No man is an iland

February 28, 2007

Just a heads up that the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 got the OK from New Zealand's parliament yesterday.

Among the key elements:

1. Opt-in required for commercial marketing messages
2. The sender must be identified accurately
3. Recipient's must get a working unsubscribe mechanism in each email

Inevitably it will have little direct impact on spam levels in NZ, since very little originates from within the country itself. But the aim is to set some regulatory standards for businesses and give New Zealand a legislative basis for participation in cross-border anti-spam cooperative measures.

And frankly, all anti-spam legislation requiring opt-in sends a positive message about email marketing best practices.

More on anti-spam laws | Tags: email marketing in New Zealand, anti-spam, anti-spam law, New Zealand

Ken Magill has the key quotes on email marketing from the director of online safety for Microsoft.

Spiezle describes how keeping some of the delivery infrastructure separate for different types of email will help you if your marketing messages trigger a spam block.

And he explains just what might be causing that email to make a blocklist in the first place: your reputation and mailing frequency.

More on deliverability | Tags: email marketing, email deliverability

Wow. Free access to this article ends mid-March so take a look now. Jeanne Jennings has put together a super point-by-point checklist covering email newsletter design, content, copywriting, effectiveness and delivery.

She's split the list into ten sections, each with four points against which you can grade your efforts.

Not only a good way to "score" your newsletter, but an indirect pointer to best practices...particularly in terms of layout and content. And to illustrate the whole thing, she has a scorecard-based review of the Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen e-Notes e-newsletter here.

How does your newsletter rate?

More on newsletter publishing | Tags: email marketing, email newsletters, email design, copywriting for emails

Do a search on the future of marketing, as predicted by pundits, writers and marketers themselves in the last 30 days or so. Most agree that the future is here, now, today.

The future is, also, apparently...

"Mobile podcasting"
"Participation"
"Small"
"Vertical industry specialisation"
"Online radio"
"Video"
"Wireless technology"
"What the consumer wants to do"
"A blur of channels"
"All about the user"
"Your mobile"
"Convergence of fixed and mobile telecommunication and the internet"

...to quote but a few.

Is the future email marketing? What is the future of email marketing? And should we worry about it?

Let an old Roman Emperor (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) answer that last question..."Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."

Just musing...

Tags: email marketing

February 27, 2007

SitePoint just released this $197 kit with all you need to know about email marketing. A full review is on its way -- as well as an interview with author Jeanne Jennings -- but I wanted to mention the book to those who'd like to jump in and buy straightaway. (Update: here's the review)

I had some editorial input to the kit so I'm biased, but Jeanne has produced a remarkable resource. This and the Sherpa benchmark guide might be all the print resources you need to do a great job of email marketing.

More book reviews | Tags: email marketing book, Jeanne Jennings, Sitepoint

Hate them or despise them, you have to admit they're a clever bunch. Those oh-so-naughty spam folk.

Rick's Spam Digest has a fascinating article outlining a wide range of Spammer Tricks. You don't need to understand them to get the message that spammers are innovative and armed with top notch technological know how.

Combine intelligence with an absence of morals and you have an unpleasant "James Bond villain" situation. The takeaway is that spam probably isn't going away. Not quickly anyway, though I have high hopes.

As legitimate email marketers, we all carry a responsibility to ensure our emails are as relevant and permission-based as we can get them. And to support all and every sensible anti-spam endeavor that comes along.

(Doff of the hat to Marc of Mobilize Mail for the article tip.)

More anti-spam resources Tags: email marketing, spam, anti-spam, email advertising, opt-in email

The concept of list hygiene covers more than just removing defunct addresses from your email database.

Spencer Kollas outlines several areas you need to tackle if you want to have a pristine email list that passes muster at the email delivery parade.

As well as the basic idea of removing dead addresses, he covers the issues of list scrubbing, distribution accounts, spam trap addresses, and inactive addresses.

You'll need to investigate further to understand all the issues concerned, but Spencer's list is a good starting place for setting up state-of-the-science list hygiene practices.

More on list hygiene | Tags: email marketing, list hygiene, bounce management, email deliverability

The folks at CampaignMonitor just published an overview of how designers might charge for email marketing services.

Worth keeping a note of if you offer such services. But also interesting if you're looking to hire someone. The more everyone's clear on the whats, wherefores and whys of fees, the better chance of a good client <-> service relationship...

Tags: email marketing

February 26, 2007

Latest list update: February 26, 2008

When you've ploughed through several thousand articles, sites, blog posts and emails to create a resource like this, you get a pretty good feel for which people and places provide the best information.

So I decided to compile a list of the Top 21 information sources for email marketers.

To get on the list, the place or person had to produce info that was useful, timely, relevant and trustworthy. And largely avoid the overt pursuit of any agenda or self-interest. (Pretty much the criteria that make a great email newsletter.)

There are dozens of great sites, blogs, newsletters and writers in the email marketing world, of course. But these are my personal favorites, based on hundreds of hours of reading and evaluation. If you feel a top resource missed out unfairly, let me know: I already have a second list in preparation.

In no particular order, I present you the official No man is an iland Top 21 Email Marketing Information Sources:

The Email Roundtable
This marketers-only discussion group has some of the brightest folk in email marketing on board. The discussions deal with the day-to-day strategic and tactical issues faced by email marketers and are characterized by their pragmatism, experienced insight and friendliness.

Click Z
Look out particularly for columns by...

• Derek Harding, CEO of Innovyx (useful material on the kind of topics often ignored by others, such as the deliverability of transactional emails or understanding feedback loops.)

• Jeanne Jennings, consultant (Jeanne's column is always packed with useful practical advice and she's also the author of probably the best email marketing print resource ever published: Sitepoint's Email Marketing Kit.)

• Karen Gedney, copywriter (often with insight on the more creative and messaging aspects of your email)
  

• Stefan Pollard (see below under EmailLabs)

• Jeanniey Mullen (see below under Email Experience Council)
  

Email Insider
This MediaPost blog hosts various excellent columns. Personal favorites:

• David Baker, VP e-mail solutions at Avenue A/Razorfish. David's columns are the definition of idea leadership. Always thought-provoking, always insightful. One for those looking to tomorrow's email marketing tactics and strategies. Also check his blog.

• Melinda Krueger, Principal of Krueger Direct/Interactive. The "Email Diva" offers solutions to reader problems and gives us a heap of insight into email marketing realities at the same time.

• Loren McDonald (see below under EmailLabs)

• Chad White (see below under his own entry)
  

iMedia Connection
Check the site for regular articles on email. Again, my personal favorite is:

• G. Simms Jenkins, Founder and Principal of BrightWave Marketing. Simms has a knack in his column of producing thoughtful articles that cover areas you may have never thought about before. He is also behind the excellent EmailStatsCenter.com website
  

Campaign Monitor and the Email Standards Project
The Campaign Monitor blog is rich in contributions on email design, documenting important design issues and leading the effort to get HTML email standards established. The latter initiative led to the creation of the Email Standards Project.

EmailLabs | Stefan Pollard & Loren McDonald
The folk at EmailLabs are notable for producing really excellent articles on a range of key topics. Stefan Pollard, their Director of Consulting Services, has an equally valuable column over at ClickZ. And any article you see with the byline Loren McDonald is a must read: check out his column at MediaPost.

The MailChimp blog
An ESP blog which often comes up with great insights and stats, such as numbers on the effectiveness of different subject lines and advice on what kinds of address lists can be used for email marketing.

Tamara Gielen, OgilvyOne
Owner of the Be Relevant blog, aggregating the best email marketing content out there. Her Email Marketer's Club is also an excellent networking and forum resource.

MarketingSherpa
A remarkable source of case studies, practical guides and research insights. Their Email Marketing Benchmark Guide has achieved iconic status in the industry.

Michael Katz, consultant and speaker
If you produce an email newsletter and haven't read his articles, you are a fool. Gets extra points for focusing on the busy professional or small business with little time to become an email expert.

The Email Experience Council
Vendor-dominated membership organization which is a valued source of surveys and best practices. The only reason I don't join is because someone has to stay independent and it might as well be me. Founded by Jeanniey Mullen (see her ClickZ column.)

The eROI blogs
This vendor has several blogs which are always great and regular sources of practical tidbits, event reports and musings from the front line of email marketing. My faves: Return on Subscriber and The Email Wars

Return Path
Return Path are never shy about commenting on issues that coincide with their interests. But they offer a different vendor perspective as they are not a traditional email service provider. In particular, Stephanie Miller (Vice President of Strategic Services) gets through my trust barrier. She contributes willingly to email marketing discussions in various places: check out her posts at the Return Path website.

Chad White
Chad operates the RetailEmail.Blogspot site which is a super public source of insight into what the big retailers are doing with their emails. He's also Director of Retail Insights at the Email Experience Council. See his column at MediaPost.

Tom O'Leary, Editor-in-Chief, Infacta
Tom writes the Messaging Times blog for this email marketing software company. Check out the articles section which successfully manage the trick of actually helping out those who don't live and breathe email marketing (which is most people.)

The AWeber blog
The folk at AWeber are very good at highlighting key stuff for small business and those with smaller lists and autoresponders. Look out particularly for Justin Premick's posts.

Al Iverson of ExactTarget
As well as the occasional appearance on the ExactTarget blogs, Al pops up in various places to display his in-depth knowledge of spam, deliverability and blacklisting issues.

Email Karma | Matt Vernhout
Matt's blog is relatively new, but has already proved itself as a source of top-notch inside info on email marketing issues. A welcome addition to the fold.

Adventures in Email Marketing | Anna Billstrom
Anna's blog is also quite new, but excels with detailed advice on specific topics. Good source of ideas and insight on areas covered too superficially elsewhere.

Vertical Response | Janine Popick
Janine's blog posts take a small business focus, and go beyond the mechanics of email marketing to cover other business aspects relevant to the "small" emailer.

Ken Magill, journalist
I know marketers who read Ken's columns just to make sure they're not in them. He is just about the only one out there willing to burst the cozy mutual backslapping bubble that all industries wrap around themselves.

Kevin Hillstrom, multichannel marketing consultant
Kevin's blog posts cover a much wider brief than email marketing. But his discussions on measurement and analysis are hugely insightful for email marketers, who will learn lessons they've been trying very hard to avoid...

Bronto Blog
The Bronto bloggers have impressed of late with a concerted effort to bring useful hype-free info to the community.

(OK...that's 23.)

More email marketing resources | Tags: email marketing, online marketing

David Baker manages to explain the concept of authentication in a way we can all understand, and provides a couple of links for more info.

To which I would add this article entitled Email authentication for marketers.

Authentication...we've heard of it, we know it's good for us, but we don't really understand how it works, so we kind of pretend it doesn't exist.

If that sounds like a familiar refrain, perhaps it's time you took a deep breath and a closer look at what it's all about.

More on authentication | Tags: email marketing, email authentication, phishing

February 23, 2007

A case study for any multinationals out there. MarketingSherpa discover how Texas Instruments set about consolidating disparate customer databases to allow centralized, controlled and clever email marketing.

If nothing else, it's a great eye opener into some of the complex issues involved in marketing via email in different countries, languages and even alphabets. Not to mention the internal problems associated with prising customer lists out of the hands of local offices.

More case studies | Tags: email marketing, Texas Instruments, localisation

February 22, 2007

The interest in making more marketing use of transactional emails continues unabated. This article in Multichannel Merchant offers up a brief outline of some of the key elements that need to feature in any relevant system.

And over at ClickZ, Derek Harding addresses a critical but oft-forgotten issue, namely that the kind of technical attention you pay to your marketing emails (especially deliverability) is rarely given to the transactional emails.

He presents a few ideas on how to solve the organisational issues that hamper safe delivery of order confirmations and similar.

More on transactional emails | Tags: email marketing, transactional emails, email deliverability

Just wanted to point you to an interesting discussion over at the MarketingProfs.com forum.

The participants discuss how you judge the best frequency for your mailings. Lots of neat little ideas and insights buried within the postings.

Three things I would add:

1. If you have the clever tools, you might be sending different content to different segments of your address list. Same concept can be applied to email frequency. What's too much for one person might be too little for another.

There's a time and a place for a fixed frequency (I use one for my newsletter), but it might be helpful to get away from the "periodical publishing" approach and think instead in terms of how you deliver the right content to an individual at the right time.

Which relates to an article I mentioned yesterday.

2. Many people like to survey recipients to see their preferred frequency. Yep, the customer is in charge now. BUT...people's opinions and their actual actions don't necessarily match.

Most people would probably want less commercial email from you. But they might happily spend more money if you send more. So the survey approach gives you interesting information on subscriber preferences. But it doesn't tell you the whole story in terms of an optimal frequency. Testing does that. More on that issue here.

3. There's the issue of expectations, too. Your sign-up blurb and welcome message probably sets some form of expectation about how often you'll be mailing recipients. If you drift from that expectation, then you have a trust issue.

Plus anyone sending much more email than expected can expect to get accused of spamming at some point. Permission-based email marketing isn't just about the opt-in, it's also about keeping promises.

More on send frequency | Tags: email marketing, email frequency

Barely a month goes by without finding more reason to concern yourself with how Gmail (Google's email address provider) displays and/or filters your marketing emails.

They recently announced that you no longer need an invite to get a Gmail account: signup is open to all. That should see a little increase in new users for the service.

That comes on the heels of other reported developments likely to spread the use of Gmail, such as MailFetcher, Gmail for mobile phones, and Gmail powered email lurking behind other domain names.

Ignore these guys at your peril. Any bets on how long it takes them to beat Yahoo and Hotmail in the consumer webmail user statistics?

More on Gmail and email marketing | Tags: email marketing, Gmail, Google

All bow to Mark Wyner on the CampaignMonitor blog for continuing to feed us comprehensive information on email design issues. Two recent contributions address the problem of image blocking...

The first post examines how the more popular webmail and desktop email clients handle ALT text - the bits of text that should show up when your images don't display. You get a detailed explanation and screenshot for each client. Nice.

The reason ALT text is so critical is because many of these same clients automatically block images from displaying. Helpfully, Mark has a second post examining this issue too.

He records whether and when various email clients display images. And then has some brief advice on how to help ensure your images do show up (or how you can limit the damage to your message if they don't.)

More on email design | Tags: email marketing, email design, image blocking, email clients

February 21, 2007

When it comes to testing different email approaches, it turns out that the best way to improve your results is nothing to do with the email itself. Instead, tweak the page people jump to when they follow a link in that email.

Anne Holland has some typically pragmatic and valuable advice on how to test different landing page designs in the context of email marketing.

More importantly, she has a few suggestions on how to get that landing page to work more effectively, through intelligent use of headlines and the removal of distracting clutter.

More on landing pages | Tags: email marketing, landing pages, landing page optimization, email tests

The lowly signature that ends all your outgoing emails (your own emails, not your bulk emails) is often an afterthought. But why not put it to better use as a marketing and branding vehicle?

To find out how, follow the fine advice offered in this article by G. Simms Jenkins. Excuse me while I go and change mine.

More tactics | Tags: email signatures

The first time I read through this article by David Baker, I just got confused. It's not something to read when jetlagged.

Reading it a second time revealed the rather insightful contents. Namely that it can help to think of email as delivering information that meets the current needs of the recipient, in the context of a particular business objective.

Hold on...this isn't just about sending the right coupon to someone looking to buy a particular product. It's about understanding the many different things we'd actually like customers and prospects to do. Not just making an immediate purchase, but other things like, for example, becoming an advocate for our business.

Then you need to understand what information you should deliver (and when) to further those desired actions or behaviors.

Easier said than done. But thinking differently about email always helps. And David's article (as always) certainly makes you think.

Now pass me a Red Bull.

More on email marketing strategy | Tags: email marketing, just-in-time information, JIT

I have several hundred newsletters, alerts and blog postings to dig through, but anything on subject lines is always likely to tweak my attention.

In this recent post, Gary Bourgeault suggests looking at the subject line of your emails from another perspective.

We always tend to focus on the subject line as an attention grabber or catalyst that persuades the recipient to actually look at the email's content.

Gary asks whether we might instead consider writing subject lines that help the recipient "work" with that email. Read his post to see what he means.

More on email subject lines | Tags: email marketing, subject lines, email headers

Pragmatism seems to have settled in after the initial uproar about the new version of Outlook and the way it handles HTML email (see this overview for more.)

Karen Gedney picked the brains of a couple of experts to better understand just how serious the issues are and throw out a couple of tips on how to alter your email design to cope.

One interesting point is that it's not just about the design and look of your emails. Since you have to change the background coding, it seems there may be deliverability implications, too. Check Karen's article for details.

More on email design | Tags: email marketing, html email, outlook 2007, email design

The last 20 days were spent on a travel writing assignment in Japan and New Zealand. As an inevitable consequence of the work and breakneck schedule, I became a paying customer of dozens of hotels, restaurants, stores and tourist attractions.

Now guess how many of these made any attempt to get my email address.

The answer is "less than one."

Are you using all your customer touch points to garner email addresses and persuade people of the value of signing up to your list?

Just as a "for example," Silverpop's latest newsletter contains some brief suggestions on using search marketing, tradeshows and direct mail to do just that.

More on growing an email list | Tags: email marketing, building an email list, multichannel marketing

February 20, 2007

Spotted in the North of New Zealand. Brings a whole new meaning to the concept of list hygiene.

Normal service resumes tomorrow...



More on list hygiene | Tags: email marketing, email humor, list hygiene

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