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 of strategies employed by the likes of NBC (Olympic coverage), Fox (American Idol) and others. According to R.J. Talyor, the ... more

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 of professional functionality in the tradeoff. A recent re-design, however, coupled with the introduction of the App Store, has made ... more

Whether customers come back and buy your product again may likely depend on whether they remember it fondly or not. So, how do you promote positive product memory? Well, research on consumers' memories for experiences (eg, listening to music, attending an event) shows that whether they remember an experience as good ... more

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 recent blog post from Mailchimp. The company analyzed 271 million emails delivered by its system on behalf of small business ... more

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 to modern ears, you risk sending customers the same message if you don't tailor your email campaigns to their interests, ... more

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 we do. With this in mind, Mark Brownlow jotted down a dozen questions he planned to ask himself about his ... more

"[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 minimum, he suggests you keep PDAs in mind as you design: Optimize image ... more

It would be terrific if email marketers had universal standards for the creation of all their html messages. In the absence of such comprehensive guidelines, Winston Bowden offers some fundamental design rules as a jumping-off point: Aim for a width of 600 to 620 pixels. Use CSS inlinks ... more

"What are you doing?" Twitter asks. What an existential question! But from the company's roots as a slightly nosy oddity in 2006, users have responded in unexpected, and quite interesting, ways. Much of the conversation remains mundane ("high on coffee"). But it's also a handy place to:  share experiences (Newcomers Adjust, ... more

When you hear the name George Orwell, you probably think of books like 1984 and Animal Farm. But the philosopher-author also penned a 1946 essay called "Politics and the English Language." And in a guest post at the Conversation Agent blog, Lauren Vargas argues that his advice on writing can ... more

As demonstrated in past issues, consumers often make choices based on their feelings. We also know that their decisions about what to buy may be based on how they think a given product will make them feel. Simple formula: promote it with a positive hype, and they'll love it. Right? Not so fast. Now ... more

You know investing in widgets can improve brand recognition and site traffic. So what's holding up execution? Well, you protest, I’m not very tech-savvy. Breaking news: widgets have evolved. Sites like Widgetbox.com, Dapper.net, Google Gadgets and Sprout.com make building them as easy as disseminating RSS feeds. Dampen your toes at a ... more

Research has uncovered quite an interesting effect that guides customer brand choices. They call it the "name letter branding effect." The NLB effect shows that customers are more likely to choose a brand name that has the same letters as their first name than they are other, equally attractive, brands. ... more

Phil Bronstein, San Francisco Chronicle editor-at-large, said during the 2008 AlwaysOn media summit at Stanford that if he "could collect a buck every time anyone says 'monetize,' I wouldn't need any more money." But Internet users have come to expect free content. So, how will online media companies transform "free" into ... more

Customers often want advice when making decisions—particularly if they involve an emotional element. So, they seek the opinions of friends, colleagues, and marketers. Now research is showing that they also may seek a more personal connection with a salesperson when facing an emotional decision. This researcher says that sales professionals ... more

Clearly, Abraham Lincoln knew the difference between the almost-right word—and, the right word. A distinction famously defined by Mark Twain some 25 years later as "the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning." With that thought in mind, here are a few choice words on word choice to help you ... more

Imagine you've got a great product, and you've opened your first boutique. You're drumming up customers, but getting traffic through the door is tough. Then you think, What if I could license other vendors to carry my product? In one deft motion, you multiply your brand ambassadors and significantly broaden ... more

If you don't use A/B-split testing to analyze the results of your email campaigns, you probably aren't getting the full picture. According to a whitepaper from L-Soft, "Results can show how your newsletters or email campaigns are performing, why they are performing as they are, and what factors are affecting ... more

Careful how you say that! When introducing a new product whose usage may involve a slight risk, research is showing that a positive message is paramount. Many new products carry some degree of risk. For example, most new drugs are risky, as they involve potential short- or long-term side-effects. Or ... more

In a post at the Marketing Interactions blog, Ardath Albee discusses the potentially calamitous effects a bad first sentence can have on your email campaigns. She highlights typical errors with some actual examples: Presuming a recipient knows—and respects—you : "I wanted to share with you the ... more

It's knowing where prospects are—and how they behave—that's paying off for today's New Media marketers. Their advertising dollars are in hot pursuit of a fragmented audience that now receives thousands of channels of programming over TV, Internet, radio and mobile device. … Enter good ol' Behavioral Targeting. This tried-and-true direct marketing practice ... more

As we mentioned last week, customers like to be woo'ed and won. Here's another way to look at it, with memory and immediacy each playing a part. This bit of research shows that, chances are, your customers are making their buying choices in two main ways: They make memory-based choices ... more

"Transactional messages like membership confirmations and shipping notifications show some of the highest open rates in the inbox," says Aaron Smith at MediaPost's Email Insider blog. "Customers receiving these [are engaged] … and they wait ready for you to reach out and seal the deal." According to Smith, there's a ... more

We live in an age of euphemism. A used car isn't "used," it's "pre-owned"; we're sold "bathroom tissue," not "toilet paper"; and no marketer in her right mind would dream of calling wrinkle cream anything but "rejuvenating moisturizer." This is why the decidedly un-euphemistic name of a Beverly Hills clothier—Jimmy ... more

Over 50 percent of music downloaders consider iTunes the best fee-based digital music service. And a growing legion of iTunes users are implementing Coverflow, which lets you scroll through a music collection by album art, for aesthetic purposes. Millennials may be a generation obsessed with instant gratification, but music remains ... more