Every afternoon, I receive a message with links to press releases and industry articles from our PR firm.  It's a great way to stay on top of what's happening with ExactTarget and in the email marketing industry.  All from the comfort of my uncomfortable office chair.

As I perused through today's issue, I noticed yet another article about mobile email marketing.  While reading the article, I realized that something was amiss: it's just not that simple.  There are too many factors (i.e. phone type, operating system, email client) and too many scenarios (i.e. checking on the run, reading in full, saving for later) to provide any type of blanket statements (i.e. design like this, segment like that) about mobile email marketing.

We know people use it.  And we know that as marketers we should pay attention to that.  But beyond that, we should proceed with caution. 

Last month, Morgan Stewart, our Director of Research & Strategy, wrote a great article about the complications of mobile email marketing -- and how there is no easy fix.  And last summer, our strategic services team conducted the most extensive consumer study to date on mobile email marketing.  The results may surprise you.

For example, our research shows that some recipients are actually thrown off by mobile-specific text on the messages.  And designing for "mobile-only reading" assumes that your recipient isn't going to open the message again on their computer (which many recipients report they do!)

That research is still available in ExactTarget's Email Marketing for the Third Screen Whitepaper.  Yes, I know it's a whitepaper (ugh!) and that it's lengthy (yuk!).  But if you're serious about mobile email marketing, it's well worth the time to read. 

To date, I have yet to find another resource that provides so much data to back up so many recommendations about mobile email marketing.  And no, Morgan didn't bribe me to say that.*  This article from February, also on the DMNews blog, provides some good general (and cautionary!) recommendations. 

Cheers,
Ashley
Manager, Marketing Communications

P.S. We're working hard with our strategists to finalize a brand new whitepaper this month on consumer messaging preferences.  If you liked Email Marketing for the Third Screen, you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for it!

* I accept bribe payment in the forms of celebrity gossip magazine subscriptions and gift certificates for my local spa.

Not too long ago, I was a marketer who was a slave to a to-do list and a "get the thing out" mentality, rather than a slave to my client base.  I was trapped in a continuous loop of - "this is a great idea but how can I ever find the time or budget space to do a full-on marketing campaign?" As I listened to marketing expert after marketing expert discuss how to optimize your eMarketing program at the first stop on ExactTarget's Route1to1 City tour in Atlanta this past Tuesday, it became clear that the answer to my question was to a change my mindset and finally put off the to-do list and put on a truly integrated, engaging campaign.

Here were my wake-up call email marketing moments that made me say - "Wow, I was doing it wrong for so long."

• "Your website can no longer be a digital brochure, it has to be an engaging place where you can drive conversion," said Joel Book, ExactTarget's Director of eMarketing Education.
  
• "It's time to stop reacting and start taking a pro-active approach to your marketing campaigns," said Jeff Rohrs, ExactTarget's Vice President of Agency and Search Marketing.
  
• "If I receive an email and I don't know who it is, I immediately delete it, so why would we expect our customers to be any different?  I received an email from Continental on my phone that was mobile friendly and I was able to check-in just by replying to a text message - now that's engagement," said Jeanniey Mullen Founder of the Email Experience Council (eec) and Global Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Zinio Systems and VIV Magazine.

The highlight of the day for me was listening to Nick Godfrey, from Customer Portfolios (an email marketing agency partner with ExactTarget) discuss how his company utilized ExactTarget's email marketing software to build Dunkin' Donuts' loyalty program from the ground up.  He talked about the unique challenges of creating a 1 to 1 marketing customer loyalty program. 

A Dunkin' Donuts customer can receive rewards depending on how many times they visit a specific Dunkin' Donuts store each week.  As an example, if I go in Mondays and Wednesdays, the system is smart enough to trigger an email to that patron offering them a $1.00 credit towards the loyalty account, encouraging a third visit  This type of email marketing tool removes the time and budget burden most marketers are facing.

Shrinking budgets have led many marketers to search around for the best way to drive customers to their web site, but after attending this seminar, I realized that your marketing campaign must be engaging, and compelling, giving users a reason to come and stay on your site.  There is too much information out there for your message to get lost. 

My top four takeaways from Route 1 to 1:

• No more digital brochures - they don't work
• Give them a good reason to engage with your brand
• Truly powerful marketing will treat each customer as a unique individual, who has unique need
• Discussing Dunkin' Donuts leads to binge eating on my part

If you are a marketer like me, who knew what they wanted to do, but weren't sure how to do it, you really should think about coming to the ExactTarget Route 1 to 1: The new eMarketing essentials event.  Coming up next are Chicago and Cincinnati...its time to stop being a slave to our to-do lists. 

Gotta run, Dunkin' Donuts just opened here in Indianapolis and I want my free dollar. 

Todd McCall, PR Manager

ExactTarget’s marketing department is a very busy place to be these days.  Not only did we kick off the ExactTarget Route 1-to-1 Seminar Series in Atlanta on April 22nd, we also launched a brand new ExactTarget website! 

The ExactTarget website includes new functionality including the ability to research information about one-to-one technologies that are relevant to a particular industry, business challenge, or technology requirement.  The “by business challenge” section is my personal favorite.  We all have a list of “if I could only figure out how to use email marketing to do xyz” questions and this area of the website provides information and solutions pertinent to your challenge! 

With the development of the new website, we empowered our marketing department to manage content and calls to action with robust technology.  The deployment of Ektron as our content management system enables our team to proactively add new pages, new content and edit existing content without requiring the assistance of a technical resource.  Ryan Oldfather, our Internet Marketing Manager, is particularly excited about the Ektron implementation and also the deployment of Omniture Site Catalyst for our web analytics.  With Omniture, Ryan will have the data to make changes to the website based on user behavior and website traffic. 

There are many folks to thank within ExactTarget for their assistance with the new website including our Marketing Communications team, Marketing Operations team, our System Administrators and the Solutions Consulting team.  We would also like to thank Optiem for their assistance with the technical development of the website!

What are you waiting for – check out the new ExactTarget website!!

Erin Howe
Director, Marketing Programs

So I just had a rather troubling realization: I'm officially a blog hog. When I hopped onto our blog today to read Ashley's new post about triggered email, I scrolled down and saw about the last 17 posts in a row...were mine.

Well, friends, here's #18. Take that.

As our InSight readers know, this month we're focusing on triggered email. Though many people assume triggered email only applies to marketing (like eNewsletters or sales reminders), that's just the tip of the iceberg. Triggered email can encompass everything from eBills and account notifications to shipping confirmations and abandoned cart remarketing messages.

But how many of you marketers out there are using the same email system as your operations or account services teams?...*crickets*...

Well you're in luck -- we're hosting a webinar May 1st that'll help you (and anyone else using email at your organization) understand how triggered email fits into your overall business strategy. A combined effort from our own thought leaders and client Danskin, this webinar will give you a new outlook on triggered email.

So register for The New Breed of Triggered Email Marketing Webinar and see what all the fuss is about. And bring that developer from upstairs -- and your favorite customer support rep -- and maybe even your account services director too, just for good measure. Plus, I'm working on a cool new deliverable for attendees -- so you'll hurt my feelings if you don't come!

...*crickets*...

Yeah, I'm needy like that.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

A couple of conversations today prompted me to take a fresh look at the "mobile email problem", as I have come to think of it.  After reading our whitepaper "Email Marketing for the Third Screen" a client asked, "But I am still not sure exactly what to do!"  Yep, you are not alone.

There are a lot of ideas out there about how to solve the problem.  Some are better than others.  Some are simply poor and short-sided... but I digress.  Fact is, all of the proposed solutions are nothing more than workarounds to a complicated and baffling problem derived from the fact that no common coding standards exist.  Optimize for one scenario and you mess up performance for another.  There is no simple quick fix.

Now that I have rained on everyone's parade, the larger question really is "What is going to FIX the mobile email problem?"  This question was raised in a discussion this afternoon.  The following is an edited response I posted to that group.  Enjoy!

The right answer is for mobile devices to adopt standards for rendering email such that current coding standards work.  This is similar to the standardization efforts that helped unify the internet.  Remember when the internet was littered with images like this?  Thankfully they are gone now.



The initial thought was to muster the email troops and lobby for the adoption of standards that would better serve the consumer.  However, the market forces against getting manufacturers to standardize how they treat email are simply too strong at the moment.  Consider that iPhone recently leapfrogged the entire industry in their ability to render email and now RIM (Blackberry) has Apple pegged as enemy #1.  How well these devices support mobile email is a huge competitive advantage and when you are talking about selling cell phones, you are talking about big, big bucks.  In several attempts to engage with people who could influence the adoption of industry standards I was met with head shaking and laughing, as if to say, "How naive?"

Fortunately, Apple has done more for creating the necessary pressure than any lobby could ever hope to do.  Their move with the iPhone was a huge step toward "rendering email properly". The pressure they have applied to the market to handle email and the online experience well (no matter how much one may agree or disagree about "how well" thus far) is already accelerating changes in the market.  RIM knows they are in a fight as they enter the consumer smartphone market.  They will need to update their enterprise mail server capabilities and get with the times... or get their teeth kicked in.  All Apple needs to do is drop their price to $100 for a smartphone and RIM drops out of the consumer battle.  Since the consumer smartphone market is is where the big money is in the coming years, it is imperative for RIM to upgrade the way they handle email and the web.  I believe that B2B trends will follow quickly... or else RIM will go the way of Lotus Notes to be only used when IT has already invested too much to pull out.

My belief is that this problem will fix itself through market competition in the next 2-3 years, which is faster than a lobby would probably have an impact. We have not seen the long term solution yet, but it is coming--the competition is fierce, and that is a good thing for our cause.  After getting laughed at realizing the economic forces at work, we stopped trying to beat the "thy must standardize" drum.

For now, mobile email remains a big challenge.  Only a select few have figured out solutions that are even halfway decent.  Nothing stellar.  There is the trade-off between desktop appearance and mobile rendering.  Where mobile is highly likely (e.g., travel alerts) then go with simple single column, boring old email.  If simply trying to accommodate for a mobile audience where readership is more likely to happen on a desktop, then then trying to minimize the distortion of email on the mobile device by using tools like Pivotal Veracity eDesign Optimizer for mobile devices and then leverage a click to view solution (where the landing page determines the type of browser and then renders the page accordingly). Unfortunately, that is still the best I have come across. 

ExactTarget is committed to investigating other alternatives.  Moreover, this is a personal passion of mine and there are many others at ExactTarget passionate about finding better workarounds.  We are optimistic that a decent workaround is on the horizon, but not foolishly so--there will not be a perfect workaround until standards emerge.  If you have ideas that you would recommend or like to try, let us know, we would love to work with you.

Question: What are tips for designing a triggered welcome email?

Answer: Welcome emails are a great example of a triggered marketing message. When a subscriber signs up for your communications, sending them a welcome email shortly after signup can be very beneficial.

Welcome emails often have higher open rates than your typical campaigns (due to being highly anticipated by new subscribers) so it is important to take advantage of the increased “face time” you have with your audience.

As such, you want your welcome email to make a good first impression and effectively set expectations for the future communications a subscriber will receive. Here are a few tips to get you pointed in the right direction:

Include your brand name in your subject line.
Aside from the “from name,” the subject line is the second most important factor in getting your subscriber to open your email. Seeing your brand name will help them recognize that this as a communication they’ve asked to receive.

Be honest and upfront about mailing frequency.
If you’re going to send a weekly email, make sure new subscribers know this (and that they aren’t expecting to only hear from you once a month!).  Sending to your subscribers more than they expect may cause them to unsubscribe or mark your email as spam.

Re-emphasize the benefits of being a subscriber.
Communicate your value proposition with a short paragraph of text or a bulleted list. This should be the focus of your message placed in the upper left portion of your email to optimize for preview pane viewing.

Keep it short and simple.
Your welcome email should include concise and relevant copy. Don’t include elements that detract from the primary message and make your email unnecessarily long.

Use images wisely.
Since the majority of email clients block images by default, it is important to use HTML text for your welcome email copy. You want this information to be seen by as many people as possible, so only use images for your company logo and supplemental imagery.

Tell them what to look for in the future.
New subscribers should be reminded to add your email address to their address book or safe senders list. This will help to ensure inbox delivery for future communications and in many cases by-pass image blocking.

Tim Siukola
Senior Email Marketing Designer

With tax season at its annual April 15th climax, my attention has naturally been focused on one thought, and one thought only: I hope TurboTax got the math right, because frankly it would stink to be audited.  Never having been audited, I picture the process being about as enjoyable as an evening singing Alvin & The Chipmunks karaoke…with Celine Dion.

There is one type of audit, however, that I can whole-heartedly support—the email marketing audit.  I conducted my first email marketing audit on behalf of a client back in 2003, and honestly, neither the process nor the tremendous ROI upside has changed that much since then.  In a nutshell, to conduct an email marketing audit, you:

• Identify & map the different types emails that are being sent to customers, prospects, partners, and other constituents
• Interview internal staff and external partners who play any part in creating or delivering emails to your various audiences
• Document the systems—ecommerce, CRM, ESP, etc.—through which these messages are being sent
• Document the points of current integration between these systems, if any
• Document the email creation, broadcast, and reporting process
• Analyze the creative being used across all of the different message types
• Analyze any available performance data for the different message types
• Make prioritized recommendations on how to improve performance and streamline processes based on your findings

Does this email marketing audit process require a significant investment of time and effort?  Absolutely.  Is the ROI worth the investment?  Yes—but only if your organization is committed to turn the audit recommendations into reality. 

A thorough email marketing audit uncovers all sorts of “low-hanging fruit” opportunities for marketers.  The quick wins often range from improved design to verifiable delivery to the holy grail of one-to-one marketing—a consolidated view of all enterprise messaging at the individual subscriber level. 

Even more importantly, triggered emails that were once the shadowy purview of IT or e-commerce developers now appear clearly on the marketing team’s radar for review and optimization.  Examples of such triggered emails include:

• Welcome emails
• Automated replies (from customer service, HR, product, and other inquiries)
• Order confirmations
• Shipping alerts and confirmations
• Abandoned shopping cart notices
• Account alerts
• Registration confirmations
• Event reminders
• Membership confirmations
• Service notices (including those relating to service disruptions)
• Account expiration notices

If you know your organization is sending out any of these types of triggered emails—but your marketing department lack visibility into the creation, design & deployment—then it may be time to don your best blue suit and start auditing.  You’ll be surprised by how quickly you’re able to identify opportunities for improvement.

For more information on ExactTarget’s extensive email marketing audit services, please contact us.  For a more ideas on how to set up and conduct an email marketing audit on your own, check out Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Audit Kit.   

There, I said it.  And I’ll say it again: triggered email is only as good as your data.  I know, I know…now I have to back that claim up.

If you’re sending triggered emails in response to one-time events (for example, welcome emails, website confirmation downloads, etc.) then chances are your data is pretty good.  Someone does “something” (subscribes, purchases, downloads, etc.) and you trigger an email in response to whatever that something may be.   

These are often the most easy-to-implement triggered messages, which is why so many marketers have started to not only use, but optimize them.  Like many of you, we here at ExactTarget have made leaps and bounds in our triggered emails over the past year, including:

• Defining what the “somethings” that result in a trigger are
• Capture those “somethings” and feeding the data into our CRM database of records
• Triggering an email out of ExactTarget using our triggered email interactions
• Tracking the holistic performance of the triggered emails
• Making adjustments on the fly (without involving our web developer, which makes him very happy) for maximum performance.

Typing the list above makes it seem easy.  Get the data, then trigger an email.  We’d like for all our email messages to be sent using the process above.  But what about the following, more complicated, scenarios? 

• The “something” event is comprised of multiple data points
• The data lives in multiple systems
• Your data isn’t clean

Not so easy.  At least, not for us (and I’m guessing that means not for you, either).  Take, for example, a satisfaction survey we’d like to send 90 days before a customer is due to renew their contract with us, followed by a reminder email if they haven’t yet completed it, or a thank you email if they have.

In theory, this would be an easy series to trigger:  Send #1 = Renewal date – 90 days.  Send #2 = Triggered thank you upon completion OR reminder email 7 days after survey invite sent. But…

• We have multiple (sometimes hundreds) subscribers stored per account in our CRM system.  Not all contacts should receive the message.
• The data about what is due to renew / when it is due to renew is stored in a separate area of our CRM system, with no easy way to tie a subscriber to the renewal opportunity.
• Because we don’t delete data from our CRM system, the subscriber may no longer work at the company.  This information is often manually typed in to a data field (i.e. “Patricia NO LONGER THERE.”)  Look familiar?
• The extensive survey is hosted by a third-part vendor, which means there is no real-time visibility into whether someone has completed the survey within our own system.

The list goes on, but suffice it to say that there is a lot of manual data cleaning that goes into pulling a satisfaction survey list and sending the series.  So while this seems like an ideal campaign to trigger, it’s just not easy.  And I’m guessing that we’re not alone in this challenge.

While I don’t have a solution to the overall data issues that impede implementing more triggered / automated emails, I can tell you this – understanding what data is needed, where it lives, and what obstacles stand in the way of easily getting that is a huge first step in the right direction.  As the old saying goes, not knowing is half the battle.  So if you’re looking to automate or optimize your triggered email marketing and have found yourself in a similar situation, understanding your data is a good place to start.

Cheers,

Ashley Sales
Manager, Marketing Communications

Default productivity level: 4
Productivity level with Jack Johnson music: 17

Exaggerate? I do not.

Recently a correlation developed between my work efficiency and Jack Johnson. For some reason, I just get more done when Sleep Through the Static is jamming through my headphones. Can't explain it.

But the point is, my love for this beach-loving guitar-star drove me to the Jack Johnson website last night to investigate. "Join the Mailing List" links don't usually grab my attention...but as The Horizon Has Been Defeated drifted through my room, I couldn't help but click.

OK, fine. Maaayyybe I clicked because the only thing I'm more obsessed with than Jack Johnson is email marketing. Shhhh.

An email verification message automatically appeared in my inbox to make sure I really wanted to hear from Kokua Hawaii Foundation -- which helped me know my subscription had gone through. Well done, Jack.

Overall, a painless process that left me looking forward to hearing from the genius behind Banana Pancakes.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

ps -- The Jack Johnson Tour is coming to Indiana this summer!

pps -- Jack's record label, Brushfire Records, has gone green -- awesome idea, so definitely check this out.

Attention ExactTarget Customers!

Registration for Connections ‘08, ExactTarget’s annual email marketing user conference, is open!  If you are an ExactTarget customer you don’t want to miss this value-packed event that will appeal to those responsible for email marketing strategy and execution at all levels—from Vice-President to Email Marketing Specialist to Web Developer.

Save the date, September 23 – 25, 2008, and plan to join ExactTarget in Indianapolis, Indiana for the premier email marketing user conference, Connections '08. 

Register now to receive the Early Bird Discount!

Melinda Baxter, Director of Marketing Services

We talk about email design as the seamless merging of design and technology to deliver powerful business results.  A few of the Designers at ExactTarget sat down to answer some questions about the “day in the life” of an email marketing designer that loves the challenge to deliver business success through design.

What is the background of an Email Marketing Designer?

I have always been a “visual” person, graduating from I.U.’s Herron School of Art and Design with a degree in Visual Communications. I am a designer of brands, print ads, logos, and all types of marketing communications.  My inner geek loves to bring my design skills to pixel perfection.
- Justine
__________________________________________________________________________

I have been designing since I was a kid – illustrations, characters, computer graphics, and animation.  I studied Animation at Purdue’s school of Technology bringing my love of design to computerized mediums. Since then I have been addicted to moving innovative design into powerful interactive media.
- Tim
__________________________________________________________________________

I have designed since birth – never without a sketch pad, moving from crayons to oils to Adobe Creative Suite. I have a fine arts background that enables me to design convincingly and artfully to deliver business results.
- Lacey
____________________________________________________________________________

My background is in graphic design - print, web, motion graphics, video editing.  I have a good aptitude to learn new media and skills and love the challenge each new media offers. I have always been customer-facing in my career, so understand how to focus on the business opportunity the design needs to solve.
- Chris
____________________________________________________________________________

So, why did you choose to become a designer for email marketing?

I love to solve customer business challenges through visual communications.  Taking my love and appreciation of design to build an intelligent, highly motivating communication is a blend of my passions.
- Justine
____________________________________________________________________________

I am a problem-solver.  The opportunity to master the ever-changing email marketing landscape through a combination of design and html coding nuances is a great daily job for me.  I have the tenacity to keep trying until the email is the best it can be.
- Tim
_____________________________________________________________________________

Email is the most pervasive and impactful communication medium today.  For a designer the palette is rich with creative opportunity to explore and test its potential.  It is an entrepreneurial dream that continues to expand as the environment changes constantly.
- Chris
____________________________________________________________________________

As an artist, I thrive on exploring new ways to express ideas in design that create a response.  I have the opportunity to design for numerous small and large companies, across a wide range of industries to keep my talent fresh and evolving.
- Lacey
_____________________________________________________________________________

What skills do you think serve you best as an Email Marketing Designer?

Definitely design skills.  Working for top companies across the world, they expect great design interpretation of their brand.  It is really important that my designs are synergistic with their web site and offline communications to build trust in email.  Yet, email is its own unique medium with a very different design strategy to be successful.
- Lacey
___________________________________________________________________________

Agreed. Design skill is really the starting point.  Every medium has a unique environment to take into consideration, and email is certainly challenging due to the lack of standards around how the email will display from one email client to another (AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, Outlook, etc...).  Understanding how HTML renders – and taking this into consideration as you design - is a necessity.
- Justine
_____________________________________________________________________________

Hunger and persistence to find solutions to design and build emails in this standards-free environment is really important.  It isn’t an afterthought, but an integrated part of the design process.  Testing is an on-going process, for each and every email design.
- Tim
_____________________________________________________________________________

There is on-going need for retention of cumulative knowledge to stay best-in-class in this constantly changing environment.  Knowledge from testing results, changes in the industry, consumer trends and design trends need to be incorporated into all designs.  It’s about results, not just attractive designs.
- Chris

Writing whitepapers reminds me of being married.* You try hard to develop an important relationship -- but you don't always know the right thing to say.

Take our March ExactTarget InSight topic for example: Email Marketing Design. When we decided to write an email marketing design whitepaper outlining best practices, tips & tricks, and industry trends, we were about to be tongue-tied.

As we began researching for Email Marketing Design: The New Essentials, we abruptly arrived at a fork in the road. Were we writing for marketers? Or designers? Marketers certainly have a vested interest in message performance -- and design's a big factor. But should we really leave designers out in the cold? After all, they're on the front-lines of creativity and rendering.

To be honest, we were a little stumped. We just didn't know what to say.

And then it came to us. Compromise (oh Bill would be proud!) -- the answer to every marital dilemma. We would write for both audiences -- marketers and designers! If you've already downloaded the whitepaper, you'll notice the layout's a bit different. Readers are guided to color-coded content based on their interests.

Orange for marketers; green for designers.

So, whether you're wondering where to place your call-to-action to drive the most conversions -- or looking for information about designing for Lotus Notes, you've come to the right place.

Download Email Marketing Design: The New Essentials -- and remember, till death do you part.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

*Based on The Family Man and The Cosby Show. But, whatever.

Time. Wouldn’t it be great if we all had a little more? What would you do with an extra hour in the day? Would you…

A.) Spend it with your best friend?
B.) Take a walk in the woods?
C.) Get lost in the latest bestseller?
D.) Dine at your favorite restaurant?
E.) Read more email?

Call me crazy, but I’m guessing that option “E” wouldn’t be at the top of your list. It’s not at the top of mine, either.

So, email marketers and designers, what should you do to grab a little piece of my time? Engage me. Immediately.

Like the average email reader, I’m only going to give you a few seconds before I hit the “delete” key. (No offense.) But if you create an email that is instantly recognizable, renders correctly, and catches my eye, I just might spend a little time with you. (And trust me—I’m a marketer’s dream. My husband will attest.)

Take for instance, an email I received from “Life is Good” yesterday. It was clean, simple, and instantly recognizable. The subject line read, “Here comes the sun. See what Life is Good has in store for Spring.” On a damp, dreary Indianapolis day, I couldn’t get my finger on that “download pictures” button fast enough. And, oh! What a delight when I was greeted with a fresh palette of pastel colors and a graphic titled, “Here comes the sun.” Aaaahh. I clicked through to the website, bought a couple of shirts (I told you I was a marketer’s dream), and am anxiously awaiting the FedEx arrival.

So, what’s the moral of the story? The email I received was designed with rendering in mind. My images were automatically turned off, but when I read the subject line and the text, I knew exactly what was waiting in store for me behind those little black letters.

Rendering for different email clients is a tricky proposition. If it’s a concept you’re struggling with, be sure to check out our latest whitepaper on email design. It’s loaded with practical tips for both email marketers and designers. Then you, too, can entice me with your tempting text and your promises of what’s to come. Just like my friends at “Life is Good.”

Dear Friends, you had me at “Spring.”

Warmest Regards,
Katrina Willis
Copywriter

So maybe I lied in my last post. Denmark isn't big on Safaris. And, technically, I've never been there.

However, for the sake of expanding our minds, let's take a moment to appreciate the often-neglected land of Jelling Stones and Hamlet.
 
For instance, did you know:

1. Denmark won "happiest place in the world" the past two years
2. Hans Christian Andersen (a Dane) wrote The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, and The Ugly Duckling
3. Tourists flock to see two really big rocks called Jelling Stones
4. Denmark consists of over 440 islands
5. Demographically, there are 0.98 males per female (interpret as you will)

...
(she racks her brain for a tie-in to email marketing)
...

Well, guess what Microsoft Dynamics CRM™ fans? You can experience all the above-mentioned joys of Denmark at this year's Convergence 2008. That's right, friends, it's returning to Copenhagen! You have to wait a few months (show's in November) - that leaves plenty of time for you to check out ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM™. So get a demo. Watch The Little Mermaid. And get excited for Convergence 2008!

Farvel!

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

...um, hi.

I've officially returned from my blogging hiatus. I say that as if 5,000 of you previously hung on my every word, anxiously booting up your laptops over that morning cup of Brazil Ipanema Bourbon™ to read my blog.

Realistic assumption? Maybe not (though that'd be cool). Regardless, you have my apologies for the delay.

Luckily, I have some good excuses:

a) Wrote case studies and use cases galore
b) Went on a month-long safari in Denmark
c) Dove into college recruiting efforts
d) Helped launch our new email marketing design whitepaper

To win back your favor, I shall complete a 4-part series on the above. Starting now.

If you haven't checked out the ExactTarget Resources tab lately (or pinged your Account Representative for more info), you're missing out. The Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Case Study (Mr. Goodbar, anyone?) was released in the February edition of ExactTarget InSight Newsletter and is now available on the site. If you've struggling with multiple brands, profile centers, or cross-promotions, this story's for you.

Our new Use Case library is also expanding - but you need to request them from your Account Rep for now. These 2-page quick-reads illustrate specific business challenges and match them with the ExactTarget features and tools you can use to solve them.

- Kestler Financial Group
- Embry Riddle University
- Wild Birds Unlimited
- Indiana Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman
- Email Design for Lotus Notes

As you can tell, it's been pretty busy around here!

Tomorrow: Denmark.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

The marketing communications team at ExactTarget has twenty-seven emails scheduled for the month of March. 

No, that is not a typo.  And no…it doesn’t include every email our company sends to clients.  The number 27 represents the sends we know about in advance that my team is responsible for sending to our customers and prospects.

What does this have to do with email marketing design?  Nothing.  And that’s exactly the point.  With so many emails on the calendar, sometimes it’s hard to take a step back and focus on email design optimization.  Like many of you, our resources are tight.  Some days (and honestly, some week and months) our efforts are dedicated to getting our messages out the door while trying to juggle a multivariate testing plan, dynamic content, extensive segmentation, rendering tests, etc.  Phew.

So where does design optimization fit in?  The answer is that it fits wherever you make it.  The more you’re trying to juggle as an email marketer, the more you have to work to make design a priority…especially if you don’t have an eye for design yourself.  Trying to tackle design optimization can seem daunting – so my recommendation for busy marketers is to break it down into smaller pieces.  Remember that effective email design doesn’t magically happen with the snap of a finger (even our designers could attest to that!)  So start with a plan of where to take your email design, and then break it into digestible pieces you can integrate into your workload on a regular basis.

For example, one month you can ensure your call-to-action is in the upper left quadrant of your marketing messages.  The next, focus on redesigning your headers with your design team to ensure they accurately represent your brand and achieve optimal rendering for your subscriber base.  Then dedicate time to conducting tests for your images, colors, or copy to maximize your click-through rate. Focusing on one element at a time can be an easy way to ensure you’re making ongoing improvements – and that you’re giving design the attention it deserves as an integral part of your overall email marketing program.

If you’re looking for someplace to get started, our new email marketing design whitepaper provides excellent recommendations for both marketers and designers alike…no matter how many emails you have on your calendar.*

*Now here’s the kicker…we already have 28 scheduled for April.



Cheers,

Ashley Sales
Manager, Marketing Communications

If you're like me, you have as many email addresses as pairs of shoes.  Just keeping the inbox clean can be a daily challenge.  To help manage them I find myself constantly unsubscribing from email lists that at one time filled a need but now just serve as clutter. After all, I can always subscribe again . No worries, right?

So, what does letting your audience unsubscribe have to do with staying off an Internet Service Provider's (ISP) blacklist? Glad you asked! Just the other day I tried to unsubscribe from a large corporation's email list but, to my surprise and chagrin, there was no way to do so. But of course there was a nice "Subscribe" link prominently displayed in the header. So, now my choices are either A), continue receiving email I don't want or B), mark it as SPAM. Hmmm? What to do? What to do?

Just imagine if this were your email campaign and others wanted off your mailing list. Every recipient that marks your message as SPAM pushes you ever closer to dreaded blacklist. Ouch! Avoid this potential painful lesson and stay compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act by having a "visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism" present in every email. It doesn't have to be the most prominent part of your message but it does need to be accessible.

Besides, do you really want to keep members on your email lists against their will? You're now paying good money to send an email to someone who is most likely going to delete it unread. Do the right thing. Let them unsubscribe. For more info on how to stay CAN-SPAM compliant read our  free email marketing whitepaper Enterprise Email: Managing Risks and Liabilities.

Ryan Oldfather
Internet Marketing Manager

I was as thrilled as anyone when we decided to focus this month’s InSight on Building a Better List.  Why?  Because I want to build a better list just as much as the next guy (or gal, in my case).  After all, since we’re an email marketing company, it’s my job to set our email marketing bar high…and keep pushing it higher.  That of course includes the quality of our subscriber lists.

After an extensive re-engagement campaign in the fall of 2006, our lists “shrunk” in size.  And like most marketers, list fatigue is a common challenge for us as well.  Continually building a better, more engaged subscriber list is an important ongoing focus of our email marketing program.  So here’s the lesson I’ve learned about how to build a better list: if you want to grow your list, do it the right way.  Do it one step at a time.  Just do it.

Here’s an example: On Monday, January 28th we put a banner in our application to promote ExactTarget InSight.  This means that the first thing our customer saw when logged in to their accounts was, essentially, an opt-in button.  With thousands of users logging in every day, it seemed like a nice way to reach out specifically to our clients. 

We normally average around 200 InSight opt-ins a month.  However, we’ve already received over 200 new opt-ins in the fourteen days since the banner launched.  The best part is that these opt-ins are coming from our customers, which provides highly engaged and quality subscribers.  So while it may seem like a small thing to do, when you’re building a better subscriber list the small things add up.

Every day, week, or month that goes by is a missed opportunity to build a better list.  If you’re looking for recommendations on how to get started, check out our new case study featuring Hershey Entertainment & Resorts and learn how they achieved a 33% list growth in just ten months. It provides great tips you can use to get started.  Just do it.

According to two sources I trust implicitly—J.R.R. Tolkien and Drew Barrymore (okay, technically I trust her character in Donnie Darko)—the most beautiful combination of words in the English language is “cellar door.”  Now, you can debate this assertion all you want.  But to do so would be fruitless unless you’ve penned a tome as lengthy and beloved as “Lord of the Rings” or you won the hearts of millions in E.T. the Extraterrestrial.

So, rather than debate the most beautiful combination of words in the English language, I would like to propose the ugliest.  Here goes:

Email List

Hold on…let it sink in for a bit.  Do you feel the fingernails scraping down your mental chalkboard? If not, take a moment and consider what one of your subscribers hears when these words are spoken.  Do you think they feel special, unique or valuable?  Or is it more likely that they feel like a nameless, faceless number?

Language matters.  And when we focus on issues concerning the “email list” instead of the needs of our “email subscribers,” we do ourselves a great disservice.  We focus on us and our needs as opposed to our subscribers—our customers—and their needs. 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a marketer proclaim “we have to grow our list!”  When pressed, however, these marketers readily admit that list growth isn’t the real goal.  Their real goal is increasing the number of subscribers who respond to their email program by purchasing or responding or interacting in some measurable way.

If you share a similar objective, I’d like to suggest a simple, semantic exercise to help focus your efforts. For the next month, try substituting “subscribers” for “list” in your email marketing vocabulary.  Give up trying to “grow your list” in favor of trying to add subscribers and increase your knowledge of their unique needs. 

The exercise may be simple, but the perspective gained will help you avoid burn and churn tactics in favor of programs built to maximize subscriber value.

Subscriber-centric.  Now those are beautiful words.

Having multiple databases for subscriber information can be cumbersome when attempting to keep all your data up-to-date. Keeping lists clean and current is a common reason clients use the ExactTarget API.  Our API lets you update individual subscribers on a particular list, or you can update an entire list by using the API to kick off an import.

If it is a small set of subscribers that are being updated, the “single subscriber adds” or “subscriber edit calls” would suit you. This would allow you to update subscriber attribute values or even update subscriber’s status to unsubscribe. 

If you have a larger set of subscribers (as many of you do!) using a batch import would be the best option.  You can FTP the .csv or .txt file to the ExactTarget FTP location, and then use an API call to tell ExactTarget to import that file name into a particular list id.  You can also indicate the import type just as you can through the user interface: add and update new and existing subscribers, add only new subscribers, or update only existing subscribers.

Alternately, you can use the ExactTarget API to pull subscriber lists back in an XML format.  When pulling back a list of subscriber, the API lets you return all subscribers on that list, or to filter based on status.  For example, you can pull subscribers in an Unsubscribed, Undeliverable, Held, or Unsubscribed status, which is helpful if you have a different (or multiple) subscriber databases.  Pulling your subscriber lists out of our application means you can take advantage of ExactTarget’s powerful subscriber management tool and propagate that data across all databases for email marketing.  By automating these pushes and pulls to run daily (or weekly depending on email frequency) it will reduce the time needed to manually update your subscriber lists and help you stay Can-SPAM compliant.

No matter where your data is, the ExactTarget API can help you build, maintain and clean your subscriber lists.  And at the end of the day, that means you’re well on your way to building a better list.

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant