Email Marketing RulesThe Last Word on January 2019
Posted on February 8, 2019
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
The Hot New Channel for Reaching Real People: Email (Wall Street Journal)
Reputation is in the eye of the beholder (Word to the Wise)
You’ve Still Got Mail (Forrester)
Sailthru Joins the CM Group Family of Brands (Sailthru)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
My new favorite thing to do with my 5 year old….give him the phone when telemarketers call my mobile phone. It is endless good clean humor #fightback
— Anthony Chiulli (@AnthonyChiulli) January 8, 2019
I was just typing an email to our dog trainer and Gmail just filled in "at the end of March" to "We're expecting a baby" (Which, to be fair, is how I was going to finish that sentence, but…creepy Gmail!)
— Kristin (@EmailSnarketing) January 13, 2019
Noteworthy subject lines
Wegmans, 1/2 – We’ve got it! A Healthy Start for Your New Year.
Kohl’s, 1/3 – The Healthy Living Event is on! Get up to 50% off workout gear for the whole fam.
Nordstrom, 1/1 – Our wellness guide is here
American Red Cross, 1/24 – Start the year right: Become a Red Cross Champion
Petco, 1/31 – The solutions for their resolutions
Staples, 1/2 – It’s 2019. Upgrade your seat with up to $100 off.
Bed Bath & Beyond, 1/3 – Confirmed for 2019: You’re getting better sleep! Plus, this 20% off coupon is on us.
Banana Republic, 1/2 – Confirmed: These are the colors you’ve been waiting for
Saks Fifth Avenue, 1/2 – 7 style resolutions we’re sticking to
Target, 1/9 – Bonus 10% off + up to 25% off storage & org. Stack the savings.
Horchow, 1/15 – Show some love: Valentine’s Day ideas
UncommonGoods, 1/26 – Valentine’s Gifts For One-Of-A-Kind Love
Applebee’s, 1/28 – Feed the Football Party!
Wegmans, 1/31 – Make Game Day Easy with this Sweet BBQ Pork
Barneys New York, 1/28 – Are You Red Carpet Ready?
Brooks Brothers, 1/25 – The year of the pig is coming
Lego, 1/28 – FREE Year of the Pig Set!*
Saks Fifth Avenue, 1/31 – Limited-edition picks to celebrate Lunar New Year
Eddie Bauer, 1/2 – Winter Warmth 101
Patagonia, 1/11 – Winter running can be nasty
Bass Pro Shops, 1/11 – Can’t wait for spring? Gear up for your next adventure now!
UncommonGoods, 1/14 – A ring shaped like your city skyline
eBags, 1/27 – “As a bag geek, this is the best thing out there.”
Lane Bryant, 1/18 – Price drop. Mic drop.
Victoria’s Secret, 1/1 – The snuggle is reallll.
Gap, 1/9 – To/from/at the gym (everything you need) + a bonus
MAC Cosmetics, 1/14 – Prep + Prime Fix+ = The O.G. of Setting Sprays
Michaels, 1/2 – Let Us Help You Start Creating the Wedding of Your Dreams
Quiksilver, 1/2 – The Vote Is Totaled: Quiksilver’s Best of Show Is In
Jetsetter, 1/25 – 18 Travel Essentials You Should NEVER Forget to Pack
Everlane, 1/12 – 10 Tips To Reduce Plastic Waste
Saks Fifth Avenue, 1/12 – 10 hot picks for your getaway
Petco, 1/11 – 5 ways to improve your dog’s diet
Levi’s, 1/15 – Our favorite #LiveinLevis looks
Gap, 1/28 — #OOTD inspiration: you look good in NEW
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Why Preview Testing Every Email You Send Increases Your ROI
2019’s Top Email Design Trends
Report: Live Optimization Notebook on Welcome and Onboarding Emails
Webinar: “The Trends & Strategies That Will Shape Your Email Program” on Feb. 21
Posted on February 5, 2019
The email industry is constantly changing, and keeping up with what’s new can feel like an impossible task.
Join our panel of leading industry experts as we break down the key insights from Litmus’ 2019 State of Email Report, explain the trends that are changing the industry, and provide practical advice on what those changes mean for your email program.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- How to display images, coupon codes, and more in Gmail’s re-vamped Promotions tab—and why utilizing structured data will become even more important in 2019.
- Why the rise of voice assistants makes it more important than ever to create accessible emails.
- Why the email industry’s continual consolidation will impact your email tech stack going forward.
- And more!
Invite your whole team—from the coders and copywriters to the VP of marketing—and learn how each of you can do your part to set your email program up for success in 2019.
The Trends & Strategies That Will Shape Your Email Program
Feb 21, 2019
12pm ET / 9:00am PT / 5:00pm GMT)
Duration: 1 hour
Your Presenters:
Alice Li, Principal Email Engineer, Litmus
Jason Rodriguez, Community Evangelist, Litmus
Chad S. White, Head of Research, Oracle Marketing Cloud Consulting
Logan Sandrock Baird, Professional Services Team Manager, Campaign Monitor
Can’t make it on Feb. 21? Don’t worry. Register and you’ll receive the recording of the webinar.
>> Register for the free webinar
Why Preview Testing Every Email You Send Increases Your ROI
Posted on January 14, 2019
Email design is a moving target. Whether marketers like it or not, it’s impossible for them to create a single email design, because the rendering of any individual email changes depending on the email client used to view it, the screen size used to view it, and many other factors.
By our calculation, every email has more than 15,000 different potential renderings. The challenge is to manage and control that variability through savvy coding and design. And you can’t do that if you’re not preview testing every email you create.
While doing this takes extra time and involves extra costs, the effort is well rewarded. Email programs that test every email they send report generating an average return on investment of 40-to-1, whereas programs that test less frequently or not at all report an average ROI of 35-to-1, according to Email Marketing ROI: The Factors that Lead to Better Returns.
Even beyond ROI, email preview testing correlates strongly with success. For example, marketers who describe their email marketing programs as successful are 20% more likely than those at less-successful programs to test every email they send (58% vs. 49%), according to Litmus’ 2018 State of Email Workflows.
There are 3 reasons for why marketers need to remain vigilant about the rendering and functionality of their emails…
>> Read the entire post on the Litmus blog
The Last Word on December 2018
Posted on January 11, 2019
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
The Email Innovations That Most Interest Consumers (MarketingProfs)
You can now ask Amazon Alexa to read your email messages and respond by voice — here’s how (CNBC)
Verizon says Oath is dead. Meet Verizon Media Group. (NBC News)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Your child might be texting about coding html emails. Know the signs.
LMAO – Leave me alone Outlook
HTH – Huh? <th>?
BRB – Big rendering bug
TBH – That broke Hotmail
WTF – Writing tables forever
LOL – Looked Ok in Litmus
OMG – Only mangles Gmailapp#emailgeeks— Elliot Ross (@iamelliot) January 31, 2018
On the 9th day of Xmas my Inbox sent to me 9 classes activating,
8 gifs a-jumping,
7 <tr> a-stacking,
6 campaigns a-testing,
5 @Litmusapp pillows,
4 nesting snippets,
3 conditional statements,
2 Google fonts,
and an #EmailGeek in a <table> tree.— Sarah Cressler (@ReactionRebel) December 23, 2018
The problem for most companies when it comes to email marketing is not a lack of planes, but rather a lack of pilots….. #EmailMarketing #emailgeeks #databasemarketing
— Chris Marriott (@CSMarriott) December 28, 2018
Noteworthy subject lines
Chipotle, 12/18 – Watch the bowl with a bowl, delivered FREE
Banana Republic, 12/17 – Infinite parties await (here’s what to wear)
Banana Republic, 12/23 – Watch the ball (and everyone’s jaws) drop
Burlington, 12/17 – Goodbye 2018, hello new dress
Lane Bryant, 12/1 – Spend your weekend with self-gifting deals!
Panera Bread, 12/6 – Chad, give a $50 gift card, get a $10 bonus card.
Saks Fifth Avenue, 12/6 – Saks Fashion Director’s go-to gifts to give & get
Saks Fifth Avenue, 12/11 – What Pierre Mahéo of Officine Générale is gifting this year…
FansEdge, 12/15 – SHHH…Don’t Tell. Gifting Cheat Sheet Inside
T.J.Maxx, 12/4 – Made in Italy: luxe for less.
Michaels, 12/11 – Trendy Tuesday: Handmade gifts for everyone on your list.
REI, 12/15 – Stuff Their Stockings with More than Socks
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 12/5 – Finish Your List! Up to 50% Off Deals, Gifts & More
Bass Pro Shops, 12/11 – Clock’s ticking! Last chance to stretch your payments
Walgreens, 12/17 –Still shopping? 25% off ends tomorrow!
UncommonGoods, 12/18 – Got a Minute? We’ve Got Last-Minute Gift Ideas
RH, 12/18 – Last Call for Standard Holiday Shipping. Order by 12/19 at Noon EST for 12/24 Delivery.
Everlane, 12/20 – Gift Cards To The Rescue
Petco, 12/21 – FINAL HOURS: 20% off your in-store purchase
Aeropostale, 12/23 – Final Hours For Buy Online Pick Up In Store
Target, 12/6 – Yesss! 20% off select LEGO + savings on must-have toys.
Lane Bryant, 12/6 – Bra-la-la-la-la…$19.50 cotton bras!
Saks Fifth Avenue, 12/25 – To: You // From: You – Up to 60% off shoes, bags, etc.
Everlane, 12/1 – Super Limited. Super Human.
Starbucks, 12/18 – Santa has elves. You have coffee.
Epicurious, 12/15 – Announcing the winners of the Epicurious Cookbook Awards
Office Depot, 12/11 – In-App Coupon – Valid Today Only!
West Elm, 12/8 – When your home IS the Instagram inspo…
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Our Favorite Litmus Blog Posts of 2018
Our Favorite Litmus Reports of 2018
Our Favorite Litmus Webinars of 2018
Webinar Recording + Q&A: Key Insights from a Year of State of Email Research
Help us help you by participating in Litmus’ 2019 State of Email Survey
2019 EEC Awards: Nominate an Email Marketer, Thought Leader, or Program
Posted on January 7, 2019
The Email Experience Council is accepting nominations for their 2019 EEC awards until Feb. 1. Get your submissions in now for the following awards:
The 2019 eec Stefan Pollard Email Marketer of the Year Award
This award winner will be a brand-side marketer who is responsible for creating an Innovative Email Marketing Program; or may have achieved compelling results while under significant pressure or challenges from management; or might have achieved compelling results from their email marketing program by making a quantum leap forward in progress and sophistication.
The 2019 eec Email Marketer Thought Leader of the Year Award
This award winner will be someone who works at a digital agency; ESP; or 3rd-party service provider. They should have had a recognized impact on the email marketing community by fostering conversation around an industry issue or proposing a solution to an industry challenge. Or the nominee may have had an overall positive impact on the industry not limited to a single topic or issue.
I won this award last year and I can tell you that it feels amazing to be recognized by your peers for your contributions to the email marketing industry. If there is someone in the industry at an agency, ESP, or 3rd-party service provider whose advice or work you find value, please consider nominating them.
The 2019 eec Email Program Awards
This set of awards promotes excellence in email marketing. In particular, these awards will showcase the impact that email is having in the marketplace and within organizations. Most importantly, these awards will feature email campaigns that make us excited and proud of the work being done in our industry.
- Best Use of Data, including Automation and Triggers:
- Best Makeover of an Existing Email Program
- Best Use of Email in a Cross-Channel Campaign
- Best Nurture Campaign
- Best Use of Humor; Personality, Content, or Brand
For full details on each of these awards and for submission forms…
>> Visit the 2019 EEC Awards webpage
2019’s Top Email Design Trends
Posted on January 4, 2019
This year you can expect to see more personalized emails, as well as more interactive emails. For the second year in a row, those two email design trends stood out above all others, according to a Litmus poll of more than 240 marketers.
The next tier of email design trends included using more AI-driven content and live content, and simplifying email designs. The other eight email design trends that we asked marketers about received a bit less enthusiasm, although they’re all still likely to be important this year.
To bring some perspective to these email design trends, we reached out to our friends at Action Rocket, Campaign Monitor, Trendline Interactive, Oracle, Really Good Emails, Yes Marketing, and Adobe. Let’s discuss each of these 13 email design trends in more detail.
To see the ranking of trends and a discussion of each one…
>> Read the entire post on the Litmus Blog
Report: Live Optimization Notebook on Welcome and Onboarding Emails
Posted on January 3, 2019
Creating effective welcome and onboarding emails is hard—and many of your peers are struggling with the very same challenge.
In this notebook, onboarding email expert Val Geisler, Litmus Community & Product Evangelist Jason Rodriguez and I review welcome emails submitted by fellow email marketers and provide hands-on copywriting suggestions, design feedback, and strategic takeaways that you can apply to your own campaigns.
You will learn:
- How to make a good impression above the fold
- Why focusing on the most valuable call-to-action helps declutter your message
- How to create a clear content hierarchy so your email is easy to scan
- Why defensive design and optimizing for image blocking is key for effective onboarding emails
We’re bringing the spirit of the highly popular Live Optimization sessions at our Litmus Live conferences directly to your desk with this report. Download your copy to get the tips and inspiration you need to take your welcome emails to the next level.
>> Download the free guide
Happy Holidays!
Posted on December 25, 2018
Whatever you celebrate, I hope your holidays are filled with family and fun. Best wishes, Chad
Our Favorite Litmus Blog Posts of 2018
Posted on December 21, 2018
Litmus published more than 130 blog posts in 2018—that’s a lot of tips and resources!
Not sure where to get started? We asked some members of the Litmus marketing team to share their favorite blog resources of the year. Here’s what they said…
- Jason Rodriguez’ pick: Presentation Tips: Lessons Learned from Giving 100+ Talks and Webinars
- Jaina Mistry’s pick: Gmail’s Promotions Tab Is NOT the Spam Folder
- Bettina Specht’s pick: The Ultimate Guide to Background Images in Email
- And my pick: 6 Manipulative Email Tactics that Disrespect Subscribers—And Hurt Marketers
To learn why these are our favorites…
>> Read the entire post on the Litmus blog
Our Favorite Litmus Reports of 2018
Posted on December 20, 2018
Litmus published five reports and six whitepapers during 2018, covering a wide range of email marketing topics from analytics to email service providers and interactive emails to email’s return on investment. The reports and whitepapers we released during 2018 include:
- 2018 State of Email Analytics
- 2018 State of Email Service Providers
- 2018 State of Email Workflows
- 2018 State of Email Report
- How to Recover from Email Marketing Mistakes
- Interactive Emails: Understanding the Hottest Trend in Email Marketing
- Why a Lack of Email Marketing Mistakes Is a Red Flag
- Email Marketing ROI: The Factors that Lead to Better Returns
- How to Improve Email Review Cycles and Email Approvals
- Email Marketing Staffing & Resourcing for Success
- How to Overcome the Biggest Email Marketing Challenges of 2018
That’s a lot of content. More than 135 pages of email marketing insights! (And those are just the reports. We also did webinars, infographics, and blog posts based on this research.)
Of course, we think every one of those reports is worth your time, but in case you’d like some guidance on which ones to read first, members of our marketing team have selected their top picks:
- Jason Rodriguez’ pick: Why a Lack of Email Marketing Mistakes Is a Red Flag
- Bettina Specht’s pick: Email Marketing Staffing & Resourcing for Success
- Jaina Mistry’s pick: 2018 State of Email Workflows
- And my pick: Email Marketing ROI: The Factors that Lead to Better Returns
To learn why these are our favorites…
>> Read the entire post on the Litmus blog
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week, we’ll explore strategies and tactics, discuss tips and inspiration, and dig into industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Digital Experience Agency
Author of Email Marketing Rules and nearly 4,000 articles about digital and email marketing
