Email Marketing RulesUnroll.Me Is a Promotions Tab in an Email
Posted on May 6, 2014
Unroll.Me is the kind of service that makes email marketers nervous. It facilitates unsubscribes and bundles messages from multiple brands into a single daily email digest, and its user base has quickly grown to more than 720,000.
However, there’s no reason for alarm. We’ve seen this before. Unroll.Me is quite similar to Gmail’s Promotions tab, which in general has had a positive effect on email marketing.
I recently spoke with Direct Marketing News Associate Editor Elyse Dupre about Unroll.Me and how marketers shouldn’t worry, but should expect the service’s growth to drive other changes in our industry.
>> Read the entire story on DMNews.com
The Last Word on April 2014
Posted on May 2, 2014
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, tweets and examples you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
Reengagement Campaigns: When Should You Drop Inactives? (MediaPost)
Triggered Email Messages: Keys to Success (ClickZ)
Results and Lessons from 9 Subject Line split tests (ZettaSphere)
Gmail Continues to Shift the Market Share Landscape (Litmus)
Which Came First, Your Email Content or Your Segment? (ClickZ)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@fchimero: There’s a special designer hell where you watch someone else use Photoshop.
@mparkerbyrd: 90% of the value of postmortems is actually in the time you spend preparing for the postmortem: forced reflection. #CreativityInc
@CaptainInbox: Wow! a great & immensely accurate list: “Announcing the Magill Report List of Vetted, Reputable Email List Vendors” http://t.co/m21IgP6Mw3
Great additions to the Swipe File pinboards
Pizza Express mosaic email sent in 2/2012 >> View the pin
Marriott responsive email sent on 3/26/14 >> View the pin
Reliant weekly power usage summary email sent on 3/24/14 >> View the pin
Noun Project confirmed opt-in email sent in 3/2014 >> View the pin
Noteworthy subject lines
Hayneedle, 4/27 — It’s time to plant!
Hayneedle, 4/22 — It IS easy being green …
Staples, 4/22 — Up to 50% off eco-friendly supplies.
Lowe’s, 4/22 — Be the Change This Earth Day
ThinkGeek, 4/22 — ThinkGeek salutes \S/upermoms!
Overstock.com, 4/22 — Mother’s Day is May 11th – Start Shopping Now
Drs. Foster & Smith, 4/22 — Become a Better Pet Parent
PersonalizationMall.com, 4/21 — Graduation Party Gifts & Decorations On Sale Now
J.Crew, 4/17 — We moonlight as wedding planners. For free.
Clinique, 4/22 — Breakouts to clear skin—change your story! Plus watch us on YouTube.
SeaWorld Orlando, 4/14 — 50th Celebration SALE: Save $5 at ShamuShop.com
Blue Nile, 4/11 — 10 Diamond Shapes to Help you Create the Perfect Ring
Uncommon Goods, 4/7 — The 50/$50 List
ModCloth, 4/11 — Open this email, get $10. Yup, it’s that easy!
OnlineShoes.com, 4/7 — Get your closet ready for the occasions ahead
Express, 4/7 — The must-have color of the season
Etsy, 4/21 — Mother May I?
Dell, 4/21 — Windows 7?
Barneys New York, 4/13 — Dreaming of Summer? Shop Swimwear, Sunwear and More Now
Drs. Foster & Smith, 4/12 — Travelling with your pet this summer?
Zappos, 4/14 — Got a yacht?
Nikon Store, 4/11 — The Lunar Eclipse is Almost Here! Will Your Photos Do it Justice?
Gerber, 4/10 — Hey Chad, have you seen our new site?
Lenovo, 4/8 — What’s the G for?
Subway, 4/1 — Have you tried our latest flavor madness?
Most popular posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
1. Infographic: The Growing Adoption of Mobile-Friendly Email Design
2. The Many Uses (and 2 Drawbacks) of Animated Gifs
3. The 1, 2, 3 of Defensive Design
4. Gmail’s 10th Anniversary: Its 3 Greatest Contributions
5. Infographic: Shopping Cart Abandonment Email Opportunities
The 3 Pitfalls of Offline Opt-ins
Posted on May 1, 2014
Offline email signups offer many opportunities to lose a perfectly good subscriber through poor process. Shoppers at your stores, patrons at your restaurants, and visitors at your conference booths make great subscribers. The challenge is accurately collecting email addresses in these environments.
Avoid these three offline opt-in pitfalls:
- Transcription, especially without verification.
- Not setting the right expectations.
- Handing out immediate rewards for email addresses.
For all the details and examples…
>> Read the entire post on the ExactTarget Blog
The Most Inspiring Subject Lines
Posted on April 22, 2014
There’s probably no greater fascination among email marketers than subject lines. Creating magic in just a few dozen characters is a mix of art and science and luck.
While straightforward subject lines tend to fair best, I recently shared 100 of my favorite creative subject lines since 2006 to inspire folks to experiment and test. We asked readers to tweet their favorite subject lines from the collection, and keeping track of the nearly 500 tweets revealed some interesting trends.
The subject lines that readers found most inspiring were…
>> Read my entire Email Insider column on MediaPost.com
Don’t Forget Your Subscribers’ Signup Anniversaries
Posted on April 18, 2014
Signup anniversary emails, like most triggered emails, generate strong returns. They are similar to birthday emails, except you don’t need to know subscribers’ birth dates. Plus, you have more flexibility as to when to send them and you can have them escalate over the years, providing greater rewards to those who have stuck with you the longest.
The adoption rate is also lower. My own observational research puts birthday email adoption at around 8% and signup anniversary email adoption at just 2%—which just means there’s potentially even more opportunity for marketers to…
>> Read the entire post on the ExactTarget Blog
Infographic: The Growing Adoption of Mobile-Friendly Email Design
Posted on April 10, 2014
We’ve been tracking the mobile-friendliness of the promotional emails sent by a group of nearly 160 B2C brands since October of last year. We saw a big bump in the adoption of mobile-friendly email design during the holiday season and this summer we expect major progress, followed by another jump in adoption as we approach the holiday season again.
Beyond detailing the adoption rates we’ve observed, this infographic explains the difference between desktop-centric design, mobile-aware design, and responsive design—and the future outlook for each of them. It also includes links to examples of mobile-aware design from Amazon.com, Reiss, and Vizify, and examples of responsive design from AT&T, Toms, and Foursquare from the Email Swipe File on Pinterest.
Crowd Favorites from the Swipe File: March 2014
Posted on April 9, 2014
We pin tons of inspiring digital marketing examples to our Swipe File pinboards on Pinterest every month. And each month you tell which ones most inspired you by repinning and liking them.
Here are your favorite pins among the ones we uploaded last month:
The Email Swipe File’s crowd favorite was…
The Clymb >> well-crafted welcome message >> View the pin
>> Browse the Email Swipe File
The Audience Growth Swipe File’s crowd favorite was…
Sony >> promotional emails used to drive interest in their Pinterest boards >> View the pin
>> Browse the Audience Growth Swipe File
The Social Swipe File’s crowd favorite was…
Uniqlo >> never-before-done Pinterest takeover campaign >> View the pin
>> Browse the Social Swipe File
Help determine this month’s crowd favorites by repinning and liking the Swipe File pins that inspire you most.
Gmail’s Decade-Long Evolution
Posted on April 3, 2014
In the approach to Gmail’s 10-year anniversary, I spoke with Direct Marketing News Associate Editor Elyse Dupre about Gmail’s impact on the email industry. One of the things that I told her is that Gmail has been a pretty tireless innovator—perhaps a little too much so for some marketers.
From her discussions with me and others, she wrote a great article outlining all the major changes at Gmail over the years and discussing the change’s impact.
>> Read “Growing Up Gmail: 10 Years of Email Marketing Lessons”
In a separate article, she wrote about eight ways that marketers can better target Gmail subscribers, with much of that advice applicable to subscribers at other ISPs too.
I’m a big fan of Gmail and their relentless focus on innovation and user-centricity. For more of my thoughts on a decade of Gmail, check out my column in Celebrating Gmail’s 10th Anniversary, which also includes great pieces by Carlo Catajan, Andrea Smith, Tom Sather, and Julie Brown.
The Last Word on March 2014
Posted on April 2, 2014
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, tweets and examples you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Prominent Email Unsubscribe Mechanisms (ClickZ)
10 Steps to Keep Bad Email Addresses Out of Your Database (Silverpop)
The ultimate mobile email statistics overview (EmailMonday)
A Guide to Animated GIFs in Email (Litmus)
5 Ways Marketers Are Mishandling Data (Adweek)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@lukew: “The issue isn’t whether the call to action is visible…” http://t.co/kvymAqcLSa
@Coolz0r: Creating loyal customers is mostly about picking the right customer. (@ducttape) #SMMW14
@ChrisMatyszczyk: http://t.co/X93KMSkI0B my thoughts on the 11 percent of Americans who think HTML is an STD. I admire them.
@alc0traz: “Worrying about a computer reading your email is like worrying about your dog seeing you naked” #lickmyballs
@iamelliot: working in UX ruins the world in the same way that working as a dj ruins other nightclubs
Great additions to the Swipe File pinboards
Rabbit multi-email birthday program sent in 1/2014 >> View the pin
Volkswagen Daylight Savings email sent on 3/8/14 >> View the pin
Havaianas Australia animated email sent on 7/25/13 >> View the pin
Walgreens social opt-in capture post–email clickthrough >> View the pin
Noteworthy subject lines
FansEdge, 3/24 — Welcome to the Round of 16!
Sephora, 3/12 — Who made our final four?
Sony, 3/27 — Have Questions? Find Answers | New Sony Community Poll, Tips + Tricks
J.Crew, 3/18 — How to look like a J.Crew model
SkyMall, 3/9 — Are Your Clocks The Right Time?
Drs. Foster & Smith, 3/26 — Is it time to refill your pet’s Heartworm Rx?
Hayneedle, 3/27 — Get excited: It’s grilling season!
Zappos, 3/21 — It’s sink or swim time…
Levi’s, 3/12 — You need a vacation. (+ exclusive offer for students)
J.Crew, 3/12 — It’s Sunny Somewhere: 25% off swim, shorts & tees (and lots of other vacation styles)
Drs. Foster & Smith, 3/8 — Flea & Tick Season Survival Guide
Barneys, 3/8 — Jump Start Spring: Shop Sandals and More Now
Godiva Chocolatier, 3/27 — The Best Idea Ever – PEEPS® Dipped in GODIVA
LegoShop.com, 3/8 — The LEGO® Easter Gift Shop Is Now Open!
Sony, 3/8 — Reserve Your Mother’s Day Catalog | Pick The Perfect Gift for Mom
ModCloth, 3/5 — Get seen in green!
Saks Fifth Avenue, 3/17 — Introducing: FREE SHIPPING, EVERY DAY, EVERY ORDER
Threadless, 3/4 — The Threadless app is ready for download!
Coldwater Creek, 3/7 — Chad, set your alarm! 40% off + an EXTRA 10% before 2 p.m.
Dell, 3/31 — $299.99 laptop. Webcrasher deals start NOW.
The Container Store, 3/31 — Exclusive and ★★★★★
Threadless, 3/31 — A tee with real googly eyes? You know it!
Lululemon Athletica, 3/18 — function, meet fashion
Lenovo, 3/5 — Meet your manufactured soul mate
Etsy, 3/5 — So Hot Right Meow
Etsy, 3/24 — Because I’m Happy
Lenovo, 3/1 — Lions, horses, and tablets – oh my.
J.Crew, 3/1 — Need new jeans?
Most popular posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
1. The Many Uses (and 2 Drawbacks) of Animated Gifs
2. The 1, 2, 3 of Defensive Design
3. Email Marketing Rules published 1 year ago today
4. The One-Two Punch of Subject Lines and Preheaders
5. 100 Inspiring Subject Lines: 4 Subject Line Personalization Examples
Gmail’s 10th Anniversary: Its 3 Greatest Contributions
Posted on March 31, 2014
From Day 1, Gmail has had a palpable distain for the status quo. Experimentation and user-centricity are the central pillars of the service, which has consistently been home to marketers’ most desirable subscribers and has regularly given marketers fits and sleepless nights.
Beginning as an invitation-only service on Apr. 1, 2004, Gmail’s dedication to experimentation has been truly epic. But there are three areas of contribution I think are particularly noteworthy:
1. Inbox Bifurcation: Since its creation, the email inbox has followed the rule of “last in on top,” which meant that the most recently received email had the most prominent placement at the top of the inbox. This simplistic hierarchy has never sat well with Gmail, which knew that delivery time was a secondary value indicator.
2. Social Integration: While social has taken a backseat to mobile lately, it’s still having a significant effect on inboxes, with much more to come.
3. Interaction Flow Disruption: The classic email interaction model says that a recipient first engages with the envelope content (from name, subject line, and snippet text), then the body content of the email, and then the landing page. Gmail has taken aim at this paradigm as well.
For my full thoughts on Gmail’s 10th anniversary—as well as those of Carlo Catajan, Andrea Smith, Tom Sather, and Julie Brown—please…
>> Read “Celebrating Gmail’s 10th Anniversary”
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
