• The vendor client relationship
  this has nothing to do with email marketing, but I really enjoyed watching this video so I though I'd share it with you :-)
  (tags: various video)
• Product image 360 in Email
  a great how-to post on creating 360-degree animated Gifs
  (tags: design)
• How to Construct a Great B-to-B Email Newsletter
  Many companies use email newsletters to stay in touch with their employees and business partners. Since sending a newsletter is relatively easy, many senders don’t put as much thought into their publications as they should.
  (tags: b2b)
• How email will stay in the marketing game
  The bigger issue keeping email marketing from truly soaring through the stratosphere is that many marketers are under the illusion that their current email programs are great, even when they may be deplorable. Keep in mind that even the worst email programs (those with no real goal, strategy, or clickable calls to actions and terrible rendering) still drive results. What most marketers don't realize is how much more they could be getting out of their email programs. If they allocated even half the attention and budget to email as it deserves, then results would improve exponentially.
  (tags: strategy)
• DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) Grows Significantly The Platform
  Some of this growth comes from large domains such as Gmail and Yahoo!. But much of this comes from many small domains that are also signing their messages.
  (tags: dkim deliverability)
• HTML email inline styler
  this little app converts CSS rules into inline style attributes
  (tags: tools)

• Welcome Aboard: Chris Wheeler
  Congratulations on the new job, Chris!
  (tags: industry)
• MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Summit 2010 Speaking Proposals
  Hundreds of top email marketers will gather in Miami on January 20-22, 2010 for MarketingSherpa's 5th Annual Email Summit & Expo. If you'd like to be a featured speaker, now is your chance. MarketingSherpa is looking for B2B and B2C email marketers to share Case Studies and best practices from their own recent real-life tests and tactics.
  (tags: events)
• Outlook’s broken—Let’s fix it
  Microsoft have confirmed they plan on using the Word rendering engine to display HTML emails in Outlook 2010. Join the protest on Twitter.
  (tags: outlook_2007 outlook_2010 rendering design)

Here's Microsoft's response to the FixOutlook.org initiative. Not sure I like the tone:

I just received an email from the Email Standards Project saying that Outlook 2010 will also be using Word to render emails. I've copied the email below:

• Early retirement for SORBS?
  The list master at SORBS announced that, due to contractual problems with the network provider, it may be closing soon.
  (tags: deliverability SORBS)
• Mobile email: the marketing challenges
  This post outlines the current status of mobile email use and the associated challenges.
  (tags: mobile)
• Email List Growth: Stay Away from the Dark Side
  Morgan Stewart recently came across this great example of how NOT to do co-registration.
  (tags: co-registration list_growth)

• Add a Newsletter Opt-In Box to your Facebook Page
  In this post Alex shows us how to add a custom tab to your Facebook Fan Page using the Facebook Static FBML application - I tried adding one to my Email Marketer's Club fan page and it was super easy!
  (tags: facebook list_growth)

• When a Content Issue Isn't a Content Issue
  some types of spam filters note which kinds of content receives higher spam complaints, making them more likely to filter that kind of content as spam. Meaning, if you had a bad list receiving enough complaints to cause a concern, this type of spam filter would tag your content and block you. Your content would be flagged no matter how you send it– regardless of whom you send it to and what IP address you send it over in the future.
  (tags: deliverability)
• ExactTarget’s Newsletter – almost perfect « The Scrappy Email Marketer
  Take a look at this beauty below and witness an ESP that is doing it right……
  (tags: cases)
• Why E-Mail Subscribers Unsubscribe - eMarketer
  Companies stuck in a batch-and-blast mentality see e-mail as a cost-effective medium, so they may abuse that privilege and end up turning off the consumer with too many or the wrong messages.
  (tags: study)

In this article, Stefan Pollard explains why it is important to get your recipients to add your email address to their address books or safe sender lists and he shares some best practices on how to get them to do that:

Ask for inclusion at the start.
Don't wait until you begin sending messages. You want to be on that personal whitelist even before you send a confirmation or welcome e-mail. So, make your add-to-sender-list request right on the subscription form. However, you should still repeat your request in your confirmation and welcome e-mails as a reminder to those who overlooked this step or neglected to do it at opt-in. 

Explain why whitelisting benefits the recipient.
Don't expect much action if you simply say, "Add our sending address to your address books or contacts lists." Show them the value of doing so, or what they'll miss if they don't do it. 

Explain that adding your address to the personal whitelist will keep your messages coming. This works, if you make a compelling reason to the recipient that your messages have value. If you simply ask without showing any value, few will respond. 

Add a quarterly whitelisting campaign.
This campaign should remind subscribers to add your address to their sender lists. It's also a great opportunity to test segmenting and targeting of e-mail messages if you are generally a broadcast sender. 

Create segments for low responders -- those who seldom open or click, or recent openers or clickers who have stopped responding. Target those segments with messages that not only spell out the benefit of adding your address to their sender lists but also provide more explicit directions. 

Track actions on these messages. Also, watch your delivery reports to see if delivery and inbox placement improve. 

Include the request in every e-mail, but not necessarily at the top of the message.
In most cases, your preheader line - the first line of copy in the message - should show your call to action or sum up your e-mail contents, because it might be all the reader sees when viewing the message in a preview pane or with images off. Unless, of course, you're sending your quarterly sender-list message. 

However, it definitely belongs in the footer information of every e-mail message, where you include other standing information, such as postal address, contact addresses and phone numbers, etc. Every e-mail should have add-to-sender-list language in the footer. 

Again, don't just ask to be added. Highlight the benefits subscribers will miss if they don't do it. For example: "Don't miss out on future subscriber-only offers. Add [email protected] to your address book or contact list." 

Create a reply campaign.
Most e-mail clients will either automatically add your sending address to the sender list if the subscriber sends you e-mail, or it will present the option to add the address. Instead of the lame and off-putting "Do not reply to this e-mail address because we won't read it," turn your reply address into a place subscribers can ask questions, comment on products, or even enter to win prizes.

Read more here

Back in 2007 I started a community for email marketers, called the Email Marketer's Club. My main goal was to give my blog readers an opportunity to meet, network and share knowledge with each other in an independent environment.

• Tips for sending bilinqual e-mails
• Bought Lists are better than Organic Lists
• Erroneous Yahoo! Bounces
• Delivered Emails ... Never Received
• Should ESPs talk to each other?
• Header/Body Tags
• ESP link tracking - max length?
• Email Preference Center Best Practices

• Delivered May Not Mean To the Inbox
  email marketers are often confused about the difference between a bounce rate and an inbox deliverability rate. Most email broadcast systems in the U.S. and Europe report something called "delivered." It's usually a pretty high number - like 98% or 93%. And your ESP would like you to judge them on that number, because it's really high, and it's easy for them to be confident that it will stay high.
  (tags: deliverability)
• Goodmail and Pivotal Veracity Release Vertical-Market Deliverability Benchmarks for Q1 2009 - MarketWatch
  20 percent of legitimate marketers' email messages were routed to spam folders or blocked entirely in the first quarter of 2009. Five percent of messages were found in spam folders, with even more - 15 percent - unaccounted for.
  (tags: study)
• Transactional Spam is Still Spam
  Yes, transactional messages must comply with CAN-SPAM, though there is a different set of requirements for transactional messages. It’s true, you DON’T have to offer up an unsubscribe mechanism, nor do you have to respect unsubscribe requests. Meaning, you can send a transactional message to somebody who has unsubscribed. But, BE CAREFUL! Keep in mind that CAN-SPAM is not the only consideration here!
  (tags: transactional_emails canspam)
• Profiles in Email Laws: India
  The closest legislation relating to email in India is the newly amended Information Technology Act of 2000. It was previously ammended in 2006, and Indian lawmakers amended the IT Act again in December of 2008. However, the 2008 amendments have yet to be published in the Gazette of India and still do not address email.
  (tags: legislation india)

• The longest newsletter I have ever seen
  Wow - this is indeed the longest newsletter I've ever seen as well... and its content is all about "look how great our products are"... Erhm... What's in it for me?
  (tags: cases)
• Email Design Tip of the Week: The Box of Nine
  The box of nine makes rounded corners easy to work with and delivers solid rendering in a variety of inbox situations. The term “box of nine” is a nickname for the nine cell table that lives behind boxes with rounded corners in email design.
  (tags: design)
• Inactive or Unemotionally Subscribed?
  While some of those inactive addresses may be people who fit the emotionally unsubscribed description, the vast majority are unemotionally subscribed - they don’t need you - yet! So don’t beat yourself up over the fact that they don’t feel compelled to read every email you send.
  (tags: list_management)
• E-mail spam legislation by country - Wikipedia
  Nice summary of anti-spam laws worldwide (via @EmailKarma)
  (tags: spam legislation)
• Treehouse - Gallery
  I love the design of this email
  (tags: cases)
• Please help me win this contest :-)
  I'm participating in a Miss Twitter contest in Belgium and I would be eternally grateful if you would vote for me and help me get a place in the Top 10 :-) Tip: you can cast one vote every 20 minutes ;-)
  (tags: various)
• fivesecondtest
  upload a screenshot of your email campaign and let random users tell you what they remembered after looking at it for 5 seconds...
  (tags: tools)
• The Road to Email Success Is Paved With Strategy
  marketers should invest as much in strategic planning as they do in the execution of email
  (tags: strategy)
• Track, Evaluate, And Diversify To Drive Email List Growth
  (tags: list_growth)
• The perfect newsletter structure
  (tags: design)
• Email Design Look Book 2009
  Examples of Outstanding Email Design and Copy
  (tags: cases design)
• US Email Marketing Forecast, 2009 To 2014 by David Daniels - Forrester Research
  New Forrester email marketing market forecast released today - it comes with hefty price tag though: US$749
  (tags: study)

On June 23, 2009, Morgan Stewart and I will be presenting a webinar on Effective List Growth: Insights from the 2009 List Growth Study in which we will discuss the results of a recent survey that the Email Marketer's Club conducted in cooperation with Exact Target. 

• Updated docs for email designers and marketers
  very useful resources from Mark Brownlow. Check them out!
  (tags: tools)
• Reminder: You Can't Trust the "From:" Line in an E-Mail
  A spoofed e-mail recently caused a stir at the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), underscoring credibility problems in the Internet's e-mail system.
  (tags: industry spoofing spam)

• 6 Ways to Acquire More Email Marketing Leads
  (tags: list_growth)
• The Hidden Costs of Lazy Email Marketing
  Listrak is hosting a webinar in which Mark Brownlow will discuss the cost of lazy email marketing. He'll cover the three hidden costs of email marketing and explores how you can recognize the danger and take immediate action.
  (tags: webinar events strategy)
• E-mail Popular, but Disappointing for Some: CMO, most popular digital marketing methods Survey
  Search engine optimization, e-mail, and e-mail newsletter marketing are by far the most popular digital marketing methods among C-level advertising executives, according to a study released last week by Forbes. However, e-mail came in relatively low in the area of meeting or exceeding marketers’ expectations, according to Forbes.
  (tags: study)
• Email ‘From’ Line Gaining Importance: Epsilon Study
  68% of North American respondents to a recent study by Epsilon said the “from” line is the most important factor in determining whether or not they’ll open an e-mail, the marketing services provider reported.
  (tags: study)
• Email, Website Navigation Merit Different Design Tactics
  horizontal navigation bars, emails with fewer links, HTML coding (vs. images) and special tactics to highlight sales, seasonal specials and featured departments work best in emails.
  (tags: study design)
• Email, IM, Texting Use Vary By Country; Spam Universal
  North Americans and Europeans are much more likely to use email as their primary form of communication than those in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, where instant messaging is more popular, according to a global email study from Epsilon.
  (tags: study)

• DKIM Core
  DKIM Core is a way to attach a token (or tokens) to an email that tells the recipient who is responsible for the email (typically the token would represent the author of the email, the operator of the email service, or the owner of a mailing list, but it might also represent others, such as email reputation or certification services). The DKIM Core specification is a simplified subset of DKIM.

  Any email that attaches a DKIM Core token is also validly DKIM signed. This means that receivers and spam filters don’t need to do anything differently to support DKIM Core - if they support DKIM, they already support DKIM Core.

  
  
  (tags: deliverability)
  
  
• 
  
  My eyes hurt
  
  
  according Bryan Quilty, this is the LOUDEST email he's ever received
  
  
  (tags: cases)
  
  

• Neiman Marcus - Urgency, urgency, urgency!
  "The email promotes a 50% off and Free Shipping two-hour promotion that started today at 11:30AM CST and ended at 1:29PM CST. Equally impressive was the send time for the campaign, a little more than an hour prior to the event occurring - plenty of time to be ready to take advantage of the offer. "
  (tags: cases)
• MailerMailer Email metrics report 2008 H2
  See the latest trends such as average click rates, open rates, bounces, and more to compare your emails with industry benchmarks. This issue includes a word cloud showing the most popular words used in Subject Lines.
  (tags: study)
• You have spam traps! Redux
  Richard King offers some tips to avoid spam traps and adds some tips on removing spam traps
  (tags: spamtraps)
• Deliverability.com: White House Using Acceditation Service
  Interesting...
  (tags: accreditation goodmail deliverability)
• Share-to-social Buttons Increase Email Interaction: 6 Steps
  MarketingSherpa spoke with a B2B email newsletter publisher to learn how they recently implemented social sharing. The early results showed a 25% boost in reader interaction, and a surge in inbound traffic from social networking sites.
  (tags: cases social)
• 5 ways to improve your unsubscribe process
  The bad news: Almost a third of the email addresses on your mailing list are going to turn over this year. The good news: Some of those who unsubscribe don't really want to cut off all communication, but if all you offer them a simple unsubscribe form, they'll take it and be gone.
  (tags: unsubscribe list_management)
• Managing Email Addresses in B2B: How to Increase Email Coverage of Your Customer Base
  what are the options for business marketers to increase their customer coverage via email? Here are four approaches that can work.
  (tags: b2b list_growth)
• A CAN-SPAM Checklist
  Mickey Chandler offers up a helpful checklist to make sure you're in compliance with CAN-SPAM (via Al Iverson)
  (tags: canspam)

• Email Marketing Urban Legends
  John Caldwell talks about 5 urban legends about spam filtering. Must-read!
  (tags: deliverability)

• Share-to-social Buttons Increase Email Interaction: 6 Steps
  Social sharing features, which allow subscribers to share content from an email with their social networks, are emerging as a counterpart to the long-standing “forward to a friend”. But how do you implement social sharing in your messages, and how do you track the impact?
  (tags: cases social)

• Assessing the best time to send email
  You've probably been through the brainstorming process to draw out a "best guess" time to send. And testing may not be an option if you haven't the time or a big enough list. So where do you go from there?
  (tags: testing timing analysis)
• 10 examples of e-newsletter footers and headers with social links
  if you're looking for inspiration, check out these examples...
  (tags: design social)
• How to build an email list from scratch
  excellent article by Spencer Kollas
  (tags: list_growth)
• Why the Marginal Cost of Sending 1 More Email Is Higher Than You Think
  Sending an additional email campaign can appear rewarding when looked at in isolation. However, there are indirect and opportunity costs associated with increased frequency that could result in lower ROI for your email program as a whole.
  (tags: strategy)
• Top 10 ways to fine-tune your email campaign
  For those who have mastered the basics, the following email best practices can boost performance and help quantify your program's value.
  (tags: strategy)
• Campaigns we like - ASOS
  Their emails kind of go against standard email best practise guidelines – keep it relatively short (nope), don’t use too many images (nope), don’t send too often (often twice a week). But for them it seems to work. Why is this?
  (tags: cases)
• HotMail usage blocked in China
  It is reported today that Hotmail usage is being blocked by the Chinese government. Chinese censors blocked access to Twitter and other popular online services on today
  (tags: deliverability hotmail)
• Is Not Spam - Online Spam checker for newsletters and email marketing
  IsNotSpam was created to help email marketers analyze their emails and see if the emails unintentionally trigger spam filters. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
  (tags: tools)
• Important Emails Always Win in Yahoo! Mail | Yahoo! Mail Blog
  cool new feature in Yahoo Mail shows only emails from senders you’ve added to your Address Book in your inbox... email marketers: you know what to do: get those subscribers to add you to their address books!
  (tags: yahoo)

In this article, Karen Gedney advises us not to focus on cost when it comes to choosing a copywriter. Instead, make sure to find a copywriter that knows how to “close the deal”.

She offers these tips to find the best copywriter for your business:

• Look for a copywriter with a direct marketing track record. While you want a copywriter with online experience, they should have a solid direct marketing background -- and know all the tips and techniques that bring in sales. You're not looking for a "branding" guru here -- you're looking for a copywriter with direct sales experience in print -- someone who can show you case studies highlighting response rates and bottom-line revenue numbers.
• Make sure your direct marketing copywriter has entered the 21st century. Some old school copywriters have not yet made the leap to the online world. You need someone who understands the power of a subject line to get your e-mails opened...knows the importance of top-loading your e-mail with your best messages so they can be viewed through AutoPreview...and knows how to motivate your reader to hit the "Order Now" button.
• Ask for results. Don't get wowed by a portfolio full of creative samples with snappy headlines. Although creativity is tremendously important, you want to know how the copywriter helped the client solve a business problem -- in quantifiable terms such as revenue generated, leads converted to sales, etc.
• Find a copywriter with experience in your industry. Although a good copywriter can often transition well to a new industry, you will do even better if you work with copywriters who have direct experience in your field. They will know what works -- and what doesn't -- and know how to "drive within the guardrails" of their experience to arrive at innovative solutions that will positively impact your sales.

Read the full article here.