Last week, I had the pleasure of participating on a panel at the inaugural Internet Summit ’08 conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The event attracted more than 600 marketing and technology professionals to the Friday Center on the UNC campus. It was a first class event all the way around. My compliments to Eric Gregg, Scott Hedrick and the TechJournal South team who produced this conference.

Our panel tackled the topic, “Next Generation Email Marketing” and not surprisingly, many of the questions focused on how businesses are using email to stay engaged with customers and prospects in today’s challenging economy.

One thing is clear. Those companies that have invested in the development of their email subscriber base are now reaping the rewards for their efforts. Companies that have the ability to use email to nurture leads, convert prospects to buyers, drive repeat purchase, and generate referrals from satisfied customers have a huge competitive advantage over those that don’t. 

At a time when advertising and marketing expenses are being slashed and marketers need to do more with less, it’s no mystery why we are seeing budgets shifting to email. With an average ROI of $45 for every dollar spent (Source: The DMA), email has become the “linchpin solution” for customer retention and growth.

Where to Get Your Email Marketing “Executive MBA”

If you want to know about the top trends and best practices of email marketing, I highly recommend you sign up for the special pre-conference workshop that my friend and colleague Jeanne Jennings of JeanneJennings.com will lead at the upcoming National Center for Database Marketing Conference (NCDM) in Orlando. Our seminar, “Insider Tips for Making Your Email Marketing Efforts More Effective – and More Profitable” will be held on Monday, December 8th from 9:10 AM to 11:50 AM.

Whether you’re managing email, direct marketing, or the web, figuring out the best combination of customer touch points to increase response rates and drive sales shouldn’t be a guessing game. At NCDM, you’ll learn about the latest online and offline analytical approaches, multichannel marketing strategies and technology solutions that you need to make your database marketing program effective.

Get Registered for NCDM!
If you have not yet registered for NCDM, there’s still time and there are plenty of registration options to fit your needs. To register, just go to the NCDM registration page on the NCDM 2008 website where you can also download the complete NCDM 2008 Conference Brochure.

Sales are down. You’re having a slow quarter. You need to squeeze every last email address you can find for every last dime you can get. Let’s grab ‘em all – even the ones we haven’t touched in years – and send them a big email blast. Good idea? Bad idea?

BAD IDEA.

Why? Because it’ll harm your email deliverability. Batch and blast – grabbing up a bunch of old email lists and sending everyone a 20% coupon code – is going to get you blocked. Tailoring your message to the economy isn’t a bad idea. Throwing permission practices out the window because you feel you need to email more people – well, that is most definitely a bad idea.

ISPs care about reputation, and you build a reputation by staying true to permission. Old lists, bought lists, opt-out lists – mailing to any of these will spike your bounce and spam complaint rates. The result? You’ve just been identified as a spammer.

You might be hoping for that last minute revenue boost, but you could actually see a revenue decline because your mail is no longer getting to the inbox at AOL and Yahoo.

What’s the impact to your bottom line if you lose access to 30% of your list?

Dear Retailers:

We can’t see your images in your emails.

We can’t see your 20%-off merchandise or special offers. We can’t see your holiday sweaters, or dresses, or suits, or toys.

Why? It is because your emails are made entirely out of images, and due to image suppression at the bulk of receiving email clients and ISPs your emails look blank, imageless, and don’t reflect the brand you hope to portray.

Want to increase your holiday sales for 2008? Start by optimizing your emails using the principals of what we call “performance-based design.” How? Head on over to the ExactTarget design blog and learn about their recommendations for email marketing design best practices. Also, check out their latest whitepaper: Email Marketing Design: The New Essentials.

The key to the success of your email program this fall will be about making an impact in the inbox that is relevant to each subscriber’s wants and needs…not about sending more email.

Sincerely,

Your Once Loyal Customer (Please give me a reason to buy from you)

Sometimes, we get letters. Jared writes, “Its great to see your helping people get away with spamming. You should throw my email into your mass email spam lists. Get in line with the others.”

I find this type of email really frustrating. I don’t hear stuff like this all that often, thankfully. But when I do hear it, I wonder, what? Get away with spamming? You really think that’s what ExactTarget does? Help people spam? Yuck.

Jared also sent along a link to some old blog post that shows how long subject lines can be in different email clients. So, he might not be all that knowledgeable about email or have a clear picture as to what he’s mad about.

Regardless, that got me thinking. If somebody out there does think that about us, maybe I should take the time to answer the implied question. Do we spam? Allow spam? Help spammers? The answer is a loud and clear NO. NO, we are not spammers. NO, we don’t allow spam. NO, we don’t support spam.

ExactTarget is not a list broker. Don’t call us to buy a list. We don’t sell them. We don’t buy them, either, so spammers should feel free to stop trying to get me interested in their “guaranteed opt-in leads.”

We don’t allow clients to buy lists. This isn’t a lead generation system, and permission-based email doesn’t work with lead generation lists. It’s just not compatible.

ExactTarget is a tool. A really powerful and useful tool, one that allows our clients to mail their own customers. People who have signed up to receive email from them directly, not to mail random people that some company *thinks* might want to hear from them.

The six of us here on the core deliverability services team act as the spam police. We enforce our anti-spam policy, sending guidelines and thresholds, and the opt-in provisions of our contracts. We suspend, reform or terminate spammers regularly.

We look at what clients are doing constantly.

• If too much of a client’s list is filtered out at import,  
• If too much of their mail bounces,  
• If they receive too many spam complaints from a large ISP,  
• If they get blacklisted by a reputable blacklist like Spamhaus or Spamcop,  
• Or if they do something that shows me that they’re not complying with the opt-in consent requirements contained in our contract,  
• Then the client is funneled through our policy enforcement/best practices process to help address the issue, reform the process, remove the bad list, educate the client, and, if those steps all fail, terminate that client.  

Over the past month or so, we’ve worked with over twenty-five clients, guiding them on how to shore up their opt-in practices; giving them a clear understanding that only opt-in is allowed. For a few of those, we told them we’re not going to be able reach out to an ISP for assistance until a problem is resolved. In some of those past instances, our requirement has been that the client must reconfirm their existing email list.

We end up terminating an average of one client a month, and this month was no different. Of course, we like our clients a lot, and ones that can be reformed, we’d much rather reform them than terminate them. A reformed client means no more spam, and a client we keep means they keep paying us. Everybody wins. But, they don’t always want to work with us, or don’t always agree with our policies. And in those cases, it’s in our best interest to move on. So we do.

That’s what me and my team here at ExactTarget have done to stop spam lately. What have you done to stop spam lately?

We spent a lot of time trying to decide what to call the new community for ExactTarget users.  First we thought of ExactTarget Universe…then Elements…then Spaces.  But we finally landed on ExactTarget 3sixty.  And in my humble opinion, a 3sixty by any other name simply wouldn’t be as sweet.

Why 3sixty?  The term “360” is familiar, it’s well-rounded, and it’s complete.  And that, my friends, is exactly what we hope ExactTarget 3sixty is: your one-stop shop for everything ExactTarget. If you need an answer to a question, a resource, or even a piece of advice, 3sixty should be your first stop.  If you want to learn something new or connect with someone in your area, 3sixty is the place to be.

Some of my favorite spots in 3sixty:

• Ideas: The most widely used area of 3sixty so far!  If you have an idea about what we could do to improve the ExactTarget application, Ideas is the spot for you.  Post ideas and the community votes on favorites to ultimately help drive our product.

• Answers: The name says it all – post a question, get an answer.  The community and ExactTarget employees will help answer your questions.

• Resources: All ExactTarget resources…all in one place.  Did you notice the word all?  From product documentation to whitepapers and use cases, it ALL lives in Resources.

• Groups: Connect with others that are doing what you do.  If you’re a designer, join the Email Best Practices group.  SMS users, join the SMS Fan group.  If you can’t find the group you are looking for, create your own!

I’m hoping that while you’re out there cruising 3sixty, you’ll have suggestions on how we could improve the experience.  So you guessed it: post them in Ideas, and let us know what you think!

Stephanie Zircher
Director of 3sixty

*Please note: ExactTarget 3sixty is only available to direct ExactTarget clients.

Stefan Pollard shares his vision on IP address ramp up best practice guidance over on ClickZ.

Sound familiar? It should, as it echoes the best practice guidance we give on the subject daily.

I certainly DO NOT mean that Stefan stole or re-purposed any of the guidance we give. What I mean is: Great minds think alike!

A question we get asked a lot here at ExactTarget, is what is the best practice for email appends? Turns out, the real, honest answer is: Don't. Email appends aren't a best practice.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Morgan Stewart has shared some good data on how to minimize the spam complaint fallout, and drive the best opt-in permission results, if you're going to do an email append campaign at all.

If people want to get email from you, they'll give you their email address. If they don't have an opportunity to give you their email address, give them one. Send them a postcard. Call them. Ask them straight out, may I have your email address, so that we can send you follow-up email communication.

Consent -- permission -- affirmative consent as defined by the law, opt-in as defined by best practices -- is tied to an email address. If I am your customer, and I didn't give you an email address, you don't have permission to email me, just because you figured out my email address on your own somehow.

Sure, if an email append vendor is really doing things on the up-and-up, then everybody in their email address database has explicitly opted-in to be there -- preferably via a double opt-in process. But, the fact of the matter is, most email append vendors DO NOT work that way. They mostly seem to do things like partnering with industry publications in various industries. You know those magazines -- the ones that offer free subscriptions, but in exchange for the "free" subscription -- they want an awful lot of detailed information about you. If you were to look closely at their privacy policy, you'd likely find that it allows the publisher to do whatever they want with that data. And whatever they want probably involves selling your personal information to an append vendor or two, adding you to the append vendor's match database.

(Or even better, you could end up wondering what went wrong. Wondering if your email append vendor or list broker is actually a front for some sort of criminal spam gang in India. Think I'm kidding? Ken Magill's got the story. I'm not sure if I've run into these guys in particular, but I most certainly have helped clients clean up after dealing with vendors that seem to have twenty-five different DBA names, no company principals listed on their website, domains registered with privacy protect, exchanging corporate email on a domain other than the one their website is on, and so forth. Hardly transparent, and often suspicious.)

ExactTarget has always ensured compliance with the FTC & FCC mandate regarding wireless domains. We don't allow these domains to be imported or mailed to, as required by the law. For more information on why, you can find quick links to the FCC's pages on the topic by visiting our Wireless Domain microsite.

We at ExactTarget are not alone in our interpretation of the wireless domain requirements. Just the other day I ran across the following on Mickey Chandler's Spamtacular blog. What should best practices be, according to Mickey?

1. You should make certain that you regularly download the list of wireless domains maintained by the FCC and wash addresses in those domains from your general lists.
2. You should segment your wireless domain addresses into their own list.
3. You should make certain that you implement double opt-in for addresses on the wireless segment, even if you don’t use double opt-in in general.

ExactTarget does periodically download the list of wireless domains maintained by the FCC and we include it in our list detective filter. This ensures that addresses in those domains are never uploaded or mailed to.

If you're looking for the ability to be able to send to these domains, please feel free to contact us to discuss. We can help you feel out whether or not there is a legitimate business case to proceed, and if so, how to do so in a way that's compatible with both the legal requirements, and ExactTarget's opt-in policies. The process can be a bit tricky, but we're happy to help you navigate your way through.

As the holidays approach, closing in on the last 3 months, it's amazing how quickly retailers begin to gear up on selling Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations.  But where are those deals, that door buster that is going to make me block out my calendar the day after Thanksgiving to hit the sale?  And where are the deals relevant to what I want to buy?  Sure, I could buy the Glow in the Dark 14 foot Mummy for 10% off but why on earth would I want that when I don't even have a front yard to put it in?

I introduce to you in a very exciting way, LIVE OFFERS!  I can't begin to tell you what a privilege it is to have our very astonishing Product Development Team create this "offering", no pun intended.  This e-mail marketing solution is very powerful for not just the marketer but the consumer.  We'll start from the consumer's point of view since I am just so excited about this.  I can't wait to receive relevant offers!!

Let's start with my demographic stats (hint, hint, please send me something relevant):
•    Gen Y (29-42)
•    Married
•    No Children
•    College Educated
•    Enjoys shopping, eating out, running and reading
•    Business Professional who works 50+ hours a week
•    Brand Advocate for Jupiter Vapors shoes

So, did I mention I enjoy high end shoes that I simply can't afford?  Yes, I do receive my yearly $25 birthday gift card in the mail from some Apparel & Accessory Retailers.  But my husband swiftly throws any additional solicitation (I like to call them DEALS) in the trash before I even begin to sort through the pile.  But, what if I were to receive an exclusive offer via e-mail that only the very savvy and efficient shoppers could cash in on?  What if I were to receive an offer for a pair of limited addition shoes that only I and 300 others would have the opportunity to purchase?  Now that's excitement!



So, how could a retailer create such an offering?  Well, the answer is pretty simple.  Live Offers allows retailers to target, predict and re-market offers.  What does that mean?  Let me explain.

1.)  You know that I am in my late 20's or 30's.  I am a business professional who enjoys shopping.  Therefore, it is likely I check e-mail often, have little time to hunt for discounts and enjoy very fashionable shoes.  With a targeted inventory based live offer, I can enjoy the convenience of an exclusive, relevant offer sent via e-mail that I can check from my Blackberry at any moment.

2.)  Using Live Offer Redemption Reports, you can view when I opened the offer, printed it and redeemed it in the store.  You even know what store location I redeemed the offer in.  This enables you with the data you need to predict which offers I'll enjoy in the future.

3.)  Re-market offers to new segments when existing offers didn't catch on with the initial segment.  Inventory based offers allow retailers to target the entire list with an offer but only provide the offer to the first x amount of people who open the offer.  If the offer was never redeemed, re-assign the offer for a more effective e-mail campaign.

Now that retailers have the opportunity to leverage truly 1-to-1 personalized offers, I'm hoping I'll get one very soon.  Nothing would brighten my day better than a deal on a great pair of gold pumps for the holidays.  Oh, Jupiter Vapors, please e-mail me an exclusive offer.  I promise, you'll have me at open!

Angela Khan
Product Marketing Manager

My esteemed colleague here at ExactTarget, R.J. Talyor, was quoted extensively in this recent article in the NY Times "Bits" blog. He talks about Obama's use of SMS to announce his choice for VP, and more generally about how organizations and marketers use (and don't use) SMS currently.

SMS is a "brave new world" for me. As I learn more and more about how deliverability works in the land of SMS, I'm learning that it's a lot harder to trick somebody (like an ISP or your email service provider) into allowing spam to be sent. Sure, people still get SMS spam, but the wireless providers are much quicker to clamp down on unexpected and unacceptable usage. There are a much smaller number of wireless providers, compared to the number of email postmasters out there. The number of filters is much smaller. The sets of guidelines are much fewer. And the guidelines, the requirements are much more explicit and specific. No spam. You want to do SMS? You have to tell the providers what you're going to do with that short code. Before sending for the first time, you have to explain how you're going to use SMS, how things are going to work. And if a provider doesn't agree, you can't send or receive to or from users on their wireless network.

Somebody asked me, if the entire world converts from email to SMS, does that mean that I'm out of a job? Will there be no more need for policy compliance enforcement and best practice guidance people in the SMS world? I don't think so. I think a lot of organizations don't yet understand what you can and can't do with SMS. I think there are many, many opportunities to guide and impart best practice knowledge, just like with email. I have a feeling that even in an SMS-only world, I'd never run out of things to focus on.