If
you're a retail marketer, chances are that as soon as December 26th
rolled around, your thoughts turned to Cupid and the fiscal--I
mean, romantic--promise of Valentine's Day. Before you get
too hopped up on conversation hearts, however, you may want to
reflect back on Christmas 2010 with help from the folks at ForSee
Results.For the sixth year running, the good folks at ForeSee Results have released their Holiday Edition E-Retail Satisfaction Index. While the lion's share of the report details which online retailers most impressed consumers (with Amazon & Netflix topping the rankings),...Read More »
When
is the best time and day to send to maximize open
rates?
Nearly every week, there's one piece of
snail mail I can almost bank (pun intended) on receiving--a letter
from one of my financial institutions (banks, credit card issuers,
investment brokers, etc.) enticing me to "go green" by opting-out
of print statements in favor of email statements.
Remember the good ‘ol college days? The days where you’d
sign up for anything free because you never quite had enough money
for food or books. Credit card companies would roam around campus
flaunting their free t-shirts with a tempting, “All you have to do
is sign up for your very own credit card and this t-shirt can be
yours.” And of course, many freshmen fell for it. It was a free
t-shirt, after all.
Dan Flanegan of 
Olympus's 'Capture It
All" newsletter was the Gold winner for consumer newsletters back
in 2007, and it's easy to see why. They quickly understood
that one of the ways to increase readership and engagement was to
incorporate user-generated content (UGC) into each edition of
the newsletter. The types of UGC included:
One of ExactTarget's
good friends and clients, Heather Marsh of 
