Hard to pass up that headline... AOL Mail's fourth annual Email Addiction survey has some interesting results including the strange places people check email, including:• In bed in their pajamas: 67% • From the bathroom: 59% (up from 53% last... More

Hard to pass up that headline... AOL Mail's fourth annual Email Addiction survey has some interesting results including the strange places people check email, including:

• In bed in their pajamas: 67%
• From the bathroom: 59% (up from 53% last year)
• While driving: 50% (up from 37% last year)
• In a bar or club: 39%
• In a business meeting: 38%
• During happy hour: 34%
• While on a date: 25%
• From church: 15% (up from 12% last year)

Suffice it to say that we are addicted to email. As a non-recovering addict I too fall victim to these irresistible urges... all the more reason to consider email communications based on time. For example, sending users real-time and/or event based communications based on their activity and interactions with you.

Check out the full survey results.
Less

One of my favorite email analysts, David Daniels from Jupiterresearch, just published a new report on Email Marketing to Small Businesses. The report is based on a survey of small businesses conducted in April 2008. The overall conclusion:"E-mail marketing is... More

One of my favorite email analysts, David Daniels from Jupiterresearch, just published a new report on Email Marketing to Small Businesses. The report is based on a survey of small businesses conducted in April 2008.

The overall conclusion:
"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."

A few great findings:
* Small-business owners receive on average 27 email messages per day -- more than a typical consumer

* While small-business owners are highly engaged, 19% change their email addresses every six months -- a significant attrition rate for a B2B marketer

I highly encourage you to read the full report.

One final thought, while small-business owners are more engaged in email themselves as a buying channel, small-business owners are also more and more starting to adopt email as a channel that they use for their own marketing purposes. We recently launched Yesmail Direct, an easy to use online marketing tool that facilitates email, direct mail, and customer management. For a free 60-day trial including 500 free emails and 100 free postcards; check out the site:

www.yesmaildirect.com Less

It's 4:14PM on a Friday and I'm thinking through the items accomplished this week and those yet to be completed. Each week can feel like a blur when so many items are happening at the same time... and yes, it... More

It's 4:14PM on a Friday and I'm thinking through the items accomplished this week and those yet to be completed. Each week can feel like a blur when so many items are happening at the same time... and yes, it is August, back to school is in full swing and the holidays are literally right around the corner. I've been asking people on my team over the past month what are the critical items they want and ultimately need to complete in the next four and a half months to consider this year a success.

This thought led me to think that marketers are likely going through the same process right now. As such I thought I'd offer a few key recommendations to ensure you are ready for the end of the year...

August & September
* Draft and Finalize Holiday Plan
* Finalize NEW Program Enhancements
    - New Creative Design
    - New Targeting/Segmentation Tests
    - New Programs (Triggered Campaigns, Web Analytics Integration, etc)
    - New Acquisition Programs

October & November
* Draft and Finalize 2009 Plan
* Execute Holiday Plan
    - Test, Learn, React
    - Be ready to react with new programs to stem any unexpected results

December
* Execute, sleep, measure, execute, sleep, measure, etc...

2009
* Rinse and repeat - each new year brings new goals and a steeper hill to climb - Good luck and let us know how we can help!

Note: If you are in the midst of selecting a new email service provider, now is the time to finalize that decision so that your program can be fully implemented and you are in a good state heading into the holiday. Each year we continue to setup new clients throughout the fourth quarter; however, the earlier you make that transition - the better. Less

Saw this article the other day:E-mail gaining utility among marketersAfter reading it I was struck by how much the key points harkened back to the early days of email marketing -- 1999, 2000, 2001... What is it about email? Have... More

Saw this article the other day:

E-mail gaining utility among marketers

After reading it I was struck by how much the key points harkened back to the early days of email marketing -- 1999, 2000, 2001... What is it about email? Have people forgotten the benefits of the channel?

Yes, it can help drive revenue.
Yes, it can keep in contact with key customers.
Yes, it can build brand -- of course it can! That's what it initially did.

Most marketers started with: Newsletters (brand, content, product), moved to postcards (promotion, single call to action), and then branched out to integrated communications (triggered events, transactional emails with other content - more brand).

This statement alone was startling:

"Zinio, an online publishing and distribution services firm, is also look­ing at new approaches to e-mail, but from the design perspective. The firm recently debuted a new horizontal e-mail that lets readers scroll the e-mail to the right, the way one reads a book.

'It's a completely different way of present­ing the content that gives the reader a new e-mail experience,' says Stephanie Jackson, publisher, services manager at Zinio."

But wait... We took this same approach with a Honda email in 2000!

Check it out.

We have a great creative portfolio and creative talent that I'd be happy to introduce anyone to; check it out and let me know what you think.
Less

Ken Magill from Direct posted a great summary on the "Habeas Fire Sale" today:http://directmag.com/disciplines/email/0812-habeas-fire-sale/A few snippets:"'They were bleeding money' to the tune of millions of dollars a year, said one source who asked not to be identified.""Habeas's investors also apparently... More

Ken Magill from Direct posted a great summary on the "Habeas Fire Sale" today:

http://directmag.com/disciplines/email/0812-habeas-fire-sale/

A few snippets:

"'They were bleeding money' to the tune of millions of dollars a year, said one source who asked not to be identified."

"Habeas's investors also apparently made it a little too clear they wanted out of the deliverability business."

"Those VCs [Habeas's venture capitalist investors] took a bath," said one source."

"Various sources also speculated that Return Path agreed to the deal because Habeas's pricing was so low, it was putting unreasonable downward price pressure on its competitors and the purchase simply takes Habeas out of the picture."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suffice it to say, Habeas was a company that was not going anywhere fast and needed an escape pod. It looks like they found one in Return Path.
Less

Hot off the press - Return Path is further consolidating the deliverability services space by announcing its intent to acquire Habeas. The acquisition should help reduce the confusion in the market surrounding the various deliverability service providers. Matt Blumberg the... More

Hot off the press - Return Path is further consolidating the deliverability services space by announcing its intent to acquire Habeas. The acquisition should help reduce the confusion in the market surrounding the various deliverability service providers.

Matt Blumberg the CEO and Chairman of Return Path published this key info in his blog today:

"For sender clients, we can now offer expanded service levels and access to a broader "footprint" of ISPs and filters who subscribe to our services. The consolidated company will be one step closer to providing a universal set of standards for measuring sender-focused email quality and reputation...The one thing we do know at this point is that we will be maintaining both Sender Score Certified and the Habeas SafeList as separate and distinct whitelist programs indefinitely."

We recently announced a partnership with Return Path offering their Sender Score Certified Program to our clients. Several clients who have been initial users of the program have seen great improvement in overall program performance including increased open and click rates.

Return Path's key competitor and the remaining force in the world of deliverability, Pivotal Veracity, remains a strong partner of ours. Several of our clients routinely take advantage of their inbox monitoring and content optimization tools.

It will be interesting to see how this acquisition drives the further development of both Return Path and Pivotal Veracity.

More to come for sure... Less

A little humor from our VP of Professional Services, Tanya Hyde:How many email marketers do you need to change a light bulb?Nobody ever removes the bulb - unless it's been inactive for more than six monthsNone - The light bulb... More

A little humor from our VP of Professional Services, Tanya Hyde:

How many email marketers do you need to change a light bulb?

Nobody ever removes the bulb - unless it's been inactive for more than six months

None - The light bulb can change itself using a preference center

Two - one to change the bulb and one to point out the excellent ROI compared to other ways of lighting the room

Two - one to change it and one to get the appropriate permission from the owner of the socket

Two - one to fit the new bulb and one to design it so it works as intended in whatever socket it goes into

Three - one to change it, one to design it to work in all sockets, and one to complain that the light bulb still doesn't work in rooms built by Microsoft

Five - one to change it, two to work out the best day and time of day to make the change, one to ensure the new bulb will meet user expectations, and one to monitor how many people subsequently flick the light switch

Less

Barack Obama's at it again -- trumping McCain in his excellent use of email. This weekend his campaign manager David Plouffe announced that you can sign-up for a special email alert when Barack's Vice President is selected; even further promising... More

Barack Obama's at it again -- trumping McCain in his excellent use of email. This weekend his campaign manager David Plouffe announced that you can sign-up for a special email alert when Barack's Vice President is selected; even further promising to email you "the moment Barack makes his decision". And for a little extra spice you can also have the announcement sent via an SMS text message.

A few takeaways for marketers:

* Email Alerts: Marketers tend to think of the concept of "alerts" myopically. For most marketers alerts are purely used as transactional forms of communication -- nothing more. The concept of an 'alert', however, can be used in far greater customer and marketer benefitting ways. For example, why shouldn't Nordstrom offer to alert their subscribers the moment a new fashion line is available or Apple the moment a new iPod model is introduced? This is a great way to allow subscribers the opportunity to self-identify themselves as those most passionate about a particular topic.

* Click to Sign-up: The Obama example drives users to a sign-up page where they can sign-up; however, I've also seen several marketers simplify this process by simply having the call to action be completed by the click from the email. Instead of saying something to the affect of 'go here to find out more', state something to the affect of "click to sign-up". The 'click' in affect then acts as the action giving you the marketer permission to communicate with them further on that respective topic. Subsequently on the landing page the subscriber is driven to, offer a "Thank You" and confirm their subscription, while providing them an opportunity to change their mind, if they are so inclined.

All of these tactics can help a marketer better identify the varying levels of interest and activity their subscribers want to have. Far too often we think of customers as active vs. inactive, when there are many degrees of activity -- sometimes we simply need to offer the customer more choices to show us how they want to engage.

Less

I just received the classic, "I'm sorry" email from a leading online retailer, Spiegel.com. The email was apologizing for a recent technical issue that may have been experienced while shopping on their site. In addition to the apology I also... More

I just received the classic, "I'm sorry" email from a leading online retailer, Spiegel.com. The email was apologizing for a recent technical issue that may have been experienced while shopping on their site. In addition to the apology I also received a nice 20% off my next purchase offer code -- not bad.

The problem?

I haven't visited the site in a very, very long time - and then only for competitive analysis, not to shop. As such, I'm pretty confidant I wasn't on the site when the technical issues occurred -- thus, no reason to be "sorry".

This gaffe led me to ponder what mistakes marketers may be making when rushing to action to apologize for errors.

Via eHow's "How to Make a Sincere Apology" and some thoughts on how this applies to email:

Step 1: Be real and honest. If you're trying to fake your way through an apology, people will see right through it and it will only make the situation worse. Recommendation: Ensure that you are only sending apology emails to those customers that were affected. If you need to send more of a "blanket apology" be sure that the copy is generic enough to indicate that the customer "may" have been affected vs. "was" affected.

Step 2: Stay calm. If you can maintain your composure and be kind about it, instead of getting all riled up once again, it will just show what strong character you have. Recommendation: Think through all aspects of the apology prior to rushing to offer one. Is there really a ground-swelling of customer complaints being registered with Customer Service or are you simply being reactionary to a problem that occurred?

Step 3: Offer up reconciliation. Suggest putting the situation behind and moving forward as friends. More often than not, people have a hard time arguing with that. Recommendation: Offering up an offer or something of value is definitely a win on an apology - Spiegel scored points here.

Step 4: Forgive and ask forgiveness. An apology doesn't mean much if you can't simply say "forgive me." And if you're still harboring bitterness about the whole thing, you need to forgive the other person in order to make the apology even valid. Recommendation: Close the email directing customers where to go if they still have issues or complaints (i.e. Calling Customer Service).

Step 5: Get over it. Forget it. Don't resent the situation or the person, don't get bitter. What's in the past is past. Let's all move on. Recommendation: Mistakes happen - technology can have hiccups and people are fallible -- deal with the issue and then let it go. Less

Yesterday Forrester announced their acquisition of Jupiter Research. Big news for the email marketing space!! Over the past several years both companies have become the heavyweights of 'email outside expert opinion'. A fact companies have grown to love and fear.... More

Yesterday Forrester announced their acquisition of Jupiter Research.

Big news for the email marketing space!! Over the past several years both companies have become the heavyweights of 'email outside expert opinion'. A fact companies have grown to love and fear.

In one corner, JupiterResearch offers David Daniels an 8+ year industry veteran who has analyzed the email space longer than most people knew of its existence. David has written an annual Buyers Guide on the Email Marketing channel for several years. The report is quite unique in that it has provided information on email vendors across the Enterprise, Mid-Market and Small Market channels. Yesmail has been ranked a leader by David for three consecutive years.

In the other corner, Forrester offers a lineage of great analysts covering the space. The original Forrester analyst Jim Nail provided a solid foundation of great insight and knowledge. Shar VanBoskirk picked up the reigns from Jim and created a buzz in the industry with her direct opinions and ever present appearances on the speaker tour. Following up on Shar, Forrester's newest analyst, Julie Katz has brought a grounded, highly thoughtful approach and intellect to the position. Julie's most recent Wave report listed Yesmail as a market leader - awarding us a perfect score in 15 subcategories.

Suffice it to say it will be quite interesting to see how these organizations and these analysts mesh. Will they both remain focused on email or will we lose an analyst voice? After talking with people within both organizations the word is that it is "business as usual", which I'm sure that it is... for now...

Don't be surprised to see some interesting shifts and changes in the next 30-90 days. Less