Jonathan Segal says, “I hear too many lawyers strongly discourage employers from ever looking at an applicant’s social media accounts. Yes, there are legal risks, but those risks can be mitigated. As important, there can be legal and business risks in not looking at social media during the hiring process. So we’re actually talking about risk management, not risk avoidance. What are the legal risks if you look at an applicant’s social media profiles, such as on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn? By the applicant’s pictures or words, you may learn things about the applicant’s membership... [...]

Olivia Dello Buono says, “If you’re in the throes of a relentless heat wave, a.k.a. August, holiday planning is the last thing on your mind. But it shouldn’t be! Planning a cohesive email marketing campaign takes time: aligning content and design, accounting for outside dependencies and testing and refining all need to happen before you launch. Once November rolls around, you’ll wish you started sooner. Not convinced? Here’s why you need to kick off your holiday planning ASAP, and how you can deliver more relevant, contextual experiences to your subscribers. Online shoppers are doing... [...]

Rustam Singh says, “Email marketing is by far your safest bet to market your product and services which is available at an equal platform to everyone, for completely free. Users do no complain because of the minimal invasion into users personal lives (as compared to the most irritating obsolete form of marketing of SMS promotional). Marketers are happy because it costs them nothing, and can be done on the go from anywhere using their smartphone. Sounds like a win-win for everyone right? It would have been, had it not been to the huge portion of readers that instantly mark your company’s... [...]

Scott Heimes says, “Millennials spend about six hours a day checking email, according to Adobe. Marketers have the opportunity to capitalize on the amount of time millennials spend reading their emails and maximize their email marketing efforts. But how? To make an impact among millennials, marketers need to break the mold, focus their attention and put the recipients in control of the content they receive. Break the mold Over 215 billion emails are sent every day, according to Radicati, and that number is only going to increase over time. Marketers need to set themselves apart from the masses... [...]

Liz Willits says, “Jeopardy time: A virtual event so popular that it garners almost unheard-of visitor-to-lead and lead-to-customer conversion rates. Correct response: “What is a webinar?” I can confidently say that webinars may be one of the best content marketing tactics out there. I know this from the number of success stories inundating the internet – webinar landing pages converting 51 percent of visitors into leads, stunning 20 percent conversion rates of webinar attendees to paying customers and the sheer number of companies promoting themselves with webinars (62 percent of B2B... [...]

Brandon Olson says, “Writing consistent, unique emails for your subscribers can be hard, and it’s often a struggle many email marketers face. (Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us!) While there’s no shortage of places to look for ideas on what to write, we often overlook one of the best sources available to us: Facebook. Facebook is a great place to test ideas in real-time since it provides an environment that makes it easy to figure out what content resonates with your audience – which can speak volumes to the type of content that would be relevant to your email subscribers. By... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “When it comes to writing subject-lines, many marketers follow the famous KISS mantra. Which, if you don’t know, means to “keep it simple, stupid.” (No offence.) However, new research by Touchstone has discovered that blind dedication to this cause could be the reason why many recipients are failing to read your emails. Using its new technology to test on virtual recipients instead of real life subscribers, Touchstone actually found that the greater the language complexity, the better the click and open rates. First, a bit more information… Methodology For... [...]

Jason Moore says, “Imagine if nothing was ever tested, nothing was ever improved on and made better. We’d still be stuck living in caves and life would be pretty miserable. OK, that was a pretty extreme example to start off this post with, but I really think it is a great way to showcase why split testing your sign up form is so important. You could set up your form, then leave it the same way forever. But if you’re aiming to boost your email list growth, you’re going to want to test variations to ensure your form is as effective as possible in attracting potential subscribers. The... [...]

Beth Hayden says, “You know the old adage: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That maxim is certainly true in the email marketing world. Your email welcome message is the first message new subscribers receive when they register for a free account with your site or subscribe to your email list. A well-crafted welcome message creates an initial connection with a new subscriber. It’s the first step toward establishing a solid long-term relationship with that person. But all too often, content marketers treat their email welcome messages as afterthoughts — notes they... [...]

Chad White says, “Several years into the Age of Mobile, brands are finally catching up to consumers, who have embraced mobile much faster than brands have. Spurred by Google’s mobile-friendly update, which gave a boost to “mobile-friendly” sites in mobile search results, 93 percent of B2C brands now have websites that render and function well on desktops and smartphones. And driven by the fact that the majority of emails are now opened on mobile devices, 77 percent of B2C brands now send mobile-friendly emails, up from 56 percent a year ago. Responsive email design has become the dominant... [...]