I had a great time attending and presenting at the Email Evolution Conference in San Diego last week. For starters, you can’t argue with the 80-degree warmer temperatures than I have at home in Minneapolis, but the content and expertise of the attendees at this conference was unprecedented.

Chad White of the EEC just posted his picks for the main takeaways from the conference. After reading this, I noticed a general theme throughout all of the takeaways – list growth and relevance. These two topics/concepts have really dominated the airwaves recently, and for good reason.

Also, list growth and relevance goals are very intertwined. Why? First, lists are made up of people, right?  Simple concept, but this is lost on many marketers. To effectively entice each person on to your list you have to be offering something (information, products, deals, community) that this specific individual is looking for and interested in. Common sense right? Perhaps, but then why don’t more marketers stick with this simple truth? More are interested in saying what they want to say rather than tailoring the pitch by audience.

The same thing goes for relevance. To communicate with people effectively, you have to first be able and willing to say something that each specific someone is willing to hear…and continue with that relevant information over time by interacting with them, watching how they respond and behave to drive the right messaging at the right time and medium.

In my presentation I mentioned that our internal statistics show that the size of a list is more predictive of response rate than any other measure, be it category (B2B/B2C), or industry (retail, news, travel, etc.). That isn’t to say that some senders with millions of addresses on their list can’t have great response rate, it is that they achieve that right by communicating to smaller segments of customers --- or really, smaller lists, and ultimately individuals.

Please see what I mean if you haven’t read Chad’s article yet. Whether it is rewarding loyal customers, as Pepsi has done, taking personalization advice of Scene 7 or authenticating your emails to protect your brand…at the end of the day it is all about making an appeal to an individual’s wants and needs. Didn’t the term “blasting” die yet?  Please let 2008 be the year.

Lots of thought has been given to triggered email marketing in recent articles. What I’m referring to is primarily triggering based on a customer activity (purchase, site visit, cart abandonment, email open, click, etc.), or a subscription or time event (birthday, subscription end date, card expiration, etc.). Why the buzz? These emails are effective.

One of the main reasons these emails are so compelling to customers, often achieving opens and click rates far above average, is that these communications by their very nature are relevant. In David Baker’s article, "Triggered Messaging 101," he points out that “Customers do appreciate good messaging, creative thought and timing that is appropriate.” Why is that? It is because we’re responding to customer behavior and information we have to drive the best possible message, the most valuable message, to a customer at any one time. Why, then, are so many marketers ignoring customer events and behavior when sending messages?  This holiday season seems to be the worst on record for email promotion uber-frequency.

Retailers are especially guilty of driving emails far too frequently, often far above the expectations expected by their subscribers—leading to higher unsubscribe and complaint rates, as well as a higher "ignore rate." The ignore rate, a stat I just made up, may be the most important driver to email campaign success. It means a large percentage of subscribers begin to ignore you, treating your email like BACN (email they wanted at one time, but don’t have time for any longer). The ignore rate can be detected by the declining open and click rates these retailers are likely seeing as they begin to pummel their once loyal subscribers with a thrice weekly email during the holiday season. It hurts me to watch the carnage they are unknowingly inflicting upon their response rates.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an idealist. I have been the marketing guy on the hook to meet quarterly sales numbers. I know there is immense pressure to make sales numbers, especially during the holiday season. Unwittingly, however, by focusing on only short-term sales these marketers are actively reducing the value of their biggest asset…their subscriber list.

That’s why we’ve developed reports enabling our clients to more easily analyze customer engagement. Engaged customers open and click on your emails. Non-engaged customers don’t do anything. They just ignore you.

Happy Holidays!

Chip Heath, author of “Made to Stick” was a keynote speaker at our Connections ’07 User Conference this past week. In addition to sharing a first name (I may be a bit biased here) I think Chip and I have other affinities. Among many other enlightening items, he spoke about the “Curse of Knowledge” which is the inability of experts to describe what they do in an effective or compelling manner. Or, rather in a way that a lay person would understand easily what the heck one is talking about. Effective and compelling, mind you, is what marketing is supposed to be…isn’t it?  So, perhaps I’m speaking to a few industry-types here, but as we all digest our weekly dose of e-marketing jargon and speak of relevance, targeting, multivariate testing, etc….are we losing sight of the ability to really be effective communicators?

I think too often as marketers we lose sight of a simple fact: The customer wants to know what is “in it” for them. They ultimately define relevance, we don’t. What we have to say is almost irrelevant. What the customer wants to hear, learn, read, buy is the only thing that IS relevant. The customer’s opinion really is the only one that matters. Wait, I don’t think that sunk in: the customer’s opinion is the only opinion that matters. Too often we promote as our inventory would support, as our preset promotion calendar would have us promote, or as our newsletter content schedule would dictate.

So how do we do it right you ask? YOU LISTEN!

Fortunately listening using web, analytics and email technology means you don’t have to actually “listen” (though that helps too) – you need to observe and respect. Respect data. Respect preferences. Respect behavior. Customers are telling us what they want. Are we listening?