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Design Tip of the Week: Email Rendering in Gmail

Thursday, November 5, 2009 by Andrea Smith
Email Rendering in GmailThis week we’re focusing on email rendering in Gmail. Gmail, like other web-based email clients, is constantly evolving. These updates continually change the way HTML emails are rendered. Not only do email designers need to pay special attention to Gmail, they need to be aware that their Gmail subscribers may be seeing one of two different versions of Gmail. Depending which browser and version you are using, scroll to the bottom of your account and select the “older version” link to test that version of Gmail. To revert back to the newest version, select the “newer version” link in the top right section of the account.

Below are some great tips to consider when building your email campaign in order to create the best experience possible for Gmail subscribers.



Image Blocking - Alt Tags

Images are blocked by default in Gmail. Gmail does display stylized “alt” tags, so add those to your design when it makes sense to help create brand synergy.


CSS
In both versions of Gmail, CSS must be applied inline. External or embedded CSS in the head of the HTML will be stripped out.


CSS Borders
The newer version of Gmail has difficulty rendering CSS borders in IE8. Occasionally, 1-2 pixels of white space will be added to the left or right side of the content enclosed within the border. This issue affects some designs more than others, so if you have a particular element that depends on symmetry, test both old and new Gmail versions to ensure your design renders properly. If CSS borders are giving you trouble, you may want to consider using a background color combined with a spacer .gif to create the same look.
   
Background Images
Background images are supported in both versions of Gmail. However, the “background-image” CSS property is not supported, so the HTML “background” attribute must be used to assign a background image. Previously, there were issues using the CSS property “background-repeat”, but that property is also now currently supported.
 
Gmail Themes
Gmail introduced the concept of “themes” this year, which allow the user to select different combinations of background colors, text and link colors to personalize their inbox. Some combinations may render light text on a light background, or dark text on a dark background. The bottom line: you must specify background, text, and link colors in your HTML, or they may be changed in accordance with your subscriber’s Gmail Theme.

Testing
Always be sure to test in major web browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox, and remember that there are both newer and older versions of Gmail. Gmail is a great client to test first when finishing your campaign, as it exposes rendering problems and is unforgiving of any HTML syntax errors.


Personally, I love using Gmail — it has great features including shared docs, calendars, folder organization tools and other interactive capabilities, so let's make sure our subscribers continue to have a great experience in Gmail. Portions of this blog, Design Tip of the Week: Email Rendering in Gmail, and more information on email rendering can be found in our whitepaper "Email Marketing Design: The New Essentials”.

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ExactTarget "Embeddable" Defined

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Dennis Hall
Embeddable

ěm-běd'ə-bəl

–verb (used with object)

    1. Ability to incorporate or contain as an essential part or characteristic

    2. Capacity to leverage existing code and infrastructure to save costs and accelerate speed to market

    3. Marketing automation technology from ExactTarget

Commercial Software developers and IT professionals need power, control and flexibility when it comes to managing the lifeblood of the business – INFORMATION! ExactTarget delivers on all fronts with its agile and embeddable marketing automation technology and services.

Contact your marketing automation partners at ExactTarget today to see how our technology can augment your technology stack and go to market strategy.
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What is ExactTarget Embedded?

Thursday, October 29, 2009 by Eric Hensley
As one of the newest members of the ExactTarget Partner organization, I am tasked with managing and growing relationships with ExactTarget’s Embedded Partners.  On its surface, that sounds pretty straightforward.  However, for the past several months, I have been trying to better define around what an “Embedded” partner truly is.  There are multiple ways to define the topic, depending on who you ask.   And, in my experience, most of the answers I have heard are right in some way or another.

However, the official definition is that ExactTarget Embedded Partners are typically ISVs that go to market with messaging as a part of their platform. As an Embedded Partner, your software product's user interface contains features and functionality that enable your customers to manage the process of creating and executing email campaigns (as well as SMS and Voice).  This is about the most comprehensive and accurate description I can come up with myself.  But, with the growth in popularity of “Cloud Computing”, I believe it is and will be much more than that.

Cloud computing has garnered a lot of media attention in the past year or so as the next big technological breakthrough.  But, in my opinion, the concept isn’t really all that new.  Companies have always looked for ways to combine technology services in a more commoditized way to drive efficiency and cost savings.  Amazon.com has been doing cloud computing within the company for a long time.  Essentially, that is the exact same goal for cloud computing.  I think the biggest difference with cloud computing is that the concept is getting turned outward to the Internet, hence the “cloud” tagline. As more companies sign on to utilize these services, the less they will be inclined to build internal infrastructure to support corporate applications. 

Think of the advantages:

    *No capex/low capex to get started

    *Highly scalable with on-demand allocation of resources

    *Reliability of multi-location architectures

So how does messaging fit into the cloud?  I see integrated messaging becoming its own service or platform in the cloud.  Just like clients are looking to Salesforce.com to quickly and efficiently deploy CRM as a service, why not for marketing and other communications?  It even makes more sense when you look at what the future of ISVs might be.  More and more we are seeing a drive towards SaaS applications.  Do you think it makes sense for a CRM or Print-on-Demand application provider to build their own messaging infrastructure?  Probably not for several reasons, the most obvious being, it’s not their core competency.  They will continue to be focused on what pays the bills.  But, will they be eager to provide a marketing communication platform to their customers….absolutely.  These companies will turn to partners that are similar to them…on-demand/SaaS/Cloud Computing…whatever the tagline of the week is.  Why, because it provides the same advantages to them as to their clients, mainly low/no capex, highly scalable, and reliable service.  This is where ExactTarget Embedded becomes the Messaging as a Service platform for the cloud.

Obviously the push towards SaaS and Cloud Computing is real.   As the industry continues to evolve, so will ExactTarget Embedded and our partners.  Our robust and flexible integration capabilities will allow ExactTarget to become the industry leader in Messaging as a Service.
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E-Mail Plus is the Key to Success

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by Kevin Nuest
Our very own Joel Book recently wrote an article that was featured in Online Strategies Magazine. The article, E-Mail Plus, addresses how to integrate your email efforts with other vital marketing campaigns, platforms, and tools to drive extraordinary results.

In the article, Joel talks about how companies like Johnston & Murphy, Pet Place, and the Cable Shopping Network leverage Email + Analytics. Also discussed is how companies like Carmax, Powell's Books, and Dreamfields Pasta successfully integrate a Email + Social Media strategy into their marketing efforts.

To see more amazing examples, you can check out Joel's posts about Motorcycle SuperStore, Mike's Carwash, and Gordman's.
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Live Blog: Financial Services Solution Showcase

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Amanda Cross
We've got quite a change of pace in the ol' developer track conference room. Chris Murray of ExactTarget is the emcee for the Financial Services Solution Showcase.

He starts by introducing the first segment:

Beyond Deliverability: Consumer Choice & Control
Authentication, Privacy, and Policy
by Craig Spiezle
https://otalliance.org

The Online Trust Alliance is concerned with security in online activity, especially financial services. Spoofed email, phishing, and online exploits are a major challenge for financial organizations that operate online.

Craig said that government regulations are likely to come about in the next few weeks as a result of the identity theft incidents that we've heard of recently. Craig said that the United States is actually behind other parts of the world in consumer production.

Craig discussed extended validation certificates. In order to get one of these certificates, the business must prove that it's registered with a local tax authority. While this can't verify that the business has good business practices, but it does require that the business be a real business. When a business has this certificate, it turns the address bar in your browser green when you visit their site. If the address bar isn't green, you know that it's a spoofed site.

He continued to talk about the business value of authentication. Not only does this help protect your business from being spoofed, but also improves your deliverability.

Of the top 100 financial institutions in North America, only 43% have protections in place for consumers.

Craig talked about the problem with unsubscribe: an unsubscribe link in the footer of the email is required by CAN-SPAM, but consumers are warned not to click links in emails they don't want for fear that they'll alert spammers that they're a real person. An unsubscribe header allow ISPs to render an unsubscribe link in their client so that people can unsubscribe without clicking the "report as spam" link and degrading your reputation. About this time, someone from ExactTarget piped up to mention that ExactTarget email already does this automatically.

Addressing Email Security Concerns
Matt Burton - GMAC/Ally Bank

Matt talked about Ally bank and the fact that its customers were receiving more spoof emails that were pretending to be from Ally as they were receiving from the real bank.

Ally Bank, like many places, would love for there to be a "silver bullet" that would solve the problem, but in fact the best way to protect consumers is with a combination of proactive monitoring, excellent deliverability of your legit content, and customer education.

Governance, while unpopular, is critical. If your company has multiple business units, ALL of them have to have successful security.

Some financial institutions do not include links in their emails, instead telling consumers to go to the website. This is problematic because it requires more copy and results in fewer site hits. Also, this doesn't prevent phishing emails from including links in their emails.

Security tools, such as ISP Phish Blocking and Certified Mail, are available to help prevent risk and increase confidence in your message respectively.

Education of consumers can be tricky. Sending emails that tells customers how to tell whether your email is real might make it look like you're a spoofer trying to set them up to trust fraudulent email in the future. Better to just remain consistent in your sending so that consumers become accustomed to your style and learn to identify spoofs on their own.

To wrap up, Matt recommended proactive risk diminuation rather than waiting for a problem happens and only responding then.

Technology Solution
e-statements at Nationwide
Brian Jaffe - Nationwide Insurance

Nationwide was facing a "statement challenge"--sending statements to customers on email. The address this issue, they created an elegant solution.
  • Governance - As part of this process, they codified their program for sending emails.
  • Preference management - allow customers to specify their preferences. Brian recommends double opt in.
  • Billing format - recreate view of paper statement
  • Send mode - bulk or single send. You probably batch up your bills, but some might do individual sends.
  • Data preparation - attributes or data extensions? what is the unique subscriber key? You need to understand your extremes (what happens if you have an extremely large amount of data?) and your data-display issues.
  • Deliverability - decisions about IP and Domain. Learn from your deliverability team!
  • Feedback - decisions about bounce management, reply management. If people unsubscribe and then try to sign up, you could have technical problems sending emails. Make sure you understand how your unsubscribes are managed. And be ready to monitor replies, even if you tell people not to reply to a message.
  • Inserting marketing messages into transactional emails - CAN-SPAM does allow you include marketing messages into your transactional emails under certain circumstances.
Paperless statements can create issues. For example, what if customers call in saying that they never received their statement. Customer service needs to be able to access tracking to see whether the subscriber ever opened the email and have other strategies to deal with these complaints. Customer service needs to be able to resend statements.

Nationwide includes quite a bit of personal information in their emails so that subscribers know that the email must be legit, since a phishing scam wouldn't have access to so much personal information. Watch out for links to log-in pages, since phishing emails like to send very similar emails that direct to their own "login page."

Having a protocol to deal with bounces is wise. In their case, if a subscriber soft-bounces, they put the subscriber back into the paper stream for one cycle and try paperless again for the next cycle. If they run into a hard-bounce, they put the subscriber back into the paper stream indefinitely until the subscriber re-enrolls themselves in the paperless process.

Nationwide's solution is based on the ExactTarget SOAP API. Their OMS (outbound messaging service) is a middleware layer of abstraction that actually sits behind their firewall. Between the OMS and ExactTarget much communication occurs to get the statements out to subscribers.

The content of the eStatement itself uses AMPscript to build the bill by parsing concatenated attributes and dynamically displaying content in appropriate data tables.

Michael Murdza (ExactTarget) took us through the technical aspect of the eStatement data flow. A sophisticated decision tree weave through the Nationwide database and ExactTarget application, using XML, AMPscript, and API calls.

And then the presentation wrapped up, and everyone started getting ready for the evening entertainment. I've really enjoyed live blogging the technology track for everyone today, and I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing it. See you between the lines :)
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Live Blog: Best Practices for Utilizing ExactTarget's SOAP APIs

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Amanda Cross
We've got a rather thin crowd for the Best Practices for Utilizing ExactTarget's SOAP APIs session. Apparently everyone is already implementing the API in the best possible way...or think they are :)

Manager of the Product Specialist department Dale McCrory returns to the stage for this presentation and starts the session by asking people what topics they would like to see covered today. The first question was on documentation.

YAY! I love when people care about the documentation!

Web Service API Documentation
Dale brings up http://wiki.memberlandingpages.com to demonstrate all of the wonderful web service API documentation that's available there. He takes the group through a technical article on asynchronous processing, the CREATE method, an object, and a property. Bryan Wade, the embedded expert at ExactTarget and emcee of the session, asks how many people in the room have been to the wiki before, and about half of the room had already visited. I think the rest will visit before too long.

Content Management
The second question is about content management and best practices for it. Dale pulls up the AMPscript page in the documentation wiki to find the HTTPGet() function. This function performs a get call against a URL and brings back the content. This tool can be used to interact with an outside system in include the content in the emails.

AMPscript also support XSLT now, so you can interact with ExactTarget with you XML content. The BuildRowSetFromXML() function extends this capability.

Slide Presentation
With the two questions addressed, Bryan prods Dale to get  back to the slideshow. The slides cover:
  • Security
  • Reliability
  • Robustness
  • Flexibility
  • Messaging content
  • Stats retrieval - tracking events

Security
Standards-based SOAP security to support authentication

All calls transmit over an SSL connection. The API supports two forms of security:
  1. Plain text username token. This is what everyone's using right now.
  2. X509 certificate encryption for the username token will be available in the 135 release.
.NET, Java, and PHP work the best with our security. Perl is OK. Ruby, ColdFusion, and ASP have troubles dealing with it because they don't deal well with the standards-based security.

Reliability
In this section, we're talking about synchronous versus asynchronous API processing again. Asynchronous processing adds all calls to a queue to be processed when the system is ready, which prevents API calls from being lost if the server is unavailable for any reason.

Other benefits include:
  • The fact that you get a sub-second response to the fact that the call has been received.
  • You have multiple options to receive results: HTTP post, Email, and the RETRIEVE API call.
  • The ConversationID concept that's used with asynch API processing allows you to resend the same call without worrying that it will actually be processed twice if the system had already queued the request.
Question from the floor: sounds like we need to improve our XML API documentation. That product hasn't been enhanced for quite a while, so the doc has gotten a little stale. There's an item for my to-do list.

Robustness
Dale quotes Wikipedia: "Robustness is the quality of being able to withstand stresses, pressures, or changes in procedure or circumstance."

Triggered sends represent the quickest way to get an email sent from the ExactTarget system. Key points help decide whether to use user-initiated (list-based) sends or triggered sends:
  • How do you want to aggregate tracking?
    List based sends aggregate tracking by job. Triggered sends aggregate tracking over a time period when the triggered send was running.
  • How will email content be made available to the ExactTarget system?
  • How are unsubscribes managed?
    List based sends record unsubs at the list level, or at the All Subscribers level. If a person unsubscribes from a triggered send, they can be unsubscribed from all triggered sends.
  • How large are your lists?
    If you have 1.5 million subscribers, you should start with list based. If you are sending individual messages in response to customer activity, triggered sends are the way to go.
You can keep your subscriber information in lists or data extensions. To help you decide:
  • Are attribute sets going to be the same for all sends? 
    If so, you can use lists because you set up attributes for all lists together. If you need different attribute sets for different subsets of clients, then you want data extensions.
  • Is import performance critical?
    If you have 1.5 million subscribers to import, you can import them into a data extension in 10 minutes versus 1-2 hours for a list (this is an approximation...the number of attributes has a big effect on performance as well).
  • How will unsubscribes be managed?
    Each list maintains its own unsubscribes. Data extensions maintain unsubscribes in publication lists.
  • Bonus point not in the slide: if you are a partner building an application, you probably want to build on lists if possible, because they cost less.

Flexibility
This topic starts with a discussion of data extensions. Data extension are
  • The only way to use the API to do "rich" queries of data
  • The way you can add relational models of data en masse or row-by-row
  • Very fast
  • Tables in our database schema that are specific to your account
The DataExtension WS API object
  • Allows the use of upsert
  • Ties to the DataExtension by CustomerKey (called "external key" in the GUI)
  • Allows specification of Keys and Nulls
  • There's also a DataExtensionObject that you can retrieve to bring back a row in the data extension.
Messaging Content
Email, images, and files, oh my!

Text-only email will be supported with 135, in addition to the HTML and HTML/Text multi-part formats.

The Portfolio object allows you to host files in ExactTarget. Images and files that you import into our system are hosted by Akamai, so when people hit these files, they are highly available and don't use your company's bandwidth.

Using AMPscript, you can attach files to your email, but you should use this feature with caution. There's a page for the documentation that's going to be published very soon that talks about best practices for attachments so that you can protect your deliverability while using this feature.

Stats Retrieval and Tracking Events
We ran out of time for the stats retrieval, so we went straight to question and answer, which went by too fast for me to keep up, especially while I"m still on this documentation cloud. :)
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Brought to you LIVE: ExactTarget’s API Vision and Roadmap - Past, Present, and Future

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Caitilin Landrigan

10:58 am  So excited! The ExactTarget API enables the extension of our software and some incredible functionality.  Scott McCorkle is going to be speaking, along with Michael Ciancio-Bunch. They have some incredible insight. I am not technical, so I’ll do my best to convey the information presented here.

11:01 am Bryan Wade is introducing Michael Cianco-Bunch and Scott McCorkle.  McCorkle is speaking about our dedication to integration, improving our user experience, and how the API is key with CARBON-check it out online!

11:03 am Michael is on. We are a young company, but our API has a history. XML API (2002) was created originally only for content management. A bulk Asynchronous API was introduced in 2004.  Our SOAP API was launched in 2007—this is the foundation for our web services …

11:05 am … and actually, the Asynchronous Web Service API became available in 2008.  It seems that not many people are using it right now. Its advantages include quicker calls, better status reporting, and correlating conversation IDs. Start using!

11:07 am First thing we did in 2009 was support compression…coming your way in a release! We’re also beta testing API streaming, which helps with large packets.

11: 09 am Bryan Wade is highlighting current functionality. 

11: 10 am Michael is focusing in on streaming sends: we can send as we receive via the API, with triggered sends for example, instead of waiting until a certain number are received before sending.

11:11 am Did you know API calls are up 1.5x from last year? “This amount of use is a testament to the fact that the API is now better. More people are able to use it.”-Michael.

11:13 am What does the future of the API look like? The API is a platform to help customers and partners to integrate.  Michael is saying that there are a number of tools that allow us to integrate, extend, and embed ExactTarget.  These tools support functions not possible with just the API.  Here are a few of the tools: Programs, landing pages, AMPscript … the list goes on.

11:15 am There was a huge “Hoorah!” from someone when Michael announced the introduction of a REST API.  File based API and Authenticated Asynchronous API Results Callbacks are on the horizon as well.

11:17 am A user is asking about tracking a file that is sent with new API functionality … You could give the file a conversation or correlation ID so you don’t have to worry about re-using file names.

11:18 am Why is the Authenticated Asynchronous API Results Callback so great? You don’t have to fish for errors with queries! BIG question…what is the timeline for delivering these advancements? … Next year! Be on the lookout!

11:19 am We’re changing topics to landing pages and their use for creating Profile Centers, subscriber capture, and promotion pages. The beauty of landing pages is that they extend the user interface and can be integrated with ET.

11:23 am More on landing pages! You can embed them within your application. Sign-up forms are an example.

11:25 am ExactTarget’s API roadmap … One set of items is pre-built templates “encapsulating some application function (e.g. Send Wizard, Data Extensions, etc).” … There is so much more information to convey here …. Trying to get it all down!

11:26 am Java will be supported on landing pages.  This is great news!

11:27 am “AMPscript is the future!” says Michael … just kidding … Java is going to eventually replace it. ExactTarget also wants to introduce JavaScript activities like data transformation and user defined functions. There is a lot on this roadmap! It is clear that ET is truly focusing on product development.

11:30 am Looking now at Data Integration … We want users to be able to import from external systems and export to them as well.  Data cleansing is also on the horizon, in addition to a number of other functionalities to help users integrate data. We have our sight on breaking down barriers that keep us from being an open platform.

11:34 am Again, we have a lot of information here! I strongly recommend reaching out to some of our developers while you are here.

UI Extensibility: even more features are coming. As a user, you will have the ability to define a custom home page, add buttons, add tabs to our toolbars, and add custom fields to forms.  McCorkle talked about building a user experience in our user interface. What a concept! It will allow a great degree of customization in each user’s account.

11:38  am The Program feature is going to be further developed as well. Whoa - EXCITING: templates will also be available for programs.  For example, there will be a template for a birthday program in the user interface.   This functionality will be extremely helpful for marketers and programmers with limited resources. 

11:41 am Question time! Yes folks, the API is almost too good to be true … and yet it is!

11:43 am Now we’re talking about Enterprise 2.0. With the API you can do things in the application “on behalf” of users without exceeding their permissions.  You will also be able to access objects in multiple business units via the API in 2.0. 

11:49 am And in closing…share your ideas! Let ExactTarget know how, as a developer, we can improve 3sixty for your use. Quite a few people in the crowd here use 3sixty and some of those are members of the Developer Community.  This community needs to be more active. We have deliver 100+ ideas on 3sixty so far…let your voice be heard!

Coming to you live from Connections ’09!  Enjoy the rest of the conference!

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Live Blog: ExactTarget's API Vision and Roadmap - Past, Present, and Future

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Amanda Cross
As we wait to hear about the future of the ExactTarget API, 3 Par handed out a card inviting everyone to come by their booth in the vendor hall to register to win a Nintendo Wii. Too bad ExactTarget employees aren't eligible to win. :)

I can see the presenters setting up at the front of the room, and they aren't messing around with the expertise that they're bringing to the table. Our chief architect, Michael Ciancio-Bunch (known to his friends as MCB) and our CTO, Scott McCorkle are on the stage.

ExactTarget API: Past, Present, and Future
Scott begins the discussion by talking about how the Carbon initiative will lead the application to consume our own web service API. This "eating our own dog food" will ensure that the API has the entire breadth of functionality of the application.

MCB launched into the history of the API:
  • 2002 - XML API was introduced
  • 2004 - Bulk asynch API was introduced
  • 2007 - Object Oriented Web Service API
  • 2008 - Asynchronous web service API
Michael asked how many people were using the asynch WS API, but no one was, which inspired him to go into the benefits of the asynchronous model. It takes advantage of our multiple data centers to make sure that API calls are processed, allows you to indicate the order of API calls, and prevents accidental re-processing of the same calls.

Then Michael began talking about the features delivered or planned for 2009.

DISCLAIMER: all forward looking statements are subject to change. As MCB said, "we might have another John and Kate mess" and the distraction would push out development timelines.

Back to the list:
  • Support for compression (currently limited availability)
  • Streaming (in the works) - begins processing the "conversation" (collection of calls) before all of the content is received.
  • X.509 user authentication (in the works)
  • API exposed via AMPscript (already delivered)
  • Enterprise 2.0 user model - create roles, permissions, business units,  etc. (scheduled for November release)
  • Retrieve improvements
  • Round out - things like template support and more capability to manipulate content areas
Currently, ExactTarget is processing 58 calls per second (150,000,000 API calls per month), including 28 triggered sends per second. The capacity and processing power of the ExactTarget infrastructure is truly difficult to conceive. It's like trying to understand how big the moon is or something.

Michael introduced the ExactTarget Platform Integration Framework - a set of tools (much improved over what we've provided in the past) to allow developers to use the web service API to create powerful apps. Here are the tools:
  • API
  • Landing Pages
  • AMPscript
  • Data integration tools  (Import, extracts, and more to come)
  • Extensible UI
  • Programs
  • Enterprise
  • Packaging and provisioning
  • Community to support you
API
On the roadmap is:
  • A proper REST API (to be delivered sometime in 2010)
  • A file-based API, where you FTP a file that contains instructions and the ExactTarget begins processing those instructions as soon as we receive it (probably to be delivered in the spring)
  • Authenticated asynch API results callback - the ability for us to call back to you if something goes wrong in a call. Currently, you have to query for status, or have a rudimentary notification. This will be much more sophisticated and slick. (to be delivered sometime in 2010)
Landing Pages
You can use this feature to create customer-facing web pages, but you can also use it to create pages that you see within the ExactTarget application. For example, you could create your own custom wizards or customized data presentation pages. You can build them as landing pages and integrate them into our application for your ExactTarget users to see when they're logged in to the application.

Not only that, but you can embed landing pages within your own application. Landing pages can support AJAX, so you can gather information within your own app and feed it in to ExactTarget.

On the landing page roadmap:
  • Smart Page templates for common use cases, CSS, and the ability to tap into server and client side events for added customization
  • JavaScript as a server side language
  • Highly available landing pages
AMPscript
Michael made a bold statement that JavaScript will kill off AMPscript in the future (though he did suggest that we'd always support it). After that, the discussion became more about the future plans for JavaScript, such as an activity, (those things you can put in programs) for JavaScript.

I understand, but I'll be sad to see AMPscript go by the wayside. It's a really powerful scripting language.

Data Integration Tools
Roadmap items include:
  • Direct import from and extract to external systems, such as CRM, analytics, POS, etc.
  • File transformations
  • Sophisticated mapping functionality
  • Data cleansing services
  • Interfaces defined for custom integrations
  • Richer metadata around data extensions
UI Extensibility
These are some of the roadmap items:
  • The ability to define a custom home page. I think that this is already available to Enterprise 2.0 edition products.
  • Buttons can be added to toolbars and tabs can be added to the navigation bar. I've seen this demoed myself, and it's pretty cool. Really allows you to customize the experience.
  • Custom fields can be added to forms
  • Experience Builder - this is a really cool one, too. We saw some wireframes for this earlier in the conference, and it's going to be really awesome.
Programs
MCB says we're rewriting the program engine, and the new incarnation will support delays, notifications, and other stuff that's been requested. A programs dashboard and templates, along with better error reporting and error recovery, will make working with programs easier.

The "file drop" functionality that I mentioned earlier is a kind of ad hoc program, plus activities will be created to invoke web services and HTTP based APIs, so the lines between API and programs are getting blurrier, creating a lot more power and flexibility.

Enterprise 2
  • Granular permission model
  • Run as functionality for the API - this lets you use the permission level of a user with your API calls, so that tools you build with the API will only show users what's appropriate for them.
  • Ability to define custom permissions
  • Access to objects in multiple business units via the API - For example, you could query the records in a data extension in one business unit and write them to a data extension in a different business unit.

Packaging and Provisioning
We'll be allowing you to bundle up all your custom landing pages, data extensions, folder, UI customizations, program templates, and other elements to drop them into another account. This will allow you to do cool things like pre-configure new business unit accounts. Eventually, this idea will support an app-store-type tool where people could browse your package and purchase it and install it.

Community
MCB acknowledged that developers have not been happy with how 3sixty has replaced the old Developer Community. He talked about our dedication to improve the experience. We have developers within ExactTarget to answer questions and post content. He asked that everyone submit their requests for what they'd like to see, because we do want to make it better.

Q&A
Again, documentation is getting the shout out in the question and answer. I guess people actually like to know the technical details. w00t!

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Live Blog: Advanced Dynamic Messaging and Smart Capture

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Amanda Cross
The Developer Track is packed this morning to see Advanced Dynamic Messaging and Smart Capture. The room looks like it seats about 100, and all the seats are full with several standing or sitting (like me--tough to type while standing!) around the perimeter of the room.

Centric Consulting
The presentation begin with Centric Consulting talking  about its extensive experience using the advanced ExactTarget tools.  As I type this, Dave Lemons from Centric Consulting is introducing the basic terms: microsites, data extensions, AMPscript...stuff like that. Bryan Wade, ExactTarget embedded expert and emcee of the event, has been interjecting as well, probably trying to help bring the sophisticated technical content to the attendees, who are certainly of various levels of technical experience, especially with the ExactTarget tools.

Centric has built a landing page that displays the results of a query activity on a data extension. Centric is a third-party developer, and the functionality that they're displaying here is not just an example of what other people can also do, but could eventually become the kind of app that we've been talking about all conference long that could be made available to ExactTarget customers everywhere.


Best Buy
Eric Brousseasu, Best Buy
Jim Murphey, technology solutions manager

The second part of the session is a case study of some of the cool things that Best Buy has implemented.

Eric and Jim started the presentation basic with their dynamic content that they're using in their emails. The dynamic content is based on attributes in a data extension, so it sounds like they're basing dynamic content on more than just subscriber attributes. They're also including AMPscript in the emails for simple things like proper capitalization as well as for building rowsets to include the message. You can do things like include a purchase history using this functionality. I think that in this case they're sending emails to alert customers when a product comes back in stock.

As they moved in to the advanced dynamic content discussion, they talk about using Content Syndication ("screen scrape," as it's called in the vernacular) to grab content from their website to include in the email. It sounds like they're transforming the XML from the site using AMPscript before including it in the body of the message. By combining the subscriber's wish list content (from the website) with the emails, they're creating truly personalized, truly 1-to-1 communication. This is a really cool implementation.

They were running out of time for the last part of their talk, so we rushed through the delayed surveys (the "how was the shopping experience" email  that came out a few days after the purchase, the ability of customers to cancel their own orders through the website, and the ability to see which SKUs were selling best--all using the ExactTarget application.

A very cool presentation with some very cool functionality. Also very cool: now the people are filing out and I get can a seat. Maybe my foot won't be asleep for the whole day after all!

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1-to-1 Marketing and Beyond: Success Stories

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by Amanda Cross
When you hear The World Society for the Protection of Animals you probably don't think of a standard B2C with a targeted marketing message. Even so, this group has achieved a 50% increase in online donations with the power of 1-to-1 marketing tools, specifically dynamic content through ExactTarget.

Meanwhile, Motorcycle Superstore realized double-digit increases in open rates as a result of integrating online browsing and purchase data into their email marketing decisions. In this case, the ExactTarget tool driving the relevant message to the customer was the integration with Webtrends.

In another case, the online photo book publisher, Inkubook, announces that email marketing through ExactTarget drove more than 60% of its first year revenue. While PetPlace.com went from zero to $1 million in online sales in less than 12 months with the help of ExactTarget email campaigns.

It doesn't matter whether you're selling sidecars or gathering signatures on a petition, people are more likely to hear your message when you're saying something that's important to them. Using the tools that help you send a more customized messages not only create more fertile ground for conversions, but also create more fertile ground for building a lasting relationship.
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Indy Integrated

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 by Scott Dorsey

It’s never been clearer that the technology industry is thriving in the Hoosier state!  Last week I had the opportunity to participate in Indianapolis’ annual Tech Point Innovation Summit and was elated to see the great high-tech Indiana companies all coming together to learn, grow and thrive as a collective team. 

 

ExactTarget is proud to call Indiana home and partner with our fellow Indiana tech companies like Vontoo, Cantaloupe and Compendium to extend our world-class communications technology to their platforms via the ExactTarget Extensions Network.  The great news is our list of Hoosier integrated partners continues to grow.  Indianapolis-based FormSpring is now Extensions Network certified, making their easy-to-use web collection tools available to all ExactTarget users.  The integration of FormSpring provides our clients a great way to add new subscribers and attributes directly to their ExactTarget account.

 

It’s great to be a part of the Indiana high-tech team and to partner to deliver technologies that are truly making a difference to clients around the globe.

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The Power of the ExactTarget Platform

Thursday, October 1, 2009 by Amanda Cross
ExactTarget Integrated PartnersIntegrations with partner products is one of the things that makes ExactTarget so dynamic and powerful. Centralizing your electronic marketing software to work with your CRM, CMS, analytics, or other packages lets you accomplish more with less time, energy, and money.

Here's just a few of the new integrations available:

SeeWhy
SeeWhy, creator of the Abandonment Tracker Pro web analytics service, is now offering an integration with ExactTarget. This integration intends to optimize real-time email follow-up campaigns that can convert up to 50% of website abandoners to customers.

XMPie
XMPie, who offers "One-to-One-in-One" is now incorporating ExactTarget email service into its PersonalEffect Cross-Media and e-Media products.

Printable Technologies
Printable Technologies Inc., provider of web-to-print and marketing personalization solutions, has integrated ExactTarget email capabilities into their product MarcomCentral.

You can see many more available integrations on the Integrated Partners page on our website. Categories of integration include, but are not limited to:
  • Content Management System Partners
  • CRM Partners
  • Deliverability Partners
  • Survey Partners
  • Web Analytics Partners
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Email Marketing: Can you afford to let price be your bottom line?

Monday, September 28, 2009 by Caitilin Landrigan

In these rough economic times, it’s crucial for companies to deliver a high ROI on marketing, points out eMarketer's "Online Helps Marketer's do More with Less."  eMarketer notes that senior management is paying closer attention to “each dollar spent” on marketing and heightening accountability standards. Moreover, 43% of surveyed senior management stated that they view marketing as an investment. 

We all know that email can deliver a high ROI compared with traditional media marketing.  However, some ESPs are just plain cheap.  When selecting your ESP, you should expect more than a bundle of emails at the lowest CPM to blast.  Partnering with an ESP is an investment, and conversations with your provider should be about the value and customer experience you expect, in addition to the technology. You want the most bang for every buck you spend, not simply the most emails.  You want your ESP to provide you with the best email marketing resources, to be your partner in business.  Why? Because there is a lot more to digital marketing than getting your message out the door.  Your message needs to be relevant.  Emails need to make it to the inbox, to engage subscribers, to be shared virally, to drive ROI.

Attitude of Senior Management Toward Marketing According to US Marketers

As an ExactTarget customer, you have more at your fingertips than the emails you send from your account. ExactTarget considers itself your partner and ally.  We care about your business and want your 1 to 1 marketing strategy to succeed.  We will work with you to make you look like a hero to your clients.  Knowledgeable and responsive Customer Support Services are available 24-7 for questions and concerns. ExactTarget Services professionals are available to guide you through complex integrations and consult with you on deliverability and best practices. On 3sixty, our online community, you will find resources and tutorials that provide you with a means to communicate your ideas to other marketers and to our developers so that they can create the tools you need to succeed.  

Even more importantly, ExactTarget values your partnership so much so that we assign you a personal point of contact.  How many ESPs provide a personal contact ...regardless of the size of your account…for free?!  Your voice matters, and your relationship manager is your representative to the company.  The RM team is just as excited about your marketing plans as you, and they are eager to help you reach your business goals.  Call them to introduce yourself! Speak strategy with them as you are considering what ExactTarget  technology you will use.  Share your successes with them; they would love to show-off your marketing savvy in a press release or place you in the spotlight at our annual Connections conference.  I encourage you to take full advantage of ExactTarget’s value.  Cash-in on your investment and experience  the power of an email marketing business partnership that delivers.

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Decision 2009: Email Testing and Optimization

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 by Colby Cavanaugh
Here at ExactTarget, we love the idea of testing and optimizing emails.  Not only are you striving to provide the best email content you possibly can to your subscribers – but you’re giving them a vote on what that content is!

Omniture Test&Target gives marketers a platform for testing creative elements across their web properties.  It provides tools to perform A/B testing or more complex multivariate tests (MVT) on your website – allowing you to test creative elements, target specific segments, and automatically optimize content.  ExactTarget is now able to integrate this technology into its own messaging capabilities, meaning YOU can do the same with your email sends! This integration allows marketers to optimize long-running or recurring campaigns based on subscriber response.   The testing platform can now be part of a multichannel marketing campaign, designed to test the best performing creative across email and web site offers.

The great part about this technology?   Ideas for your email content can come from anywhere – and you don’t have to argue internally about whether or not to include them.  Instead, you can choose to test different ideas and allow your subscribers to decide!  (For those of you who experience heated debates over “red button” vs. “green button” - you know what I’m talking about…)

Test&Target A/B testing
 
 
Getting started is easy - come up with a few simple hypotheses about single sends or recurring sends (ideas that you think could have an impact on performance) and try them out in the context of your email. It doesn’t have to be a huge project, involving all creative elements across all campaigns.  Start small, think big. 

You know what else is easy?  Sampling the integration!  If you’re an existing ExactTarget customer who also uses Omniture Test&Target for your website, check out our Innovations Lab listing on ExactTarget 3Sixty.  We’re currently offering a limited beta test of the integration for those who want to give it a try and who would be willing to share their experiences in the form of a use case or customer story. Check out 3Sixty for more information!

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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 

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Vegetarians Love Email Marketing Too

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 by Nicole Ross

I'm vegetarian. At this point, some of you will stop reading because you are baffled by people like me. No hamburgers? No hot dogs? No Beef Stroganauf (yeah I don't have any idea how to spell that)? Nope.

At first it was just because I ate like a bird anyway and it wasn't worth the extra effort to cook meat for myself. Then it was so easy that I never went back. And now, I just don't want anything to have to die so I can go to bed with a food baby.

My point is, we're more alike than you might think. For example, you love email marketing. And I love email marketing! Shocking, probably not, as I work for the industry-leading email marketing software company. But that actually makes me really picky about what email lists I sign up for.

One email newsletter I love is Vegetarian Times. It's both educational and entertaining. For example, I get great new recipes -- and learned that World Vegetarian Day is coming up October 1st! (first annual, I think, but it will undoubtedly take the world by storm).

That's enough for now - I think I'll go snack on some multi-seed mini rice crackers with soy sauce. I know you're jealous.

Nicole
Creative Developer
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Email is Still Communication King, but Social Media is No Jester

Thursday, September 3, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

 

In 2003, with the introduction of MySpace, the way we communicate with one another drastically changed. 

 

Last year, MarketingSherpa ran a survey to help it better understand society’s perception of social media regarding its role in marketing communications. What did these marketing experts discover, you ask?  They found that 97 percent of respondents use social media platforms, like MySpace, Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook as complimentary marketing mediums to the current communication king – email. 
 


 

So why are email service providers like ExactTarget not threatened with the rise in social media usage?  The answer is simple.  Email, as a means of communication, allows social networking sites to send relevant information to its users.  Social media enterprises have realized the convenience and effectiveness of email – hence the reason you receive an automated email when someone posts on you Facebook wall or sends you a Linkedin connection request.  Essentially, your personal email account funnels all activity that occurs throughout your numerous social media accounts into one location.  For this reason, email isn't going anywhere – at least anytime soon.

So where does ExactTarget fit in this picture?  We fully understand the importance of social media and its ability to expand the reach of your email marketing campaign.  For example, another resource that should be added to your marketing arsenal, as a means of facilitating subscriber list growth, is the social forward feature. 

In the past few years social media has emerged as an effective tool in the marketing world, however, we agree with the 97 percent that still find email is the primary means of marketing communication.

Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed.  – Irene Peter
 


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Summer Reflections from an Intern at an Email Marketing Company

Thursday, August 27, 2009 by Kyle Schroeder

So, I thought I knew about email before this summer.

I had signed up for newsletters and fan clubs. I got the coupons from online retails and bookstores. I even thought that I sent a decent amount of email in a given day. But, I had a lot to learn.

I remember the day that I had first heard about ExactTarget at a career fair. I talked with the employees at the booth for ten minutes or so and thought it was a really interesting company. I went home and began sharing with my friends about this “email company” ExactTarget:

Friends: “So what do they do?”
Me: “They send email.”
Friends: “Spam?”
Me: “No, I don’t think so. Its email you sign up for.”
Friends: “Oh, spam.”

After spending 14 weeks working for ExactTarget, I know and can explain why we actually are driven by the opposite of spam—and fight hard against companies that want to send spam.

ExactTarget is actually focused on sending relevant, permission-based email messages to consumers in a one to one marketing model that reaches specific customers that have chosen to opt-in to the particular email message.

There are two types of email messages sent out: transactional and triggered. There is also a CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 that has set out to regulate what email needs to look like.

I now realize what a powerful email marketing software platform ExactTarget is and how it can truly help raise the ROI for a company’s marketing dollar.

Kyle Schroeder
Slingshot Summer Intern

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Truly a One-to-One Marketing Company, Not Just an Email Service Provider

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by Kyle Schroeder

As I am looking back over the 14 weeks that I have been here this summer, one of the biggest things that has hit me is that ExactTarget is not just an email marketing company. They are not just an email service provider. They are truly a one to one marketing company that has a full line of products to help increase the marketing ROI for a company.

Yes, we do email. We actually send some of the most intelligent and customer-driven email through our dynamic content capabilities.

But what else is in our product line?

SMS: We have the ability to develop and execute powerful SMS text message campaigns to engage customers on the spot.

Voice: We have a product that can send targeted and specific messages to consumers by telephone. Adding this personal touch moves a company way beyond simple TV advertisements.

Landing Pages: These microsites enable users of ExactTarget’s already powerful email software platform the chance to call customers to action through a targeted website, designed specifically for the particular action.

When a company uses all four of these tools together, they have the ability to become a very sophisticated marketer that engages consumers in a relevant way.

Kyle Schroeder
Slingshot Summer Intern

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Staying Plugged into Your Email Marketing Campaigns 24-7

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 by Kyle Schroeder

ExactTarget has one of the industry leading email marketing software applications on the market. It has unbelievable capabilities to power massive email campaigns that intelligently reaches customers—increasing the marketer’s sophistication.

Additionally, this platform also provides detailed tracking capabilities. This allows marketers to monitor deliverability, click-through rates, and forwards—just to name a few.

As in most cases, ExactTarget didn’t stop there.

Enter: the iPhone application.

The ExactTarget iPhone application allows marketers to easily access and send tracking data easily and seamlessly. This allows you to stay connected and view all your tracking data for your email marketing campaigns in real time.

Stay connected, because your email marketing campaign doesn't stop just because you're away from your desk.

Kyle Schroeder
Slingshot Summer Intern

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