Presentation is everything, they say. And this is especially true on the Internet, when your prospective customers can't physically handle your products or talk to you in person. What your readers see in the email you send (its layout and design) significantly impacts how they react to it; namely, whether or not they respond in a way you'd want them to. So, when you really want them to react in a particular way (like taking a survey or buying your new product), your call-to-action should be designed and placed carefully. Why "The Fold" Can Help You Do This "The fold" is the bottom of y [...]

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A few months back, I wrote a post outlining four responsive emails and the tactics they applied to content. I've received significant feedback on that post, so I’m diving back in to show some more responsive emails from my inbox. There’s a range of ideas here, from beginner to advanced tricks. It’s important that we all be looking at examples of what’s happening in the space. There are few best practices established, and fewer quick fixes. The phrase “mobile optimization” is being tossed around a lot, but the idea is new enough that I don’t think we quite know what it means ye [...]

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'Tis the season when the volume of email sends begins to soar. From Black Friday previews to last minute gift reminders, retailers are upping the ante on the number of messages being sent. This makes the inbox a crowded place to be. But that’s not news. What makes this retail holiday season special? This year over 30% of those messages will likely be read on some type of mobile device. So how do you ensure your message will stand out in the mobile inbox? Even if you haven’t been able to transition your emails into a responsive template or you’re waiting to roll out that new mobil [...]

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I recently read an article about advances in the technology associated with printed receipts, their benefit as a transactional record, and the relative limits of moving to a hand-held transactional device. What that piece missed, however, was the huge value to retailers of emailing a receipt to customers who have made an in-store purchase.  There are many benefits to this triggered email, which, up until now, has not been widely embraced during the in-store checkout experience. 1. Acquisition If a customer chooses to receive their receipt via an email, your brand gains the opportunity to [...]

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You already know how email marketing improves your sales by keeping you in front of your customers. But, if you're still only using email blasts to your whole list, you're missing out on an opportunity. You can increase your sales even more by taking time to target your audience with a technique called segmenting. Segmenting breaks your list into special groups of customers who you can email separately with hyper-relevant content. Some businesses have seen huge spikes in sales by targeting their customers this way. Here are three ways you can target your existing customers for a richer e [...]

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You have email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Gentlemint, Spotify, Tumblr... literally dozens of networks to market on. You can reach an audience through any combination of the above. As an email marketer, you know that the most valuable connections happen in private email inboxes. But activity on social networks, where fans can share with friends who share with contacts, is more visible. Where To Market? Choose a social network or two to be present on (consider where your target demographic hangs out to help you choose). You'll only be able to share bits and snippets, [...]

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Dynamic email, also known as data-driven email, has been around for a long time, but planning this type of complex messaging is still a daunting task to many designers and marketers. It’s not so different from the usual design challenge, though: we have a set of assets, rules and restrictions to which the visual design must adhere, and addressing this challenge is mostly about adopting the right process and mindset. To help overcome those initial hurdles, let’s walk through the basic steps to successfully designing a dynamic message: Inventory content and data Identify block an [...]

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You may not want to start counting the days until your in-laws arrive, but email marketers know that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner. After all, Christmas is just over three months away! Following are five keys to a successful holiday email strategy for you to focus on -- it'll distract you from the impending family invasion about to ensue. 1. Draft Your Schedule Increasing your frequency during holiday is a given. Many retailers will be sending every single day. Some retailers will be sending multiple times a day. Simply put, those who do not change their frequen [...]

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I subscribe to an ever-revolving variety of email programs, looking at old, new, large and small email offerings, and the experience offered by each. A recent streak of unsubscribing highlighted a few trends in the design of preference centers. Preference centers revolve around a central idea: choice. This is the subscriber’s control center, the place where big decisions are made – the level of personal info they offer, the programs in which they participate, the kind of content they want, and whether they want to cut ties. The vast majority of brands are doing a capable job of offering [...]

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Last year, HubSpot presented some research that showed the longer a subscriber was on a mailing list, the less engagement the subscriber had with those emails. However, it's also true that it's easier to turn an existing customer into a repeat customer than it is to find a new customer. The folks on your email list are your best prospects, but if the HubSpot study is any indication, subscribers are getting bored or emails are becoming irrelevant to them as time passes. So how do you create emails that everyone enjoys? The answer is you don't… not really. What you do instead is set up a [...]

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The superhero movies this summer have me reminiscing on my life in comic books. See, prior to email I spent a number of years in the US comics industry, in various creative and production roles. The energy and variety was incredible, and I had the opportunity to be part of projects ranging from adaptations of blockbuster movies to an IT-themed daily webcomic for the world’s largest software company (there’s much more to comics than superheroes!). Looking back, I recognize remarkable similarities between the media of comics and email. Both industries are notably similar in the energy [...]

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Email is seemingly tailor-made for collecting customer information. In a perfect program, collection begins at the point of sign up. Yet marketers know the fewer the questions asked, the more likely the customer is to opt-in. It's a balancing act, though, because marketers also know that the more demographic data they can collect at that point, the easier it will be to deliver relevant, timely emails throughout the span of the relationship. Lack of relevancy will result in unengaged subscribers, poor engagement metrics, junk-mail placement and, ultimately, unsubscribes. Building a smarte [...]

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If you're an experienced marketer, you probably have some tried and true techniques for getting more email subscribers. But you may be leaving many potential new subscribers on the table. How can you ensure you're accomplishing everything that's possible? Go beyond the tried and true and test new approaches. Split testing helps you figure out which factors of your online sign-up form are drawing subscribers and what changes you can make to draw more. There are many split tests you can run on your web form: using inline forms vs pop-ups, including a description of your emails vs disp [...]

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Email is a unique channel. Because it is sent digitally, and click-throughs drive traffic online, retail email marketing is traditionally thought of as only driving ecommerce orders. It is often thought of in the same vein as something like search engine marketing, which directly drives traffic and conversions exclusively online in much the same way that direct mail has traditionally been thought to drive only in-store traffic. It’s time to reconsider the conventional wisdom, however. Used correctly, email marketing drives a significant amount of traffic and revenue in the online and i [...]

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Recognizing the industry needed a scalable design strategy that acknowledged the growing stable of web-enabled devices, Ethan Marcotte coined the term “responsive web design.” Designing responsively means planning for a site to span and appropriately adjust to a range of screens and resolutions, rather than creating unique interfaces or experiences for each. Marcotte’s recent book, also titled Responsive Web Design, defined the idea as having three key pieces: Flexible, grid-based layouts Flexible images (and media) Media queries Responsive Email Their powers combin [...]

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Email  is a one-on-one conversation with your reader, which is part of what makes it so effective for marketing. Thousands of people may see your message (depending on the size of your list), but the conversation ultimately happens in one person's inbox at a time. Because email feels so personal, your messages need to connect with the people you're talking to. You need to keep each individual engaged with your message so that your email can sell. Here are four ways to draw a person into conversation in the inbox. 1. Draw Them In With Killer Headlines The subject line is your conversat [...]

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For an average sender, triggered campaigns make up a low percentage of overall email volume, typically less than 5%. But don’t let the low percentage throw you. In a well-conceived and well-managed program, that 5% can be responsible for 20% or more of your email marketing revenue. In most organizations, these “low-volume, high ROI” triggers take standard forms — welcome messages, order confirmations, rating and reviews requests, abandoned shopping cart notifications, etc. But by dedicating some time and resources to incrementally raising the level of sophistication of you [...]

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Mobile email is no longer coming soon. It's here, and it's here to stay. Mobile-friendly tactics like single column, large text, and big tappable buttons have entered the industry’s collective list of best practices. Skinny emails and @media are a far cry from standard, but it’s much easier to find an example in my inbox each day than it was even a few months ago. To illustrate that point, I nabbed a few messages from my inbox. Amazon has been making impressive strides towards a mobile-friendly email program over the past few months. I'm seeing skinny messages, responsive designs and [...]

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It's almost summer, and that means it's time to change up your emails. Why's that? Tailoring your emails to the season will help you meet your subscribers' current needs and acknowledge you care about what's on their mind. We've got some content ideas that will help you with meeting seasonal needs, but you can also use these ideas to spice up subject lines, provide bonus resources or ignite social media conversations. Here's what you can do by season: Summer What's on their mind: summer vacation, BBQs and fun outside. How your email campaign changes: Offer solutions: activit [...]

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Well-run email marketing programs account for as much as 20 percent of a retailer’s online revenue. While some might view that as an aggressive number, I am of the opinion that a fully-developed program, complete with lifecycle messaging, triggered programs, segmentation strategies, abandoned shopping cart series, etc., will drive even more than that. Whatever the percentage, there is no arguing that email’s contribution is significant, and with this level of revenue on the line it is critical that retailers have a solid team in place to manage and execute this aspect of the busines [...]

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