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

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.

It's not often I bask in the glories of admiration for the US Postal Service, but yesterday was an exception.

As previously mentioned, I'm in the process of moving. And it's kind of a pain, considering the 192 change-of-address notification I need to make in the next two weeks. Last night, I decided to start with the US Postal Service because they offer a simple online form (with a $1 credit card charge).

After inputting the standard info, I had the chance to get special "new mover" discounts from national retails like Lowe's and JC Penney. Surprised, I happily ticked a couple boxes and submitted my form. Their system automatically triggered an email confirmation, so I popped into my Gmail expecting a half-baked, text-heavy, government-esque email.

Oh contraire.

A professional-looking HTML email awaited me instead with the necessary confirmation details. As I browsed the rest of the message, however, I realized they'd prepopulated the special offers I selected for Lowe's and JC Penney. I clicked through on the Lowe's offer and arrived at a nice landing page offering me a "new mover discount of 10% on my next purchase."

And here -- I'm proud to say -- I converted.

Yup, I filled in my info and landed on a Lowe's confirmation page which included an optional survey asking which areas of my home (*cough) I was interested in improving. My guess is, if I'd actually ticked any boxes -- my offer email would have included some specialized info for those rooms. Regardless, they had decided to use confirmation page real estate to learn more about their new subscribers.

By this point, I was pretty impressed with the entire experience.

So I went back to explore the rest of my US Postal Service email. At the bottom, they thought to include links to other places I needed to change my address -- like the IRS, car registration (which was automatically redirected to the appropriate state based on my new address), and voter registration. It was a welcome helping hand for someone trying to make sure she's thought of everything!

Well, enough swooning over the US Postal Service. Let me just finish with two observations: 1) I think about email WAY too much, and 2) It's possible to really impress your subscribers by offering a clean, cohesive, simple email experience.

Kudos, USPS, kudos.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

"55,000 people know more about Au Bon Pain than you do."

Read the sign above my head at breakfast this morning. It was a poster promoting their e-Club, and I have to admit I loved the sassy approach.

But you can't deny its truth -- if you're running a valuable email marketing program, your subscribers should actually know more about your company than anyone else. And they should be your biggest fans. They should look for your messages in the inbox.

Unfortunately it took me about 17 page clicks to find the eClub on their website when I looked just now...but live and learn.

In the meantime -- nice advertising!

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

I don't know anyone who likes moving. So either I have "half glass empty" friends, or the world has figured out that moving is a royal pain in the...anyway.

Here are some of my favorite things about moving:

1. Running out of packing bubbles and wadding 923 Kleenex together to cushion your box of dishes.
2. Calling utility companies, the BMV, and the U.S. Postal Service with your change of address.
3. Painting your old place back to "eggshell" (best practice: 5 coats).
4. Paying nearly a month's rent to hire movers to cart your Kleenex-Corelle, furniture, and clothes to avoid shamelessly abusing your friends who are unlucky enough to drive pick-up trucks.
5. Scouring apartment guides online, scheduling walk-throughs, and juggling 15 "in the works" living options.

You guessed it -- I'm moving. And I'm super excited!!! Not.

At least I wasn't until I found some apartments doing their part to make my life easier. How? They let me set preferences through their websites (# bedrooms, move-in date, price...) and sign up for SMS or email alerts.

Here's one pitch:

"No need to constantly check back to see if an apartment you want has become available. Be notified automatically by email and/or cell phone text alerts when there are new matches based on your apartment criteria."

Now instead of trying to juggle everything on my own, the most relevant information can be delivered to my figurative doorstep through the channel I prefer. Love it.

And the result? I'm signed, sealed, and delivered in under two months.

Welcome Home.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

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

ExactTarget's growing -- and fast.

That's why we created Catapult and Slingshot -- two college recruiting programs helping us build a pipeline of top-tier hires. Catapult places recent grads into a full-time rotational program, while Slingshot gives current students a summer internship complete with at least two "resume worthy" projects.

After months of recruiting, we brought select groups of students to Indianapolis for Finalist Night, an evening of "speed interviews," group case studies, and office tours (ok...and about 900 lbs of pasta at Buca di Peppo). After several late nights, our managers narrowed the field, matched students with projects, and extended offers to 4 Catapult and 6 Slingshot candidates.

And guess what, they all accepted.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. If you've done any college recruiting recently, you know it's fiercely competitive. You'll need to put your game face on -- recruiting is serious business.

Here's a smattering of techniques we used this year:

• Website: Two microsites, streaming video, tips & tricks and more. Welcome to the hub of college recruiting at ExactTarget.
• Email: Through on-campus events, microsites (thank you Web Collect!), and our online application engine, we launched an email nurturing program to educate and engage students. Each email conveyed a consistent program message and pushed candidates to our microsites for additional information and video. And it worked. We saw open rates upwards of 70% and click-throughs upwards of 50%. Not sure about you, but I'll take those metrics anyday!
• Print: We developed a new deliverable affectionately known as "The Little Brown Book," a quirky, tactile copy concoction to help seal the deal. 
• Face-to-Face: We talk the talk, so it's just as important we walk the walk. The personality and message we conveyed all season was reflected at Finalist Night, in our personal communications with students, and -- most importantly -- in the experience we delivered.

How many of you used an integrated marketing plan to bolster your HR efforts? Getting the right talent in the door is 99% of the battle. They'll do the rest.

Signing off,

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

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.

I thought it was only fair to give kudos to Borders for an email I received on my smartphone, especially given using them as an example in a previous "Sometimes it's worth the calories" post.



Those of you with smartphones will notice this is an incredibly mobile-friendly introduction and a great example of you can use the text version of your email message to your advantage.  If you're looking for tips on mobile email marketing, make sure you check out Email Marketing for the Third Screen.

Cheers,
Ashley Sales
Manager, Marketing Communications

With four young children, a couple of working parents, two dogs, a guinea pig, a fish named John, and a hamster who’s been MIA for about a month, my life sometimes spirals out of control. Breakfast dishes are left on the counter for more than twelve hours, dirty socks are rescued and reused from the depths of the laundry abyss, and small pets sometimes go unfed (but only occasionally—usually the kids alert me when they find Bob, the guinea pig, crawling listlessly toward a water mirage in his basement cage).

The most recent faux pas, however, involved my soon-to-be 9-year-old son and his upcoming birthday. The problem? I forgot his birthday was upcoming. Let’s just say that was definitely not my proudest parenting moment.

Rewind to approximately three years ago when I first discovered the joys of online shopping. With an eight, six, four, and two-year-old in my house, eToys quickly rose to the top of my Favorite Sites list. At some point during one of my shopping experiences, I completed an online questionnaire about my kids’ birthdates, genders, and general interests to help guide and narrow my toy purchases.

Who knew I could be so proactive?

Fast-forward back to 2008. While cleaning out my daily email this week, I noticed a message in my inbox that read, “Son #2 (they actually used his real name) is about to turn 9!” With a sharp intake of breath, I checked my online calendar to make sure I still had time to redeem myself--or better yet, pretend I’d been on top of the birthday thing all along. One week to go. Whew!

So, I clicked on the recommended toys for boys ages 9-12, was directed to the eToys website, and thus met with over 300 items any young boy would be thrilled to own.  With a remote control dragonfly, a distance-measuring football, several books about komodo dragons, and a Nintendo DS game on the way, I sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.

Occasionally, we all need a little nudge to stay on track. I'll be forever loyal to eToys for taking the information I gave them three years ago and feeding it back to me at a time when I was very desperate and very likely to make a purchase. It was a win-win for eToys and for the Willis family.

Thanks for having my back, eToys.

Happy Birthday, Son #2!

Warmest Regards,
Katrina Willis
Copywriter