Email Marketing RulesThe Last Word on February 2016
Posted on March 1, 2016
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
Scale Trust, Not Lists (Customer.io)
Tracking Actions in Interactive Email (FreshInbox)
Making email safer for you (Official Gmail Blog)
How to Re-Engage a Dormant Subscriber List (ReachMail)
E.U. and U.S. Release Details on Trans-Atlantic Data Transfer Deal (New York Times)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@becskr: LOLs at LinkedIn requests. Someone wants to talk to me about reducing my printing costs…I’m an email marketer, it doesn’t get much cheaper.
@EmailSnarketing: Lane Bryant sent out this email. (Subject line “Show us your…”) You know that your customers are women, right? bit.ly/1TQ0aXa
@Chrisgoldson90: So shall we try sending the same message again? It won’t annoy anyone, they won’t notice. #emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/GSXtAirRNX
@bos31337: Today in novel approaches to honesty in email marketing… pic.twitter.com/d5FTJ0MgTI
@adwordslessons: Today is the day when retailers show off their ignorance by sending #PresidentsDay emails with “Save some Franklins”.
@LenShneyder: How do I want to be marketed too? With compassion, understanding and restraint. #Sherpa16 Just me. #emailmarketing
@wise_laura: Dear autocorrect: I do not mean spoonable, I mean spoofable. Authentication note taking is hard.
@GillianRedfearn: http://pic.twitter.com/TxX1MTL475
@M_J_Robbins: Looks like @yahoomail is now supporting border-radius: position: absolute; and z-index: #emailgeeks That’s cool 🙂
Noteworthy subject lines
National Football League, 2/1 — What’s Your Super Bowl IQ?
Aeropostale, 2/4 — SUPER 50% off everything + get $10 off $50 – game on!
Fans Edge, 2/2 — Panthers. Broncos. Rep Your Pick With New Gear!
Williams-Sonoma, 2/2 — Your Recipe for Game Day Success + Great Savings You Don’t Want to Miss – In Stores & Online
Target, 2/2 — Ready for Sunday? TV deals you can pick up today.
Toys “R” Us, 2/6 — Everybody Saves at our Super Weekend Sale!
Levi’s, 2/6 — Alicia Keys. Live. Tonight.
Banana Republic, 2/4 — 8 for a great Valentine’s date
Anthropologie, 2/3 — Resend to your sweetie.
Blue Nile, 2/2 — We Have Your Ring In Time For Valentine’s Day
Clinique, 2/2 — Prep before you pucker this Valentine’s + 4 FREE lip shades with purchase.
FragranceNet.com, 2/6 — First Comes Love…then 2 great deals!
Victoria’s Secret, 2/4 — Free 2-day shipping! No Valentine’s gift? No problem.
Overstock.com, 2/4 — Cupid’s Counting Down! 10 Days Left to Find the Perfect Gift!
MAC Cosmetics, 2/10 — Just in Time for Valentine’s Day — Free Overnight Shipping!
Olive Garden, 2/12 — You + Us = Happy Valentine’s Day
ASPCA, 2/12 — Cutest. Valentine’s Day Card. Ever.
Brooks Brothers, 2/11 — Up to 50% off. Balance the budget.
Pier 1 Imports, 2/10 — Easter—it’s a good hare day.
Petco, 2/20 — Free Shipping for National Love Your Pet Day!
Petco, 2/29 — Leap into savings! 29% off pet supplies!
Lands’ End, 2/29 — This only happens once every four years…
Zulily, 2/29 —This only happens once every four years!
Neiman Marcus, 2/29 — About last night… Our award-worthy eveningwear
Barneys New York, 2/29 — Eveningwear Inspired by Red Carpet Trends
Brooks Brothers, 2/2 — Why wait 6 more weeks for spring?
Pier 1 Imports, 2/3 — New warming trends.
Victoria’s Secret, 2/3 — FREE Shipping & Returns on Swim! (You’re getting warmer…)
Saks Fifth Avenue, 2/20 — Spring 2016 Runway Report Vol. 1
Express, 2/29 — Yes, you can rock a plunging bodysuit
Vera Bradley, 2/2 — An ode to your inner girly girl
Ann Taylor, 2/6 — The Fluid Ankle Pant x 3 Ways
Brooks Brothers, 2/5 — Thanks a million. (More like $2 million.)
Kate Spade, 2/12 — this just in from NYFW…
Urban Outfitters, 2/12 — This is why cheaters always win.
Nikon, 2/6 — Nikon School is coming to the Boston area
Zulily, 2/6 — Super girls and Wonder women, assemble!
The Shopping Channel, 2/6 — Need A Little Art Therapy?
ThinkGeek, 2/19 — This BB-8 is our new B-FF: new Life-Size LED Floor Lamp!
MoMA Store, 2/6 — Most Popular Pinterest Products + 20% Off
Gap, 2/13 — insta-style: share your denim
Clinique, 2/19 — #NowTrending on Instagram + 2 free treats with purchase.
Clinique, 2/20 — New On The Wink: Secrets of an Instagram superstar.
Anthropologie, 2/29 — It’s Feb. 29: #MakeALeap
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
How to Write an Effective Apology Email
My Predictions for What Email Marketing Will Look Like in the Year 2020
Email Marketing in 2020 Report
Valentines for Email Marketers
How to Build a Twitter Following
Following the Big Data Breadcrumbs to Email Insights
Mobile Holiday Shopping Surge Benefited Mobile-Friendly Retailers
How to Write an Effective Apology Email
Posted on February 29, 2016
So, you’ve made a mistake.
Maybe your website went down or you sent an email with an error. Maybe a PR situation has arisen. It happens to the best of us.
Now you want to make amends, and you’re thinking of sending an apology email.
In this article on Ragan.com, I talk about how to determine if you do indeed need to send an apology email and, if you do decide that an apology email is warranted, how to craft one that’s clearly branded, concise, and effective.
>> Read the full article on Ragan.com
My Predictions for What Email Marketing Will Look Like in the Year 2020
Posted on February 25, 2016
In honor of Leap Day, Litmus asked 20 email experts what their vision was for the channel in the year 2020, which is when the next Leap Day will be. Their Email Marketing in 2020 predictions covered everything from inbox functionality to email service provider functionality, and from legislation to personalization.
Of course, I have my own vision for what the channel will look like in four years. In my latest Marketing Land column, I share my predictions, along with whether I’m out on a limb by myself or some of our contributors are out there with me. My predictions involve:
- Hyper Personalization
- Interactive Emails
- Voice Interfaces
- Tighter Rules
- An Open Social Network
>> Read the full column on MarketingLand.com
Email Marketing in 2020 Report
Posted on February 23, 2016
Email marketing is not for the faint of heart. The channel is constantly evolving—whether mobile devices and wearables are redefining email design, inbox providers are redefining engagement and deliverability, or ESPs are redefining personalization and targeting.
All this change means that marketers are always reacting, learning, and planning for the future as best they can. Stay nimble, email marketers, because there’s a lot more change on the horizon!
In our Email Marketing in 2020 report, we take a look at what email marketing will be like in the year 2020—in terms of the subscriber experience, inbox functionality, deliverability, design and coding, technology provider landscape, and much more.
To provide the full picture, we surveyed marketers and consumers about the channel, and then asked 20 experts to share their vision of email’s future. Our diverse panel of experts hail from email service providers, agencies, research firms, and publications—from the US and overseas.
The mosaic of predictions creates a collective vision of the future that’s both exciting as well as a bit daunting. Here’s a glimpse of the future of email marketing!
>> Download the free report
Valentines for Email Marketers
Posted on February 12, 2016
I love email. And I love email marketers and subscribers. So in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I’ve written some heartfelt words that go out to all the lovers of email marketing. Feel free to share them.
CLICK TO TWEET >> Happy Valentine’s Day, Email Marketers! http://rules.ws/1V8HAbp With love, @chadswhite pic.twitter.com/GIAuTIXyHm
CLICK TO TWEET >> Happy Valentine’s Day, Email Marketers! http://rules.ws/1V8HAbp With love, @chadswhite pic.twitter.com/T2V5juHZwB
CLICK TO TWEET >> Happy Valentine’s Day, Email Marketers! http://rules.ws/1V8HAbp With love, @chadswhite pic.twitter.com/J2SwVL00vo
CLICK TO TWEET >> Happy Valentine’s Day, Email Marketers! http://rules.ws/1V8HAbp With love, @chadswhite pic.twitter.com/L2QAw7T79d
Need more email love in your life? Hook up with these email marketing and digital marketing rock stars.
How to Build a Twitter Following
Posted on February 11, 2016
I joined Twitter back in 2008 and am grateful to have more than 12,000 followers now. Looking for the best tips on growing a Twitter following, Social Quant asked me and many others what our top no-nonsense tips were for attracting new followers.
I prefaced by response by saying that I pay a lot of attention to my listed-to-followers ratio as a quality indicator, so a lot of what I do is about reaching the right people and building a person-to-person connection.
With that in mind, here are my top 3 tips:
3) I follow and engage with people using hashtags related to email marketing events.
Conferences, webinars, and Twitter chats–especially those that Litmus hosts–are great ways to connect with people who are going to be interested in what I tweet about.
2) I favorite and follow people who are tweeting or retweeting my content.
People who include @chadswhite or @litmusapp in their tweets make it super easy for me to see them and respond. But I also search for the headlines and titles of my content pieces so I can connect with people engaging with those.
1) I tweet and retweet tips, observations, and content that email and digital marketers will find useful.
I try to keep the signal-to-noise ratio high by staying on topic and being thoughtful in my replies.
To see the advice from the other 31 experts that were included—plus a distillation of the top 8 tips—then…
>> Read the full article on SocialQuant.net
Following the Big Data Breadcrumbs to Email Insights
Posted on February 10, 2016
The scale at which consumers generate data across web, social, mobile, offline, and other channels is truly staggering. To compete and serve our customers well, the scale at which we sort through all that data for actionable insights needs to match.
Enter Big Data.
Matt Laudato, Senior Manager of Big Data Analytics at Constant Contact, has been sorting through the piles of data generated by the email service provider’s customers and has uncovered lots of interesting takeaways.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Matt at The Email Design Conference and talk about what he and his team have learned and how marketers can uncover Big Data insights of their own.
“It’s amazing what happens when you get to a small win,” Matt says. “The first small wins that we were able to talk about around the company…really just opened up the eyes of a lot of folks.”
>> Watch the interview on the Litmus Blog
Mobile Holiday Shopping Surge Benefited Mobile-Friendly Retailers
Posted on February 3, 2016
By all accounts, this was the most mobile holiday season yet, with the most important development being that mobile conversion rates and sales increased significantly. For example, 53% of all online shopping visits came from shoppers on mobile devices from Nov. 26 (Thanksgiving) through Sunday, Nov. 29, according to data from the Adobe Digital Index.
There’s been a pervasive myth that consumers don’t want to buy on small screens, and that myth has kept some brands from investing in responsive websites and responsive email design. We saw that myth crumble this holiday season, with mobile-friendly retailers reaping the benefits, as Internet Retailer reports in this article.
In 2016, the majority of emails will be read on mobile devices, and the majority of brands will adopt responsive design. Brands that haven’t adopted a mobile-first email and web strategy yet will quickly find themselves in the lagging minority in the eyes of consumers and in comparison to their competitors. After a string of “This is the Year of Mobile” declarations, 2016 will be just another year in the mobile era. Mobile has become the status quo.
>> Read the full story on InternetRetailer.com
The Last Word on January 2016
Posted on February 2, 2016
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
The Triumph of Email (The Atlantic)
What we’ve learnt from randomly testing #EmailWeekly (Action Rocket)
Inbox Wars: The Email Awakens (Listrak)
Data privacy: the clock is ticking for U.S. marketers (ClickZ)
How to Create a Completely Interactive Email Using Advanced Coding (BrightWave)
Guilt And Shame As A UI Design Element (BuzzFeed)
The unfolding email experiment (Action Rocket)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@SarahDuggers: *cough* pic.twitter.com/ovMit5dGhV
@TrentWalton: I wrote my first book today. Here it is in its entirety… pic.twitter.com/emRbyrZiUe
Noteworthy subject lines
Jetsetter, 1/12 — Take Your Powerball Winnings Here!
Pier 1 Imports, 1/17 — Give more than words can ever express.
Wayfari, 1/25 — Oops! Here’s the valentine we forgot to drop off
Crate and Barrel, 1/25 — Countdown to kickoff.
Walmart, 1/14 — Save now on Game Time essentials
Jetsetter, 1/6 — New Year, New Batch of Vacation Days!
Walmart, 1/7 — 2016 resolution: Save big on fitness, nutrition, tech and more
MAC Cosmetics, 1/12 — MAC Year of the Monkey — A Toast to This Charmed Sign. Plus Free Shipping.
BabiesRUs, 1/13 — Home Is Delightful, When the Weather Is Frightful
J.Crew, 1/23 — Got parka?
ModCloth, 1/25 — Winter. Just. Happened.
Under Armour, 1/28 — You Never Have To Run Indoors Again
Gap, 1/23 — if we squint, we can see spring
Express, 1/14 — $20 off every $80 + The countdown to Spring Break is on!
The Container Store, 1/6 — Best ways to contain Christmas toys!
Zulily, 1/13 — Cut the clutter! Organize your home
The Container Store, 1/12 — See How elfa Transforms These Spaces!
Brooks Brothers, 1/14 — Made to Measure: You wear it best.
Victoria’s Secret, 1/23 —What’s new: the shirttail hoodie + free shipping on $50!
Under Armour, 1/7 — 1/4 Zips: The Layer You Grab First
Petco, 1/14 — The Star Wars™ Pet Fans Collection™ strikes back with new products!
MoMA Store, 1/7 — The Rumors Are True: Now Up to 70% Off
West Elm, 1/12 — BOOM. (That’s the sound of our huge price drop…)
Moosejaw, 1/7 — FREE $101 Gift Card w/ select Jackets
ThinkGeek, 1/22 — ThinkGeek is wot bwings us togeder tooday.
Dell, 1/6 — Drops? Spills? Surges?
J.Crew, 1/27 — Meet Sam, Ryan, Betty, Irving, Jack & Jill
Lululemon, 1/26 — no butts about it
Express, 1/6 — Hailey Baldwin shows off our hottest jeans ever
Neiman Marcus, 1/25 — Burberry: New shoes, including #onlyatNM styles
Furniture.com, 1/26 — #sale #shop #yessss
Gap, 1/26 — #nothingbutdenim
Threadless, 1/22 — Worst cat, best Tumblr.
Lenovo, 1/13 — Join our New Community: Get Connected & WIN our Latest Tech
Vera Bradley, 1/23 — Put the phone down and …
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
I Wasn’t Always Proud to Be in Email Marketing
2 New Reasons Email Attribution Will Get Even Messier
Going Beyond Demographic Segmentation & Finding the Right Segments
Different Subscriber Segments Require Different Success Metrics
Email Address Acquisition Sources: Focus on Where Your Buyers Are
The Often Missing Element in Email Marketing Success Metrics: Time
I Wasn’t Always Proud to Be in Email Marketing
Posted on January 28, 2016
I have a confession: I wasn’t always proud to be a part of the email marketing industry.
Shortly after making the jump from journalism to email marketing in the mid-2000s, I was at a party with my wife and told a new acquaintance that I was in email marketing. “Oh, so you’re the one that sends me all that spam?” he retorted. He was obnoxious, but his words really crushed my pride. At future parties, I was simply “in marketing” and would transition to other, safer topics.
But things are different now. I know I’ve made a very smart decision to be a part of this strong, important, dynamic industry—and what’s better is that now a lot more people are starting to realize how amazing and powerful email marketing is.
>> 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
