I have to hand it to the guys over at Mountain Equipment Cop-op. They sent out this very interactive email that really made me look hard.
Scroll down and lean away from your monitor.
Check out the full version online.
In an effort to try and bring you current and relevant email marketing information we thought we would share some of the findings from the First Annual State of Email Marketing Metrics Survey.
Here are some of the top-line results taken from the EmailStatCenter.com
Frequent Measurement is Integral to Success
Over 95% of the individuals surveyed said that they did measure the results of their email campaigns. When asked how often they measured results, 57% of respondents indicated that they measure results 24-48 hours after deployment. However, only 18% indicated that they measured results on an annual basis.
Click Through and Deliverability Rank Tops with Professionals
Professionals ranked click through rate and deliverability as the most important metrics to track. Metrics surrounding total subscribers and forwards were among the lowest ranked metrics in terms of importance.
Metrics Not Widely Used for Budgeting
Only 50% of the email professionals surveyed reported that they use metrics for budgeting and forecasting purposes while 35% of professionals cited that they do not use metrics for budgeting. The remaining 15% were unsure.
Click here to get your copy and enjoy your read.
I was just looking over the new Email Marketing Summit by Marketing Sherpa being held in Miami in Feb 2008.
This is a great event for any email marketer. I have enjoyed the last 2 summits, Miami 2007 and Chicago 2006.
If you have never been to this event, I think it is a must. Great speaker, real educational and most of all, everyone eat, breaths and lives email marketing.
Let me know if you are going this year or if you think there is a better event for email marketing out there.
After attending the DMA convention in Chicago and handing out my business card I got this great email.
Funny thing is, it arrived a day after the sale person called me.
Now you tell me, should a company who preaches database marketing not understand the true power of personalization?
Not only did the Dear First Name say
Dear %%FIRST_NAME%%,
There should have been a variable content segment that said:
If first name is unavailable, insert Dear Trade-Show Visitor,
It might be a little less personal, but it covers the bases.
Chris Marriott , Vice President and GM, Eastern Region Acxiom Digital wrote: Is Email Facing Extinction?
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/15637.asp
It’s an interesting article and if you believe all the numbers the easy conclusion is that today’s youth are a lot more engaged with SMS and instant massaging than they are with email.
I contradicted Chris and told him…SMS is prevalent amongst teens given the cheap and easy access to cell phones.
My bet is that today’s teens would be just as engaged as the older population if they had cheap and easy access to BlackBerrys and Treos or sat behind a PC for 8 hours a day like most of us do.
People will use what they can afford and have access to. Today’s teens can afford cell phones not email messaging devices.
BTW…Did you know that you can buy a cell phone for $49 and send 100 text messages for only $5.00 .In Canada even…eh!
Many eMail newslettes have a link at the top that reads…
Having trouble reading this message, click here for an online version.
So here is the scenario. A percentage of readers who specify they want to receive HTML are consistently clicking on that link within an HTML message to read the online version.
Best practices would say, convert their preferences on the back end so that they get a properly formatted text version, with a link to the online version.
So here is my question…
What do you do with the segment of your database that is always reading the HTML version as a web page?
Send me your answers.
More often then not, I hear people refer to their own email marketing campaigns as spamming their customers.
These are the same people who spend a lot of time and effort asking you to opt-in to their email newsletter. They spend even more time crafting their message and and most of them are paying a third party service to properly deliver the message for them.
After attending the Camp Timberlane’s 50th reunion at the Capitol Theater and hearing Corey Mandell apologise for sending all the spam emails I realised here is someone who does not even understand the power of the medium that put more than 700 people under one roof with the click of a mouse. Tickets were sold online $50 each.
Corey, next time you refer to your email list, campaigns or customers remember we all have email addresses and we’re opting in because we think we are going to get something of value, not SPAM.
If you’re going to apologise for sending all the SPAM, just don’t send it to begin with.
Better yet don’t apologise, and don’t think of it as SPAM. Think of email marketing as a tool that can help you sell $35,000 worth of tickets for less than $100 worth of email messaging services.
Also if you work at, you can build a very qualified email list that will fill cabin bunks for $6300 a head.
Your email list, they way you use it and how you refer your marketing efforts should all be treated with respect, not referred to as Sending SPAM.
Good luck and keep the SPAM great emails coming :o)
In February I had the pleasure of meeting Jeannie and Ali of the Email Experience Council @ the Marketing Sherpa Email Event in Miami.
What’s great about what these guys, or should I say ladies, or stand corrected and say team, (sorry Chad) is they are bringing a voice to the industry and community that I belong to.
The email industry has been growing for a long time (since 1998 in my book) and has never really had anyone step up to the plate and be the voice of reason behind what can be misconstrued as a crazy, technology filled, confusing medium of communication.
I applaud, support and wholeheartedly plan to contribute and participate where I can to help these guys succeed. They are a well needed resource!
Great job guys!!!
Don’t forget to check out their site, it has great articles, links and insider email information that we all need.
Check em out Email Experience Council http://www.emailexperience.org
I have now been using Spam Arrest for the last 2 weeks and have to admit that I have been able to eliminate 99.9% of my unwanted junk mail.
Spam Arrest is a challenge response system that sends out an auto-reply email to anyone that sends me an email.
Cool part is, unless that person fills out a CAPTCHA security form, their email does not get delivered to me.
On average we were receiving over 250 spam messages a day. Now we only get
I was just checking out my inbox and came across this great article by Return Path.
It shows an example of how online retailer http://www.adagio.com/ sends you an email confirmation when your order has been delivered.
Now that’s even better than knowing it’s been shipped!
Check out Return Path’s Article