Another compliment to the fine work the folks at Apple are doing to push the mobile world ahead. I am not saying the iPhone is perfect, but it is putting a lot of pressure on competitors. I suspected that they caught the other smartphone manufactures off guard, and the folks at Fortune seem to agree. BTW... this post came out the same day as my last posting on the iPhone. I promise I did not see it before I wrote my post. :)

Tom O'Brien of MotiveQuest also has a great post on how the iPhone has changed the meaning of cool.

Many of you met Joel Book at our Connections ‘07 User Conference. As ExactTarget’s beloved “email evangelist,” Joel exudes class and professionalism. He loves sailing and expensive seafood. He’s a world traveler and email marketing aficionado.

But he’s not a 13-year-old girl.

Why the clarification? Well, somehow Joel made it onto a direct mail prospecting list for a silver charm company (who will remain nameless) geared – it would seem – towards adolescent girls. Talk about missing your target audience. By a LOT.

As Joel showed me the direct mail package he received (size: department store shirt box), we both knew this company had severely missed their mark – and wasted their money.

The box was bright green and blue (think bad 80s eye shadow) with swirling flower patterns. I was initially struck by its sheer weight, instinctively supporting the underside of the box with my second hand. But nothing could have prepared me for the wonders within.

Maybe it was the Barbie pendant or the “My Buddy” two-piece necklace made for “BFFs” (“Best Friends Forever,” for you non-seventh-graders) that caught my eye. Or, perhaps, it was the bright pink catalog pages (my eyes are still bleeding) featuring the company’s complete set of princess charms and necklaces. Approximately 35 different trinkets and catalogs erupted from the box.

As I stared at the promotional carnage strewn across my desk, I couldn’t help but shed a figurative tear at the hundred of dollars they’d wasted on the wrong prospect. They clearly didn’t know Joel at all.

Whether you’re sending a direct mail piece, email, SMS, or voice message, your efforts are wasted if you target the wrong people. After all, can you really afford to waste $100 per head on a generic direct mail piece that ends up lining the hamster cage…? Or to waste your email marketing budget sending mass-messages to the wrong audience? Probably not.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

Ps – if anyone wants a free “4 Best Friend” necklace, let me know…Joel won’t be using it.

Welcome to 2008, where the “build” and “features” collide to create solutions.  Here at ExactTarget, 2008 should be an explosive collection of solutions for retail – led by our client’s business objectives and leading industry trends.  Over the next several weeks, I will be posting a flurry of solutions as part of a series on our Retail Email blog.

These will include solutions for:
Hidden treasures of web analytics
Automating abandoned basket emails
Automating check-out abandonment emails
New product alerts by product category (email and mobile)
Price drop alerts (email and mobile)
“In-Stock” notification alerts (email and mobile)
Advanced merchandising powered by SLI Systems, Endeca, Mercado, Celebros
Advanced cross selling powered by Certona, Aggregate Knoweldge
Pragmatic transactional email
Frequency capping by email intent

These programs used to be nearly impossible to execute for ANY Email Service Provider.  So what’s changed?  After a decade working with software companies (many of which were SaaS predecessors) I’ve noticed that there are two types of years: ”build” years and “feature” years.  At ExactTarget, 2007 was one of those rare years in history where “features” and “build” happen simultaneously.

As a “feature" year, it was noteworthy with lots of new “stuff” hitting the ExactTarget application, including enhancements to our:

• Dynamic merchandising solution – Point our application to your website and we’ll syndicate products, cross sells, more.
• Outstanding usability enhancements – Our award winning usability was taken to an even further extreme by streamline your ability to edit content in the context of the email itself
• New transactional email capabilities – All of the power of the ExactTarget email creation process, but with a convenient “single console” for marketers
• And a collection of features far too numerous to mention here!

But a “build year” is just as important.  It’s a year where we take a look at our architecture, our business model, our services organization and say “Will it support our vision for the future?”  Those of you who attended our user conference this fall got a glimpse of just how important that question is to ExactTarget, resulting in:

• A new data center in Las Vegas – This monster data center is up and running in a hot capacity.  This makes ExactTarget the premier ESP when your email is mission critical.
• Significant database re-architecture – It’s not just about performance, it’s about freedom.  From the ability to refresh segments that impact over 8 billion subscriber (last weeks stats), but enhanced security and flexibility
• Unparallel support for custom data — Your world is more than lists of subscriber.  My merchants have complex products relationships, web analytics data, transactional data (from brick and mortar, call center, online, etc).  In what is a remarkable effort, our product team put COMPLETE CONTROL of data into the hands of our customers.
• Support for mobile messaging, voice and RSS were released this year — Moving ExactTarget from the one-to-one emails of today and towards the one-to-one messaging of tomorrow.

The foundation laid in 2007 is sure to result in 2008 being a stellar year!  This is why you will see more innovative solutions from ExactTarget than ever before (and more than any other ESP). The end result will be more sales, to more customers, more frequently…

I hate waking up in the middle of the night. But sometimes you just need to get a glass of water, find a midnight snack, or roll over so your right shoulder regains feeling. But twice in the past week I had to wake up for an entirely unacceptable reason.

Spam text messages.

You know what I’m talking about. You’ve nestled in for a few precious hours of sleep. You’re just about to hit a quality REM cycle…then…BZZZZZZZ. Your cell phone vibrates spastically on the end table two inches from your head. You’ve got a new text message.

Now you’ve got two choices. You can assume it’s a life-or-death message from a friend and check it. Or you can assume it’ll wait until morning and ignore it. If you’re anything like me, you can’t fall asleep until you know for sure. So you roll over, fumble for the phone, and squint groggily at the three-centimeter fluorescent green screen.

-- Mailbox -- Text Messages -- New --

And that’s when you see it. Unbelievable.

Instead of a message from your sister saying she’s just won the lottery and wants to share it with you, you find yourself staring at a spammy plea to change banks, buy a hybrid car, or donate $2,000 to a nature reserve in Zimbabwe. Grrr.

That’s right, friends, the world’s “beloved” spammers have branched into the world of text messaging. How wonderful. Not.

What’s that mean if you've been thinking about adding SMS (or voice messages) to their marketing mix? You definitely should – done well, it’s a fantastic new medium to reach your audience. And luckily most of the best practices you’ve learned from your permission-based email marketing program will also apply to text messaging.

But today’s lesson is more high-level: make sure you have permission to text your audience. Your subscribers are going to be inundated with more and more spam texts in the future (*ahem, two nights this week). It’s more important now to make sure they want to receive your information and are looking for your texts amidst the clutter.

And please don’t send text messages in the middle of the night (unless you’ve got a really good reason). Some of us are trying to sleep!

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

Fair and Gentle Reader,

I was recently invited to present on the Masters of Business Online "Get Your MBO" conference in Indianapolis on December 7, 2008. It promises to be something unique...a combination of presentation and discussion around the disciplines that make the web tick. I'm anticipating something between the intimacy of Gary Angel's OUTSTANDING Semphonic sponsored Analytics Xchange conference and some of the more action laden sessions from this year's Internet Retailer Palm Springs. My topic du jour - Web Analytics.

When we look at Web Analytics and thought leadership, Eric Peterson has given us his RAMP - a process for web analytics success. We also have the Web Analytics Association headed by Jim Sterne, providing a host of best practices and on-going research on reporting, vendors sponsored blogs such as (Omniture's) Matt Belikin's blog, and the small list of analytics elites including Aaron Gray, Daniel Shields, Judah Phillips, Avinash Kaushik, and a host of other top rated blogs.

So, what is new to say about analytics? What is an "email guy" doing talking about web analytics anyway? Simple - it's not about email....it's not about analytics...it's about the solutions. As a long time web analytics practitioner and architect, I've never worked with a client whose goals have really been "reporting," but rather the insight that the reporting enables. So with that...I will NOT be talking about web analytics and the incorporation of voice-of-the-customer, I will NOT be talking about Persuasion Architecture via extension of digital asset modeling, there probably won't even be mention of "hits are for twits" in the world of reporting.

My MBO Presenation Outline (below) focuses on UNDERSTANDING the role that web analytics can play in your organization - helping you to understand how the evolution of the industry has fragmented the kinds of tools available, and to help you understand which of these tools you should be exploring to help you realize opportunity that you may not even know exists.

1. Analytics - Understanding your needs
   1. Organizational appetites - driving analytics hunger
   2. What are your goals (long term/short term)
   3. 3 Basic buckets of need/opportunity
      1. Reporting - what's happening
      2. Analysis - why is it happening and to whom
      3. Solutions Enablement - what we are going to do about it
2. Reporting
   1. It's not analytics, it's reporting
   2. Vendors and Tools - what you should look for
   3. Free tools are never free
   4. Getting the value
      1. Implementation - get it right
      2. Staff - Web Analytics Admin
      3. KPIs - to live by
3. Analysis
   1. It's not reporting, it's analytics
   2. Vendors and Tools - what you should look for
   3. It's going to cost you...
   4. Getting the value
      1. Implementation - it never ends
      2. Staff - Web Analytics Practitioner
      3. KPIs to die by
      4. Solutions
4. Solutions Enablement
   1. Beyond analysis, it's a solution
   2. Solutions Examples (with some real world examples)
      1. Automated Re marketing (abandoned check out)
      2. Call Center Integration
      3. Automated Content Targeting
      4. Offer optimization
   3. It's going to cost you...once
   4. Getting the value
      1. Implementation - get it right
      2. Partner Selection
      3. Accountability

This isn't anything new - but yet it is. This is the high level conversation that I've had with the 30+ clients that I've engineered web analytics integrations/implementation for. More often than not...this conversation is never had organizationally, which often times results in unrealistic or misunderstood expectations (in terms of objectives, results, staff requirements, more). Attendees will learn the right questions to ask of their vendors, their partners, their executives and themselves - in order to realize their ultimate business objectives.

For more information on attending, click here.

To get the ExactTarget discount rate, please email my friend Jim Brown, one of the events hosts.

In April 2007 a gunman opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus killing thirty-three people and injuring another fifteen before turning the gun on himself.

 

Shocked parents, students, and university staff reported the first campus-wide email alert was sent over two hours after the shooting began. By that time, the shooter’s second shooting spree was already underway in a classroom halfway across campus. Though advising students and faculty to exercise caution, the original email message did not instruct them to avoid class and seek shelter. In addition, many students were away from their computers and never saw the message.

 

The tragedy underscored the need for instant, reliable, emergency alert systems. Sirens, public addresses, and website postings aren’t enough anymore, and campuses - and other institutions - are investigating new and improved ways of alerting people of impending dangers.

 

Many universities are launching multi-channel alert systems that combine triggered email, SMS text messages, and voice messages (even Facebook). In fact, St. John’s University in NY installed such a system just three weeks before they needed to use it to alert students of a gunman on campus. “In the St. John's incident, [university safety alert] text messages were sent so quickly that a student who helped subdue the suspect felt his cell phone vibrate with the information while he was restraining the gunman.” Another MSNBC article notes: "In every tabletop exercise, drill or real-life crisis scenario...the No. 1 glitch is always around communications."

 

Indiana University, my alma mater,  has developed a broadcast emergency contact system called “IU-Notify.” Campus officials use the system to instantly trigger email, SMS, and voice safety alerts. Students and faculty are encouraged to keep contact information up-to-date and can submit multiple email addresses and phone numbers that are automatically updated in the system hourly. Safety information is also posted on a dedicated emergency preparedness website that encourages students to “Be Ready for Anything.”

 

After enrolling in grad classes part-time, I was thrilled to see the university looking out for my safety using the latest digital one-to-one technologies. I actually just updated my account with four separate contact points to ensure I can be reached in an emergency.

 

I’d encourage all schools and organizations to launch an alert broadcast system. ExactTarget’s new Integrated One-to-One Platform (Fall 2007 Release) allows users to quickly trigger email, SMS, and voice messages. Email, SMS, and voice messaging is useful to any marketer - but they are vitally important when emergencies arise.

 

It’s public safety. And it’s worth it.

 

Nicole

Marketing Communications Associate

With the pace of marketing change these days, it is easy to get overwhelmed and seek refuge in what you know works.  For many marketers, email is their trusted medium of refuge. Email does, after all, produce the highest direct marketing ROI per dollar spent—$45.65—according to the DMA’s latest survey. 
 
But online marketers who rest on their laurels—or industry statistics, for that matter—are likely to find themselves quickly displaced by more nimble, insightful competitors.  Like it or not, even email marketing is a medium defined by change—changing subscriber preferences, changing consumer interests, and changing ISP requirements.  The net effect is that to be effective, email marketers must maintain a Constant Improvement Mentality (CIM) to achieve lofty returns on investment.
 
So what is a CIM?  It’s that internal voice that keeps your eyes peeled for ways to improve your email marketing performance.  It is that voracious appetite for testing to determine what works based not on personal assumptions, but rather real consumer data.  It is that steady drumbeat that leads you to challenge your champion design in hopes of finding even the slightest modification that will improve ROI.
 
Admittedly, a CIM can be both a blessing and a curse.  Some might call you a pessimist or conclude that you are never satisfied with anything.  Let them talk, because we know the truth.  The path to a higher email marketing ROI will be paved by those with a healthy CIM.

Most people have a favorite time of the year – for some, it’s the first few crisp days of fall. After ExactTarget’s annual user conference (held here in Indianapolis Oct. 1-3), I am tempted to say my favorite time of the year might be Connections ‘07! Over 500 clients flocking to Indianapolis for three action-packed days of expert panels, client success stories, hands-on product training, and keynote speakers including Martha Rogers, Chip Heath, Shar VanBoskirk, Craig Spiezle, Jeanniey Mullen, and David Daniels – to name just a few.

I went into Connections ’07 with three major goals:

Thank:

With over 6,000 organizations who use our product, Connections ’07 was largely a display of our gratitude for our clients’ business, innovation, and willingness to challenge us every day. (We only wish we could thank everyone “Hershey Style!”)

Inform:

Connections ’07 featured over twenty break-out sessions on hot topics from list growth and email design to testing and international sending. Most importantly, each session emphasized the need to deliver Results and Relationships.

Inspire:

One-to-one marketing is expanding into exciting new mediums like SMS and Voice. Through our new Integrated One-to-One Platform (available with our Fall 2007 Release), clients will be able to manage their digital communication channels from a single platform.


Be on the lookout for exciting updates about our Fall 2007 Release – with relational data, SMS, and Voice, and a ton of UI enhancements on the horizon, these are exciting times at ExactTarget.

For our clients and partners who attended Connections ’07, it was great to see you. For those of you that missed the conference this year, I hope to see you at Connections ’08!

(And don’t forget to check out Judson Laipply’s Awards Dinner performance of The Evolution of Dance!)

Email marketers just might feel the ground shake a little on Saturday morning.  Why?  Because ExactTarget is updating our software with the Fall Release on Friday night and it will truly blow you away.  Of course it is loaded with enhancements that improve the user experience - fewer clicks, faster and more efficient navigation, streamlined email creation process, and even more reports.  We're relentless about enabling marketers with powerful, yet easy-to-use tools, so upgrades like this are a given.  What isn't a given are the innovative features that will revolutionize how you communicate with your subscriber list.

ExactTarget isn't just for email anymore.  With our new Integrated One-to-One Platform marketers will now be able to send and track multiple message types, including SMS and Voice, through their ET portal.  This is a whole new world for one-to-one messaging.  Using ExactTarget marketers could always deliver the right message at the right time.  Now they can also do it through the right medium.  Combine this with our new Automated Interaction Management (AIM) tools, which allow you to define, store and schedule routine tasks, and you've taken your program to a whole new level. 

We're ready to change the game.  Are you?

You saw it here first. The email revolution will be triggered. ExactTarget's Fall Release will be the trigger that starts the next revolution in one-to-one marketing. The ability to build programs within your email marketing system that run by themselves. Are you kidding me? Relevant Relational Data driving content in a single email marketing solution. It get's better, we have added the ability to send voice mail and text messsaging.

In one release? ExactTarget will need to hire someone to consult with customers on how to re-think database marketing given ExactTarget's latest toolset. Wait a minute. That's my job. Sorry readers I have to get ready for the revolution. No time to chat. One-to-one marketing is limited only by your imagination. Power to the Marketer.

If They say it can't be done - They haven't seen ExactTarget's Fall Release.

Bill Hammer
Senior Integration Consultant