ETMC-HEMC-Blog-Sidebar-370x370Every month through January, we’ll be reviewing our predictions from the 2014 Email Marketing Holiday Calendar for last month and discussing what to expect this month in terms of holiday messaging trends.

In August, we predicted that major retailers would send their active subscribers 18 promotional emails—and we were once again right on target. Our panel of more than 100 retailers sent their subscribers 18.1 emails on average last month.

In September, we’re expecting retailers to again send their active subscribers around 18 promotional emails each. The amount of holiday messaging will continue to be very low.

>> Read the entire post on the ExactTarget Blog

Internet_Retailer_logoFollowing the release of the 2nd Edition of Email Marketing Rules this week, I spoke with Internet Retailer Editor in Chief Don Davis about what’s changed since the 1st Edition was published and how email marketing will be different this holiday season and in the more distant future.

Here are the questions that Don asked me:

  1. What are the most important changes in email marketing since the 1st Edition of “Email Marketing Rules”?
  2. Email inbox providers are making it easier for consumers to divert marketing email to a separate folder, which they may rarely if ever view. What can a retailer or brand do to maximize the number of consumers who see its messages?
  3. How is email marketing likely to be different this holiday season from last?
  4. Consumers now view most marketing emails on smartphones or tablets. How much marketers adapt their tactics to this shift?
  5. What’s likely to be the next big change in email marketing?

To read my answers, check out the entire interview on InternetRetailer.com.

Email Marketing Rules (2nd Edition)I’m thrilled to announce that the 2nd Edition of Email Marketing Rules is now available! This is the book for you if…

  • You loved the 1st Edition and want more solid advice
  • You’re relatively new to email marketing and want to gain a firm foundation
  • You’re an experienced email marketer and want a tool to help you systematically review your email program to find improvements
  • You work for an email team, agency, or vendor company and need a tool to help train new hires
  • You’re an executive and you want to better understand what your email team is always talking about
  • You’re an email marketer and you want to give your executives a book that will explain what you’re always talking about

>> Buy print edition

>> Buy Kindle edition (which is readable on any device with the free Kindle Reader app)

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped make the 2nd Edition of Email Marketing Rules a reality: my wonderful editors, Mark Brownlow and Aaron Smith; Jay Baer, who wrote a fantastic Foreword; Andrea Smith, who designed an awesome cover; my copy editor, Brian Walls; Kyle Lacy, Jeff Rohrs, and all the other great folks at the Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud; and most of all, my wife Kate, who put up with a moody, obsessive, and distracted husband all summer. Thanks, everyone!

The Last Word on August 2014

The Last WordA roundup of email marketing articles, posts, tweets and examples you might have missed last month…

Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers

7 experts on why building your email list is so important (Campaign Monitor)

The New School Marketer’s Guide to Email Deliverability (Oracle)

Video in Email (StyleCampaign)

Insightful & entertaining tweets

@matty_caldwell: Love this patagonia email. now responsive and totally bulletproof: #emaildesign @Yesmail http://t.co/hMatSgAlCo http://t.co/VaBjJgGvLG

@meladorri: “When I see ‘having trouble’ in the preheader, I just automatically delete the email.” — @ttaulli on mobile (un)friendly emails.

@BlakeMcCreary: I love this responsive idea! Resize your browser to see the logos respond. http://t.co/EJa4xXwlqu #design #branding

@becskr: I have been in Outlook 1800px height limit hell all week

@mparkerbyrd: It would be difficult to overstate how much I love preheader text, and how often I think people get it wrong. #emailmarketing

@minethatdata: Always interesting to have social media gurus use pop-ups to ask us to follow them via email. Didn’t they tell us email was dead?

@meladorri: OH at #TEDC14 “Google has built a driverless car, I have faith that they’ll support CSS in email someday” @flcarneiro @KEVINgotbounce

@briangraves: Couple of my resources mentioned by @KEVINgotbounce & @RodriguezCommaJ http://t.co/VVis9ws01z & http://t.co/oKRyWcfKwF #TEDC14

@iamelliot: 18,796!!! #emaildesign RT @TheNextWeb: There are at least 18,796 distinct Android devices, says new report http://t.co/Jj4qziaXKm

Great additions to the Swipe File pinboards

Fab sends a cat-filled apology email on 8/3/14 >> View the pin

Zillow sends a trivia-filled email about famous TV and movie homes on the market in a 7/10/14 email >> View the pin

Gerber wishes the subscriber’s son a happy birthday in an 8/2014 email >> View the pin

Twitter wishes a user a happy 5-year Twitterversary in a 5/2014 email >> View the pin

Noteworthy subject lines

Horchow, 8/20 —  the holidays? Our NEW collections have just arrived
Tiny Prints, 8/17 — Shhh… It’s the Holiday Collection Preview
Lowe’s, 8/20 — No Need to Wait. Labor Day Deals Start Now!
Vera Bradley, 8/14 — Show a little love. 20% off with ID.‏
Vera Bradley, 8/10 — Hey, night owls. 75% off is up late.
Target, 8/20 — Your home called. It wants new furniture.
Levi’s, 8/9 — Well plaid.
GOP, 8/20 — What’s your t-shirt size?
Ninety Nine Restaurant, 8/20 — Thanks for Being Awesome: You Helped Us Raise Over $550K for Cancer Research!
The Home Depot, 8/4 —Unlock Savings, Product Reviews & More—Download our App Today!
The Container Store, 8/3 — Top Pinned Bin!
J.Crew, 8/1 — Woman vs. AC
Under Armour, 8/4 — Meet The Women Of Will | #IWillWhatIWant

New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com

Smoothing Out the Mobile Email Journey

Praise for the 2nd Edition of Email Marketing Rules

Click-Baiting Is Bad on Facebook and in the Inbox

The Summer of Mobile Email Love

Glossary of Common Email Marketing Terms from Email Marketing Rules

Sneak Peek at the 2nd Edition Cover for Email Marketing Rules

4 Keys to Improving the Subscriber Journey with Progressive Profiling

Summer Edition of the Email Marketer’s Holiday Planning Checklist

Crowd Favorites from the Swipe File: July 2014

Gmail’s Native Unsubscribe Link: The Upside and Downside

July Review & August Preview for the 2014 Email Marketing Holiday Calendar

The Last Word on July 2014

Smoothing Out the Mobile Email Journey

Retail Online IntegrationBecause of the slow and uneven adoption of mobile-friendly email and website designs, subscribers are encountering significant challenges as they make the journey from receiving an email to interacting with content on email landing pages. There are currently many instances when subscribers go from a mobile-friendly environment to a mobile-unfriendly one, and vice versa.

In this article for Retail Online Integration, I share research and discuss the trends around mobile-friendly email and landing page design.

The bottom line is that 55% of B2C brands either send mobile-friendly emails or have mobile-friendly landing pages, which creates a jarring mobile experience. It’s time to sync up those two elements so subscribers can enjoy a smooth and consistent journey from email to website. Black Friday is just three months away, so there’s no time to waste.

>> Read the entire article on RetailOnlineIntegration.com

Email Marketing Rules (2nd Edition)I’m extremely proud of the 2nd Edition of “Email Marketing Rules,” which will be out next week! I’ve shared preview copies with some people that I highly respect—folks in the media, fellow authors, email industry colleagues, and broader digital marketing strategists. This is what they said about it:

Jay Baer, President of Convince & Convert and New York Times best-selling author of “Youtility,” said, “This is, quite simply, once again the best book ever written about email marketing.” He added, “This second edition of ‘Email Marketing Rules’ builds upon the foundational greatness of the first book, but also adds a massive amount of new information that provides the why marketers need.”

Don Davis, Editor in Chief of Internet Retailer Magazine, said, “Still more tips—many of them far from obvious—from a master of retail email marketing. This edition provides valuable updates that take into account changes in how consumers view and respond to email, and provides a clearly written guide on how to best engage each individual. A must-read for email marketing professionals.”

Simms Jenkins, Founder & CEO of BrightWave and the author of two excellent books on email marketing, said, “Chad White is one of the top thinkers in the email world! Anytime I am asked how someone can learn more about email, I reference this book.”

Kyle Lacy, Director of Global Content & Research at the Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud and author of three books on digital marketing, said, “It is pretty simple. Chad is an expert in email marketing. This book should be required reading for any marketer looking to build a first-class digital marketing strategy.”

Loren McDonald, VP of Industry Relations at Silverpop, An IBM Company, said, “Marketers often struggle to understand the nuances of the email channel that can make it seem so complex. In ‘Email Marketing Rules,’ Chad White simplifies the rules of the game, outlining the critical practices marketers must deploy to succeed in this powerful channel. Those who fail to follow Chad’s rules do so at their own risk.”

Andrew Bonar, Head of Client Success & Deliverability at Campaign Monitor and Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of EmailExpert.org, said, “In an easy-to-read format, this book can be used as a go-to reference on all things email marketing.”

Dr. Dave Chaffey, CEO & Publisher SmartInsights.com and author of several books on digital marketing, said, “Email marketing is a deceptively complex channel to master, so it’s important to follow the latest best practices to avoid leaving money on the table. ‘Email Marketing Rules’ gives marketers a well-structured, easy-to-follow template for reviewing and improving their programs.”

Jeff Rohrs, VP of Marketing Insights at the Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud and author of “AUDIENCE,” said, “Chad has delivered a must-read primer for new marketing practitioners and seasoned veterans alike. ‘Email Marketing Rules’ is chock-full of practical insights that will improve the profitability of your company’s email marketing efforts. This is not a book you put on bookshelf—it needs to be at the right hand of every email marketer during the work day.”

I’m honored to have the support these digital marketing and industry experts and am thankful for their kind words.

Stay tuned for more updates and the release of the 2nd Edition of “Email Marketing Rules” next week!

Facebook made an interesting announcement yesterday and should resonate with email marketers. They said they would be deemphasizing posts that “click-bait,” which is “when a publisher posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more, without telling them much information about what they will see.”

Even though those types of posts received lots of clicks, it turns out that Facebook users overwhelmingly prefer headlines that are descriptive and give them information they could use to decide whether it was worth their time to click through. To quantify this disconnect between click volume and content quality, Facebook is now measuring post-click activity and penalizing posts that visitors quickly abandon, which they see as an indication that the content didn’t meet their expectations.

Why this should be interesting to email marketers is that click-bait-type subject lines provide a similarly poor user experience.

>> Read the entire post on ExactTarget.com

The Summer of Mobile Email Love

48% of B2C brands now using mobile-friendly email designI made a prediction last year that the percentage of brands using mobile-friendly email design would increase from 22% in December 2013 to 70% in December 2014. That prediction was looking more than a little shaky when we gave our April update, but the Summer of Mobile Email Love has got us back on track.

Between early April and early August, the percentage of major B2C brands using responsive email design rose to 36% from 18% and the percentage using mobile-aware email design rose to 16% from 15%.

That puts the percentage of brands using mobile-friendly email designs at 48%.

And that’s as of a few weeks ago. Now adoption might be over the 50% mark!

>> Read the entire post on ExactTarget.com

Email Marketing Rules (2nd Edition)Nobody likes jargon, but to effectively communicate with vendors, consultants, and other email marketers, an email marketing vocabulary is essential. To help folks better understand email terminology, I’ve added the glossary from the upcoming 2nd Edition of Email Marketing Rules to my website. You can find it at emailmarketingrules.com/email-marketing-dictionary.

This dictionary contains common email marketing terms including sender name, confirmed opt-in, defensive design, re-permission emails, and progressive profiling.

It also includes some new terms and concepts that I discuss in the book, including:

super-engagement: Tactics that further engage subscribers who are already highly engaged

device-targeted content: Using responsive email design to target subscribers with different content depending on the device that the email is displayed on

granted media: Media content produced by a brand that’s distributed to an audience the brand developed via an open platform controlled by multiple third parties, such as email and SMS

real list growth: A measure of the change in subscriber lifetime value of a list, this metric subtracts the value of subscribers lost over a period of time from the value of those gained during that period

opt up: When a subscriber opts into additional mailstreams from a brand via a preference center, loyalty program, sister brands, or another mechanism

I hope you find this glossary helpful.

>> Check out all the terms in the Email Marketing Dictionary

Email Marketing Rules (2nd Edition)I’m proud to unveil the cover design for the 2nd Edition of Email Marketing Rules, which was designed by my colleague Andrea Smith. I think the retro, blueprint-like cover perfectly captures both the complexity of the email channel and the cool-headed, straightforward style of the book’s advice. Plus, it’s really awesome-looking! Thanks, Andrea.

You’ll also notice that New York Times best-selling author Jay Baer is back for the 2nd Edition, refreshing his thought-provoking Foreword about the “Currency of Modern Marketing.” Jay is on the forefront of content and social, but he also completely gets how vital email marketing is to the marketing ecosystem. He sees the big picture and I’m thankful to continue to have him as part of my book.

Incidentally, when I showed him a draft of the 2nd Edition, he said, “I didn’t think you could make it better, but it’s way better.” That’s high praise considering it called the 1st Edition “the best book ever written about email marketing.

It’s also a bit of a relief since I spent roughly as much time writing the 2nd Edition as I did the 1st. It’s updated throughout and has two new parts: one that delves into key email marketing concepts relevance, list growth, and permission; and another that looks at the future of the channel. In total, the 2nd Edition is about 120 pages longer.

>> For more about what the new edition covers, check out  my website’s page about The Book.