Best Email Programs

AMPscript Tip: Links in a Data Extension

Friday, November 20, 2009 by Kristeen Hudson

Have you ever tried to pull a URL from a Data Extension and use it as a link in an email within the ExactTarget email application? If you have you have probably noticed that when your link is clicked it doesn’t work. Here is an example of what I’m taking about:

Note that in this example @link references a value from a Data Extension.

If you have done this then you know that instead of taking you to your URL that is stored in the Data Extension you get directed to a long URL starting with “http://cl.exct.net.”

The good news is there is an easy way to fix these links. There is an AMPscript function called RedirectTo() that must be used when referencing links in a Data Extension. So your new link would look like this:

<a href="%%=RedirectTo(@link)=%%">%%=v(@type)=%%</a>

If you want more information about the RedirectTo AMPscript function or about creating targeted emails using AMPscript there is some good documentation on the Documentation Wiki.

Drip Model Marketing– Is that a leaky faucet or your email marketing software?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Kristeen Hudson

Phrases like “drip campaign”, “automated email drip”, “drip email program”, and “drip email” are thrown around ExactTarget a lot. This is because ExactTarget is in the business of sending email, especially automated email drips. However, everyone may not understand what a drip campaign is. Let me tell you a little bit about the basics of drip marketing.

Drip marketing comes from the phrase drip irrigation, which is where crops are watered in small amounts over a long period of time. This same concept is applied to marketing and is called drip model marketing. Customers or potential customers are given small amounts of information over a long period of time.

The idea behind a drip campaign is that it takes between 3 and 30 impressions of a brand to make it sink in. When creating a drip campaign its important to have a consistent brand with varying messages to help develop the reputation of your company.

Drip emails are the most common type of drip communication, however there are other ways to communicate in a drip campaign. Some other options are - voice messages, SMS messaging, and direct mail.

Drip model marketing is a good way to help avoid always trying to sell a product and a good excuse to provide content that will engage subscribers. Think of this as a great way to nurture your potential clients. Drip marketing can be used for business to consumer or business to business email marketing solutions.

The good news is ExactTarget is one of the best email marketing software providers for creating automated email integration. To learn more about ExactTarget checkout their website.

Excitement in the World of iLab

Monday, November 9, 2009 by Kyle Rechin

With the 135 release on November 6^th, iLab is rolling out new and exciting products and user interface updates. Not only does iLab let you be one of the firsts to adopt these products and features, we allow you to do so for free!!

New to iLab are the user interface updates Save Email as a Template and Streamlined Content Creation Tools. Save Email as a Template allows clients to quickly leverage their polished emails by creating reusable templates. Streamlined Content Creation Tools will simplify the ways in which templates, surveys and emails are created while maintaining the perfect balance between sophistication and ease of use.

We are also very excited to have released Twitter Integration on November 6th. This innovation allows clients to extend the reach of their one-to-one marketing programs to Twitter. With a single send, you will be able to reinforce email messages with a coordinating Twitter status or execute a Twitter campaign alongside an email program. The Twitter integration is the next messaging channel in ExactTarget’s expanding capabilities across email, mobile, social and sites. We are now recruiting current ExactTarget clients to help us test the all-new Twitter Integration, but do not delay because spots will be filled by November 11th.

Check out iLab today in ExactTarget’s 3Sixty to take advantage of all these new features, or search iLab to adopt other new innovations. Also make sure to join the iLab group on 3Sixty to get real time updates on what’s coming next.

Real Email Threat #2: The Specter of “Inbox Clutter”

Monday, November 2, 2009 by Morgan Stewart

There is a lot of talk about the sheer volume of email consumers receive. According to Forrester, 60% of consumers believe they receive too many email offers and promotions (Forrester, December 2008). Thus, it should also be no surprise Forrester also found 64% of consumers say they delete most email advertising without reading it and for them to conclude that consumers find marketing emails a burden.

According to MarketingSherpa, 32% of marketers see general inbox clutter as the biggest challenge to their success in email marketing (MarketingSherpa, Email Marketing Benchmark Survey, September 2008). In Customer Knowledge is Marketer Power, Forrester found that 90% of marketers who believe email will be less effective in 2 years believe the reason for this decline is “too much clutter in consumer inboxes,” while 59% believe “SPAM” will drive this decline.

Yes, inbox clutter is impacting the industry-wide success of email marketing. In fact, at the beginning of this year I the following prediction in our 2009 Marketing Almanac: “On average, we expect open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates will decline in 2009 as subscribers’ inboxes are flooded with bad email from marketers trying to stay afloat.”

The latest DMA figures suggesting that the ROI from email marketing slipped again this year, down 3% from last year to $43,62, support this prediction. However, recently release open rate benchmarks from Epsilon suggest my prediction was wrong. They say open rates have increased slightly in each of the past 4 quarters. From Q2 2008 to Q2 2009 they report an increase from 18.8% to 22.2%. That’s an increase of 18%!

Okay, so the DMA says ROI is down 3% and Epsilon says open rates are up 18% over the past year. At the end of the day, all this suggests is that even if inbox clutter is having a negative impact, it isn’t having much of one on individual marketers.

Consider the following information presented by MarketingSherpa. 31% of consumers indicate that one of the reasons they unsubscribe or disengage from emails is related to inbox clutter. However, this is the third most common reason identified in this survey. The relevance and frequency of YOUR emails are much more important.

Thus, I call this threat the specter of ‘inbox clutter’. It's simply another myth that your emails are being crowded out by junk. Unless you plan on running an average or below average email program, none of this matters for you! If your program delivers value, your program will continue to thrive. The problem is not “out there” as the specter of inbox clutter suggests. More and more, the challenge is to create an above average program.

Real Email Threats #1 – It's Too Easy and Too Cheap

Thursday, October 29, 2009 by Morgan Stewart

Last week I addressed several misperceptions about the future of email and provided a list of recent statistics showing that the future of email looks bright. I also mentioned that there are real threats to the future of email.

I had the honor of moderating a panel at Connections titled “Research Survey Says!” On the panel were three of the smartest folks one could have the pleasure of working with: Julie Katz from Forrester, Rebecca Lieb from eConsultancy, and Stefan Tornquist from MarketingSherpa. With the assignment of presenting “relevant research” and a stacked deck of panelists, my job was simply not to mess it up. My strategy? Leave the topic really loose. I asked two simply questions, “What are the perceived threats to email?” and “What are the real threats to email?”

To my surprise, there was nearly unanimous consensus about the real challenges facing email. In summary, email is so easy and so cheap that even when used ineffectively, it still gets results. And that is a big, big problem since it makes it easy to send bad email.

According to research shared by Stefan Tornquist, email programs that do not follow best practices (e.g., batch-and-blast) are becoming less and less effective. In fact, these programs were half as effective in 2008 as they were in 2002. In contrast, programs that do follow best practices (e.g., segmentation, personalization) are slightly more effective today than they were five years ago.

While email experts have been talking about relevance for a long time, I have not seen it presented in a way that makes it this clear. It is not enough to send email. It is imperative for marketers to deliver authentic value to subscribers--and that is not easy!

This point is further supported by consumer-oriented research:

58% of consumers say the primary reason they unsubscribed or simply stopped reading emails from businesses is because “emails were not relevant to me,” followed by 44% who said they “Received too many emails from the sender” (MarketingSherpa, Consumer Media Survey, Sept 2008)
54% say most of the email ads they receive don’t offer them anything of interest (Forrester, “Winning Email Subscribers in a Down Economy” Dec 2008)

Earlier this year, I asked a professional triathelete to coach me in preparation for a half-marathon (we'll see how that goes before I sign up for a full marathon). In that time I have learned that while nearly everyone can run, the majority of people do not run well. I find myself cringing at the sight of people clodding around my neighborhood and placing unnecessary stress on their feet and knees. Only six months ago, that was me.

Email marketing is similar. Since nearly everyone who tries it sees some degree of success, many mistakenly believe they have it figured out. "Why bother with all that stuff the 'experts' preach?" Because if you don't listen and apply what they say, your glory days are behind you. Your email program will grow less and less effective. It's all downhill from here.

This does not need to be the case. The success of your program is in your control. Commit your program to constant and never-ending improvement. Keep learning. Keep modifying. Keep delivering content your subscribers find valuable (not what you think is valuable). Do this and the value derived from your email program will continue to grow.

Time for your Halloween email...I mean Holiday Email Program

Monday, October 26, 2009 by Shelly Griffin

I don't know about you, but I like to enjoy each holiday on its own and in order. Especially in the Fall when the three big holidays come hurtling at you back to back from the dark days of Fall: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't put out Halloween decorations until October, I don't buy a turkey until November and I don't really start planning for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. I definitely do not shop for Christmas presents in July! Who really does that anyway?

Unfortunately in the world of email marketing, you need to start planning your holiday email program now - today - Yesterday! You need to ensure that your emails are planned, designed, tested, scheduled and ready for delivery. The holiday season is when the inbox gets the most congested and without advance planning, your emails may be lost in the crowd. In addition to driving for results, you want to ensure that you are not one of those marketers that over do it - sending a different offer everyday. After just a few of these emails, your subscribers will start ignoring (and deleting) your emails. Chip House spoke to this very subject in a blog post from last year "High Holiday Frequency Drives the Ignore Rate to New Heights".

You also don't want to be one of those marketers that make no significant change or improvement in your email campaign. Those emails seem uninspiring at a time of year when you should be grabbing the attention of your subscribers. Make sure to check out our design tips and tricks at Email Marketing Design blog. Then on top of everything else, there are deliverability challenges at the holidays.

Where will your email program land?

Design Tip of the Week: Links & Text Decoration

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 by Christopher Studabaker

Blue, underlined text = link. It's an internet gold standard. More than that, linking is the fundamental component of hypertext. Over time, web and email users have learned that any underlined text usually means a link, and we've learned to expect other visual clues indicating a link, too. Using text in a navigation bar, changing text color, or highlighting text on mouse hover, for example, can all be used to imply that text is linked to a page or action. When it comes to underlining links (or not) in your email program, the style should match your brand guidelines - or at least mirror the styles used in your website.

Email clients are typically going to underline links by default. You can remove the underline, but to do so you'll need to apply the following inline style to each link (<a> tag) in your code:

<a href="http://blog.exacttarget.com/blog/the-exacttarget-blog" style="text-decoration: none; color: #e39312;">The ExactTarget Blog</a>

However, even if you want links to be underlined it's important to explicitly state the text decoration to achieve consistent results. A few email clients (such as Hotmail) don't underline links unless you specify this value. To force link underlining in all email clients, use the following inline style on each link:

<a href="http://blog.exacttarget.com/blog/the-exacttarget-blog" style="text-decoration: underline; color: #e39312;">The ExactTarget Blog</a>

Underlined or not, assigning a text-decoration style to your links goes back to the basics of your online branding and helps subscribers immediately identify the linked calls-to-action in your emails.

How Can I Link ExactTarget with My Web Analytics Provider?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 by Dawn DeVirgilio

When looking for ways to drive successful email campaigns, clients often ask us, “What are the ways ExtactTarget can integrate with my web analytics provider?”

They’re in luck! By leveraging existing technology, ExactTarget is able to offer customized integrations through partnerships with leading analytics vendors.

Thanks to these partnerships, there are three ways for ExactTarget to integrate with your web analytics provider:

Web Analytics Connector
The Web Analytics Connector allows you to send information to your web analytics tool through links in the ExactTarget email application. If you are currently using a web analytics system, your web analytics tool stores the URL used to call individual pages whenever your website is displayed in a browser. To connect this data with ExactTarget, you can include attributes in the target URL of the links in your emails. For example, if you included a campaign ID in the target URL of your links, you could identify the web traffic generated by that campaign.

Exporting Tracking Data
A second way to integrate is by exporting tracking data from ExactTarget into your web analytics package. By extracting email tracking data - such as opens, clicks and bounces - and pushing the data back to your analytics package, you capture a 360-degree snapshot of email performance. Both link performance and overall email performance data can be extracted from ExactTarget. These extractions allow you to assess the impact of email campaigns with online activity, where you can facilitate data exchange to consolidate reporting.

Automating a Behavior Marketing Campaign
Segmenting messages based on email and web analytics data is possible through our third form of integration. ExactTarget has the capability to automate a behavior marketing campaign for you, which begins with importing web behavior data into the ExactTarget application. (Typically, the data you will be importing will relate to products viewed, products purchased and cart abandonment information.) This data can be queried to allow deeper segmentation, thereby allowing you to create more personalized and targeted email. By automating the daily feeds of individual web data to trigger emails, you ensure timely, relevant emails to your subscribers.

For more information on how you can integrate ExactTarget with your web analytics provider, contact us via email at info@exacttarget.com or at 1.866.558.9834.

Till next time,
Patty Rayl

Design Tip of the Week: Don’t miss out on Connections '09

Thursday, September 10, 2009 by Tana Babcock

Time is closing in for the Connections 2009 registration – it’s a little over a month away! If you haven’t registered yet, you should, as this is the largest one-to-one marketing conference in the world. With this year’s theme being “Success By Design” it’s no wonder the Design Solutions team will be fully involved. Several email design experts will be available for quick email critiques and questions regarding your email program. Stop by our booth in the Expo Hall, say hello, find out our exciting news and pick up some Design Solutions schwag too!

Still want more from the design team? Take a closer look at this intense breakout session agenda bringing you insight from some of the sharpest marketers in the industry! Let me just point out a few places you’re likely to run into a designer…

On Wednesday October 14th, join two of our top designers for the Designed By Success panel (noted in the Content Track) as they discuss the current landscape of email creative.

Better still, check out the Email + Video: Take 2 panel (noted in the Optimization Track) for a solid perspective on how video can work for your program, tips on usage, and other insights.

FINALLY, please make sure that you check out Extreme Makeover: The Email Design Competition! Thursday morning starts off with a bang with a design face-off between Mighty Interactive, Smith-Harmon, and yours truly, ExactTarget. Two months have been devoted to building the best email designs for MarketingExperiments, AAA, and Pier 1. The results of the competition, based on actual success metrics, will be revealed for the first time in this session. Be sure to join us for the unveiling and get your chance to vote for which email design you like best.

Check out our Flickr account for a great visual representation of the fun we had last year. And don’t forget to check out this star-studded list of events for further entertainment!

Time for some Email Marketing Homework

Friday, August 28, 2009 by Shelly Griffin

Back to School brings back many wonderful memories...crisp autumn air, new clothes, and football. It also brings back memories of homework. Homework methodology varies from student to student. There are the procrastinators that wait until the very last second to complete their homework. Many live by the "all-nighter" rule whether prepping for exams or writing a thesis on "Great Expectations". Then there are those that are completely organized. They have their #2 pencil and pink pearl eraser ready to tackle each and every assignment in precise order - starting at the top of the list of subjects with Physics or Calculus.

For many, email marketing programs seem to follow similar methodologies. There are those that come in to work realizing that they forgot to schedule their email for that day. They scramble to get the content written and the audience prepped. There is no time for testing. As long as the email has been sent on time, the job is done. Homework handed in on time! If a teacher were grading, we would see tons of red pen marks all over this paper - noting every error along the way. Grade for this program? Probably a C.

There are those that prep to the Nth degree following each and every step as declared by industry experts as the "have-to-do's" for a successful email campaign: sending to test lists, analyzing each response, modifying content and re-testing, ensuring proper optimization in each and every email client, and so on and so forth. They are so prepared that they have a hard time actually hitting the send button for the actual email campaign. The grade for this program might be an A for effort, but an F for execution.

My recommendation - make sure your email marketing program is somewhere in between. Don't wait until the last minute but don't prepare so much that nothing gets done. Your homework assignment for this week is to take a few minutes and grade your own email program.

PS - Connections 09 is the perfect study group!

Email Design Tip of the Week: A Designer’s Take on “Presenting Data and Information”, a Seminar by Edward Tufte

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by Andrea Smith

Several of my colleagues and the Design Solutions team had the opportunity to attend a fantastic seminar in Indianapolis this week given by Edward Tufte. Without diving into the full breadth of his rich background and teachings, Edward Tufte is an influential writer, analytical designer, and landscape sculpture artist. Through his work, he has provided amazing thought leadership into how to effectively display information and content.

This fresh insight begs the question, how can we create better, more effective presentations based on Tufte’s strategy for success? Or in an email marketer’s case, how can we create better emails? Here is what we gleaned:

1. Better Content

If what you have needs improvement or is not working, simply get better content. Make useful comparisons and show them. It’s vastly important to have solid evidence and content before you can begin to develop a great email program.
All presentations (or email programs) stand or fall based on the quality and integrity of the content presented.

2. Effective Presentation

Be as effective as possible in a given space and respect the unique landscape of email. Don’t cloud what you have to say – keep it simple.
Look to your audience for cues. Feel free to teach them or present new information, but respect their time and interests.

3. Redesign

If your communications are cluttered or confusing, redesign them!

As always, check out "Email Marketing Design: The New Essentials" for more design tips and recommendations.

Test ExactTarget’s New Innovations

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 by Jeff Cunning

3sixty iLab is the perfect place to enhance your one-to-one marketing efforts. We release our newest ExactTarget features to iLab first where clients can access them in exchange for providing us with valuable feedback. iLab is located in ExactTarget’s 3Sixty user community—clients can log on to iLab to view current, former, and future innovations and sign up to have available features automatically enabled. During the test process, clients will also be able to complete a short survey and phone interview to help influence future product enhancements.

Customers are taking advantage of our newest innovations in order to stay on the cutting edge of our application. Take it from ExactTarget Partner, Mighty Interactive. "We love being able to offer our clients new functionality that’s only available in ExactTarget's iLab. Because we're offering new opportunities not yet generally available, it gives us an opportunity to inject new life into their email program. The best part? It's simple — just sign up through 3sixty to get started!" David Hibbs, Customer Lifecycle Manager at Mighty Interactive.

A couple examples of recent innovations are Live Images and Simplified Landing Pages. Live Images allow you to change image content in emails after they’re already sent. Simplified Landing Pages offers the ability to create a Landing Page in just minutes by boiling the process down to a few simple steps.

New innovations will continue to arrive and become available to any user—although spaces are limited and offered on a first come, first serve basis. Log on to iLab today or join the iLab Group in 3sixty to stay up-to-date with the latest and greatest features!

The Invention Known as Email: Today (2009) and Yesterday (1971)

Friday, August 14, 2009 by Kyle Schroeder

So, I am no history expert, but I am interested in the history of the communication source I use all the time: Email.

A quick browse across the internet has led me to the year 1971.

“In 1971, Ray Tomlinson developed the first ARPANET email application…he chose the "commercial at" symbol to combine the user and host names, providing the naturally meaningful notation "user@host" that is the standard for email…”

1971 was 16 years before I was born.

What happened in 1971?

· End of the Gold Standard for American Currency

· Bangladesh is created

· Disney World Opens

· Voting Age Lowered To 18

· Debut of Southwest Airlines

· A new stock market index called the NASDAQ

I guess email should be added to the list.

We have been seeing email out there for a long time now. Granted, it has changed a little bit since day 1.

Today, ExactTarget has a powerful, industry-leading, one-to-one email marketing application that allows companies to build specific, relevant, and professional-looking emails for their customers—those who have opted in.

Kyle Schroeder

Slingshot Summer Intern

ExactTarget 2009 SUBSCRIBERS RULE! Awards – Nominations Now Accepted!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009 by Chip House

Each year at the ExactTarget Connections conference we give out awards to our clients that have demonstrated some of the best programs, designs, list growth and results of the year. This year is no different…but there is a new twist. This year we’re launching the SUBSCRIBERS RULE! Awards.

There are 5 key awards and 3 grand prizes that go to those programs that best honor the three main tenets of our SR! philosophy:

1. Serve the individual.
2. Honor their unique preferences for communication, content, frequency and channel.
3. Deliver them timely, relevant content that improves their lives

If you are an ExactTarget client or partner you can now nominate yourself, or another program online. Nominations are only open until Friday, September 4th so please start those wheels turning now.

Submit nominations here!

Award Categories are:

Communication & Content Relevance Award
Do you design your content around subscriber preferences? This award focuses on customers that have shown big improvements in subscriber relevancy by designing emails to match subscriber preferences. Of course design and metrics matter here!

Behavior & Data Relevance Award
This award is for marketers that have really done a great job integrating and leveraging data from multiple sources (CRM, analytics, POS) in a way that results in more individualized communications through ExactTarget.

Channel Preference Award
Honoring your subscribers’ channel preferences to receive email via email, SMS, voice or other channels? If so, this award is for you! Nominees must have used at least two messaging channels and will be judged on demonstrated customer retention or lift in response.

Permission-based List Growth Award
The best marketing lists are grown subscriber by subscriber while honoring permission. If you are an ExactTarget customer using unique, permission-based list capture strategies that have shown big improvements in list growth or response rates then we want to hear from you!

Improving Lives Award
Who says email can’t change lives? Many of our customers in non-profit and profit sectors help others every day. This award is for a customer with the most inspirational story of how their one-to-one marketing efforts are improving the lives of their customers.

Grand Prizes:

Reseller Partner of the Year Award
From beginning to end this ExactTarget Reseller demonstrates excellence in email marketing strategy, design, integration, execution and client success all while honoring the tenets Subscribers Rule!

Embedded Partner of the Year
A number of companies have embedded ExactTarget into their software application. This award is for the best embedded solution that honors Subscribers Rule!

Email Program of the Year Award
This award will simply go to the best of the best. The grand prize winner of the SR! Awards 2009 will be the best overall email marketing program that honors the tenets of Subscribers Rule from start to finish. That includes solid strategy, data management, creative, use of dynamic content and targeting, integration, and results!

One thing is for sure…we’ll have a great time giving out the awards this year. ExactTarget customers never disappoint. There are always some amazing programs shown off at these awards and I’m sure this year will be no different!

Now That’s Smart! Volvo Construction Equipment Uses Email Marketing to Help Dealers Sell Refurbished Equipment

Monday, August 3, 2009 by Joel Book

Volvo Construction Equipment N.A. Inc. sells a wide array of new and used construction machinery through its network of 70 North American dealers. These dealers sell everything from Skid Steer Loaders, to Pipelayers, to Highway Pavers. And these machines are used in a variety of industries including construction, forestry and waste management. The dealers also take trade-in equipment that is refurbished and re-marketed to other customers.

Like other construction equipment companies, Volvo started to see sales slowing over the past year due to the recession. That’s when John Johnston, Manager of eBusiness Marketing, decided to take a look at how the company could begin using email marketing to help its dealers move used equipment off their lots. Selling used machines not only improves dealer cash flow, it also provides an opportunity to attract new customers to the dealership.

Using focus groups and surveys, Johnston got input from Volvo dealers and customers. He also studied the latest research on email marketing best practices for the construction equipment industry. Then, Johnston worked with ExactTarget’s Design Services team to redesign the company’s B-to-B e-newsletter for dealers to make it more engaging and improve response.

In addition, Johnston began using ExactTarget's content syndication feature to automate production of Volvo’s email program for used equipment remarketing. Using ExactTarget’s content syndication, Johnston captures the HTML from its online inventory Website and automatically populates its email marketing messages without having to manually enter inventory data or other information.

The results?

Volvo’s redesigned email newsletter for dealers generated 15% more click-throughs on articles.
Using ExactTarget’s Content Syndication feature, Johnston reduced overall build time of Volvo’s remarketing emails for end-users by more than 50 percent.

Karen Bannan of BtoB Magazine recently interviewed John Johnston about Volvo Construction Equipment’s email marketing strategy. You can read her article at BtoB Online.

Sometimes Change Is Good

Tuesday, July 7, 2009 by Megan Sabine

It's easy to do and I'm willing to bet it has happened to you before. You get into a routine and rarely question the routine because it is working just fine. It can easily happen in your email marketing program. You stick to the same type of content because it's worked in the past and it is working now. Your open rate, click through rate and unsubscribe rate are all within the realm of normal for your email marketing program. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right?

WRONG! It's always important to optimize your email marketing program, including your content strategy, even when things are running smoothly.

Scene, ExactTarget's email program dedicated to exclusive event invites and offers, was humming along like a well oiled machine. After conducting my quarterly analysis on its performance, I noticed a trend and it had nothing to do with percentages. We had gotten into the routine of only promoting our upcoming webinars in Scene. Don't get me wrong, our webinars are packed with valuable information (don't trust me -- check them out for yourself) but we have other great resources I was willing to bet our subscribers want to know about.

Boy was I right. Our latest Scene promoted all the great resources our marketing department had created in the first 6 months of 2009. Once I hit send, I watched our click-through rate increase by more than 50% compared to the previous month.

Sometimes change is just what your email marketing program needs, though you'll never know unless you are willing to step out of the routine.

Email Design Tip of the Week: Forwarding Emails

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 by Andrea Smith

This week, we’re going to tackle a commonly asked question:

Why does my email look broken when forwarded?

If you forward an HTML email using the forward button in your email program, it will often break the code, making the design display incorrectly for the recipient of the forward. Instead, use the “forward to a friend” link built into the email, if one is available. Using this link will send a clean email out of ExactTarget, and give you the option to type a personal message above the email. This link is either a button or text link marketers commonly place either in the top or bottom of the email.

How do I add a “Forward to a Friend” link to my email?

If you don’t have a “forward to a friend” link in your email, you can add it several ways. Either link the desired text or image in ExactTarget using the link choice “Forward to a Friend”, or use the substitution string “%%ftaf_url%%” as a link in an HTML paste email.

Example: <a href=”%%ftaf_url%%”>Forward to a Friend</a>

If you choose to have our Design Solutions team build a custom template for you, there’s a good chance we’ve permanently built in this link for your ease of use.

What if I don’t like the term “Forward to a Friend”?

Try something else! I like to recommend “Forward to a Colleague” for B2B clients, and “Send to a Friend” is becoming more prevalent, especially in retail email. As long as it’s appropriate to your subscribers, there are no hard and fast rules – have fun with it!

What Gen Y Wants - ExactTarget Slingshot Interns Talk

Monday, June 15, 2009 by Katie Lindahl

“They want to be advertised to on Facebook.” Wrong.

I have watched Facebook take-off over the past few years. What once started as a tool that required a college email address, then expanded to include high school students, is now open to anyone, anywhere. This change has significantly increased the way companies are using this popular social networking tool and I am not sure all the experts have it quite figured out.

I get tired of marketers assuming they know what I want. I think it’s time to start asking. The talk right now is that teens and college students are looking for business ads in the midst of a wall post to their best friend—really?

I don’t buy it and I don’t buy it.

For me, there is an indirect relationship between the amount of time I spend on Facebook and the number of ads I have to bypass every time I log-in. As a college student, I use Facebook for one primary function: staying connected to friends. I can view my freshman roommate’s spring break pictures from Costa Rica or see that my sister’s new favorite movie is The Green Mile. I’m staying up-to-date with people I don’t see all the time.

So, where does business advertising fit into that?

I’m not entirely sure.

I do not go to Facebook looking for ads or coupons and the ones on there aren’t urging me to click on them. For me, the companies with the cheesy banner ads on the sides of a Facebook page lose credibility points in my book.

Where I do see potential is if companies can help transcend their corporate culture onto these social networks. Companies have the ability to set up a company page where they can describe them self, post links, make comments, and join in this community of friends. I am a fan of Papa John’s Pizza Facebook page and see comments from their 297,827 other fans that really love their pizza—and aren’t afraid to say it. After viewing their Facebook page, I see that I can opt-in to their email program and receive coupons each week. So in this simple way, Papa John’s caught my attention and added a new subscriber, all without a banner advertisement.

I see potential here. There has to be a careful strategy on how this is approached, but if an effort matches the target market, I think there would be significant advantages. I don’t think it would just be in customer sales but I think it would be in building loyalty.

This has opened a lot of different topics that I think college students have thought about. We do have an opinion about. It looks like I have a few more things to share.

Kyle Schroeder
Slingshot Summer Intern

BMA Annual Conference is Officially Sold Out

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 by Joel Book

Gary Slack, Vice Chairman of the BMA, reports the national BMA conference, June 10-12 in Chicago, is SOLD OUT and that a wait list is now open. http://www.marketing.org/waitlist.

As I post this, more than 300 marketers from 200 B-to-B companies have registered. This is a phenomenal achievement, and one look at the program tells you why. It’s a great line up!

On Thursday morning, June 11th, I have the pleasure of leading a terrific session titled, Best Practices in Digital Direct Marketing, which will feature two ExactTarget clients who are among the industry’s sharpest email marketing professionals, Sallie Anthony of Genworth Financial and Dave Wieneke of Thomson CompuMark.

Sallie and Dave will take you inside their company’s email communications strategies and provide practical advice on how to design and execute email programs that deliver bottom-line business impact.

If you want to see first-hand how to use email – in combination with CRM – to accelerate the sales process, maximize customer retention, and support the direct selling efforts of resellers, do not miss this session. In addition, we’ll discuss how email has become the #1 tool for nurturing leads and keeping prospects engaged throughout the buying lifecycle.

Check out the full agenda for the BMA Annual Conference, and if you have not registered and want to be added to the wait list, go to this link: http://www.marketing.org/waitlist.

Email Marketing & Social Media Webinar

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 by Scott Roth

Looking for innovative ways to take your 1-to-1 marketing strategies to the next level and put new technologies to work for you? On Wednesday, June 3rd at 2:00 EDT I'm hosting a webinar on how to leverage email marketing and social media together.

Joining me will be Emily Riley, Senior Analyst from Forrester Research and Lauren Kufta, New Media Coordinator from Roadrunner Records. Emily from Forrester will share some valuable research on the topic as well as some examples of companies that are on the cutting-edge. Lauren from Roadrunner will talk about their social media strategy overall and how they are using email marketing in conjunction with social media sites to connect fans with music artists.

Lastly, I will share some thoughts about how linking email marketing and social media initiatives is not only good for extending the reach of your message, but also a great source for acquiring new and highly engaged opt-ins for your email programs. I'll also touch briefly on our new Social Forward feature (including ShareThis integration, Direct to Social, and Forward to a Friend) that is quickly making its way through the ExactTarget Innovations Lab and is slated to be released to all of our customers in our Summer 2009 Release.

Learn more about the webinar and register now

The ExactTarget Blog

Follow Us On...

Recent Entries

Authors

Categories