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.
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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.

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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