No man is an iland

December 19, 2007

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(Email marketing t-shirt from the CampaignMonitor store)

December 18, 2007

You have a content-rich informational newsletter read by marketers that appears every two weeks on a Monday afternoon.

The next issue is due on Monday, December 31st. Ouch - New Year's Eve! Not a great day for catching folk at work. So when do you publish?



(For those seeing the feed version, vote here.)

Sources of email marketing advice are moving with the times. As 2007 drags itself gasping over the finish line, more and more info sources are going the audio/video route. If that's your preferred medium of learning, here are some recent links to get you started:

VerticalResponse started a Podcast series hosted by founder Janine Popick. Recent topics included deliverability, open rates and copywriting.

Tamara Gielen published an audio file of her lengthy interview with Stefan Tournquist on the latest metrics report from MarketingSherpa.

The Bronto blog does a video piece on subject lines, with a promise of more videos to come.

And if you have time, YouTube returns over a thousand videos when you search on email marketing there.

Not all the results are that relevant though. Among the videos displayed: the "Lawn Care Business Bikini Show" and an ad for a vibrating condom ring...

The recent EmailLabs report on unsubscribe practices has highlighted the issue of subscriber management.

The general feeling is that the future consists of online "subscriber preference centers," where people can control the flow of email they get from you. Either by ticking the right boxes or providing information about themselves that helps you refine your content and approach.

But...

David Baker's latest article invites us to think a little harder before taking that route.

One of his core arguments is the idea that a preference center isn't worth the pixels it's printed on if subscribers aren't engaged enough with your business or program to want to use it and keep it updated.

This addresses a deeper issue. One of the realities of email marketing is that even when your program is a success, chances are people aren't that excited by it. If you stopped sending emails, many people would likely not notice, or shrug and move on.

(For those who take umbrage at that suggestion, ask yourself why industry average open and clickthrough rates are always so low.) Only a few email programs can count on intense subscriber loyalty.

The general lesson is never to let up on trying to provide value to the subscriber. Don't let yourself get obsessed entirely with what you are getting out of email marketing.

And as far as subscriber preference centers go, there is indeed a challenge to get people to use them. Which is why you can't rely on subscribers to hand you a profile on a plate.

You need to give them a reason to do so, or use other techniques to build your own understanding of subscribers, through such things as click tracking or selective opt-outs.

Ultimately, perhaps, it's a question of knowing your subscriber list, understanding what is they want from you (and giving it to them) and what you can expect from them (and asking for no more than that.) Sounds easy when you put it like that!

More on list management | Tags: email marketing, subscriber management, unsubscribes, subscriber preference centers

December 17, 2007

I'll be giving the blog a lighter feel this week and next as we collectively wind down to the end of 2007. Frankly, my batteries are out...I couldn't creatively write my way out of a paper bag.

I declare 2008 to be the year of simplification. I've commented on the haves and have nots of email marketing before. But it's alarming at how convoluted the sophisticated side of the topic has become.

Lift the email deliverability rock and you'll find a squirming mass of activity underneath. Your email must navigate a range of pathways and hurdles to reach the recipient's inbox.

We have blocklists and blacklists, whitelists and feedback loops, filters and firewalls. Some operated by ISPs, some by third parties. Others operating at the level of the individual user.

Not to mention delivery companies popping up to guide us through this maze (for a price.) As the concept of paying for delivery grows, so conflicts of interest will inevitably arise.

Debate on that issue started when Goodmail first launched. And it continues today (see, for example, EmailKarma and Word to the Wise musing about one deliverability company.)

Hard to keep an overview, but I hope to tackle that whole topic area in January.

Of course, deliverability is not the only area where life gets complicated. Mark Wyner, for example, explains how there are actually four versions of Google's email address service, each with a different way of handling HTML and CSS.

(Keep your fingers crossed for the work of the Email Standards Project in 2008.)

Not that we always make it easy for ourselves. According to one article, if you buy something at one large company but don't sign-up for their email...you get an email confirming your wish not to get email. Very Alanis Morissette.

Still, if you ever worry about whether your marketing email arrives safely, consider this snippet of data:

One in seven people surveyed recently in the UK had been dumped by text or email.

That's one email you really don't want diverted to the junk folder before it can be read.

You can learn from evaluations of "other people's marketing emails" in two ways. First, from the ideas executed within the actual emails themselves. Second, from the suggestions of the reviewer.

Here are four great examples...

Andrew Seel is my favorite makeover maestro. See his take on Skype's sign-up confirmation email. Who'd have thought such a simple concept could yield so much intriguing insight?

Lisa Harmon highlights some good examples of promotional "gift services footers"...and includes seven of her own tips for your own version.

And she follows that up by displaying some seasonal emails that are slimline, graceful, easy on the eye and to the point (provided the images show up.)

Finally, Josh pokes a critical stick at a University of Maine sports newsletter.

More case studies | Tags: email marketing, email newsletters

December 14, 2007

Three of the most famous opening lines in literary history*. However, unlike authors, email marketers are lucky to have two bites at the opening line cherry.

Most of us tend to focus on the importance of the subject line...the few words that sell the contents of the email in the same way a book's opener sells the draft to the publisher.

As a result, new articles on subject lines appear as often as snow in Austria. Just yesterday, for example, Palmer Marketing put out 12 tips for attention-grabbing subjects.

But there's a second opening line too. These are the first words you use in the body of your email. Not only are they important in a copywriting sense, but these words can also appear in inbox listings. José Manuel Alarcón Aguín has the details.

*from "Moby Dick," "A Tale of Two Cities," and "Pride and Prejudice"

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

It's "statistics day" here in Austria, a day when schoolchildren learn that you can support any argument in the world if you play with the numbers long enough. (23% of readers will believe that.)

Anyway, once you've understood the meaning and usefulness of such things as open rates and clicks, it's time to improve your reporting and analytical skills even further by examining additional email marketing metrics.

Fortunately, three recent blog posts help us along the road to statistical nirvana.

Marianina Manning lists a range of key performance indicators you might consider following and evaluating if you're a big-time emailer involved in retail, lead generation or branding efforts.

Anna Billstrom wins bonus points for using the term "the anti-click," and for outlining a whole host of ways you can better understand your subscribers by looking at their lack of activity and various other non-obvious data points.

And Stephanie Miller reports on how one company chose to base their email approach on customer lifetime value, rather than traditional email metrics. The clever bit is that this initially meant a short-term dip in success, but a long-term win for the company.

More on email marketing statistics | Tags: email marketing, email marketing metrics

There are plenty of websites and blogs ready to dish out written advice on email marketing. But where do you go if you want a more intense or involved educational experience?

Here's a work-in-progress review of the possibilities, depending on your existing expertise. Let me know of any other opportunities:

Just starting out?

• John Arnold recently published the E-Mail Marketing For Dummies guide, as part of the famous yellow and black Dummies book series.
• Jeanne Jennings' Email Marketing Kit is my personal favorite book for those new to email. It's the definitive overview, though pricey at $197.
• Several vendors offer introductory webinars for newcomers. See this post for a list.

Still learning?

• Most email marketing conferences and vendor webinars are geared to your needs. You'll find a regularly-updated list here.
• The MarketingSherpa Email Summit is less high-brow than the Insider Summit (see below) so better suited to those still refining and developing their programs. The 2008 event includes the opportunity to take an Email Marketing Professional Certification Course from MarketingExperiments. Consider also the new Email Evolution Conference.
• Look out for formal training opportunities. An example in the US is the DMA's regular local seminar on email marketing strategies. UK marketers have, for example, the e-consultancy training days or the course offered by Academy Internet.
  

Already an expert?

Most industry insiders recommend the Email Insider Summit as the place for the email marketing pros to gather and chew the interactive cud. The latest summit just ended in Utah, USA. Here some bloggers that were at the event, so you can get a flavor of proceedings:

• Chad White
• Dylan Boyd
• Tricia Robinson-Pridemore
• Stephanie Miller
• David Daniels

Tags: email marketing, email marketing training, email marketing events

Now there's a risky headline for an email marketing website.

We know spam is bad for email marketing. Which is why 2007 saw ISPs and the email marketing industry working together to fight it.

Its very existence forces ISPs to build delivery hurdles into their email systems which catch legitimate commercial (and non-commercial) messages, too.

And the amount of spam is important, because spam adds to inbox clutter and lowers trust in the medium of email. None of which helps legitimate messages make an impact.

But these critical impacts on the user experience and user attitudes depend on how much spam gets delivered, NOT on how much spam gets sent.

The volume of sent spam rightly concerns ISPs and corporate IT folk, who have to carry and manage all that unwanted email. But all users need to care about is how much of this sent volume actually reaches their inbox.

Which is why it's highly irritating to see dozens of media articles each month reprinting the press releases of anti-spam vendors with claims of how much email (that's sent email) is now spam.

Today's number of the moment is 95%, as picked up from reports by Commtouch and Barracuda Networks, and widely distributed without critical comment by media outlets, blogs, etc.

You never (or rarely) see journalists or commentators explaining the difference between sent and delivered spam in terms of the email experience (which is what actually matters to the average reader).

But let's not let nuances like that get in the way of another good scare story about spam volumes.

Tags: email marketing, spam

December 13, 2007

If 2007 was the year that email marketers recognized reputation as a key component of their efforts, then 2008 might see a shift to the more general concept of trust.

The dark side of email (spam and phishing) undermines trust. Best practices and solid brands do the opposite.

The issue of trust is important at a macro, industry level, since mistrust of commercial email leads to regulatory interference and demand for new technologies, an issue Chad White and Charles Stiles touch on. Key quote (from a state official):


It's equally important at the micro or email level. One element determining whether a recipient opens and reads your email is how much they trust you. And they can't decide they trust you unless they recognize you.

Which is why experts always say you should stick a recognizable name or brand in your headers. But where?

A few days ago I posed this question:



The consensus among the brave souls who answered was "no," an answer I've seen elsewhere from the likes of Janine Popick.

But here's the rub...if your name is in the sender line it doesn't always show up as such. Some email clients just display the sender email address rather than the name. A point made by recent articles at EmailLabs and the Return on Subscriber blog.

So, the answer is perhaps this:

Simply test to see which approach works best for your list and emails. Or try this:

1. Put your recognizable brand / company / name in the from line.
2. Make sure your sender email address is also recognizable (often it's an anonymous address provided by your email marketing service)
3. Use the subject line to "sell" the content of your email without repeating what you already communicated in the from line.

Which brings me to a new question...

What if (like me) you've had the newsletter name in the subject line for two years now. Can you risk removing this name now that everyone expects it?

Answers on a postcard (or in a comment) please.

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

Email deliverability is gradually becoming its own little standalone subject and industry rather than just a subcategory of email marketing as a whole.

Time, then, to point to a few recent articles on the topic and highlight some specific resources that keep you updated on the latest news and insight.

New articles

Is content or reputation more important for getting your emails delivered? Spencer Kollas has an answer.

Two major ISPs changed the way they decide whether to deliver incoming email or send it to the electronic incinerator. Laura Atkins has the details on changes at Comcast, while Al Iverson covers Earthlink.

And VerticalResponse has some quick news on delivery rate limitations and Microsoft's input on the state of phishing.

Deliverability resources

Introductory articles:
What is email deliverability?
Email deliverability glossary

Blogs:
In addition to the many great general email marketing blogs, there are some which commonly focus on email delivery issues. For example...

• Word to the Wise
• EmailKarma
• The Email Delivery Guru
• Maximizing Deliverability
• ReturnPath

Article repositories:
Habeas and partners just launched the ReputationWiki, a collaborative knowledge resource on (email) reputation, a key factor in your success at getting emails delivered.

Check the article directory in this site's deliverability section, which also covers:

• Blacklists
• Email authentication
• Email reputation and deliverability
• Delivering to different webmail services
• Email certification and accreditation programs
• Email deliverability and reputation services

Try also the deliverability archives at ClickZ.

Tags: email marketing, email deliverability, email reputation, email marketing blogs

Seasonal greetings to customers via email may be cheaper than paper, but are they more effective?

Last month I suggested you should only send them if they have some intrinsic value to the recipient above and beyond a rather banal and uninspiring "Happy Holidays" message.

Three positive examples have since emerged for B2B email. All three use originality to entertain or attract attention, while at the same time projecting a positive brand image or indirectly selling the services offered by the sender.

1. rabbit eMarketing have a case study of a Christmas email that used personalized images...where the name of the recipient appears realistically within an image of a Xmas baking scene. The result: people opened and forwarded the email repeatedly.

2. Karen Gedney praises the e-card concept in general, and points us to an example from Siemens Medical Solutions, which has a wryly amusing medical imaging protocol for a Christmas tree.

3. Email marketing agency eROI sent out a seasonal email pointing subscribers (like me) to a custom online game where you get to blow up spam with a rocket mailbox.

All these examples are clever...addressing the needs of both the recipient and sender.

But such email greetings only work if the recipient opens the email or clicks on a link to get the full e-card experience. Which means this cleverness needs to extend to the subject line, preview pane and email copy too...otherwise your original seasonal message never gets seen or heard.

More holiday email help | Tags: email marketing, e-cards, holiday emails, holiday email marketing, personalized images

Another example of trust at work in email marketing is the process used by subscribers to get off your list.

If they don't trust the mechanism, then they use other ways to avoid your emails. Chief among these is the dreaded spam report.

That's one of the reasons the folk at Lyris/EmailLabs took a long, hard look at unsubscribe practices earlier this year. The results make valuable reading and include many recommended best practices.

You can get more insight from the study's author (Stefan Pollard) in articles at DMNews and Direct.

Here's my take:

Current unsubscribe practices are often not a deliberate choice, but enforced by whatever system, service or software you're using. So don't feel bad if you're not meeting every best practice recommended.

As long as you have a clear and simple unsubscribe mechanism that is easy for subscribers to find, works and confirms the address removal...then you have the basics in place.

In terms of developing or using new unsubscribe mechanisms, then it's about understanding what the "unsubscriber" is really trying to achieve and helping them do that.

When someone is thinking about unsubscribing, they could actually be thinking about a variety of different things. For example...

• I never want any email ever again from this sender
• I wish they wouldn't send me email on this topic
• I would like to change my email address
• I wish they'd send these emails less often
• I wish they'd send me emails on other topics
• What am I actually signed-up for?

When you think about it this way, the value of a subscriber preference center becomes clear. A preference center is a web page where the subscriber can change their subscription details. And many of these changes don't involve removing themselves completely from your email marketing program.

Instead of unsubscribing, for example, they can choose to get monthly (rather than weekly) emails.

As such preference centers grow in popularity, so they become more expected by subscribers. And sound the death knell for one-click unsubscribe mechanisms.

If people assume they can reach such centers -- to see more information or a range of subscription management choices -- by clicking on an unsubscribe link, then they are far more likely to click on such links.

If that click then unsubscribes them automatically, chances are you're losing a subscriber who had no intention at all of actually removing their address from your list.

So even if you don't have the capability to operate a preference center, at least make the unsubscribe process a two-step one. One click takes them to a web page where they can then confirm (or not) the actual removal of their address.

(The two-step approach is also something recommended by Stefan.)

More on managing unsubscribes | Tags: email marketing, list management, subscriber management, unsubscribes

December 11, 2007

Subject line advice is like Lindt chocolate. You can never get enough. But perhaps your creative juices are suffering from end-of-year burn out, and you just want some examples to copy? John Arnold suggests 10 holiday subject lines you could try out.

And you can of course browse Chad's retail email blog for more ideas from the big retailers.

I sometimes wonder if shoppers have their own version of subject line burnout. All those free shipping offers and holiday gift ideas blurring into indistinguishableness (I checked...that is a word.)

Anybody try an anti-subject line?

Something like... "Please don't buy any gifts" (preview pane: until you've checked our prices...)

I've had success with this approach in PPC search engine ads. The anti-headline stands out from all the others.

Too contrived? Just a thought.

And staying on subject, we know that a big factor in getting folk to pay attention to your email is ensuring they can recognize the sender from your email headers.

Bronto's DJ Waldow and Kimberly Snyder illustrate the point by running a critical eye over several "from" lines used by companies whose brand names would have the right kind of recognition factor...if used properly. A big "if" it seems.

More on subject lines | Tags: email marketing, email subject lines, open rates

A pocket calculator or spreadsheet is not normally high on anyone's Christmas list. But they do more for your email efforts than a pair of socks and a novelty bottle opener.

Numbers are magical things that give different answers depending on how you use them. Finding meaningful answers to the right questions is the key to successfully analysing your campaigns and adjusting your approach accordingly.

Fortunately we have many bright souls to illuminate our path to numerical expertise. Like these:

Back in January 2007, I was astounded to discover how you can raise your open rates just by looking at the numbers in a more sensible way.

Kevin Hillstrom has a similar trick up his statistical sleeve in this post. He shows how retailers selling on- and offline generally underestimate the impacts of email on their sales because they're measuring direct online response only.

The results look much better when you factor in the impacts of email on offline behavior.

Kevin and others often argue that top execs care little for specialist email marketing metrics. Senior management need to see how email affects bigger picture numbers like revenue and profits.

Step forward Jeanniey Mullen. She gives an example of how you demonstrate the value of investments in email deliverability in terms of exactly these big numbers, thus securing the right resources for your email programs.

Finally, scientists will tell you that a negative result can be as insightful as a positive one. Denise Cox proves the point by illustrating what you can learn if you look at those links that don't get clicked and those recipients that don't do any clicking.

More on email marketing statistics | Tags: email marketing, email marketing metrics

December 10, 2007

Today saw the release of the 5th annual email marketing benchmark guide from MarketingSherpa.

This report is widely regarded as the main reference for those serious about improving their email marketing programs. But what's new in the 320-page 2008 edition (apart from a price hike)?

My copy is on its way for a full review, but the sales page promises four special studies in addition to the usual array of updated stats and insight on all things email marketing.

These are:

• a spam complainers survey, looking at how your emails can encourage (or not) people to hit the spam button.
• an updated false positive study, looking at blocking troubles
• a segmentation study, looking at the effects on clicks and opens
• the third email eyetracking study (these are normally very cool)

Watch this space for my review (here's last year's.)

More stats and metrics | Tags: email marketing, email marketing metrics, email marketing benchmarks, email marketing statistics, marketingsherpa

1. Nobody would get any presents unless they wrote to Santa explicitly asking for them.

2. The gift wrapping would have a little transparent window in it, so recipients could see the contents of the parcel without having to unwrap it.

3. He would pack each gift twice. Once in colored gift wrapping and once in plain brown paper.

4. Some people would insist on just the plain brown paper version, citing the pre-color printing origins of gift giving as justification.

5. The message on the accompanying gift tag would be limited to 50 characters.

6. In roughly 10% of houses, Santa would emerge from the chimney to find himself in the trash can and not the fireplace. This despite a squeaky-clean sender reputation.

7. He would address the problem by getting Rudolph whitelisted at major urban conurbations.

8. He would still get 100% open rates, despite the fact that his delivered content is often low-value or irrelevant.

9. Nor would he get many people reporting his gifts as unwanted (even though some of them are) and opting-out of future deliveries.

10. He would not need long to work out the "best time to send."

More off-beat posts | Tags: email marketing, santa claus, father christmas, marketing humor

December 07, 2007

The debate about the best time or day to send your emails is a hefty one. And some experts even suggest you throw all advice out the window and rely on your intuition and, if you feel it worthwhile, your own tests.

But you can't beat a good statistic or three to end the week, and the fine folk at eROI have a few in their third quarter report on open rates and CTR for different days of the week and times of the day.

One interesting tidbit to emerge was that opens and clicks increase the further you get into the working day. This kind of confirms the idea that emails sent early in the day get lost in the overnight spam.

More on timing and frequency | Tags: email marketing

Your grandmother was right when she said you get what you pay for. There are various reasons why buying email lists is generally patentable as "a bad idea," as outlined in this article.

Renting email lists is an alternative, though there are dark sides to email list rental, too. One of the best ways to spot a scam or just a low-performing rental list is to look at the price.

What counts as cheap (and, therefore, nasty) in the list rental world?

Worldata just released some info on average prices for their lists.

Permission-based B2B and B2C email list rental prices for November 2007 averaged $275/M and $161/M respectively.

Admittedly they have some premium, highly-respected lists in their portfolio. But it puts those $2 cpm email rental lists into perspective doesn't it?

Here's some advice I wrote a few years ago on rental prices which still hold true I think:

1. The definition of a reasonable price depends on what you're getting for your money.

2. Don't assume that a high price means high quality; do your list quality checks.

3. Very low prices usually mean spam lists, but may also just mean poor targeting or a low list quality. It is possible, though hard, to find very cheap lists that are run ethically.

4. When evaluating the base price, don't forget to take into account the other price components. A list may have a low base cpm but high transmission and other costs to compensate.

5. The rule of thumb is to look for outliers. If most of the lists you're looking at charge around $200 cpm for your audience, and one charges $10, be very suspicious! Equally, if one charges $400 they may be over-charging.

6. Never assume the price given on a rate or data card is fixed in stone. Although some of the big brands will not discount, most list managers and owners are willing to discount from the rate card, especially in a poor economy. After all, the actual cost of delivery for them is minimal.

7. Your chances of getting a discount rise if you're...

• Using a broker with an existing relationship with that list owner or manager
• A repeat customer
• Renting large volumes of addresses
• Purchasing at the end of a month / quarter / year, when list managers are trying to meet their quota
• Renting a relatively untargeted or unpopular list
• Paying quickly and reliably

As always with list rental issues (which I researched from the outside) I'd welcome any comments/corrections from those active in the industry.

Tags: email marketing, email list rental, bulk email lists

Loren McDonald's recent MediaPost article picks up on various official statements from big ISPs on exactly what they consider acceptable email marketing.

Loren covers such aspects as permission practices, authentication, list hygiene and buying bulk email lists.

The wider point is that the email marketing best practices that experts like Loren talk about are no longer optional or desirable, but increasingly part and parcel of ensuring delivery to the dominant email address providers.

This message is reinforced by the unofficial statements made by the same ISPs, where they suggest they're not interested in blocking delivery of spam in the formal or legal sense of the word. They're interested in blocking delivery of unwanted email.

For a recent summary of deliverability best practices, try this new multi-page article from Megan Ouellet of Listrak.

More on deliverability | Tags: email marketing, email deliverability, gmail, yahoo mail, aol mail, hotmail

December 06, 2007

For those doubting the importance of educating the broader business world on basic email marketing practices, let me submit two pieces of evidence.

Exhibit A: ReturnPath just completed a survey of the welcome message strategies of top marketers. 25% didn't even send a welcome email.

Chad White got a similar result from his welcome email survey in September.

If that number makes you shrug and ask "so what? It's just a welcome message," remember that this message is the email equivalent of the first impression. The one you don't get a second chance to make.

More info:
9 things to go in a list welcome message

Exhibit B: B2B magazine has a nice case study of a waste technology firm illustrating exactly why people like email. It was cheaper and produced a better response than postcards when driving visitors to a trade booth. Lovely.

But check this quote:


Open rates are not an accurate absolute measure and, unfortunately, say nothing about who read your email.

More information:
Email open rates guide

My point? The industry as a whole can push new technologies and success stories all it likes. But the most pressing need is still to reach out to those not reading blogs like this and help them understand email better and get better results from their efforts.

Tags: email marketing, email open rates, email welcome messages

December 05, 2007

Thought-provoking opinion piece from Dela Quist at e-consultancy on those subscribers that never click.

Dela argues that they may be lurkers simply waiting for the right offer at the right time. So don't undervalue them.

This is one of those articles that forces me to rethink my opinion. I've always believed that a long period of inactivity indicates an email address that is effectively dead.

But I think the truth is a mixture. Some of those inactive addresses really are people who are "emotionally unsubscribed." They never physically opted-out but all your emails end up deleted unread or diverted to their junk folder.

Some will be lurkers...what Dela calls unemotionally subscribed (a beautiful phrase).

And some may appear inactive because your email program doesn't allow you to measure activity properly. For example when you send text emails with no tracking links in them.

This does not mean you should not attempt to clear your list of inactive addresses, a practice recommended by many for reasons outlined here.

No, but it does reinforce the idea that you should give apparently inactive addresses a chance to reconfirm their interest before you delete them from your list. So thoughtful reactivation programs (like the ones described here, here or here) are a must.

A key factor is deciding when to classify an address as inactive. If you sell Christmas trees online, it makes no sense to dismiss an address as inactive because they bought nothing between January and November.

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

When dealing with the guardians of the world's inboxes, there are three approaches generally recommended.

But garlic and a wooden stake won't get you far. Neither will gift baskets or large brown envelopes stacked with dollar bills.

Despite the protestations of some folk upset at delivery problems, the ISPs are simply professional organizations trying to protect the interests of their users. Which is not the same as being anti-commercial email.

In fact, a genuine spirit of cooperation between legitimate marketers and ISPs has developed in recent months, both uniting in the fight against unwanted email and spam.

In his latest article, Stefan Pollard gives us insight into the third (and proper) way of dealing with ISPs.

First, he shows us where you can learn about the ISPs' requirements for those who wish to send bulk email to the email accounts they manage.

Then he explains the documentation you'll likely need should you have to resolve any delivery issues with these same companies.

Since we're on this subject, you might also like to take a peep at this blog post from Tom Sather. Tom explains how to gradually build up a positive delivery reputation with ISPs and other email address providers when you use a new sending IP address.

More on deliverability | Tags: email marketing, email deliverability

The folk at artegic just released a free 32-page report on mobile email marketing, which you can access here.

It's a fascinating read, but...it's in German. You can read the background to the report on Nico Zorn's blog (also in German.)

If you have German-speaking colleagues, it's definitely worth a look. Makes a nice companion report to ExactTarget's study from July. Among the highlights:

• it reviews the technical background to mobile email functionality, software and devices
• reviews (with screenshots) of how 21 different devices -- including the more popular smartphones -- treat and display HTML and text emails
• two pages of recommendations for marketers on how to adapt to growing use of mobile email

More on mobile email marketing | Tags: email marketing, wireless email, mobile email, email design

December 04, 2007

Another 35 "trusted" email marketing sites and articles entered the custom search engine at OnlineMarketing.info today (read this post for background on the project.)

The new additions cover such places as Chief Marketer, BtoB Magazine, Email Standards Project, List-Unsubscribe.com, the EmailGarage blog, the Digital Marketing blog and specialist articles from the Washington Post, NY Times, Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, and more.

...as always, send me any additions I may have missed!

Excellent article yesterday from Ben Rothfeld on timing your emails. Not in the "best day to send" sense, but in terms of planning out an editorial calendar.

It's all about boosting relevancy by adapting your content, offer and mailing frequency to related events, seasons, promotions, consumer habits etc.

Just a couple of additional points to add to Ben's fine suggestions:

1. Make sure the connection is real. Sometimes your email program just doesn't fit naturally with a particular event or season. Scraping around for some obscure fit can come across as lame. Especially where recipients are already overloaded with appropriate seasonal messages and promotions.

2. A corollary to point 1 is to reinforce Ben's suggestion to look for what he calls "subtle seasonality." Those opportunities where other companies haven't spotted the potential.

To find such opportunities, try AWeber's helpful holiday marketing calendar file. And VerticalResponse addressed this topic in a blog post last year.

3. Be flexible and keep some generic emails and promotions in reserve for when plans are messed up by events. For example, snow-themed promotions can get pulled when local blizzards claim 50 lives. Or when there's no snow this year.

More holiday marketing tips | Tags: email marketing, holiday marketing, editorial calendars

Just done a major overhaul of the ongoing list of the best email marketing resources out there.

This year-end update sees one re-entry for VerticalResponse's blog and new entries for Ken Magill, Kevin Hillstrom, the Bronto blog, Karen Gedney and Jeanniey Mullen.

One agency blog dropped out since the main blogger moved on and posting frequency collapsed.

Those who are counting will ask how the number of resources stays the same when there are more additions to the list than losses.

Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that.

The list structure now allows me to group names under common headings. So my recommended ClickZ columnists all come under a single resource heading now. It's actually a Top 23 list now, even so.

Whatever, visit these links and you'll learn just about all you need to know about email marketing.

December 03, 2007

If you're looking to upgrade your email efforts and need a little inspiration on how, try these two new articles...

First, David Baker goes through all the different types of trigger-based emails you can try out. These are emails sent out on an individual basis after something specific happens.

The trigger can be anything from an action taken by the recipient (like browsing a certain web page) to the right combination of data (customer's birthday is today.)

Meanwhile, the folk at EmailCenter UK look at dynamic content, covering the various aspects of an email you can change to fit the individual receiving it.

That includes from lines, branding, offers, informational content, salutations etc. etc.

Hang these on your wall as sources of inspiration for 2008.

More on advanced email tactics | Tags: email marketing, dynamic email content, trigger emails

In all the justified excitement over the Email Standards Project, let's not forget that a shoddy email is still a shoddy email, whatever rendering standards may exist.

Fortunately, the same folk who brought us the standards project are on the ball there, too. David Greiner just authored a lengthy article on using inline CSS and tables for safe HTML email design.

He also goes into detail on delivery issues, such as sender reputation, feedback loops and authentication.

And there's more from his colleague, Mathew Patterson, too. Use this link to see Mat's slides and hear the accompanying audio from his recent presentation on "The future of email design."

Of course, in email marketing there are various constituencies contributing to the final product that goes out the electronic door. Unfortunately, communication between different contributors is not always ideal.

Help is at hand, though, from Jeanne Jennings. She offers marketers some tips on how they can provide creative folk with more useful, actionable and supportive feedback on designs and copy.

But even when we're one big cozy marketing family observing reliable HTML design guidelines, there's always a misanthropic pigeon nearby ready to ruin your newly-washed email.

And this pigeon is mobile email.

The media and blog worlds have gone a bit quiet on the implications of mobile devices for email design. But it's a super example of how changing email habits have direct implications for email marketing.

Two recent articles by Rajesh Setty caught my attention here. Although not specifically written for bulk commercial marketing email, his two-part post (one | two) on making emails mobile-user-friendly includes some interesting concepts you're sure to enjoy.

More on design and designing for mobile email | Tags: email marketing, wireless email, mobile email, email design, html email

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