Recently, Google Gmail and Microsoft Hotmail introduced new features that prioritize the user’s inbox: Gmail Priority Inbox and Hotmail Sweep. Email deemed to be higher priority is given prominent placement in the inbox and is more likely to be opened and clicked. These prioritizers work much like spam filters, by watching users’ email interaction behavior and filtering email accordingly. You can expect this technology to spread to virtually all consumer inboxes in the coming years.
Your ESP is a hacker target — should you worry?
Posted by Steve Webster - February 11th, 2010
Recently two well-known email service providers (ESPs) announced their clients suffered list theft. Spammers mailed to those stolen lists, which is how the ESPs discovered the breach. How concerned should you be about the security of your lists and other data living in the cloud at your ESP? Here’s a breakdown of the risks:
Spammers steal your lists
If spammers rip off your lists wholesale and mail to them, your subscribers will see an uptick in spam at their address. It’s unlikely your subscribers will notice the increase, since their spam filters will block it as usual.
Disengagement is a sudden thing
Posted by Steve Webster - January 22nd, 2010
This MediaPost article, True Cost Of An Email Campaign by the CTO of Eloqua, contains some interesting ideas and is a worthwhile read. But the author’s “Disengagement Path” concept is bogus — disengagement, like engagement, doesn’t happen gradually and linearly. We know this because Recency (from RFM) response curves aren’t straight lines, they’re usually more like cliffs.
This tells us customers become disengaged much more suddenly, and for reasons that sometimes have nothing to the do with the email they’ve been sent. Reengagement takes more than just not sending them email for a while (as the article implies), instead we craft targeted campaigns specifically designed to restore lapsed interest.
4 Can’t-Miss Email Marketing Ebooks
Posted by Bart Schaefer - January 13th, 2010
Email marketing is continuously evolving. Techniques and methods are constantly perfected to maximize delivery of email campaigns and achieve even greater ROI. Below, we’ve identified 4 can’t-miss email marketing ebooks to help you stay current on the latest technologies and best practices.
Administrivia: We’ve moved – tell us about any trouble reading NJAMB
Posted by Bart Schaefer - November 19th, 2009
We’re relocating the servers used to host this blog to a new home. Please excuse any oddities you see in the next day or two, and if you experience any problems reading the blog, leave a comment on this post so we can investigate. Thanks!
Holiday Email Marketing: Tips for Delivering the Perfect Gift
Posted by Bart Schaefer - November 17th, 2009
With the holiday season right around the corner, that delicious holiday smell – a distinct mix of egg nog, cinnamon and pine trees – is beginning to fill the air.
For many, the start of the holiday season means scouring the stores in search of the perfect gifts, spending hours carefully wrapping them in shiny gold and silver paper, and finally heading to the post office with carload of cheer and packages.
It’s likely you’ve already begun thinking about gifts and cards for loved ones this year. Have you done the same for your customers on your email marketing list?
Striving For Privacy May Instead Bring Unwanted Attention
Posted by Steve Webster - October 30th, 2009
A court ruling in an otherwise ho-hum obscenity case contains a new domain name registration wrinkle that US email marketers should be aware of:
…private [domain] registration for the purpose of concealing the actual registrant’s identity would constitute “material falsification”
This means if you send opt-out email (intentionally or not) and use common privacy-enhancing domain registration services that hide the domain owner’s identity, it might add up to criminal liability under the CAN-SPAM act. If you’re mailing for a reputable brand, why hide it? Provide a real business name, address, and telephone in your domain records. It’s no more info than is available on your website, and it might keep you out of CAN-SPAM trouble.
Think Before You Send: TSA + Airline + ESP = Phishing Scare
Posted by Bart Schaefer - October 3rd, 2009
In the last few weeks some airlines have begun to implement the Transportation Safety Administration’s Secure Flight Program. This program asks (eventually to be, requires) airlines to collect additional information from passengers, intended to reduce false hits against the No Fly List. In the world of email filtering, this is known as “eliminating false positives.”
The details collected are supposed to match the information that appears on the identification the passenger will present to airport security, and the airline must collect them before the boarding pass can be issued. Naturally, then, it makes sense to streamline the process for frequent flyers by asking them to include it with their frequent flyer account.
24 Email Marketing Tactics That Will Make Your Campaigns Sizzle
Posted by Bart Schaefer - September 28th, 2009
Don’t forget that email is still the largest social network!
Facebook may have 300 million users, but Hotmail alone has 375 million+ active accounts worldwide. Also consider that to even use social networks, you need an active email address to sign up in the first place.
Most companies are engaging in one form of email marketing or another. Unfortunately, many don’t take the time to optimize their efforts. Email marketing is a proven tactic and one of the more effective digital marketing channels, if you take the time to give it the proper strategy.
Email subscriber list management: Don’t forget your middle child
Posted by Bart Schaefer - September 10th, 2009
The middle child on your email subscriber list needs some attention.
Those high-achieving oldest children—email subscribers who are active, engaged and likely to purchase—garner a lot of praise and interest. And a good amount of time is spent worrying about those rebellious younger children—those subscribers who have officially opted out.
But what about those who are technically subscribed to your emails, but are inactive and uninterested? These subscribers quickly delete your emails without reading them, but haven’t taken the effort to opt-out. It’s time to think about those middle children, or the “emotionally unsubscribed” as marketing blogger Joanna Lawson Matthew calls them.
