Email Marketing RulesA Snapshot of an Email Team
Posted on May 22, 2018
Email marketing is a team sport. And like a sports team, it’s not just the people who are on the field that count. An email team generally consists of three groups:
- Internal team members, which consist of the full- and part-time employees on a brand’s email marketing team.
- External email team members, which consist of freelancers and consultants, plus agencies and the services arms of email service providers.
- Business stakeholders, which consist of all of the people involved in strategic goal-setting and the review and approval of emails across all the departments of your organization.
On average, brands have nearly eight full- or part-time employees working on email marketing. More than 26% use at least one freelancer, and nearly 34% of brands use an agency. Plus, marketers generally work with 2.4 other departments to get their emails reviewed and approved.
Even if you’re a solo email practitioner, there’s a chance you work with freelancers or an agency. And even if that’s not the case, unless you’re a solopreneur, you have stakeholders that establish key performance indicators and review and approve the emails you create.
Based on Litmus’ 2018 State of Email Survey of nearly 3,000 marketing professionals worldwide, this presentation looks at each of those three email team components, as well as how email team sizes may change during 2018. See how your own email marketing team compares by…
>> View the presentation on the Litmus Blog
Email List Validation: 9 Expert Marketers Share Their Thoughts on the GDPR
Posted on May 15, 2018
The General Data Protection Regulation goes into effect on May 25. To explore the issues around GDPR, Email List Validation reached out to nine experts, including me. Together, we address:
- The ambiguities in the law
- The opportunity it presents, which is an issue I discussed with Emarsys recently
- The need to be more selective in what data we ask for and store
- How European senders won’t be massively impacted by GDPR, unlike American brands
- How GDPR is a boon for consumers, who have not been served well by self-regulation by corporations
- The effect on database sizes and on personalization
- And more…
>> Read the full post on Email List Validation’s blog
Coming 1-Year Anniversary of Email Marketing Rules’ 3rd Edition
Posted on May 10, 2018
The 3rd Edition of “Email Marketing Rules” will be celebrating its 1-year anniversary in a few weeks. I’d like to thank everyone who has purchased it, and most especially those who have reviewed it on Amazon.
Reviews are critical for all authors, but especially for independent authors like myself. If you’ve read “Email Marketing Rules” and haven’t reviewed it yet, I would be incredibly appreciative if you could take a few minutes to do so. Whether you loved it or merely liked it, a short review would really help.
>> Review or buy “Email Marketing Rules” on Amazon
To help pay it forward, I’ve reviewed several books on Amazon recently, including…
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition
- Effective Data Visualization: The Right Chart for the Right Data
- Improving Survey Questions: Design and Evaluation
- The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition
- The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming into the Void, and Make People Love You
Thanks again for your support!
The Last Word on April 2018
Posted on May 4, 2018
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Google to launch new Gmail design in the coming weeks (The Verge)
Gmail Testing Subject Line Images with Promotion Cards (FreshInbox)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
When you try to hard to follow already bad advice on subject lines. This is not how you do it guys @VinceroWatches , this is just how you get unsubscribes. #EmailMarketing #emailgeeks #copywriting pic.twitter.com/oZXzhlpN9y
— Zoran Orak (@ZoranOrak) April 9, 2018
Me, at #LitmusLive in Boston in a @litmusapp t-shirt, September 2018 (colourized) #emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/W30emk0cUI
— ryan 😍s you! (YES, YOU) (@kokuou) April 20, 2018
Noteworthy subject lines
Saks Fifth Avenue, 4/18 – Gifts for everyone and their mother…
Vera Bradley, 4/28 – Inside: lightweight gifts that will brighten Mom’s summer travels.
PersonalizationMall.com, 4/5 – Mother’s Day Preview Sale – Save Up to 30%
FansEdge, 4/1 – Free Shipping = HOME RUN To Start Your Season!
Anthropologie, 4/1 – Bring flowers to your Sunday Celebration
Miracle-Gro, 4/2 – Expert advice for your veggie garden plan
Lowe’s, 4/7 – Get to Mowing, Trimming and Grilling. It’s Outdoors Season
Jetsetter, 4/11 – Countdown to Summer: 9 Incredible Trips to Book Now
Saks Fifth Avenue, 4/28 – Postcard-worthy prints for your vacation
Miracle-Gro, 4/23 – Got a shady plan?
Sony Electronics, 4/12 – Tips on Shooting Sunsets, Perfecting Puppy Portraits, and More
Hayneedle, 4/12 – Balancing act: 5 basics of feng shui …
Barneys New York, 4/18 – Find Your Perfect Face Mask
Brooks Brothers, 4/7 – We’re 200! (But we don’t feel like it.) 18.18% off through tomorrow to celebrate
ToysRUs, 4/5 – All Our Stores Are Closing…Everything Must Go, Go, GO!
Apple, 4/3 – Introducing the new iPad.
NFLshop, 4/12 – The Official 2018 Draft Headwear Collection Is Here
Gap, 4/21 – 2 convenient subscription boxes, 1 happy little one
Chili’s, 4/1 – Chad, what are you waiting for? Join for FREE chips & salsa every visit!
Moosejaw.com, 4/5 – Win an All-Inclusive Trip to Germany from Deuter.
REI, 4/12 – Let’s Raise the Bar on Sustainable Gear
RH, 4/1 – Experience the Salvaged Wood Collection. 100-Year-Old timbers, Reimagined.
Pier 1 Imports, 4/4 – That pillow, this rug and that painting. Done.
West Elm, 4/28 – Window shopping? Find the perfect curtains!
Kate Spade, 4/18 – yes, this bag fits that
UncommonGoods, 4/30 – No Pants, No Problem
Hasbro, 4/2 – ATTN Star Wars fans! It’s now or never for the first HasLab campaign
Victoria’s Secret, 4/21 – FREE $$$ inside (AKA $aturday $core!)
ThinkGeeks, 4/12 – How do you organize a space party? You planet
American Red Cross, 4/6 – Jen’s confession
UncommonGoods, 4/11 – When Mom & Dad Are Your Co-Workers
Banana Republic, 4/12 – The new way to wear a sweater
ModCloth, 4/14 – Embroidery, bikes, and lots of likes.
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Report: 2018 State of Email Workflows
Webinar Recording and Q&A: The State of Email in 2018
The Best of the 2017 State of Email Survey Research Series
Report: 2018 State of Email Workflows
Posted on April 25, 2018
Creating a high-performing email takes time and the right resources. Most brands spend weeks planning and executing on each email they produce, and use many different tools along the way. Your workflow is an expression of the investment you make in every email—and is itself a predictor of email program success.
Based on our State of Email Survey of nearly 3,000 marketers, our third annual State of Email Workflows report takes a detailed look at every stage of email creation—from planning and building to quality assurance and sending.
Some of the key findings from the State of Email Workflows include:
- More brands are using content and project management software to plan their email content rather than relying solely on documents, spreadsheets, and calendars from the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Apple.
- Brands spend more time on email reviews and approvals than they do on copywriting, design, coding, or any other component of email production.
- Modular email design approaches are on the rise.
- Use of partials, taskrunners, and preprocessors continues to increase.
- Fewer brands are sending emails the same day they’re approved.
- Only half of brands sent an apology email for an email marketing mistake in the past 12 months.
- The email service provider industry continues to consolidate.
The 47-page report analyzes and explores each of these findings and much more, with over 35 charts providing data-based evidence of current practices and trends in email workflows.
>> Download the free report
Benchmark Email’s Podcast: When it Comes to Email Marketing Rules, Chad S. White Wrote the Book…Literally
Posted on April 23, 2018
I recently joined Andy and Daniel for Benchmark Email’s Heart of Business Podcast. During the 53-minute podcast, we talked about…
- How I got into the industry from my previous life as a journalist at Conde Nast and Dow Jones
- How email marketing has changed over the years
- How email marketing is a critical part of an omnichannel strategy going forward
- Why email marketing doesn’t fit into the traditional paid-owned-earned media model
- How email marketing is unkillable
- Why email overload is a bit of a myth
- Why I wrote “Email Marketing Rules”
- And much more
>> Listen to the podcast on Benchmark Email’s blog
Webinar Recording and Q&A: The State of Email in 2018
Posted on April 18, 2018
The email landscape is constantly changing, making it harder than ever to create high-performing email programs. New email clients, devices, unsubscribe functionality, and privacy laws will have an impact on your 2018 marketing programs.
In this webinar, the Litmus marketing team talks about what you need to succeed in a volatile industry, including our five key insights from the 2018 State of Email Report.
See how your plans stack up against some of the biggest challenges facing marketing teams and hear about the strategies and resources you need to tackle them head-on. Along the way, we share a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re approaching those challenges here at Litmus.
>> Watch the recording, download the slides, and read the Q&A on the Litmus blog
The Best of the 2017 State of Email Survey Research Series
Posted on April 12, 2018
More than 3,500 marketers responded to Litmus’ 2017 State of Email Survey, which asked about all aspects of the email marketing program and powered a year-long series of reports, webinars, and blog posts.
As we gear up to release the findings of our 2018 State of Email Survey, it seems like a fitting time to review the major findings from last year’s three major reports:
This presentation highlights the most interesting and actionable insights from those reports, including…
- The best ways to improve your email production process
- The subscriber acquisition sources that most endanger your deliverability
- The best ways to make your email creative more effective
>> View the presentation on the Litmus Blog
The Last Word on March 2018
Posted on April 11, 2018
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Is the C-Suite Out of Touch with Email Marketing Performance? (MarTech Advisor)
Siri and Email: How Digital Assistants Can Play a Role in Email Marketing (Email on Acid)
Inactive Email Subscribers Worth 32% of Active (Target Marketing)
You Had Them at Hello: How to Retain Your Best Customers (Iterable)
Coherent Path Email Marketing Evaluation Identifies How Retailers Interact with New Shoppers After Their First Purchase (BusinessWire)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
6-7 years ago some of the social punditocracy screamed at us that email was dead (it wasn’t).
And now that social is dying (in a sense) some of the social punditocracy is suggesting to use email (next-to-last paragraph). https://t.co/QGG5ELQ5Cs
— Kevin Hillstrom (@minethatdata) March 8, 2018
“Please allow five days for your unsubscribe request to process” = please allow 5 seconds for me to mark your next email as SPAM.
— Tom Webster (@webby2001) March 12, 2018
Hmm. Given current events, probably woulda picked a different subject line if I were you, Ben from @SplashThat. #emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/cgUdUdl9Uc
— Matt Byrd (@mparkerbyrd) March 21, 2018
Capitalist evangelist @profgalloway speaking at @DLDConference #DLD18 a few weeks back. 22 mins well worth a watch >> https://t.co/cquUrSJFlc
— Jeremy 👁🐝Ⓜ (@jeremywaite) March 2, 2018
Noteworthy subject lines
FansEdge, 3/6 – Your Team Gear For St. Paddy’s Inside…
ThinkGeek, 3/10 – Happy Mario Day! Wahoo!
Petco, 3/3 – Year of me? I dig it.
FansEdge, 3/11 – Save BIG on College Gear! Shipped Free For The Tourney.
Lowe’s, 3/11 – Prep Your Yard for Spring
UncommonGoods, 3/26 – Toolbox Grills & Outdoor Wine Glasses
ToysRUs, 3/6 – Make Your Backyard THE Place to Play.
Anthropologie, 3/11 – This dress is like a vacation to Spain.
Banana Republic, 3/16 – How to get noticed: this cayenne coat
MAC Cosmetics, 3/11 – Fake a Full Night’s Rest with These M•A•C Must-Haves!
Brooks Brothers, 3/11 – Sleep better (with 1 less hour) in our PJs
LinkedIn, 3/15 – Would you upload your brain to the cloud?
ASPCA, 3/16 – Which Pet Toxins Made Our Top 10 List?
Moosejaw, 3/19 – FREE 2-Day on orders over $49. No Membership. No Kidding.
Gilt City, 3/24 – Your Weekend Jam: $10 iTunes Code with Any Purchase (3 Hours Only)
Gap, 3/20 – (Code GOBIG) You checked your inbox just in time
GrubMarket, 3/20 – Now Accepting Bitcoin at GrubMarket!
ThinkGeek, 3/16 – Guess what we call them? Sneakers!
Saks Fifth Avenue, 3/30 – Prints charming: check yes for spring
Wayfair, 3/7 – Our best wine fridges. Sip, sip, hooray!
Crate and Barrel, 3/16 – T-G-I-Clearance.
Adidas, 3/24 – NMD_R1, a continuation of NMD
ModCloth, 3/6 – So ‘minnie’ of you raved…
Fossil, 3/6 – Likes Not Included
Hayneedle, 3/16 – Easy updates under $199 *Heart eyes*
Gucci, 3/6 – Early Access: Debuting the Gucci Elton John Capsule Collection
Saks Fifth Avenue, 3/20 – Reese Witherspoon dishes on Draper James debut
RH, 3/6 – Watch the Film Featuring the Condos Brothers + Discover New Outdoor Collections
Barneys New York, 3/6 – Experience Virtual Reality at Barneys New York
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Emarsys: How to Prepare for the GDPR
I’m the EEC’s 2018 Email Marketer Thought Leader of the Year!
5 Embarrassing Subject Line Mistakes to Avoid
Holistic Email Marketing: The State of Retail Email Subscribe Forms in 2018
Executive Summary: How to Overcome the Biggest Email Marketing Challenges of 2018
Webinar Recording + Q&A: Email Tactics Customers Hate
3 Thank Yous from the EEC’s Thought Leader of the Year
Posted on April 9, 2018
I was privileged to be presented with the Email Experience Council’s 2018 Email Marketer Thought Leader of the Year Award at the Email Evolution Conference in New Orleans last week. For those of you who weren’t in attendance, I wanted to share my acceptance speech with you here—because you all deserve my thanks as well.
Honestly, I’ve been really overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude toward the industry and everyone I’ve worked with. In preparing the acceptance speech I delivered, I actually wrote two others: one that was too long for the time allotted, and another that I’m not sure I could deliver live without choking up. I wanted to share those as well.
But first, here’s the speech I delivered at the Email Evolution Conference…
>> Read the full 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
