Jacob Davis says, “There was a time when marketing was purely art. The Don Drapers of the world felt that an angle, a message, a concept would work, and then they went and executed – the “genius artist” was at work. Of course, this isn’t entirely true. It’s a romantic idea, though, especially for those of us in the current marketing world, where we’re inundated with data, spreadsheets and KPIs all meant to tell us what works and what doesn’t. Numbers without context, though, are just numbers, and worse, they can be misleading. That’s why marketers need to systematically test... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “For email marketers, the inbox is a battlefield. Chances are, the folks on your email lists are receiving promotional emails not just from you, but from a lot of different businesses. Whether they open your emails depends on a lot of things, including your subject line, how well they liked your past emails, and so on. But with 91% of consumers checking email every day, it’s still one of the best places to reach your target audience. To inspire them to open and click through your emails, you’ll need to make sure you’re consistently sending great... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “For retailers trying to win in the make-or-break holiday shopping season, no digital channel is arguably more important than email. By some estimates, email drove a quarter of all visits that produced a sale this Black Friday, putting it ahead of organic and paid search and direct traffic. The holiday season presents some unique challenges for email marketers, and there are a number of pitfalls that can dent email campaigns. Here are the seven deadly sins email marketers need to avoid during this period. 1. Sending too many emails The last two months of the year are... [...]

Matt Walker says, “I get it: Cleaning that musty crawl space under the porch feels more appealing than cleaning your email list. Still, the payoff at the end —increased opens, click throughs and conversions — will more than make up for the effort. This is doubly true during the holidays, when email marketing efforts ramp up and everyone starts receiving more promotional material in their inboxes. Your holiday email marketing plan could actually be wasted effort if your list is not in tip-top shape. Instead, you should be targeting those who are actually interested in your product... [...]

Marketing Land team says, “When it comes to client email campaigns, agencies have a challenge: Many clients don’t have a quality email list. Purchasing a list can kill deliverability, so your agency must organically grow a clean email list. But how do you do that? On Thursday, December 10, join this webcast with Daniel Faggella, an email and marketing automation expert from CLVboost, and Act-On Software’s Angela Meadows, to learn why email success can’t be bought and how to grow an organic email list. Register now for “Organically Grown Email Lists — Your Agency’s Inside Track,”... [...]

Zak Stambor says, “Email accounted for 25.1% of e-commerce sales referrals on Black Friday, says one report, while another finds that marketing emails drove 25% more online sales over the weekend than they did a year ago. Email marketing may not be flashy, but the channel drove a significant share of e-commerce orders over the holiday weekend and today. 25.1% of e-commerce transactions on Friday stemmed from shoppers clicking from emails, according to report by marketing platform vendor Custora. Another report, by Adobe Systems Inc.’s Adobe Digital Index, finds email marketing accounted... [...]

Monica Montessa says, “Your website isn’t the only place you connect with new people. You interact with others at conferences, your cash register, or even the grocery store (you know the longer those lines get, the sooner friendships and networking opportunities are forged). With all of these face-to-face interactions you have with prospective customers, leveraging them to grow your email list simply makes sense. That’s why for our latest episode of Quick Tips, Olivia and I address three ways you can encourage people to sign up to your email list offline”. 3 Ways to Build Your... [...]

Shelby Dorsey says, “At MarketingExperiments, sister company of MarketingSherpa and parent company of MECLABS, we believe in testing. Our Web clinics are a testament to this belief – every month we share research that is designed to help marketers do their jobs better. This culture of testing encouraged me to run my own test. First, I ran the test on a MarketingSherpa send. After the results of that test came back, the same test was then applied to a MarketingExperiments’ newsletter. By running virtually the same test twice for two different audiences not only did I learn more about... [...]

Matthew Scott says, “Like most small marketing agencies, we used to get 90% of new clients from referrals. If we had more time, we’d generate leads through inbound marketing. If we had more money, we’d purchase $30,000+ in advertisements or sponsorships.  But we had limited time AND money. So we had to come up with a different solution.  As a result, we built a follow-up email system (using four highly-effective templates) that has generated $100,000 in new business in the past 30 days. In other words, our revenue has increased by 215% since starting this system. Crazy, right?  Our... [...]

Kristen Dunleavy says, “Has a business ever made you feel really special? One time, my favorite weather app/cattweeted at me and it made my day. Social media is a great place to start those relationships with your customers, but email marketing can take them to a whole new level. Linked email campaigns can make each person in your audience feel like a million bucks and keep that spark alive for an extended period of time. What’s a linked email campaign? When you link email campaigns, you automatically send your subscribers who have completed one automated email series to another series.... [...]