I don't pay much attention to the expert exchanges nor have I memorized the latest Marketing Sherpa Trends. Most email marketing consultants I know, talk very eloquently about statistical trends and how best practices dictate the proper gospel for the space. And, although these trends are great for an initial point of view, I believe they have fallen short in a number of ways. Most notably, emailer marketers rarely address the user experience.
Here's the thing. The days of uploading a list, creating an email and then sending it were over almost before we began as an industry. Today's successful email programs are part of a much bigger picture. They are kind of like cartilage. Without it you are crippled and slow to move. But if email is no more than connective tissue, then we need to begin thinking about how customers experience the brand from a UX (user experience) point of view.
So here is my advice. When designing your next integrated email campaign don't just think of how the data is going to move but also how the customer will move. Map it visually so that you can truly understand your customer's path and the actions required to produce results for your business.
Included in this post is a link to an excerpt from what we call a Solutions Recipe within the Solutions Consulting group. The illustration shows an email solution both from the customer prospective as well as the user of ExactTarget. The solution is a very simple welcome email.
Download the PDF here.
There are many incredible resources out there if you are new to such efforts. Even if you are not, the list of resources below are great to help sharpen your skills.
http://boxesandarrows.com/
http://www.adaptivepath.com/
http://www.edwardtufte.com
http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience
Here's the thing. The days of uploading a list, creating an email and then sending it were over almost before we began as an industry. Today's successful email programs are part of a much bigger picture. They are kind of like cartilage. Without it you are crippled and slow to move. But if email is no more than connective tissue, then we need to begin thinking about how customers experience the brand from a UX (user experience) point of view.So here is my advice. When designing your next integrated email campaign don't just think of how the data is going to move but also how the customer will move. Map it visually so that you can truly understand your customer's path and the actions required to produce results for your business.
Included in this post is a link to an excerpt from what we call a Solutions Recipe within the Solutions Consulting group. The illustration shows an email solution both from the customer prospective as well as the user of ExactTarget. The solution is a very simple welcome email.
Download the PDF here.
There are many incredible resources out there if you are new to such efforts. Even if you are not, the list of resources below are great to help sharpen your skills.
http://boxesandarrows.com/
http://www.adaptivepath.com/
http://www.edwardtufte.com
http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience
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