Ayaz Nanji says, “More than half (54%) of companies in the publishing industry say list growth is a major email marketing pain point, according to a recent report from FOLIO and Lyris. Publishers’ other top email pain points include dynamic content/personalization (42% cite as an issue), list maintenance (41%), mobile optimization (33%), analytics (33%), segmentation (30%), and content automation (29%). Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on data from a survey of 182 respondents from various sectors of the publishing industry, including B2B, consumer, and... [...]

Courtney Eckerle says, “With a legacy of separate and multiple systems used to collect limited data, it was difficult for the team at Microsoft Store to understand customers across both online and brick-and-mortar stores. Instead of waiting for a long-term dynamic data infrastructure, the team worked within their current confines to learn more about their consumers and make the most out of the limited data to increase email revenue by 600%”. Email Marketing: Microsoft Store uses relevance to increase sends by 300% and email revenue by 600% MarketingSherpa  [...]

Tom Sather says, “When is the last time you cursed the amount of spam reaching your personal inbox? If you are using one of the major webmail providers (Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Outlook.com), it’s likely been a very long time. Over the years, email providers have gotten pretty sophisticated with their email filtering, moving away from filtering spam based on content rules and keywords, to looking at sending behaviors that correlate to spamming practices. This filtering is referred to as reputation filtering. While less spam in the inbox is good news, the bad news is that permission-based... [...]

This is a reminder for MarketingExperiments’ email marketing webinar scheduled on November 13. MarketingExperiments team says, “The email marketing landscape is always changing. Today’s consumer rarely looks at an email with delight. The “You’ve got mail” days are long gone. The customer now scans through an inbox with a disposition to delete. It is hard enough to get an “open,” let alone a “click.” • So, what is it about an email that generates response? • Which emails are the most effective at converting opens to clicks? • What tactics work today in this skeptical... [...]

Loren McDonald says, “An email open isn’t worth what it once was. Savvy marketers have long known that clicks are a more telling indicator of engagement, and in today’s always-on mobile world, this is truer than ever. People are constantly scanning through their inboxes, swiping open emails to quickly skim email content. What happens when an email isn’t compelling? It’s deleted even faster. What’s the net? More people may be opening your emails and skimming them, but fewer are actually reading your emails. The Challenge Many digital marketers look at the number of opens, or open rate,... [...]

Courtney Eckerle says, “The Kentucky Derby was marketing based on assumptions about their customers and wanted to put some concrete data behind the content choices the marketing team was making. In developing a newsletter centered around Derby content, the team began segmenting and directing compelling content directly to the customers who wanted it most. Read on to learn what they found through this effort”. Email Marketing: The Kentucky Derby’s customer-centric newsletter reduces opt-out rate 64% MarketingSherpa  [...]

Christopher Ratcliff says, “A fresh approach to email or an unnecessary overhaul of something that doesn’t need fixing? Of course it’s attitudes such as the latter which means we’ve been stuck with the same boring old umbrella design since the 18th century. Gmail Inbox is a new email app that wants to hit the reset button in terms of what we expect from an email account. It’s a year zero if you will, or to use Gmail’s expression, ‘a fresh start’. Inbox is still in beta testing at the moment and you can only access it if you have an invitation. You can request one here. In the meantime... [...]

Pamella Neely says, “If you haven’t already planned your holiday marketing, you’re behind the curve: 40 percent of consumers started making Christmas buying decisions before Halloween. But don’t let that spoil your pre-holiday cheer. Even a few well-timed emails can bring in loads of Christmas orders. Holiday Marketing Calendar Marketers seem to add another semi-official holiday marketing day every year. While it’s good to know which days perform best, if you’re a small shop you may not be able to keep up with every new holiday, and you may not want to bury your clients or customers... [...]

Kim Stiglitz says, “The day after Halloween marked the official start of the holiday shopping season and since then, holiday-related emails have been arriving in our inboxes on a daily basis. Why are holiday emails seemingly being sent earlier and earlier each year? Christmas-themed and general winter holiday season emails have higher open rates when sent weeks or even months earlier than immediately before the target holiday, according to a recent article by Marketing Profs. To get you in the holiday swing of things, here are 25 examples of holiday email subject lines that stood out in our... [...]

Aleksander Czyz says, “Collecting contact details from website visitors is crucial for any business. When your visitors give you their contact details, it’s the first yes on a “yes ladder” to eventually becoming your paying customers. Here are examples of 10 proven tactics to increase newsletter subscriptions. 1. Header Bar This section is prominent, and it can be made to float down with navigation so it’s always there. Adding a countdown to create sense of urgency and combining it with a good value proposition can serve as subscription booster. To add such a toolbar... [...]