BeRelevant!

links for 2008-08-20

2008-08-20T15:30:51+02:00

What content do B2B customers / prospects want?

"It is interesting to note the difference in what marketers think they should provide and what the recipients want to receive. For example, industry research is actually more valuable to End Users then marketers seem to think."

(tags: b2b studies)
Spamza - Why Using Only Single Opt-In is Dangerous for YOU

Another reason why you should use double or confirmed opt-in.

(tags: list_management spam)
Using a Coupon to Entice Cutomers to Take Your Survey

(tags: cases)
Four Common Assumptions Masquerading as Best Practices

Stefan Pollard discusses 4 common assumptions that have been labeled best practices but might be more correctly labeled "conventional wisdom," meaning ideas people accept as worthy without investigating them on their own. "Not every best practice will yield the best results."

(tags: tactics testing subject_lines navigation image_blocking)
What to Do When You Mess Up

Loren McDonald offers these tips: Don't panic. Make it right, quickly. Communicate your follow-up first to those directly affected. Turn the mistake into an opportunity. Learn from your mistake. Sounds simple? Well, it is!

(tags: tactics)
E-mail Marketers Slopping it up: Part 47

"OK, so âPart 47â is an exaggeration, but every time a new study on e-mail marketersâ practices comes out, it without fail illustrates how loosey goosey we are on this particular channel."

(tags: studies)
Email Marketing Platforms Buyer's Guide 2008 | E-consultancy.com

If you are looking for an email service provider, then this guide can help you compile your shortlist. It contains profiles of 23 leading UK suppliers plus information about the size of this market and trends affecting the sector. Includes SWOT analysis, tips and pitfalls and vendor matrix.

(tags: esp rfp)

Spam Definition Grows

2008-08-20T10:29:01+02:00

Just because US consumers opt in to e-mail lists does not give marketers license to send endless irrelevant material.

That is the main finding of recently released data from a MarketingSherpa/Q Interactive study fielded last fall. While the top reason that respondents reported e-mail as spam was because they had not opted in to mailings, the second was that the material sent did not interest them. More than four out of 10 e-mail users who hit the "spam" button said they had categorized uninteresting mail as junk.

The researchers noted that inbox overload was creating greater competition among legitimate e-mailers: As filters improved, users would focus less on traditional spam and more on which opt-in material interested them most.

In general, e-mail users have perceived a rise in spam for years. About one-half of adult e-mail users surveyed by Merkle and Harris Interactive during the past four years said they received "somewhat" or "a lot" more spam every year.

Source: eMarketer

links for 2008-08-19

2008-08-19T15:00:59+02:00

Data-Driven Marketing - ClickZ

this article explains the four key components for successful data-driven marketing

(tags: database_marketing)
Email Apps: Email Innovations You Want in Your Inbox

(tags: various)
Email Marketers Miss Deliverability Opportunities

Email marketers are missing some great opportunities to increase their email deliverability, not to mention opens, clicks and conversions, according to a study on email practices by eROI

(tags: study)
Upcoming events

Matt Vernhout lists a number of upcoming events for email marketers and delivery folks.

Designing Emails For Images On and Off

2008-08-19T12:37:23+02:00

The folks over at Bronto posted a new video on their blog.

In this month’s video, Kimberly and DJ Waldow take a look at how some of the major online retailers design their emails for images on and off.

Source: Bronto

Readers Prefer Email To Share Interesting Information

2008-08-19T12:31:49+02:00

The folks over at ShareThis posted a very interesting chart detailing the "sharing activities" of their users.

While it may come to a shock to some, e-mail is still king and is used by 35% of ShareThis users when they want to pass along an interesting online article or post. In fact, e-mail is used the same as the top 6 major Social Media sites combined (Facebook, MySpace, digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon & Reddit).

Source: socialmediatoday

links for 2008-08-18

2008-08-18T15:30:17+02:00

E-mail Marketing to Small Businesses : Assessing E-mail Attitudes and Behavior to Optimize Marketing - JupiterResearch

E-mail marketing is an efficient tool for pushing small businesses through the consideration and purchase process, with the number of small businesses (i.e., with fewer than 100 employees) researching products and services online increasing. How cluttered are small-business owners' and operators' e-mail inboxes? How engaged are small-business owners and operators with e-mail?

(tags: studies)
Five Simple Tips for Lead-Generation Sites

(tags: lead_generation)
Phisher gets Seven Years

A Connecticut man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for allegedly masterminding a phishing scheme in which he and five others scammed AOL users out of hundreds of thousands of dollars over four years.

(tags: industry spam phishing)
Email to Text Message: Obama Campaign

Barack Obamaâs email campaign asks you to sign up for a cell phone text announcement the minute he decides on a VP candidate. This is a great dovetail from email to text-messaging, two contact preferences that have been slow to meld.

(tags: mobile cases)
Spam Resource: Don't Spam to Apologize for Spam

The Consumerist headline says it all: Pizza Hut Sends Unsolicited Email To Apologize For Sending Unsolicited Email. Or does it? Let's talk it through.

(tags: cases spam)
SMS tips for e-mail marketers

âThe best [marketing] candidates for SMS are the ones who have an urgent message or one that their end users will need on their personâif they are walking into a retail store or are in the field and need a coupon code.â

(tags: mobile permission frequency)

12 Content Ideas for Your Email Campaigns

2008-08-18T08:42:14+02:00

If you’re just getting started with email marketing, if it’s been awhile since you sent an email because you aren’t sure what to send, or if you’re looking for new content ideas to help you move beyond an email newsletter, this list is the perfect starting point:

Interview an executive.
Create a series about your product/service.
Write educational, how-to tips and articles.
Interview a customer (or member, or fan).
Write about an event you’re attending, from the event.
Share some behind-the-scenes information about your company or product.
Promote thought leadership articles.
Share company successes and awards.
Repurpose content from a seminar.
Showcase a partner company or service.
Interview an employee.
Broadcast news from your industry.

Source: the Emma blog

Seven Ways to Leverage Email as a Real Time Marketing Tool

2008-08-18T08:05:53+02:00

In a presentation he gave at the eTail East 2008 conference, Morgan Stewart offered a number of pointers on how to make e-mail work in real time as a marketing tool.

Here are the seven most noteworthy take-away tips:

1. Use e-mail to turn a potentially negative out-of-stock experience into a positive. Have a call out on your site that lets customers know that if you're out of stock of a particular product, they can be notified via e-mail when the item is back in stock. This helps to accomplish two things, Stewart said: to stave off the competition and to build your master e-mail file.

2. Use e-mail coupons as a way to track cross-channel sales. Coupons are viewed by many marketers as either a danger or an opportunity. Stewart emphasized the increased exposure as a viral opportunity for your brand, citing an ideal example of enabling consumers to print out a coupon included in an e-mail and using the coupon in a retail store. Then, if you can determine the person using the coupon isn't the person who received the e-mail, you gain an opportunity to get that person to sign up for your e-mail program as well.

3. Maintain the mind-set that there's no optimal time or day to send an e-mail. "It's absolutely impossible to find the best day to send an e-mail … because there is none," Stewart said in a response to a question from the audience. "It varies all over the board."

4. Use a sliding scale for contact frequency with e-mail. For customers who have been unengaged (not clicking through) for more than three months, Stewart suggested sending them e-mails to confirm that they're still interested in hearing from you. This can work in the other direction, as well, he added. If you've reduced the contact frequency for some customers but notice their increased activity, look for the opportunity to bump up your frequency.

5. Create "subscriber rules." These should include serving the individual through timely and relevant content, as well as honoring requests for communication, contact frequency and contact channel, Stewart advised.

6. Send a "second hit" e-mail before any limited-time offer is set to expire. This technique will help boost response, Stewart said. He recommended sending this e-mail 24 hours prior to expiration.

7. Address engagement problems. This can be done in three ways, Stewart advised:

stop mailing them;
conduct a re-opt-in campaign and continue to send to responders;
reduce the contact frequency.

Many online marketers are unwilling stop mailing people, because they feel e-mail addresses are too valuable, and find the second and third options to be the most desireable, Stewart said. But he cautioned that a re-opt-in campaign is terminal. "If they don't want to re-opt-in, they're no longer mailed," he said. At the same time, a reduced frequency can yield comparable cost savings.

Source: eM+C

links for 2008-08-16

2008-08-16T15:30:12+02:00

Road Runner FBL is getting a face lift

With all the success behind the Road Runner FBL they are finally getting a face lift for their sender reporting tools. Matt Vernhout lists the important dates and the key deliverables that Road Runner is planning.

(tags: deliverability fbl roadrunner)

Blog Olympics - Passing On the Stick

2008-08-15T17:57:28+02:00

This blog was recently selected by a Belgian blog called "Communicatiemannen" as one of their favorite blogs. I feel very honored and want to pass on the "stick" by naming 7 blogs that I enjoy reading most.

It wasn't easy to select only 7 blogs. I really did my best to cut down the list but couldn't get it down to less than 12 :-) So here's the list of my 12 favorite blogs:

So how does this work? The blogs that I listed are now expected to pass on the stick and list their 7 favorite blogs (they don't have to be email marketing blogs).

The rules are that you have to link back to the blog that passed on the stick to you but you can't add it to the list of your 7 favorite blogs.

Update: the blogs are listed in random order!