Email Marketing articles by the best and brightest in the field

• Three Key Tips to Minimize Email-List Churnby Loren McDonald
  It's a fact of list life: You're always going to lose a chunk of your email list to bounces, unsubscribes, and spam complaints. In the past, you might have just shrugged off this loss—typically 30 percent or more annually—because you were able to acquire new subscribers at a much higher rate than what you lost. But your ability to do so might be getting tougher now. With consumers getting pickier about whom they want to receive email from, along with the growing constraint caused by consumer and business spending cutbacks and the prospect of tightened marketing budgets, it's more important than ever to focus on retaining your subscribers and customers. These three strategies can help you reduce list churn and, subsequently, boost list performance. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Going Green: Moving Printed Newsletters, Statements, and Promotions to Emailby Chris Lovejoy
  In this day and age, one could say that green is the new black. More than ever, consumers are engaged in environmentally sound practices. And companies can easily leverage this "green" trend to not only show their customers their concern with the global environment but also reduce the continually increasing cost of the direct mail process. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Email Deliverability Is in Your Handsby Adam Covati
  Deliverability is high up on the list of an email marketer's concerns. In fact, a recent report from Jupiter Research, the 2008 Email Marketing Buyer's Guide, found that deliverability is the number-one consideration for marketers when selecting an email service provider (ESP). Unfortunately, the best ESPs on the market can do only so much to aid in getting marketing messages to the inbox. The majority of the control lies in the hands of the sender. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Holiday Email Tactics for Nonprofitsby Winston Bowden
  Retailers have been aggressively planning their holiday marketing strategies for months. In these stressful economic times, it is more important than ever to build messages that resonate with your audience. Like retailers, nonprofits should be thinking about how they can tell their story and leverage the holiday season. In this article, we'll discuss some techniques that nonprofits can use to bolster revenue and solicit support from members through email and online tactics. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• CAN-SPAM: Basic Real-World Compliance Tips for Marketersby Neil Anuskiewicz
  In 2003, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act) became law. It was a big step toward cleaning up the "Wild West" of email marketing. Continuing that clean-up, earlier this year the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) modified the act, allowing email marketers to use their "accurately registered post office box or private mailbox" instead of a "valid physical postal address" in their emails. The CAN-SPAM act, however, has not changed much over the years and should be followed not only because it is the law but also because it will make you a better email marketer. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• 11 Tips to Align PC and Mobile Email Designby Loren McDonald
  The good news: More of your customers can read your email messages on their smartphones now, instead of waiting until they get back to a computer. The bad news: The email that looks so great on your PC may look like a garbled mess on the phone. These HTML cross-platform optimization tips can make your message render better on both PC and mobile phone. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Boost Email Marketing Response With List Segmenting and Triggered Emailsby Neil Anuskiewickz
  If you are an email marketer who is doing traditional "batch and blast" email marketing, now's a good time to start segmenting and sending triggered emails. Doing so allows you to send more relevant emails and achieves better response from your subscribers. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Fundamental Design Rules for Email Marketing Successby Winston Bowden
  Good email design is a critical part of ensuring a high response rate. A major frustration within the industry is the lack of standards to guide designers when creating HTML email. Though there isn't one email-marketing design bible, there are fundamental design rules that should be applied. This article reviews some of the high-level design principles as well as more in-depth rules affecting some of the most common issues email marketers face. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Email Marketing Disobedience: Six laws of proper e-Newsletter creation, and why you should ignore every one of themby Gary Levitt
  Within the grand taxonomy of consumer touchpoints, e-newsletters hold a sorry position. They're the longwinded busybodies who never get invited to the cool parties. Porcelain-skinned print campaigns turn up their perky, sans-serif noses at e-newsletters' frumpy templates and canned copy. Super Bowl spots kick sand in e-newsletters' bespectacled faces. Yet, these boxy embodiments of mediocrity move product and build loyalty. Marketing people are aware of this—they've proven it with charts and everything. You need an e-newsletter and you know it. So to that end, please review the following six bromides from a recent how-to article phoned in by a reigning email-marketing magnate... and then read why you should ignore them. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Email Marketing and Social Media, Part 1: Adding Social Media to the Email Newsletterby Anna Billstrom
  Email is not dying in the midst of the social-media revolution. In fact, the question we should be asking is: How can email marketers best leverage the new social-marketing applications? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Email ROI, or Kicking Our Baby Out of the Nestby Stephanie Miller
  Email continues to be a highly effective channel. But for too many marketers, email revenue per subscriber is not growing, and more and more subscribers are simply ignoring the messages. How can we continue to grow our email programs? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Email Hygiene: Six Ways to Polish Your Listby Eric Groves
  You already know the importance of a permission-based email list. You even practice list segmentation to improve the relevance of the emails you send to your customers and prospects. But how much time do you devote to cleaning your email list? If your email hygiene is lax, you're greatly limiting the success of your campaigns. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• How to Avoid TMI in Email: When Less Is Moreby Josh Nason
  It starts simply. You're setting up fields for your email signup form and instead of grabbing just the basics for information, you start to wander: What if I got all the information I want up front? So then it begins: name, address, home number, work number, mobile number, bag phone number, AOL IM, Yahoo IM, favorite band, favorite station, favorite team. Suddenly, users are looking at a form worthy of governmental consideration. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Warning to Direct Marketers: Asking These Questions Will Kill Your Conversionsby Barry Densa
  Can asking a question in an ad increase sales? Some will argue vehemently that the use of a question is a non-starter, a pre-ordained copywriting disaster. Craig Huey, founder and president of the award-winning Creative Direct Marketing Group, froths at the idea of a question in sales copy. Nevertheless, a question is a tool. And as with any tool, any copywriting strategy or tactic, if a question is not formulated and handled with proper caution it could indeed do immeasurably more harm than good. Well, let me correct that: If you're a direct marketer who tests, you can measure precisely how much harm a poorly phrased question will do... or how well a good one will convert. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Two Reasons Why SMS Should Be on Your Shortlistby R.J. Talyor
  Should SMS be used for every marketing message? No, definitely not. Your company must consider whether or not your intended message is urgent and determine if subscribers will appreciate receiving it in a mobile form. With that said, there are certainly are two major reasons SMS should be on your shortlist. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Three Ways to Improve Your Lead-Nurturing Strategyby Kathy Rizzo
  Although more than 80% of high-tech marketers say they have a lead-nurturing strategy, 64% say their strategy needs improvement, according to a February 2008 survey by TeleNet Marketing Solutions. As for which areas of overall lead-generation strategy tech marketers would like to improve in the next year, nurturing of long-term leads was the No. 1 response. Nurturing shortens the sales cycle and improves return on investment from lead-generation activities, so it is important to reconsider your nurturing strategy frequently. Consider the following three recommendations to enhance your strategy. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• What Do Your Marketing Communications Reveal About You?by Becky Carroll
  Every touch from every department is marketing. Each customer interaction, whether via phone, email, direct mail, or Web, leaves an impression about your brand. Are your marketing communications self-serving, or are they serving customer needs? [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Are You Committing the Marketing Sin of Assumption?by Sharon Long Baerny
  It's an ugly truth, but a truth nonetheless: Marketers are sinners. We're not talking lying or cheating or stealing or coveting here. We're talking about the sin of assumption. And many of us commit that sin on a regular basis, from assumptions about what to say to assumptions about how to say it. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Minimize List Churn by Reducing Unsubscribesby Loren McDonald
  Reducing the number of people who unsubscribe from your mailing list is one of the key ways to minimize list churn and in turn make it easier to grow your list. That doesn't mean you make it harder for people to leave, however. Instead, learn why people leave, offer them other ways to remain in the relationship and make the process a great customer experience. [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing
• Spinning Your Way to Email Marketing Successby Louis Chatoff
  Successful email marketing strategy is a lot like a spin class at the gym: We start with a predefined warm-up, slowly move into the heart of the workout (remembering to breathe), and finish with a focused, well deserved cool-down. In fact, email marketers could learn a technique or two from spinning.... [Read the full story] Marketing Articles: Email Marketing

Email Marketing: See all 290 marketing articles

Email Marketing case studies, deconstructing real life examples and illustrating lessons learned

• How New Media Helped a Rural UK Mail Order Company Go Nationwide, GlobalWiggly Wigglers
• How a Small Internet Publisher Doubled Its Email Database & Reduced Marketing Spend With Cost-per-LeadTripmela, Inc.
• How Weekly Reader Boosted Renewals by Altering Its Direct Marketing Package and CollateralWeekly Reader
• How an Email Marketing Solution Startup Signed up 300 Customers in 7 DaysMad Mimi
• How a Consumer Electronics Company Leveraged the Power of Community to Uncover Market Preferences and Build Excitement for a New Product LineEastman Kodak Company
• How a Digital Input Device Manufacturer Increased Engagement With Customers, Upped Holiday SalesWacom Technology Corp.
• How a Rental Car Firm Upped New York Revenue 24%, Improved Customer ServiceDollar Thrifty Automotive Group
• How the Kimpton Hotel Group's Affinity-Based Email Program Boosted Bookings Revenue FivefoldKimpton Hotels
• How a Seasonal Business Increased Off-Season Sales With Five Simple Email TacticsBlooms Today
• How Garden Fresh Realized a Huge Gain in Web Traffic and Longer-Term Loyalty via EmailGarden Fresh Restaurant Corp.
• How a State Agency's Anti-Smoking Campaign Effectively Reached Teens via the Web, TV and Live EventsColorado State Tobacco Education & Prevention Partnership (STEPP), a division of the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
• How a Software Firm's Soft-Sell, Educational Webcasts Helped Double SalesSoftrax Corp.
• How an ISP Used Online Chat to Lower Customer Service Costs and Achieve an 80% Customer Satisfaction RateEarthlink, Inc.
• How a Pet Food Company Is Building a Loyal Customer Base via Highly Targeted EmailsRoyal Canin Canada
• How a Software Company Became a Marketing Partner By Adding Mobile DataSalesTrac, Inc.
• How a Private Software Company Doubled Its Email Campaigns and More Than Quadrupled Sales LeadsPavilion Technologies
• How a Marketing Organization Achieved an 80+% Email Click-through via Rich Media WebcastsCMO Council
• How an Established Dot-Com Used Interactive Email to Increase Its Click-Through Rate and Cut Unsubscribe RequestsMonster Worldwide (Nasdaq: MNST)
• How a Technology Services Company's Online Marketing Campaign Generated a 30-Times ROIBearingPoint, Inc.
• How a Long-Running Tool Infomercial Has Kept Sales and ROI Strong for Six YearsProfessional Tool Manufacturing

Email Marketing: See all 25 case studies

Email Marketing online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

• How to Motivate Online Action: Compelling Incentives for B2B Lead GenerationAttendee rating:  - Nov 6, 2008
• What's Hot, What's Not in Online Marketing: A Sneak Peek at the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing MixerAttendee rating:  - Sep 25, 2008
• Getting Through and Staying Clean: Improving Your Email Sender ReputationAttendee rating:  - Aug 15, 2008
• Getting Through and Staying Clean: Better Email DeliverabilityAttendee rating:  - Aug 14, 2008
• Email Customization: Getting Personal to Deepen Relationships, Generate Additional Sales, and MoreAttendee rating:  - May 22, 2008
• Solving B2B Marketing Dilemmas: A Sneak Peek at the Boston B2B Forum on Driving SalesAttendee rating:  - May 15, 2008
• Promotions: Instant Gratification for Small Business MarketersAttendee rating:  - Dec 14, 2007
• Solving B2B Marketing Dilemmas: A Sneak Peek at the Chicago B2B Forum on Driving SalesAttendee rating:  - Sep 6, 2007
• Reaching Your Prospect's Inbox: Better Email DeliverabilityAttendee rating:  - May 10, 2007
• How to Develop Quality e-Newsletter Content Without Breaking the BankAttendee rating:  - Apr 19, 2007
• Testing, Testing -- The Last (and Best) Direct Marketing TacticAttendee rating:  - Mar 15, 2007
• Crash Course #9: Direct Marketing Techniques for B-to-B Lead GenerationAttendee rating:  - Mar 1, 2007
• e-Newsletters: Get Attention and Build LoyaltyAttendee rating:  - Feb 22, 2007
• Crash Course #8: Email - The Power Channel in Direct Marketing TodayAttendee rating:  - Feb 15, 2007
• Crash Course #7: Integrated Media Planning in B-to-B Direct MarketingAttendee rating:  - Feb 1, 2007
• Crash Course #6: Direct Marketing Creative SavvyAttendee rating:  - Jan 25, 2007
• Crash Course #5: The Wide World of Direct Marketing on the WebAttendee rating:  - Jan 18, 2007
• Crash Course #4: Integrated Media Planning in Direct Marketing to ConsumersAttendee rating:  - Dec 14, 2006
• Crash Course #3: How to Craft a Compelling Direct Marketing Offer and Call-to-ActionAttendee rating:  - Nov 30, 2006
• Crash Course #2: How to Build and Manage Your Marketing DatabaseAttendee rating:  - Nov 2, 2006

Email Marketing: See all 28 seminars

Email Marketing mini articles distilling bite-sized advice (from our Get to the Point newsletters)

• Please Come Back to MeEmail Marketing
  According to Loren McDonald, any email list will include recipients who have unsubscribed "emotionally." Instead of hitting the unsubscribe button, they delete your messages without reading them, or direct their...
• It's Brewing on the HorizonNew Media
  The possibilities for mobile marketing grow with each new smartphone introduced. For marketers, it's best to keep on top of the latest iterations—to better design mobile campaigns that dazzle. The...
• How to Kill Your Email ListEmail Marketing
  "Tough economic times increase the pressure on marketers to hit their goals for open rate, click-throughs, conversions, and new email subscriber acquisition," says DJ Francis at the Online Marketer Blog....
• Kermit Got It WrongEmail Marketing
  Being green can be a plus for marketers. For instance, converting mail to email helps the environment, but also has a number of practical marketing benefits. Customers can take immediate action...
• Knock It Off!Email Marketing
  "I subscribe to a wonderful Web-based entity that sends me a weekly newsletter, which I enjoy very much," begins an entry in the Editorial Emergency newsletter. "But a while back...
• Look to the Big EB2B Marketing
  In a recent blog post at ReturnPath, Stephanie Miller offers, in one word, a way to provide optimum service to B2B clients while saving precious marketing dollars. That word? Email. "The...
• Four Key Deliverability QuestionsEmail Marketing
  If you're like the majority of marketers polled by Jupiter Research, your number one consideration when choosing an ESP is deliverability. But Adam Covati says an ESP can only do...
• Just Let 'Em Go, OK?Email Marketing
  According to a post at the True You Marketing (TYM) blog, "Dennis McConnell … sailed merrily into the office … only to find seven unsubscribe messages in his inbox." All...
• CAN-SPAM: My BFFEmail Marketing
  Anyone who hears the acronym CAN-SPAM can be excused for assuming it's intrusive and onerous; but in an article at MarketingProfs, Neil Anuskiewicz says the legislated guidelines actually make you...
• Try Some Nonprofit Holiday 'Retail'Email Marketing
  "In these stressful economic times, it is more important than ever to build messages that resonate with your audience," says Winston Bowden in an article at MarketingProfs. "Like retailers, nonprofits...
• OMG, that looks good!Email Marketing
  If the popularity of the 3G iPhone is any indication—Apple sold over one million units during its first weekend on the market—the smartphone is here to stay. According to Loren...
• There Goes the NeighborhoodEmail Marketing
  No matter how upright you are as a mailer, your good reputation won't follow you to a new IP address: for all an ISP knows, you could be a spammer....
• Text Your Vote to ...Email Marketing
  In late August, 2.9 million subscribers learned the identity of Barack Obama's running mate with a 26-word text message delivered via SMS (Short Message Service). The announcement joined a trend...
• Application NationNew Media
  When Apple unveiled its first iPhone in 2007, most reviews highlighted features that skewed to personal—rather than business—use. You could use the iPhone for many things, but you surrendered a measure...
• Cool Open-Rate StatsEmail Marketing
  Even if your email campaigns meet goals and deliver great ROI, you probably wonder how you compare to industry standards. If so, you’re going to love the spreadsheet in a...
• Just Send Me the Dry Red OnesEmail Marketing
  Back in the days of the Model T, Henry Ford could get away with offering customers any color they wanted—as long as it was black. Ridiculous as that mentality sounds...
• For Members Only. Period.B2B Marketing
  According to a recent article by Bill McCloskey, "The real secret to email marketing has nothing to do with deliverability, rendering, or any number of other technical issues we discuss...
• Get in the Hot SeatEmail Marketing
  It happens all the time. We get so caught up in routines and deadlines that we charge forward, never pausing for an analytical look at why we do the things...
• Design for (Mobile) LivingEmail Marketing
  "[Your subscribers] are reading e-mail on mobile devices more frequently than ever," says Winston Bowden in an article at MarketingProfs. "[And] there are some specific issues to consider." At a...
• From: Grim ReaperEmail Marketing
  In a provocative post at the Online Marketer Blog, DJ Francis argues that the days of email marketing—as we know it—are numbered. "Marketers are no longer interrupting customers' lives with sales...

Email Marketing: See all 94 quick reads

Email Marketing marketing downloads for the busy professional

• Direct Marketing How-To Guide: Your Template for Optimal Media Selection for B2B Marketing
  Find out what's new, what's hot and what's not in B2B marketing trends.
• Email Marketing How-To Guide
  Get the most up-to-date info on email marketing. Step-by-step guides and answers to all those annoying questions about contradicting metrics.
• Small Biz How-To Guide: Avoiding Key Pitfalls
  Let's face it, more small businesses fail than succeed. Make sure yours is one of the winners with this guide to getting your small business off the ground and solidly on the road to success.
• E-Newsletter How-To Guide
  The e-newsletter has become ubiquitous. Almost a dime a dozen. How do you make yours not only stand out in the inbox, but make a positive impact on your bottom line? This guide will show you how.
• Lead Generation How-To Guide
  Great product, great sales team, great marketing collateral - now what? People to sell to, of course. Put your lead generation tactics under the microscope with this enlightening how-to guide. Get more and better qualified leads, faster today.
• B2B Direct Marketing How-To Guide
  Direct marketing is one of the fastest changing disciplines within marketing today. What worked 10 years ago, isn't working today. Heck, what worked last week sometimes doesn't even work today, so keep your skills sharp with his How-To guide, focusing on the B2B market.
• Paid Search Advertising Template
  If you're a little intimidated by the prospect of Paid Search Advertising, seriously, join the crowd. Here it is though -- a guiding light through the complex waters of Paid Search Advertising. We assembled a 30-page template to make learning and implementing a successful paid search advertising campaign for your firm as easy as possible.
• Trade Show Marketing Template
  Trade show marketing is a high-risk, high-reward endeavor. This Template provides a sytematic look at trade show marketing. It walks you through selection and promotion, to follow-up and measurement. This step-by-step guide will insure your trade show marketing is effective, efficient, measurable, and successful.
• Email Marketing Summit 2005 - MP3 Recording
  Email Marketing Summit 2005 - MP3 Recording
• Email Marketing Summit 2005 - Transcript
  Email Marketing Summit 2005 - Transcript
• Marketing ROI and the Sales Funnel
  In this guide, you will learn how to structure, motivate and measure the marketing and sales functions to maximize profit. Topics include: 1) a high-level self-assessment to determine potential sources of profit leakage; 2) how to map out and improve strategies related to the buying cycle; 3) how to apply marketing ROI principles to create strategies to reduce and recycle leakage from the buying cycle; and 4) how to leverage insight on your key profit drivers and customer-level analysis to improve profitability.

Email Marketing: See all 11 downloads