Email Marketing RulesEmail Marketing, Data Breaches & Tightening Regulations?
Posted on November 12, 2015
The email marketing, privacy, and security landscapes have changed significantly since 2003, when the CAN-SPAM Act was passed. Email marketing has heated up, while privacy and security have melted down.
While at The Email Design Conference, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview James Koons, dotmailer’s chief privacy officer. We discussed how email marketers can help minimize the damage from data breaches and why they should care about CASL. James also made the case that marketers shouldn’t be so sure that CAN-SPAM won’t be overhauled in the years ahead.
We put the question of a CAN-SPAM revamp to marketers and they were almost evenly split between those who think it will be strengthened and those who think it will stay largely unchanged.
>> See the interview and poll results on the Litmus Blog
When Does the Holiday Season Start?
Posted on November 9, 2015
Every year there’s handwringing over Christmas creep, the idea that holiday shopping starts earlier and earlier. The issue over whether retailers should open their stores on Thanksgiving has been a catalyst for discussions about this in recent years. That’s a complicated issue, but what’s not is whether consumers are interested in buying gifts and seasonal goods before Thanksgiving or even before Halloween. They are.
According to the National Retail Federation’s Holiday Consumer Spending Survey:
“For the 14th year in a row, NRF’s holiday spending survey found that approximately 40 percent of holiday shoppers say they begin their holiday shopping before Halloween. Another 41.5 percent say they begin their holiday shopping in November, and 18.7 will begin sometime in December.
When asked why they begin shopping early, most of those that responded that they shop before or in September or October say it’s to spread out their budget (61.4%). Another 48 percent say they want to avoid the November and December crowds and 46 percent do so to avoid the stress of last-minute shopping.”
I was recently asked on Twitter when the holiday season starts for major retailers. My response was: “The holiday season is whenever you can sell seasonal products and Christmas gifts.”
The question reminded me of this June 5, 2012 Norm Thompson email, where they’d updated images to indicate which products had sold out:
Four of the eight products in that content block had sold out, including a snowman ornament and two other seasonal items.
I recently spoke to Internet Retailer about the start of the email marketing holiday season and issues around email messaging and frequency.
>> Read the entire article on InternetRetailer.com
10 Tips to Get Your Email Marketing Program Ready for the Holiday Season
Posted on November 3, 2015
It’s November, which means that it’s official: The holiday season is here!
Retailers, hopefully you’ve been warming up your subscribers and generating some early holiday sales over the past month or two, but now things start getting serious. To help you make the most of the holiday season, here are 10 tips that will make your email marketing results merrier:
- Use progressive profiling to send segmented offers.
- Add seasonal content to your triggered emails.
- Ensure your emails are rendering properly, particularly after the launch of iOS 9 Mail.
- Have an apology email templated and ready to go.
- Use preview text to support your subject lines.
- Use social media for aspirational discovery, and site search and purchase data for more practical discovery.
- Return to what has worked in the past.
- Resist the urge to email chronically inactive subscribers.
- Send mobile-friendly emails.
- Have a plan for Last Sleigh Day.
For a full discussion of each of these…
>> Read the full column on MarketingLand.com
The Last Word on October 2015
Posted on November 2, 2015
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
The Triumphant Return of the Email Newsletter (Harvard Business Review)
Which three channels are the biggest priorities for marketers? (Econsultancy)
Email Marketing Data – Can You Trust It? (Emarketeers)
Building the Optimal Transactional Email (Infographic) (Silverpop)
Yahoo Mail’s Mobile App Gets A Whole Lot Slicker And Speedier (Fast Company)
HTML Emails: Improving workflow and process (Jono Milnes)
Data Is Friend Who Might Just Kill Us (MediaPost)
Role Addresses and Their Effect on Email Deliverability (SendGrid)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@Snowden: I forgot to turn off notifications. Twitter sent me an email for each: Follow Favorite Retweet DM 47 gigs of notifications. #lessonlearned
@chiefmartec: In the short-term, investing in innovation seems sub-optimal — but only if you assume the status quo will continue. pic.twitter.com/wIWHvbts9l
@omgitsonlyalex: “Should we segment our list by location to give them the proper offer in the subject line?” “Nah throw it all in” pic.twitter.com/vQeOTTmAoJ
@jeremywaite: @antonyslumbers @om I prefer ~ “Marketing used to be about creating a myth and spreading it. Now it is about finding a truth and sharing it”
@nharhut: Most digital strategy is optimized for one night stands. Have something to say to those not ready to buy right now. @avinash #mpb2b
Noteworthy subject lines
The White House, 10/21 — Today, we’re in the future:
Threadless, 10/21 — Great Scott! BTTF tees on sale!
Michaels, 10/22 — Happy National Color Day!
Gerber, 10/31 — Voting has begun!
Drs. Foster & Smith, 10/31 — Halloween Treats Can Harm Pets
Jetsetter, 10/22 — Costume Idea: Be “On Vacation”
American Apparel, 10/22 — Have You Seen Our Costumes?
ModCloth.com, 10/14 — Open, if you dare…
AMP, 10/14 — Open this, get free stuff. Simple.
AJ Madison, 10/29 — Prepare for Cooking Season
OnlineShoes.com, 10/30 — Black Friday exclusive pre-sale
Moosejaw, 10/29 — The 3rd Greatest Gift Guide You’ll See This Year
eBags, 10/30 — Our Holiday Gift Guide is Here
Restoration Hardware, 10/29 — The 2015 Holiday Collection. Inspired Ideas for the Season.
MAC Cosmetics, 10/21 — Top of the List: Holiday. Plus Free Shipping.
Restoration Hardware, 10/20 — Introducing Baby & Child’s Holiday Gift Collection + Extra 10% Off All Sale Extended 1 Day
Clinique, 10/29 — This kiss-happy gift won’t last. Get yours now! FREE with purchase
PersonalizationMall.com, 10/15 — Save 40% On Personalized Christmas Cards
Wayfair, 10/7 — The season of cheer is near! Merry Markdowns on thousands of must-haves
Hayneedle.com, 10/7 — Christmas trees! Rustic dining, bathroom updates & pet stuff, too!
Jetsetter, 10/4 — Secrets to Saving BIG on Holiday Travel
Godiva Chocolatier, 10/22 — Chocolate favoritism is encouraged + 15% OFF Dark Chocolate
Barneys New York, 10/4 — Now This is How You Weather a Storm
Garnet Hill, 10/4 — WINTER FORECAST: Warm and beautiful
Anthropologie, 10/7 — 3 ideas you’ll warm up to quickly
MoMA Store, 10/4 — Shop now or pay for shipping
Under Armour, 10/1 — Support The Mars Mission…
NFLshop, 10/30 — Patriots Win Again! Shop the Latest Collections!
Wayfair, 10/3 — Bedroom giving you the snores? Try a quick bedding refreshing
Anthropologie, 10/4 — This is our kind of couch-surfing.
Gucci, 10/21 — Introducing the new Gucci.com
Art.com, 10/21 — You asked – we answered. Frame Your Art by mail now available!
Neiman Marcus, 10/19 — Shop NM on Pinterest + Instagram!
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Improve Your Holiday Season Campaign Results by Sending These 3 Emails Now
5 Tips to Get Your Triggered Emails Ready for the Holiday Season
Improve Your Email Production Process by Taking the Email Production Survey
4 Reasons Broadcast Emails May Be Making Your Email Program Less Competitive in the Future
Improve Your Holiday Season Campaign Results by Sending These 3 Emails Now
Posted on October 28, 2015
The email marketing holiday season will kick into overdrive during the week of Thanksgiving. But before we get to that point, here are three emails that B2C brands should be sending now to get their databases in good shape for a successful holiday season:
- Re-permission Emails for your chronically inactive subscribers
- Win-Back Emails for your active subscribers who aren’t active customers
- Preference Update Emails for your active subscribers to ensure that you continue to send them relevant messages
For a full discussion of each of these types of emails, plus real world examples from Dell, West Elm, and Threadless…
>> Read the full post on the Litmus blog
5 Tips to Get Your Triggered Emails Ready for the Holiday Season
Posted on October 20, 2015
Triggered emails are not “set it and forget it”; they are “review and renew.” That’s especially true going into key selling seasons, like retailers are about to do. During November and December, retailers’ transactional emails and triggered emails will be high-performance assets.
Here are 5 ways retailers can make their triggered emails perform even better this holiday season:
- Make cart abandonment triggers quicker, especially on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.
- Address browse abandonments caused by out-of-stocks.
- Add holiday headers to all triggered and transactional emails.
- Add a gift services footer to abandonment emails and transactional emails.
- Re-skin and add seasonal messaging to your welcome email or welcome series.
For a full discussion of each of these tips, along with plenty of real-world examples of campaigns,…
>> Read the entire post on the Litmus blog
Improve Your Email Production Process by Taking the Email Production Survey
Posted on October 15, 2015
Every brand’s email production process is unique—with different planning, development, and approval processes. Every brand also has points of strength and points of weakness in their workflow.
The Email Production Survey seeks to create a detailed picture of the current state of email production that you can use to benchmark your own process. By pooling our collective wisdom, we can help each other identify opportunities for improvement and provide evidence that can be used to make a compelling argument for more resources or process streamlining.
Together we can make email better!
>> Improve Your Email Marketing Workflow
4 Reasons Broadcast Emails May Be Making Your Email Program Less Competitive in the Future
Posted on October 6, 2015
Mainly driven by increases in broadcast messages, per subscriber email volume has increased at more than a 15% compound annual growth rate over the past decade. It’s an impressive growth streak—and a testament to consumers’ strong preference for brands to communicate with them via email versus other channels. It’s also a streak I think is about to end.
In my latest Marketing Land column, I discuss how the sea change that’s occurring in email marketing is that triggered and transactional emails are accounting for more and more of channel revenue. For some brands, revenue from these emails—which include welcome, browse and cart abandonment, birthday, post-purchase, and order confirmation emails—already account for the majority of their email marketing revenue. In the not-too-distant future, great email marketing programs will be defined by passing this milestone.
There’s just one thing holding back more brands from achieving this: an over-reliance on broadcast emails.
Here are 4 reasons an over-emphasis on broadcast emails may be impeding your ability to transition to an email program where your revenue is driven by triggered emails…
>> Read the entire column on MarketingLand.com
Email Marketing’s Greatest Strength & Greatest Weakness
Posted on October 5, 2015
“Email’s greatest strengths often double as its greatest weaknesses,” says DM News’ Ginger Conlon in the introduction to The Email Opportunist. “Fortunately, savvy marketers can overcome the latter to capitalize on the former.”
I was among the 16 experts interviewed for this report on the channel’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. In a nutshell, I said that “Email’s greatest strength is that it’s the most used one-to-one marketing channel” and that “email’s greatest weakness is that it’s an open platform controlled by many companies.”
Check out the report for my full thoughts on how to capitalize on email marketing’s strength and minimize its weakness. Also check out the thoughts of the other 15 experts, in particular those of Daniel Burstein of MECLABS Institute, Loren McDonald of Silverpop, and Ben Ardito of Epsilon.
>> Download “The Email Opportunist”
The Last Word on September 2015
Posted on October 2, 2015
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
3 Market Forces to Master in the Pursuit of the Individual Customer (Adweek)
How The New York Times Gets 70% Email Open Rates (Contently)
How Much Revenue Does Email Drive? (eMarketer)
Consumers Refuse to Be Part of the Same Crop [Infographic] (DM News)
5 Holiday Shopping Trends to Watch in 2015 (Think with Google)
Hybrid Collapsible Menu For Email (FreshInbox)
DMARC: Monitor & secure your email delivery (Postmark)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@iamacyborg: Data-shamed, economists are turning an influential email into an experiment about bias buff.ly/1JTNQMw #Emailgeeks #Emaildesign
@EmailSnarketing: The pope’s visit is really just a segmented lapsed members re-engagement campaign
@LisaMDick: Spend 10-15% of your time exploring new things to do. Love the encouragement to really think! #CUG15
Noteworthy subject lines
Expedia, 9/1 — Labor Day car-rental deals
FragranceNet.com, 9/2 — September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month – Show Your Support and Save 20% OFF Sitewide!
Pier 1 Imports, 9/2 — Because Santa can’t do it alone.
Tiny Prints, 9/20 — Introducing Our 2015 Holiday Collection
Lego, 9/2 — Count down to the holidays with Lego® Advent Calendars!
Victoria’s Secret, 9/14 — Flash sale! 9-11pm EST tonight
Hayneedle, 9/11 — Office-bedroom ideas + porch seating, wine racks & more.
Express, 9/14 — 1 red suit, 5 ways to wear it.
Gander Mountain, 9/11 — Columbia – Gear That Is Versatabulous.
Barneys New York, 9/17 — Spend and You Shall Receive: Purple Card is Happening Now
Drs. Foster & Smith, 9/11 — Is your pet at risk for Urinary Incontinence?
Walmart, 9/17 — Which college has the most spirit? Watch the video.
GNC, 9/2 — Are You in the 90%? Find Out & Save BIG on Top Brands
AutoAnything, 9/1 — Products You Love + Free Shipping = No Regrets
The Museum of Modern Art, 9/9 — Be the first to see Picasso Sculpture
Restoration Hardware, 9/3 — Introducting RH TEEN. Arriving Soon.
Apple, 9/24 — iPhone 6s. Get it at the Apple Store tomorrow.
Horchow, 9/9 — OOPS! We’ve fixed the problem. Don’t miss 25%-30% off entire site!
Neiman Marcus, 9/11 — Oops! The site is back up: Up to 75% OFF is now extended!
Neiman Marcus, 9/12 — Be one of our Spring 2016 Faces of Beauty!
Applebee’s, 9/16 — Chad, Will you be featured on our Instagram?
Gander Mountain, 9/2 — Sign Up for Text Alerts from Gander Mountain – Special In-Store Offer!
Express, 9/17 — Street style inspired by #NYFW + 20% off just for texting us!
Dunkin’ Donuts, 9/2 — Chad, Update Your Dunkin’ app
Ann Taylor, 9/14 — Don’t Skip This Email…
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Email Is Vital to a Sharing Strategy
Infographic: Creating Memorable, Shareworthy Email Experiences
The Pros & Cons of the New ‘Block’ Button from Gmail
4 Characteristics of Contextually Aware Emails
‘The Email Episode’ of Salesforce’s new Marketing Cloudcast
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
