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Latest posts | Feed | ...email marketing advice by Mark Brownlow

October 31, 2006
Marketers are always a little uncertain when it comes to the Gmail web email service.

The display of ads next to the viewed emails (where the ad is based on the content of those emails) is bane and boon. Commercial emailers worry about their emails triggering ads for competitors. But you can also use AdWords to get your ad displayed next to a competitor's email.

Anyway, for a few anecdotal stories about how Gmail's ads work (or don't), check this Wall Street Journal article, which gets some input from those who use the service.

Permalink | October 31, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 30, 2006
David Daniels reveals the results of Jupiter Research's look at the impact of different levels of targeting on email marketing success.

It's nice to have some numbers to wave around demonstrating that emails sent based on past click behavior, website actions and similar bring in much more revenue than just sending out the same email to everyone.

There's some more insight in the article on what causes consumers to click or buy following an email promotion. Those insights are not based on observations, but on what people say makes them click or buy. Perceptions and reality are often two different things though.

Nevertheless, all this will be especially useful to those who need numbers to persuade others of the need to upgrade email tactics and invest more cash in email marketing per se.

Permalink | October 30, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 27, 2006
Just got back from an email marketing conference in Sweden (lovely country and people). Some immediate thoughts...

1. This business doesn't stand still. Even though email marketing is still in its relative infancy, with much to learn, people are already bursting with interest for even newer, "hotter" alternatives. Prominent among those...SMS and other forms of mobile messaging.

2. Anti-spam laws are confusing the world over.

3. Although people take their lead from what's happening in the US space, don't underestimate the skills and experience available elsewhere.

4. A lot of people aren't, however, aware of the information resources available to them. Seth Godin's seminal 1999 book on "Permission Marketing," for example, was news to a lot of people.

5. If you're insecure about your competence in foreign languages, don't visit Sweden. They are frighteningly good at them.

Permalink | October 27, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 25, 2006
If finding content for your newsletter is a pain, then struggle no more. This article on generating newsletter content has ten tips on how to keep on top of the content challenge, plus another 21 specific content ideas for your next issue.

It's based on what I've learnt publishing various newsletters over the past eight years. As always, let me know if anything is missing and I'll add it in.

Permalink | October 25, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 24, 2006
Spencer Kollas reviews the current situation as regards authentication technologies and their implementation.

The urgency of ensuring your emails are properly authenticated grows daily. More and more ISPs include authentication procedures within the long lists of tactics they use to decide whether to deliver your email or consign it to an electronic black hole.

More on email authentication

Permalink | October 24, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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Not a Victorian swear word but a reference to the small pieces of text added, for example, to the information about an email that you see in the inbox display at the Gmail webmail service.

Jeanne Jennings has all the details, plus thoughts on how it impacts your email marketing and how you might use this knowledge to boost results.

October 23, 2006
(Warning: Wistful Monday morning email marketing thoughts. Skip if time is tight...)

The Internet has a lovely habit of rediscovering itself.

You'll currently find a host of marketers wringing their hands at the possibility of losing control of their brand and messages through the growth of user-generated content and online communities. David Baker sums it up from an email perspective in a recent article.

This fear of losing control should not be new. On my shelf rests a book entitled "Relationship marketing." Published in 2000, it has a whole chapter devoted to "Using new media for customer interaction," where it warns that company influence reaches its limits when company-customer communication is replaced by customer-customer communication.

For me, the message is clear. If you cannot control how your brand, products, services etc. are presented to the public, then there are two requirements of the modern marketer:

1. Ensure that people have positive things to talk about.
2. Dump the hubris and hype.

There are too many alternative information sources to slip untruths and exaggerations past a no-longer-unsuspecting audience. And if people tell other people about their experiences with you, then...surprise!...those experiences need to be good ones.

Particularly when you consider that "telling other people" no longer means just your spouse and work colleagues, but potentially millions of eager customers and prospects linked together through appropriate web technologies.

Which means striving for excellence across the board. Not just in product or service design but everywhere else, too. And especially in customer service.

Which brings us back to email marketing. In his article, David asks whether email marketers are "...building e-mail programs, content and tools that will allow your most loyal fans to syndicate your message, experiences and brand?"

Therein lies the challenge. Not passively relinquishing control of the message, but actively encouraging that process. Provided you have something positive to offer, why wouldn't you want people talking about it?

Permalink | October 23, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 22, 2006
Whoa, what happened to this website? It's all different now!

Yep, after lengthy interruptions for kids, vacations, the World Cup, my day job, my wife, visitors, "other people's problems," snow, heatwaves, moving apartment and lecturing commitments (not necessarily in that order), I finally finished the new website.

From your point of view, the good news is better ways to find the information you need. The article directory got an extra 40+ categories in it. So you can now, for example, go straight to all articles on email and branding or landing pages.

Everything's been updated, too. And now the design's done, I'm free to write more practical content for you. Almost...still have to set up better blogging software.

Anyway, since the whole darned thing was edited by hand, let me know if anything's broken or just downright strange.

Permalink | October 22, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 19, 2006
Karen Gedney raises a common B2B copywriting problem: if you're sending out a sequenced campaign with half a dozen emails in it, how do you keep the content fresh, interesting and effective throughout the series?

Fortunately, Karen comes up with a slew of suggestions for mastering this issue, covering planning, voice, mixing approaches, dealing with writer's block, building a resource library and more.

Permalink | October 19, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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I'm always banging on about the fact that human beings read the emails we send out and we'd do well to remember that when putting those emails together. But here's a nice article which looks at the human beings on the other side of the fence: the email marketers.

Simms Jenkins talks with a recruiter and some top marketers about email marketing life and some of the things you need to know if you're looking to build a career in this area.

October 18, 2006
One of the sexy new tactics in email marketing is sending out an email to customers who placed an item in their shopping cart, but never plucked up the courage to hit the final "buy" button.

The email acts as a purchase reminder and often contains a little incentive like a discount or free shipping if you complete the purchase.

It works. For those looking for more detail than that, the folks at MarketingSherpa have two case studies of relevant campaigns.

This one looks at how Limoges Jewelry do it.

And this one looks at how Adagio Tea does it.

Catch the articles quick before they disappear behind a payment barrier.

Permalink | October 18, 2006 | 1 comment(s)
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October 17, 2006
Today's the day for free reports or so it seems. Hot on the virtual heels of the Silverpop email creative study, the Interactive Advertising Bureau releases its Guide to Email Deliverability for marketers and agencies (you can get a copy through this page).

The report explains why deliverability is an issue, describes some of the problems involved, and explains how you can help ensure more of your emails get through to the right destination.

It also includes lots of informative links to other useful resources and documents.

Permalink | October 17, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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In this reflective post, Henry Hyder-Smith wonders if retailers aren't doing themselves a disservice by focusing their email efforts on generic promotions and discounts.

Among his thoughts are some ideas about how you might measure the effect of your emails on *offline* sales. Which hints at where Hyder-Smith thinks retailers might use email more innovatively.

Vendor Silverpop have released the results of a study they did of what works in terms of email creative. To get a copy of the 14-page report, you'll need to register here.

It's definitely worth a look. What they did was examine a large number of email campaigns and then compare various creative elements (like logo position) with the results from the associated campaign.

While it's always dangerous to jump from an association to a direct causal relationship, the results are intriguing.

For example, they found that postcard-type emails got the best clickthrough rates among B2B campaigns. Other topics covered include subject and from line header content, email length and layout, images versus text, logo position, navigation bars, lifestyle photography, offers and calls-to-action.

Stephanie Miller points out that it's easier to segment your email address list if you gather the right data when people sign up. And she outlines seven steps you can take to ensure this sign-up process is as successful as possible for both you and your would-be reader.

Some handy hints on data collection and planning the flow of the subscription process.

October 13, 2006
Just updated the email blacklists page. It now lists:

>> tools you can use to find out if you're on one
>> links to the major blacklists used by ISPs
>> links to various articles explaining how they work and how you get or keep off them.

As always, if you know of other useful resources on that topic, please give me a shout.

Permalink | October 13, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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One big email marketing problem rarely addressed in the media is an organizational one: how do you deal with all those colleagues who want to send email to your list?

CoreNet Global solved this issue rather neatly with an inspired email marketing cross-promotional and coordination system. You can read all about it in this case study I wrote for MarketingSherpa.

More and more email software and webmail services block images in email by default. Which means part of the new email marketing challenge is to find creative ways to get people to turn on your images.

Jordan Cohen has some brief suggestions as to how you might do so, through reader education, design and similar.

Has anyone used an invisible pixel up the top of the email where the alt text displayed when the image is blocked is, "Hey, turn on images please," but worded more effectively?

Just bumped into this article, describing how Google's email address provider service (Gmail) is now powering the Arizona State University's student email accounts.

The red flag in the story is that the email addresses stay the same. It's the backend that's changing. So @asu.edu addresses are Gmail-powered.

I don't have enough technical knowledge to answer the question, but presumably as Gmail spreads behind the scenes, then more and more addresses run under Gmail's anti-spam rules and criteria (filters etc.), even though they're not @gmail.com addresses?

Something to keep an eye on anyway...

October 11, 2006
...and I don't mean pre-ordering the turkey. Now's the time when your inbox and media sites start to fill up with advice on how to ratchet up the holiday sales with appropriate email initiatives.

Stefan Pollard is one of the first out of the blocks with his Six Steps to a Happier Holiday Season article.

Actually, Stefan's piece is an excellent overview of what you can (and should) do at regular intervals, irrespective of the season: evaluate your email marketing efforts and adjust them accordingly.

Keep his suggestions at hand anytime you get a spare moment for a vital review process.

P.S. I just put up a list of articles dealing with email and holiday promotions. Let me know of any others I should add.

Permalink | October 11, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 10, 2006
Jeanne Jennings has two feet firmly planted on the ground and always speaks from experience. Her latest article is an excellent review of how to use benchmark stats sensibly.

She also identifies some common misuses of benchmark data and explains why such uses are wrong.

Solid advice for anyone, but particularly valuable if you have to present plans or projections to colleagues, or need to set company expectations appropriately.

Permalink | October 10, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 09, 2006
A good way to start the week is with these tips from David Baker. The title's a little misleading, as these tips apply throughout the year. Just some words of wisdom to keep you on track as you plough your way through your email marketing schedule. Keep a note of Tip 10 particularly.

Permalink | October 09, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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Just bumped into this article at vendor Lyris. It's a nice overview of why you can't make sweeping statements about such things as the "ideal" email length or "ideal" publication frequency.

At the bottom of the article, you'll also find a 12 page set of questions and answers arising from a webinar the company did with the American Marketing Association. Worth a look through, either to see the answers or to understand what other marketers are concerned about.

October 06, 2006
A few weeks back I wrote an article outlining email authentication for email marketers. Those with continuing interest in this hot topic can now see a collection of links to various authentication articles that have crossed my desk in past months.

These articles should answer any questions you might have about the technologies and standards involved, and their impact on your job.

Permalink | October 06, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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Got hold of a copy of this report by Marcia Yudkin and you can read my review here.

Summary: it's not the only copywriting tome you'll ever need (which is not the author's intention), but it's a valuable addition to your bookshelf if you're serious about improving key aspects of your copy. Those aspects being how you present your offer, describing benefits and features, and soliciting/displaying testimonials.

Robert W. Bly turns his famous copywriting attention to the popular idea of using landing pages to get search engine traffic to submit their email address.

His article explains why this is a good thing, describes four ways to actually do it and lists the pros and cons of each.

My overworked brain was still just stuck on simply adding a sign-up form, but Bly's suggestions are intriguing: squeeze pages, capture sidebars and pop-unders.

October 05, 2006
Some numbers on how many top retailers utilize the golden opportunity that is the welcome letter to get their email relationship off to a super start.

Not as many as should, it seems.

In among the figures are some good ideas on how to get more from that welcoming email in terms of brand, sales and relational benefits.

More on welcome emails: 9 things to put in your list welcome message.

Permalink | October 05, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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October 04, 2006
For those contemplating web feeds and how they might complement or compete with your email endeavors, I put together a collection of links to just over a dozen articles on RSS versus email marketing.

Let me know of any others and I'll add them to the list.

Permalink | October 04, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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Ken Magill reports on a Goodmail survey suggesting people react more negatively than we might think when confronted by emails with blocked images.

Ignoring any issues with the survey's credibility...it does reinforce again the need to think carefully about how you use images in your marketing emails.

Since image blocking is not new, these impacts are likely already depressing your results. So maybe these results can get a nice boost simply through a redesign of your email template?

October 03, 2006
Chris Marriott takes a closer look at an alternative approach to PPC search marketing. Instead of just going for the immediate sale through a landing page, he suggests you might try getting an opt-in to your email program. He then outlines how you actually do that using appropriate copy and incentives.

Permalink | October 03, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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MailerMailer just released the aggregated results from over 200 million opt-in emails sent by their customers. (See here for the details and report itself.)

Ignoring for the moment all the arguments about correlations, causality, methodology, etc., let's see what delights come out of a quick look...

>> the decline in open rates over the past 12 months is minimal. Given the increased difficulty with measuring opens, this may even suggest people are actually "opening" more emails(?)

>> both shorter subject lines and personalization correlate with higher open *and* clickthrough rates

>> HTML messages get higher click rates than text messages

>> Smaller lists tend to get better open and click results (which the authors attribute to, for example, better targeting, more recent sign-ups or better list management), though this varies by industry

There are other stats in the report on such issues as "best day to send" and breakdowns by industry sector, which might interest those worrying about what the competition looks like.

Do read my articles on benchmark stats and open rates to understand how to use these kinds of public statistics.

The DM News supplement "The essential guide to email marketing" is now available as a free 64-page .pdf download from their website.

There are lots of articles and case studies in there. Some are full of practical tips, others are more platforms for self-publicity. But definitely worth downloading and looking through, as it has something for everyone.

October 02, 2006
Say that title 10 times quickly to warm up for a new week. Anyway, an InternetRetailer.com survey pumps out a heap of statistics on the email marketing programs of participating retailers.

As usual, it's hard to interpret the numbers as we can never quite know exactly what people used as measuring sticks. But there are lots of little nuggets of insight in there.

For example...

18.7% of respondents didn't know their email campaign's open rates. And those that do know report rates which seem underwhelming. Despite that, email marketing is successful. So...

1. This reinforces today's theme (see earlier posts) that we need to focus on getting the basics right before jumping into the advanced stuff,
2. Think how much potential there remains to grab, given that email marketing is doing so well and yet the metrics show we could do so much better.

Permalink | October 02, 2006 | 0 comment(s)
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The mainstream media tend to obsess about sexy, cutting edge email marketing techniques and tools, driven by vendors anxious to attract big clients. Meanwhile, the majority of those doing email marketing get left behind to struggle with establishing basic best practices.

So all the more gratifying to see David Baker in his latest MediaPost article advocating taking a breather and getting your email marketing back under control and in focus through a little simplification.

MarketingSherpa normally publish case studies about others, but this one looks at the impacts of switching the ad column in their newsletters from the right-hand side to the left.

Ad clicks jumped, but there's more to it than that. Illustrating the need to take a broader look at everything, note how the click boost is partly offset by some reader dissatisfaction with the change.

Sherpa's Anne Holland discusses the thought processes that go into an overall evaluation, so the article is also a nice insight into how an "email marketer" thinks.

Not sure how politic it is to link to your own interview, but here are my thoughts on what email marketers in Europe and elsewhere are (or should be) focusing on now and next year.

Mattias Durnik posed the questions for his excellent permission and email marketing blog. The blog's in Swedish, but the Q&A is in English.

Later this month, I'm speaking at the DF Kompetens email marketing conference in Malmo. Any Swedish/Danish readers please drop by and say hello! I'll buy you an oel (?) or kaffe.