State of the Free Email Industry
Gmail has turned the free email industry on its head, and changed the email marketing world, too, in ways you may not have thought of. This article summarizes what you need to know.

Spam Laws Affecting US Marketers Emailing Canadians, Europeans, Brits, & Aussies
A summary of the state of legislation, plus key links to legal documents and interpretations from a business perspective.

August 25, 2004

Hormel's SPAM Tests Email Marketing
A coupon and email case study, notable not only for its marketing insight, but also because any email marketing by the makers of SPAM has a kind of poetic resonance deserving of attention.

August 24, 2004

Anti-spam specialist reveals the biggest exporters of junk email
And the winner -- as usual -- is the USA, apparently responsible for 42.53% of the world's spam. But Asia is doing its best to catch up, with South Korea and China occupying positions 2 and 3. Good performance by Europe, with no offenders in the top 6.

Why Aren't There More E-Mail Testimonials?
I'm back from a 2-week vacation in the English rain...and here's Paul Soltoff with some thoughts on using testimonials in email marketing campaigns.

August 06, 2004

Even websites need a holiday
No further updates until August 23rd, since I'm on vacation.

Email authentication set for steep adoption curve?
And Computer Business Review cites experts who think technology might finally get the better of spam within a matter of months, rather than years.

Cheetah Chatter: A Wildlife Newsletter Grows Up
Case study of how a wildlife center breathed new life into its e-newsletter. Includes samples.

Sender ID Summit
A summit meeting on this important email authentication technology will be held August 12th, hosted by Microsoft and the Email Service Provider Coalition. Authentication systems look like a promising weopen in the war on spam, so marketers need to encourage and monitor their development.

August 05, 2004

Federal Spam Law Works Perfectly
Robert Gellman argues that judging the Can-Spam law on the volume of spam is missing the point about why the legislation was drafted in the first place. The real success of the act is in making lawmakers look like they're doing something and protecting legitimate mailers from overzealous state laws.

August 04, 2004

Tips for Increasing AOL E-Mail Delivery Rates, Part 1
Some excellent little tipettes from the folks at ClickZ.

AOL buys Mailblocks
Now I don't normally point to acquisition news, but this one is a biggie. AOL intends to implement Mailblocks' challenge/response technology across its email services (as an option).

Think about that for a moment.

Up until now, nobody had a problem with C/R because of the lack of addresses using that functionality. But if AOL subscribers use it in a big way, that's a whole heap of manual confirmations that broadcast mailers will need to do (unless they can bypass the CR with a whitelisting?).

Getting Reporters to Open Your Emails
Bill Stoller has some basic advice for those looking to get their PR messages through to reporters. Forward it to your PR agency - based on the PR emails I see, they could do with the help.

Email marketing guide for non-profits
This freebie was just released by the folks at Convio, and is sub-titled "Email Communications to Build and Strengthen Constituent Relationships Online." Is it any good? No idea - I'm about to leave on vacation, so I haven't time to look it through.

August 02, 2004

SPF: It's Not Just a Good Idea
A brief explanation of what the Sender Policy Framework email authentication scheme is and why as a marketer you need to know about it.

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