Online shopping carts are abandoned at a high rate of 56.2 percent, and 61.2 percent of all items that consumers place in their online shopping carts are left behind without purchase.  But with a little prodding from savvy email marketers, these cart abandoners can be converted into active customers. Sending an email to remind browsers and cart abandoners of the items they left behind is a very effective means of recovering this revenue. 

This white paper provides a thorough summary of key trends surrounding remarketing along with strategic best practices and recommendations.

Download the white paper here

Beyond being visible and easily located, it’s also really important that you sell the sign-up! Simple requests like “sign up for email” or “sign-up for our newsletter” don’t really tell me much about what I’m getting, why I should care and how often I’ll be receiving mail. 

For best results, explain the benefits of signing up and set expectations: 

• mention frequency explain what will be sent 
• link to an example newsletter or email 
• if possible consider offering an incentive (coupon/contest entrance) with sign-up

Read the full article: Optimize Your Email Sign-Up Part 1: Stand Out & Entice.

Here are a few signs that despite "good" results, your email program is getting lapped: 

1. You rarely, if ever, A/B test anything.
2. You don't review performance metrics. 
3. You don't segment. 
4. Transactional messages are the only triggered emails that you send.
5. You haven't updated your sign-up form, opt-in confirmation page or any other such pages since launching them. 
6. You don't make it easy for customers to sign up for your emails. 
7. You're totally preoccupied with the day-to-day of getting emails out the door. 

"If you try something different (a quirky subject line, a video email, an animation) and it has a positive impact, be sure to see if this impact drops off with time...by watching the numbers or repeating comparative tests at regular intervals."

Read the full article: Novelty value in email design: risks and rewards.

• The Secret to Effective Email Marketing: Setting Subscriber Expectations
  Telling someone what you’re going to do or getting them to do something, just by asking them, is easy and completely obvious, right? Yet most email and web communications don’t do it.
  (tags: strategy messaging tactics)
• Planning: E-Mail Marketing
  Kevin Hillstrom: "Often, in retail, we see that e-mail marketing generates MORE demand than is measured via typical e-mail marketing analytics. Classic e-mail marketing fails to capture all of the incremental retail volume driven by e-mail marketing."
  (tags: analysis)

• International Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study
  Silverpop analyzed 7,000 emails sent to 188 countries to find the answers.
  (tags: study benchmarks international)

• Email Strategy & Tactics (Online) Roundtable
  During this highly interactive, 60-minute session, 5 email marketers are invited to present one email marketing issue they are facing in a 3-minute presentation. Our 3 experts will review the material in real-time and provide feedback on the matters at hand. All attendees are able to join in on the conversations via a live chat. Should be lots of fun!
  (tags: events)
• Give Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Emails Yearning for a Makeover
  Have your emails kept up with these challenges and changing times? If you suspect your messages could use an extreme makeover, but you're not sure what needs to be fixed, let a few email pros weigh in with a friendly but thorough critique.
  (tags: events)
• Tips for Increasing Response Rates (Part 1)
  If you are looking for ways to maximize your email program response and increase conversions, consider introducing more triggered messages to your marketing strategy.
  (tags: triggered_emails transactional_emails)
• TA Associates invests over 60 million euro in eCircle
  for those of you that read German...
  (tags: industry)
• Deep Thoughts About Email Marketing #2
  If I sign up for your email program and you send me a welcome with a “do not reply” address, does this mean that I am not really welcome?
  (tags: quotes)
• Email Promotions versus Email Newsletters
  Unless part of a drip marketing campaign (triggered emails), promotional emails are usually short-term in value. If the email recipient doesn't respond immediately to the offer, then the value of the email has been lost. It has little long-term influence on the recipient. Newsletters, however, are all about building long-term relationships.
  (tags: newsletters strategy)
• Focus on Early Engagement
  The first 60 days after opt-in is the most critical time period to engage consumers, convert prospects into new customers, and incent first time buyers become repeat buyers. Here are some simple steps you can take to influence response during this critical time.
  (tags: welcome_emails)

• Developing A Scalable Messaging Strategy
  Morgan Stewart discusses a good approach for creating both manageable and scalable messaging programs.
  (tags: messaging strategy)
• Simple Email, Simple Results
  David Baker offers three reasons why email will remain an under-funded channel for 2010. Good stuff!
  (tags: trends industry)
• DMA UK Email Client Report 2009
  The DMA UK Email Marketing Council recently published the results of their 2009 DMA Email Client Report.
  (tags: study)
• The 2009 Anti-Spam Measures Survey
  In 2009 ENISA launched an Anti-Spam Measures survey, asking e-mail service providers in Europe about the measures they take to combat spam in their networks. This survey provides a view of how the fight against spam has evolved since the last survey two years ago.
  (tags: spam spamassassin spamfilter)

Email Strategy & Tactics Roundtable
February 9, 2010 at 8am PT (11am ET, 5pm CET, 4pm GMT)
Only 20 attendees allowed so sign up quickly!

During this highly interactive, 60-minute session, 2-3 email marketers are invited to present one email marketing issue they are facing in a 10-minute presentation. Tamara Gielen will review the material in real-time and provide feedback on the matters at hand. All attendees are able to join in on the conversations via a live chat. Sign up here.

Full-Day Workshop: What's Working Now in Email Marketing

Join Jeanne Jennings and myself for a full-day email marketing workshop organized by ClickZ on February 1, 2010 in Miami. Save $100 off the registration fee when you enter: CL100.  Sign up here.

• Long-term email marketing using PPC techniques - Marketing Advisor Blog
  From impulse buyers to strategic, rational long-term thinkers, internet commerce is split between an incredibly wide range of people. This is reflected in the massive range of different sales tactics and marketing methods out there. Some people respond to sales pages, while others are much more interested in methodical research and moving at their own pace. What does this mean for you as an email marketer?
  (tags: strategy)
• MediaPost Publications Email Opens & Clicks Climbing
  According to Epsilon, email open and click rates experienced year-over-year increases in Q309 vs. Q308 as the industry headed into the traditionally busy holiday season.
  (tags: study)
• Are You Digging into Your Data Gold Mine? | Silverpop
  A wealth of data is hiding within your email program. While many email marketers rely on the standard email reports, slicing this data by various factors, including opt-in source, time, demographics, activity and much more can reveal a number of actionable insights.-- this is a must read article about metrics!
  (tags: analysis metrics)
• Email Newsletter Checklist for 2010
  The following checklist will help keep your efforts focused and give both new and old email campaigns a great start in 2010.
  (tags: checklist)
• Technical Tip: Use table tags instead of divs for structure
  If you code the HTML for your own emails, we recommend using table instead of div for the structure of your email. Although many web developers and designers despise doing this, it's safe to say that it only applies to the realm of web sites. When you're creating an email for all sorts of different clients, you have to "dumb down" your markup and go old school.
  (tags: coding)
• How to grow your email list in 3 easy steps
  My answer? Buy your traffic, not your list:
  (tags: list_growth)
• For The Email Designers: Fixed vs. Fluid and Another Option – Part 2 of 2
  (tags: design coding)
• What makes a good ESP?
  There are a number of things that make a responsible ESP, including setting and enforcing standards higher than those set by the ISPs.
  (tags: esp)
• Building a compelling landing page: Your checklist
  Use people photos, big headlines, and lead the eye to the conversion button - Make sure the important information is above the fold and that forms are easy to complete - The only real way to ensure conversions is to test landing pages with consumers, under real marketplace conditions
  (tags: landing_pages)
• SpamAssassin 2010 bug
  If you use SpamAssassin and today it's suddenly scoring every email you receive with at least 3.2 points, and it says that "the date is grossly in the future," then you should read this.
  (tags: spamassassin deliverability)
• The End of Tonnage Marketing
  tonnage marketers will increasingly be identified as senders of garbage and will see their blasts treated as such.
  (tags: trends)

• The One Worst Question: A Lesson Taught in Song
  Purchased e-mail lists are by definition not permission based. The marketer who buys names and mails to them will invariably draw significantly increased spam complaints while hitting spam traps and a bunch of nonexistent addresses. This will result in e-mail delivery troubles as inbox providers determine the marketer is mailing to a garbage list and begin blocking the marketer’s mail. Moreover, once the mailer’s e-mail reputation is damaged with this mailing, it may take months to clean up.
  (tags: list_rental)
• Why E-mail Marketing Is in Need of a Makeover
  Older e-mail best practices haven't necessarily gone bad. They are not applicable today.
  (tags: trends)

Let's kick 2010 off with this excellent checklist for email marketing effectiveness by Eloqua.

Happy New Year!!!