Casey Swanton says, “Desktop.  Mobile.  Smartwatch?   Roll your eyes if you must, but as a digital marketer you have likely noticed that it’s getting harder to ignore the buzz about wearables.  The market is finally catching up with Dick Tracy and Inspector Gadget’s Penny, creating another shift in the landscape for digital marketers.  This post explores some of the available information on smartwatches to put things in perspective, provide some hard-to-find specs and offer a few tips to optimize the wearable email experience for your subscribers. With the holidays giving the... [...]

Daniel Faggella says, “If you run any kind of online business, the concept of email marketing probably doesn’t seem all that difficult. You just type up your marketing message, press send, and blast out your promotional email to everyone on your list, right? While sending whatever comes to mind is certainly an easy approach, it is by no means the best approach. The truth is, an effective email marketing regimen involves a little more forethought (and a much higher ROI). While it may be more work than a blanket email blast, the concept is still simple. Just remember your ABCs: Aggregate,... [...]

Jess Barron says, “In an earlier post, I shared 4 tips for writing irresistible email newsletters. As great as your new content may be, it’s not enough to just write great newsletters and send them out. You also must engage specific individuals and entire segments of readers. As an example, our email newsletter goes out to over 1 million people, and that list is growing. We have an open rate of around 20 percent, but we’re constantly looking to improve that already-solid number. Here are a few of the things that help us foster and grow that daily. Find Your Segments Segmenting your audience... [...]

Kristen Dunleavy says, “According to Marketing Sherpa, “A company that maintains a clean list of quality subscribers, to which it only sends relevant content, will outperform a rival that does not maintain list hygiene and sends batch-and-blast communications.” Considering that the average email marketing list depreciates by 25 percent every year, how can you be sure that the people on your list really want to be there? With a reactivation campaign, of course! A reactivation campaign gives you the opportunity to win back and increase engagement with inactive subscribers. It’s the best... [...]

VerticalResponse team says, “Email marketing continues to reign supreme when it comes to reaching consumers. When compared to Facebook and Twitter marketing, it’s nearly 40 times more useful for acquiring customers. To help refresh your email marketing strategy this year, we’ve outlined four tips to make sure you’re on the right track. 1. Make emails mobile friendly Mobile is the preferred method for reading emails. According to a study from Mobile Ink, 65% of email is being opened on mobile devices. And that number continues to rise as more people purchase smartphones. From 2013 to 2014,... [...]

eMarketer team says, “Cross-device ad targeting is in high demand from brands and agencies hoping to improve conversations across a growing number of screens. But as popular as it is, cross-device targeting is still in its infancy, facing a number of obstacles on its path to maturity including privacy concerns and lack of a universal device identification method. Register here for a free eMarketer webinar that will discuss cross-device targeting and explore how current device identification methods will likely shape the future of this critical campaign tactic. The webinar will address these... [...]

Courtney Eckerle says, “Held back by a labor-intensive email service provider, the marketing team at Apollo Education Group, which provides online education to people around the world, was extremely limited in their testing capabilities. After switching ESPs, the team was able to launch A/B tests to learn more about their customers and increase open rates by 39%”. Email Marketing: Education group utilizes A/B testing to increase open rates by 39% MarketingSherpa  [...]

Gray MacKenzie says, “Tragically, if you’re like me, we live in a world where your average daily email volume exceeds the grand total of all the handwritten letters you’ve ever received. That may be slightly exaggerated, but you get the point: email is hard to keep up with. Email volume is growing, attention spans are shrinking, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to effectively manage your email. What Is Proper Email Management? For me, properly managing my emails simply translates into: Reading the emails that are important to me”. 9 Essential Email Inbox Filters... [...]

David Moth says, “There appears to be a knowledge gap in email and search marketing, according to data taken from the Econsultancy Digital Skills Index. The survey is designed to test and benchmark digital marketing knowledge, with results broken down by seniority and sector. Respondents posted the lowest scores for digital channels that might be considered more technical, such as search and email, while the highest scores came for strategy, content and customer experience. Senior staff will be pleased to know that they are outscoring their junior colleagues overall – but only just”. Is... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “Email service provider Mailjet surveyed 300 marketers – 100 from the U.S., 100 from France and 100 from Germany – to gain a better understanding of each country’s email marketing practices. While the pool of Mailjet’s survey participants was limited, the results showed U.S. companies appear to be more savvy when it comes to email marketing efforts. At 1.47 million emails sent per month, Mailjet said U.S. companies sent more emails than the global average of 1.38 million. (It’s worth noting here that “global average” is referring to the combined survey results... [...]