No man is an iland

March 27, 2009

While we were making eyes and blushing at social media, video email has quietly baked some muffins, spread a blanket and invited us to a rather promising picnic.

So it's time to follow-up the last overview and see where we are today and how organizations are using the tactic in their emails...

Previously, "video email" really meant using email to bring people to video content on a website. Many times when you see vendors talking about "video email services," this is what they actually mean.

But things have changed.

We can now broadly think about two categories of video email: click-to-view video (the reader clicks through to a website to see the video) and video in email (the video actually plays in the email itself).

Click-to-view video

Video content is obviously a big deal right now. According to comScore, US Internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos in January, with YouTube alone scoring over 100 million unique viewers in that same period.

Do email subscribers like clicking through to videos? The answer seems to be yes.

Anna Yeaman presents some stats from emails sent out by a specialist retailer. She writes:

"When not linking to video his click through rate is between 20-27%...when linking to online video it's consistently between 51-65%"

In another example, Eric Guerin reported a 175% increase in clickthroughs when video content was included in his company's email newsletter.

And Melinda Baxter notes:

"Some of our customers have found that linking to video generates the highest clicks in their email."

The commonest method for pointing people at your video content is to:

1. Take a screenshot of the video displaying in a video player.

2. Add a prominent "play" button to the center of the image.

3. Put the screenshot in your email, linked to the page where the video is hosted (don't forget your alt attributes).



Tip: don't use a default still provided by the video host. Pick a still that's likely to provoke interest.

4. Add a call-to-action, plus one or more text links to the video content.

Do you really need the image? Anecdotal evidence suggests you do...when featuring video links in one of their newsletters, Campaign Monitor reported that:

"...the screen grab was clicked on more than 5 times as often as the text link."

In my own newsletters, a video image attracts between two and ten times the clicks that the accompanying text link gets.

Videos in email

Extensive testing by Campaign Monitor reveals that none of the traditional video playing technologies (Flash, Java etc.) work when embedded in an email. But 2009 brought us some alternatives.

Animated images

If you get away from the semantic baggage associated with the term "video" you see that animated images (typically gifs), done appropriately, actually present a video-like experience (albeit with no sound).

It was Chad White of the Retail Email Blog who really brought the email marketing world's attention to this possibility: see all his posts on the topic.

Style Campaign's Anna Yeaman then took on the baton, explaining how to use common software tools to turn video content into an "animated video" suited for use in email.

You'll find more practical insight on implementation and the pros and cons of animated video from Justin Foster at the Video Commerce Consortium and in this presentation.

Animated images/videos work just about everywhere except in Outlook 2007 (which only displays the first frame of the animation). However, like any image, they are subject to image blocking and are problematical when viewed on mobile devices.

Coming developments

For now, animated videos are the only realistic choice for getting videos to "play" in the email. But new options are on the way. For example:

1. An email certification company, Goodmail Systems, has just launched video certification. Here you pay to have your embedded videos work at Goodmail's partner ISPs. AOL is currently on board, and other ISPs are set to follow. A recent StrongMail post has some background.

2. Google just announced a new labs feature where Gmail identifies YouTube links in incoming email and allows users to view the video from within the Gmail webmail interface. No clickthrough is required.

Alex Williams has explored the potential implications for email marketers, and Justin Premick takes up the conversation here.

Both the Goodmail and Gmail examples suggest that inboxes may eventually open up to embedded video content where either the sender or the video source is clearly identifiable and trusted.

The spread of certification and authentication might see wider availability of "true" video email in the future...

How is video email used?

Whether using video in email or the click-to-view approach, "moving pictures" are subject to the same rules as any other part of an email's content: glitz does not substitute for value.

Three self-evident rules apply:

• the video must add value to the recipient's experience (what do they get out of it?)
• it must contribute to campaign objectives (what do you get out of it: more clicks? Better conversions? More pageviews?)
• it must match the surrounding content, email and brand experience (how does this fit with everything else we send?)

For some top examples of how retailers use video in general, check out this post from Linda Bustos. And Lisa Harmon has some email-specific examples here.

Some common uses in email include:

• Product displays or products "in action" where the visual experience or impression is critical to the potential purchase (clothes and fashion items, DVDs, concerts and other events)
• Product or service demonstrations
• How-to's and educational videos
• Customer reviews and testimonials
• Event footage

One important consideration when embedding videos to play in the actual email is bandwidth consumption.

From the perspective of the sender, a large multi-MB animated file playing automatically in every email you send out might demand greater investment in email delivery systems or higher ESP fees.

From the user perspective, bandwidth allowances are still restrictive and/or costly for some email recipients (think mobile surfing plans).

As time passes, we may see video content segmented by destination. So webmail users will get larger, richer videos, since they're likely viewing the email on a browser through a broadband connection.

And finally, no article on video email or any aspect of email marketing would be complete without the usual disclaimer...

If you're thinking of using video email, then digest the above, read the linked articles, decide what makes most intuitive sense for your email marketing model, then test it for yourself.

So, that's the state of play for now. What say you?

More on videos in email | Tags: video emails, animated gifs, goodmail

March 25, 2009

After savaging Kipling's poetry last December, it's time for another "alternative" email marketing video.

Newsletter expert Michael Katz is fond of describing B2B email newsletters as the electronic equivalent of having a coffee with a customer.

Which got me thinking...what if emails could walk and talk? Here's one vision of the message typically communicated by a corporate email newsletter. Enjoy. (HD version at YouTube.)



(If your feed reader won't display the video, find it here.)

(More email marketing humor.)

March 24, 2009

So we looked at when you might need outside help with your email marketing. And discussed what to look for in a consultant. How do we make the deal work?

What mindset helps you get the most out of the relationship with the email marketing consultant or agency?

Dylan Boyd, VP Sales & Strategy at eROI highlights three points that underpin a successful partnership...

Be aware of costs

With email often positioned as a low-cost tactic, you need to accept the idea of spending money on it. Don't hold back just because it's email, but, obviously, you must still ensure you get a return for that outlay.

Dylan tells us:

"With taking something that you deem as a non cost from an internal effort and going to a paid services model, you must be able to justify the cost versus the improvements."

Think partner, not vendor

Since email marketing should be tied up with other elements of marketing, like branding and social media marketing, it's no use expecting to hand everything over without further input from you.

Dylan says:

"You need to approach an agency or consultant as a partner in this plan...and not as a simple vendor."

"When you engage someone to dig deep and implement great change to your processes you must work as partners in order to be successful. When you simply approach with a vendor mentality you will not get the best results out of the relationship."

Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing adds:

"A collaborative partnership is the clear model for success as the client must be engaged and willing to advise and push back on what's working and what's not."

"...it works best when we walk in step with the client and as an extension of their team, rather than as a vendor who manages the email marketing program."

Think longer term

If improvements were simple, you wouldn't need a consultant. So take a longer term view.

Dylan notes:

"If you're looking for immediate turnaround without giving the consultant the proper amount of time to learn everything, explore the solutions, and implement the plan then you are setting yourself up for frustrations."

"This is not and should not be a one-time thing. Getting your email marketing to where it needs to be should be approached as a series of steps: understanding, planning, and testing."

"Now when I say testing this is not 'let's test it and call it good,' but a review of touches, interactions and campaigns so that you can progressively fine tune your programs and evolve them to top performance."

"Email is a fickle interaction point that needs constant review, measurement and change. Plan to take this approach and you will have greater success."

List of consultants and services | Tags: email marketing consultants

March 18, 2009

Thanks to the downturn, email marketing shed the specs and shook her hair loose of that old-fashioned bun. Now half the marketing world wants to dance with her.

Let the bells ring out! Three cheers for email: hur-rah, hur-rah, hur...hang on.

All this loud self-congratulation may be deserved, but it has me nervously looking over my shoulder in mild consternation. As Shakespeare put it:

"Oft expectation fails and most oft there where most it promises."

Silver linings sometimes come with a cloud attached. Good news about email marketing also throws up fresh challenges to email marketers. Challenges that can go unnoticed in all the excitement. Here are four to chew on...

1. Email is still hugely popular

The big four webmail services alone account for hundreds of millions of email addresses. The Radicati Group predicts there will be 1.8 billion email users by 2012.

Email isn't dying.

Oh and "BOO" to you, email naysayers: the social networks you claim will kill email actually need and use email themselves!

But who cares if they do or don't?

Google has a postal address. Does that mean direct mailers can ignore the Internet?

Email isn't dying. But it is changing.

Different demographic groups are switching allegiances between communication channels.

Or using a mix of channels, with each channel serving a particular purpose.

Or using an inbox that's now almost as much a social network interface as a Facebook account.

Challenge: do you understand your audience's (changing) pattern of email use and adapt your campaigns accordingly?

Do you offer that audience the opportunity to choose the communication channel they prefer?

Are you exploiting synergies between email and these other channels?

2. People now spread your email messages via social networks

Gone are the days when a forwarded email was the only method to pass on your offer or information online.

Subscribers now have a host of ways to spread the word and ESPs are rushing to add appropriate "share this" tools and tracking to their feature set.

But people don't share material because they can, they do it because they want to.

You have to do more than give them the right tools and links to share your content. You have to give them something actually worth sharing.

Here's the frightening truth: most people really don't care too much for your emails. Life would go on without them.

They're not nearly as engaged with the content as you were when producing it. If you don't believe me, check your average clickthrough rate. Is it under 50%?

Challenge: what can you put in your emails that gives the subscriber value, drives positive response for your own organization and inspires people to share it with others?

(That's a big, big question...)

3. Everybody loves email marketing now

Interest in email has never been stronger: pageviews at this site in February were 50% higher than for the same period last year.

In practice, companies are looking to send more email than before. And more companies are looking to start sending email. Hmmm...hear that noise? It's all the email pounding toward your subscriber's inbox.

Jeffrey Rohrs quotes MarketingSherpa stats claiming that "72% of consumers report a noticeable increase in emails from opt-in relationships over the past few months."

Challenge: what value do you offer (value...not just relevancy) that means subscribers will fight through the morass of mediocre messages to read and respond to your emails?

4. Email marketing has a super ROI

If I had a cent each time someone quoted the US DMA's figures on email marketing ROI, I'd have about $43.52, which coincidentally is their predicted return on each $1 spent on email marketing in 2009.

Yes, it's a great number. But as others note, it's easy to get good ROI when costs are relatively low.

More to the point, this return doesn't happen automatically. Nor does it mean you should relax and enjoy the view.

Challenge: how are you planning to improve your strategy and tactics to maintain or lift responses in an overworked inbox?Standing still means going backwards.

(For inspiration, look at these examples of how segmentation strategies helped drive revenue up and/or costs down.)

Thoughts?

P.S. Thanks for all your responses on the poll about future blog content directions. I'm digesting the results and working on new articles reflecting your wishes. The above is to keep you going in the meantime...

Tags: email marketing

March 13, 2009

If you're ready to get outside help with your email marketing (see Part 1), how do you judge your options? What makes a suitable email marketing consultant?

It goes without saying that you need to consider all the usual issues when selecting a vendor: price, type of service offered, testimonials, communication style, working arrangements etc.

But what do you need to look for specifically in an email marketing consultant?

Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing and Dylan Boyd, VP Sales & Strategy at eROI were kind enough to pass on some tips for us...

Specific email experience critical

Topic-related expertise is a must, obviously, but the temptation might be to go for a generalist online marketing consultant, rather than an email marketing specialist.

There are two risks here.

First, email has its own nuances. Take HTML email design, for example. It's not like web design. Anybody who thinks they can simply apply web design concepts to email is likely to come up with a template that simply does not work for email.

Second, mistakes have a bigger downside in email. A bad AdWords campaign just loses money or misses out on a few clicks. Poor email practices can lead to serious brand damage, blacklisting and other problems.

So even if you hire a big interactive agency, make sure the dedicated expertise is there. Simms asks:

"How important is email marketing to their business? Is their core strength email marketing or is that something that receives two lines of copy on their website? Many times interactive marketing firms answer 'yeah, we do that' just to get the business."

He adds:

"How many email campaigns have they managed? Specific results, awards and what comes up when you Google them? Is it info related to an FTC investigation or links demonstrating leadership and authority in the email industry?"

Watch for bait and switch

One trap to watch for is getting a pitch from an email marketing expert at, for example, a consulting agency, but the person you'll actually work with is not an email specialist. Simms notes:

"Ask who will be working with me on my account? How often do we talk? Is my reporting a quarterly powerpoint with opens and clicks or meaningful analysis of the email program's impact on business goals?"

"If it is a coordinator job and the sales and executive team disappear after the agreement is signed, you may be in trouble. Do you get just a 1800 number and a help desk email or do you get regularly scheduled meetings with an experienced email marketing veteran?"

Dylan also emphasizes the importance of specialist skills, noting that your consultant must have a...

"...deep understanding of not only email but behaviors in the browser for landing pages and programs. What is the experience or expertise of the consultant/agency? What relevant industry experience do they have for the types of programs you are interested in?"

Big picture skills

This makes the further point that an email marketing consultant must also understand how email fits in with other elements of your business, particularly landing pages (conversion), branding and complementary marketing channels.

These days, a good consultant should, for example, understand the possible synergies between email and social media marketing. Simms says:

"Can they complement email campaigns with other tools like SMS or Facebook?"

Where to get recommendations

By definition, it's hard to tell if a consultant has the skills you need. All your usual business networks can help with recommendations, but here some specific suggestions for finding email marketing specialists:

Email Marketer's Club (social network for email marketers)
Email Marketing Roundtable (discussion list for email marketers)
Campaign Monitor forums (good place to find an email designer)

So, do you have any tips for us on finding a good email marketing consultant?

(See Part 3: how do you make the relationship work?)

List of consultants and services | Tags: email marketing consultants

March 11, 2009

One insight that popped out of last week's article on email frequency was the idea that you can send more emails to your biggest enthusiasts. They're the ones who probably want more messages from you.

Identifying those subscribers brings a lot of other benefits, too.

You can, for example...

• reward them for their support
• get feedback on what drives their special interest and loyalty
• give them tools, incentives and encouragement to spread the word: your best subscribers are the ones most likely to talk about you to friends and colleagues (and on social networks)

Andrew Robinson recently wrote an excellent article on "segmenting by engagement stage" which illustrates the value of this approach.

A potential stumbling block, though, is this: how exactly do you identify a "top" or "active" or "engaged" or "premium" or "best" subscriber?

That's not a rhetorical question - if you wanted to pull out an "engaged" segment, how would you go about it?

The enthusiast-only link

Andrew mentions one tactic that deserves wider exposure. He cites Bowers and Wilkins, who:

"...identified brand advocates as those who had shown good recent open and click through frequency and specifically those who had been reading a new B&W Lab article."

"The Lab articles go into some technical detail on the key Bowers and Wilkins subject of sound quality. Anyone reading those articles is very closely aligned to the Bowers and Wilkins brand." (My emphasis.)

Think about that.

How about deliberately adding a link or two to your next email that you know can only appeal to your real enthusiasts? Then use click tracking to pull out the associated email addresses.

In a sense, this reverses traditional email marketing practice.

B2B email newsletters, for example, are (rightly) advised not to put in banal information about the company. People want offers and content that help them do their job better, not pictures of your new office roof garden.

Except maybe your enthusiasts do want to see pictures of your new office roof garden.

Perhaps you can add an "our story" link to your template for an email or three? People clicking on that are likely your biggest fans.

Of course, you already have some "enthusiast-only" links in your existing emails: who clicks on "send-to-a-friend" or "share this" links?

Who takes the feedback surveys?

Who updates their subscription preferences? (Particularly, who sent an email asking you to change their email address?)

Who wanted to win a t-shirt emblazoned with your logo?

All these actions are hints that the person in question is more engaged than the average subscriber.

Metric patterns

Andrew also discusses applying RFM (recency, frequency, monetary value) analysis concepts to email metrics.

It makes intrinsic sense that a particular pattern of opens, clicks and post-click behavior can reflect a level of engagement or interest.

The devil is in the details, of course: how you define "engaged" or "best" in terms of clicks etc. depends on your email model, business model and audience.

Just a couple of comments though...

First, be wary of using opens as a proxy for interest/engagement.

I don't want to get into the open/render rate debate, but suffice to say a lot of my email registers an open simply because the tracking pixel renders faster (just) than I can hit the delete button.

Second, you will need to adjust your expectations of an engaged subscriber according to the nature and frequency of the email you send out.

If you email once a month, an engaged reader might be one that clicks on at least half your emails. If you email someone daily, it might be one that clicks at least once a week. You need different definitions to fit your unique situation.

Third, don't forget the impact of subscriber longevity.

The temptation is to define "engaged" as someone who clicked on a significant proportion of the last X emails. But this misses some engaged folk and tags some as engaged that aren't. Why?

Assuming you set the right expectations at sign-up, new subscribers generally have higher response rates than older subscribers. So you'll scoop a lot of new subscribers into your "engaged" segment.

Yes, they are engaged, but not in a proven long-term sense.

So send new subscribers a dedicated series of welcome emails to exploit their initial high interest, but don't treat them as your top enthusiasts until you have more proof.

If responses drop off the longer someone is on a list, then a new "engaged" subscriber will click more often than an old "engaged" subscriber, even though both are equally enthusiastic about your business or products.

If you agree, then you might want to modify the criteria for tagging someone as engaged according to the length of time they've been on your list.

The longer they've been with you, the less often they need to click (or take some other action) to qualify.

So, how do you (or would you) define your best subscribers?

More on targeting and segmentation | Tags: email marketing, segmentation

March 09, 2009

Some 18 months ago I wrote about the growing email marketing divide: the haves and have nots.

While you can still get good results from getting the basics right, it's clear there is much to be gained from putting advanced tactics and strategies into place (some examples.)

Unfortunately, "taking email to the next level" requires increasingly specialist knowledge, plus the generalist's understanding of how email might interact with all the other marketing you do.

When it comes to specialist expertise, you can acquire it or hire it. But when does it make sense to seek outside guidance? What should you look for in a partner? And how can you make the relationship work?

These three questions are the subject of a quick mini-series on working with email consultants. To get the answers, I picked the brains of a couple of consultants I trust to give us a fair opinion: Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing and Dylan Boyd, VP Sales & Strategy of eROI.

So when's a good time for getting in outside help?

The glib answer is the obvious one: when you need it. But it's a little more subtle than that. Outside help only makes sense when you have the right mindset.

Simms sees two prime moments in the development of your efforts: getting things in order and then pushing on from a position of strength.

The first opportunity is what you'd call the classic scenario, when you "...sense you need real help, much like you do in legal or accounting, to handle the many issues that one can find on any given email campaign (strategy, planning, CAN-SPAM, deliverability, testing etc)."

But buying-in help only makes sense if you're also ready to "...dismiss the 'email is easy/cheap' mindset and realize you need help to properly manage email marketing and ensure you don't hurt your brand or company by sending the wrong kinds of email."

The second opportunity is when you already have a solid program in place.

"Response rates are high, you're sending relevant emails that engage your subscribers, conversions and ROI show promise, and (probably most importantly) internally the value of email marketing is realized."

Then you might "...want to keep focusing on your core business and partner with a specialized firm of experts to capitalize on the potential you have uncovered...this is the 'I bought the land that is worth something but don't want to build the house myself' moment."

Dylan offers a list of six indicators that one of those two opportunities has arrived:

• You don't have a full-time employee or resources to execute your plans
• Your metrics (reads, clicks, conversions and acquisitions) are either stalled or falling backwards
• Your deliverability is an issue that you want to get serious about in order to drive better results
• You've decided to get serious about email marketing as a business tool and are moving past the simple batch and blast email tactics that perform so poorly
• You're missing deadlines you've set for your own programs due to other obligations and programs you are responsible for
• Your database is either siloed or a mess and you need someone else to assist you in getting your systems working

Any other suggestions from your own experiences?

(Part 2: what do you look for in an email marketing consultant?)

List of consultants and services | Tags: email marketing consultants

March 03, 2009

As the marketing world (re)discovers email, many people are asking if they can send out more email to keep sales/responses flowing through difficult times.

Experts are skeptical, citing the risks of increased spam complaints, unsubscribes and list fatigue. Short-term response boosts can come at the cost of delivery problems, damage to your brand, and long-term loss of sales/responses.

But is there a way of sending more email without incurring these problems? Is this even the right question to ask? Answers below. First, though, you need to understand three things...

1. The frequency curve

Here's a typical curve showing how profits might change as emailing frequency rises for, say, a retailer:



If you start at point A, you initially get more profits as you up frequency. At some point (B) you reach an optimal frequency level. Sending even more mail might bring additional sales, but these are outweighed by the impact of fatigue and unsubscribes...so profits fall.

Eventually, you're sending so many emails that people are hitting their "spam report" button in earnest. Suddenly (D) you're on a blacklist or three, delivery rates plummet and profits with them.

The trick to changing frequency is to test carefully, so you find the optimum frequency without slipping onto that sharp and painful profit-killing descent.

Note I say "changing" not "increasing."

It may be your current frequency is already at point C, and you might make more profits by sending less.

A recent whitepaper from Emailcenter cites the example of toptable.com who tested halving their frequency to one email a week: total bookings went up.

Equally important is to note that some impacts of frequency changes take time to appear. In the toptable.com example, the net benefits of less email only became apparent after three months: the results in the first week of the test gave the opposite result.

2. What do consumers tell us?

There are many studies of consumer attitudes to email that warn of the dangers of overmailing.

Here some recent stats:

• In Merkle's "View from the inbox" report, 73% of survey respondents cited "sending too frequently" as the main reason for opting out of an email program
• In Epsilon's "Beyond the click" email branding study, 71% of respondents said it wasn't OK for companies they know and trust to send email more frequently than they already do
• According to a MarketingSherpa study quoted in their 2009 benchmark report, 25% of respondents who reported an email as spam gave "too much email from the sender" as a reason for doing so

Wow - increasing frequency looks a bit like a game of Russian roulette. But wait...turn those figures around:

• 27% didn't cite "sending too frequently" as the main reason for opting out of an email program
• 29% said it was OK for companies they know and trust to send email more frequently than they already do
• 75% didn't report a sender as spam because they sent too much

The lesson: we're all different.

We tend to think of frequency in terms of how the whole list behaves. But the frequency/profit relationship for the list is the sum of its parts. Each address on that list has its own unique frequency/profit curve.

In other words, the optimal amount of email for one recipient isn't optimal for the next.

Equally, the optimal number of emails changes with time: I'll welcome more email promotions in the lead up to Christmas, for example.

Hang on to those thoughts.

3. Frequency is tied to value

Much of the debate about frequency ignores the fact that what you send impacts how much you can send. The problem is often not that you send too much email per se, but that you send too much of the same email. Or too much crap email.

If your emails are rubbish, then sending one email might be too much. The costs and brand damage might outweigh the paltry sales it brings in.

The more value (for the recipient) in the email, the more the frequency/profit curve shifts in your favor:



If you increase value, then...

• you can earn more profits at the same frequency
• recipients will respond positively to more email for longer than if you're sending rubbish
• you can earn more profits at lower frequencies

The third point is particularly critical. We're asking, "how can we send more email?" A better question might be "How can we send less email but still raise profits?"

The answer is through value, which is why so many experts talk about relevancy, targeting, segmentation etc. All concepts designed to make your emails more valuable so you can improve results without playing Russian roulette with frequency.

Tactics

Armed with these theories and insights, you can see that simply sending "more of the same" is a risky idea. You need to be more sophisticated than that.

Here some quick ideas worth testing:

Specials: the occasional one-off "high-value" email. Like a last minute offer on a for-fee webinar to your newsletter list.

Benefit emails: consider adding some emails that give, but ask for nothing in return. See the article on marketers as content publishers.

Extra messages, same email: increase message frequency, but not email frequency by piggy-backing on existing communications. For example, adding marketing messages to transactional emails or using sidebar promotions in informational newsletters.

Go with the season: if you're a ski resort, up frequency when you know people plan their winter vacation.

Let subscriber behavior and characteristics drive frequency: Loren McDonald recently wrote:

"When you send email based on your customers' actions or their place in the product or program lifecycle, your messages arrive at logical times."

...to which I would add..."and at the 'right' frequency."

Particularly useful tactics here are trigger emails (like birthday messages or cart abandonment emails) or segmenting out your most active subscribers. If someone is clicking every time you send an email, chances are they'd welcome more.

Give people choice: let people opt-in to another email stream. Or more frequent emails (or less frequent emails). During the 2008 holiday season, for example, RadioShack invited subscribers to opt-in to a dedicated "24 days of deals" campaign. This lets recipients self-select: they tell you directly who wants more (and who doesn't).

Remember, when you start upping frequency, you begin to break expectations built over your previous mails or in sign-up forms. And you start moving along a curve which can end catastrophically.

So you need to change things with care. And you need to combine any increase in frequency with some form of real compensation for the recipient.

All the above do this by upping frequency only when it makes equal sense for the recipient. A change to adjust for different circumstances (e.g. seasonal), to offer more relevancy (e.g. trigger emails), to give more value (e.g. specials and benefit emails) or when the recipient specifically asks for more (e.g. new opt-in streams).

Any other suggestions?

More on timing and frequency | Tags: email marketing, email frequency

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