The Email Wars

It has been interesting to see the sprouting of services like Whspr and the Other Inbox lately, as well as mailinator and others of the like, to give people disposable email addresses that expire in a certain set time period. I can understand the idea behind these (note The Other Inbox is slightly different from these others) but if systems like this continue to multiply is this not going to kill the value of an email address and thus change the dynamics of a relationship? 

With people concerned about the opt in and giving away the information to parties that they deem important enough to want to get content, alerts, studies, beta invites, etc from why would we want them to be able to decide when to kill a relationship except by using a valid opt out system? To me this is only going to pollute the database integrity of email marketers world wide and in the end dilute the ISP/Email reputation that most of us work so hard each and everyday to move forward.

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I was sent this article from our Creative Director who manages one of our other blogs We Like It Fresh. It is one of the better in depth analysis of new web 2.0 style sites and the elements that make up a good presence and sign up/opt in page. 

I think that we can all learn from this article as many of these new properties are in the business of land grabbing as many new subscribers and users as fast as possible. But wait, isn’t that the same business all of us are in? Getting new customers and leads? I think so. 

To me this is one of the better articles I have seen in a long time that many of us can use. Yet some key points that he missed is what do you do after you have them signed up? Thank you Page? Double Opt in? Welcome messaging, preference centers? 

Just some things to think about but please do take some time to read this article as you are looking at your own landing pages, lead capture and opt in pages. 

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Hope you enjoy it as we have 11 more studies like this on the way in our Resources Center coming down the pipe.

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Not sure if many of you know or care, but this will impact you for a short time. Google, who owns Feedburner, has changed it to move into Google Accounts. This being said we moved quick to change out our own RSS feeds (for those of you that subscribe via RSS) and we are seeing a delay in the technical change over from Google. So the only impact to you is that there might be a delay in refreshing the RSS feed over the next 24-48 hours. 

So hold tight and let’s watch the Gods of search make the change. 

OR you could always subscribe on our site via email on the right hand side of the blog for weekly email recaps using our very own RSS to emailROI system. Or for those of you in the Digerati using Twitter… follow us at http://www.twitter.com/eROI

Now as an email marketer you might be thinking that I am going to be talking about subject lines and short Vs long. Well sorry but that is not the case here. What is the topic is that this email might be one of the longest I have seen in an ecommerce email. 

Typically we see shorter emails that focus on the products or the event. Now this one used the full length of the man pictures to cause a VERY long scroll. Not sure of the point of this as by the time you get to the bottom of this email there is not anything more valuable than the link you got to 1/4 of the way down to go shop. That being said how many people would keep going down on this email if it just kept being a photo. And if you have images suppressed it would just look like one LONG, EMPTY email. 

For the sake of brevity I would think that this is a waste of space and might not help to drive conversions of the desired campaign. Or would it? 

What are your thoughts? 

I am all for testing new things, but to me this is not a good test in the inbox. Would be better served for a NYT print ad. 

Every once in a while I come across an ecommerce driven email that makes me stop and think for a minute. Not on the design and execution but the copy. I was recently caught by this one from Banana Republic as I was amazed just how many times the words “Save, Shop, Spend, Free and More” were used. If you look at the creative you might see what I am talking about as I did not know where to click? 

Not that I was in market to buy when this popped in my inbox, but if I was what the hell was I supposed to focus on? It made me feel like there was a virtual barker placed in my inbox trying to get me to enter the circus tent to see the world’s smallest man. I mean just how many times must the message in your copy repeat itself to resonate with the subscriber and drive action to the item or store? 

Was I supposed to shop? Was I going to Save? Would it be free? Or did they just want to test all sorts of ideas in one email? Simple in all things, especially the inbox wins everytime. This email just confused me as to what I was going to get once I clicked through. Would I forget to use the coupon code? Would the coupon code give me all of these things at once? Or would I need to go back and forth between the web experience and the email to make sure that I got EVERYTHING that was reflected in these offers? 

No clue. Pulled the rip cord and walked away. 

Just my own advice, take it if you want it, but focus on the value and the driver to action. If you give too many messages from Subject Line to email you will confuse and possibly lose the sale. 

Little bit of Aretha to get you going this AM. With a twist. 

I was excited to see an email from someone, in this case Subway, reaching out to subscribers alerting them to changes in their privacy policies. It is rare that we see people updating privacy policies as well as alerting their subscriber base to these changes. I personally think that is a practice that should be done more often. And I don’t just mean letting them know, but actually changing your privacy policies on your sites to stay up on the changes in laws and how your site uses them. 

We are all changing our sites, adding functionality, adding new systems, new databases and new marketing systems like emailROI. When we talk to our new customers coming to eROI to use our marketing tool I always make a point to ask them about their privacy policies and ask them to send me a link to them as well for a quick review.

What would have made this email even better (IMHO) would have been to request or just make available a way for the end user to review and/or modify their preferences and information. Just a simple way to make sure that everyone is in check with the latest information and give an easy way to verify the subscriber information you have on file. 

Ever wondered how to get better using gmail? Well wonder no more. Now Google has released a free kit of stickers that you can affix to your keyboard and train yourself how to use it better. This is a funny idea as I would go nuts having all of these stickers combatting my eyes for time just in order to give me some added productivity. They do state that they are “less sticky” so that you can remove them later.

But what hit me more about this idea is the viral nature of these stickers. When you see this on a keyboard, as I did in the “wild” at the eROI office by our guru of install every new app daily and drink the kool aid of every new marketing program (name with held to protect the guilty) it makes you stop and ask what these are all about. Well they are about gmail. End of story. But I stopped to ask and then snapped a photo to share with all of you. 

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On the heels of my Barackeconomy posts on how so many brands are hitching their wagons to our new President, then comes NBC proud as a peacock with a whole new word (yes like Barackeconomy).

They not only introduced the DVD of the Inauguration but went as far as saying “Obamabelia”. DVD… OK, but Bobblehead… now you are taking it so far on a man just to turn a buck. Amazing. I mean I can understand that selling the footage of such an historic event has merit and value and ties to them as a brand. But listen here. You sold me Dwight (from office space) bobble head and now I would actually buy one of the President? Seems odd and in poor taste IMHO. What is next? Barack chewing gum and sheets for my kids’ beds? 

But let’s not stop there as there is no need to ONLY pull out the Peacock on this one. I found a collection below falling into my inbox on Inauguration day. 

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Now I don’t want you to think that landing pages suck. They rock for when you can create a campaign specific one that resonates with the email you sent out. But what kills them is when technology lets you down and does not work.

The reason for this post is a recent email I got from Hilton Honors with a great double your points deal. In order to take advantage of it you needed to hit the landing page and I assume complete something. Now why I assume is that nothing ever worked. As a frequent traveler I gave them the benefit of the doubt and revisited it over 2 days time. Still no good.

So they lost me, or worse to me as a subscriber, I lost out on the deal. So it was a bad experience. I am hoping that they will send this out again to those that did not take advantage of the offer or where unable to do so.

Technology as awesome as it is can often fail us. That is the lesson here in one part. Even if you have the best segmentation, subject line, and creative your campaign can still encounter issues. I just hope that they are going to be wise and drop this email again before the deal ends. 

So just how many brands and individuals are using the new president as a way to jump into the marketing efforts of the BarackEconomy? I have been on the look out for brands that have started to use it as a way of cashing in on search and tying themselves to the “optimism” in the new president. I also noticed this AM while on a call with FastCo/Inc that they have an article on just this subject as well. Timely.

We have seen JCrew use the Michelle Obama reference to where she buys her clothes not only in email but also in search, which in many cases shows up in the inbox as well with paid terms. Now hitting my inbox is a new flavor or Ben and Jerry’s. What is next… Borders using a list of Top Books Obama would read? (OH WAIT ABE BOOKS IS) Or an email marketing service provider releasing a new Obama version of their software?

I understand that the natural tie in is going to happen. We are seeing a grass roots retail trade shape up on the streets of major cities with beannies and t-shirts. That is to be expected. What I am not ready for is brand marketers in consumer packaged goods to jump on the band wagon. I feel that it is really a bad play. I mean why wasn’t there some Bushio’s or GW Pop Tarts? Oh yeah, he had a bad reputation and not many of us would have bought that junk. Would have sounded like it tasted good, but stuck to the top of your mouth for 8 years.

Getting back on target now… think twice about how you decide to tie your brand to some things in life. I personally feel that some things should remain out of the political realm. Including my pint of ice cream. Or maybe I will just go upload my dog’s photo to use this promo I found to place your pet as the new First Pet. I mean why not just take the insanity to the next level?

I read this past week that MySpace is working on a new email system to give all of it’s 125 million active email users an inbox inside of the social networking site. Now this could be a game changer if they are successful with this integration and launch. Why? Well if even 20% of the user that LIVE in MySpace use this new email client it will make all of us look at feedback loops (do they exist), rendering, white listing, and how emails are forwarded inside and outside of the space. Now also to consider is what type of social media sharing tools MySpace might integrate into this new email client. 

We should all keep our eyes on this as I would assume that the main comp Facebook could be working on something to stay in the features war as well. 

Read the news at the jump >>

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Interesting news in light of all the new email clients, services and more we see each week. Seems that we could be hitting the tipping point of too many email services and not enough users to justify the free model of email. To me this is a good thing. There are simply too many email services and ISPs. We need focus on the majors while supporting the fringe. 

News follows in the rest of the post for you. But in the end looks like Feb 15th is is all over for Lycos mail in the US and EU.

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Every once in a while a great book comes along to help people be better at their jobs. Recently a new book from Jeanniey Mullen and David Daniels was released that is positioned to help us with our approach and understanding to email marketing. Now I have been working in email marketing and interactive since 1996 and I have seen many changes in how campaigns can be created to be more effective. I am not going to lie to you as back in the beginning we were all just creating the rules of the game as we went along. But over the years we have, as an industry, taken steps to set rules, laws, guidelines and best practices. 

Now this book (Email Marketing One Hour a Day) is one that I wish would have been around when I first got into using email for the companies I worked at. There were not blogs like this, conferences, and a community of email marketers that were so open and willing to help. I have been slowly digging through chapters every few nights (sorry about not following the title rules of not spending an hour a day on it, but I have a few other things going on) and have found some good thoughts and lessons to not only apply, but to share with the team @eROI. 

In taking some time to go back to the basics and learning some approaches outlined in this book I am finding that I am thinking more about the overall approach as opposed to simply the execution of email campaigns. 

I encourage all of you to get either the digital copy or the print copy and not only take some time to read it yourself, but to either share your knowledge or pass your copy over to others on your team when you are finished with it. 

Here is to 2009 and having people that are passionate about what they do, how they approach email, and striving to drive the best results you can for your clients or company.

So this might be a little off the just email marketing wagon, but trust me it holds up in ways once you see the video. I have long thought this was one of the best movies I saw in 1990 about agencies, clients, and advertising approaches. The funny thing that this reminded me of when I watched it again was that it is SPOT ON to what we are all tackling and wrestling with now. Transparency in marketing and relationships with our customers.

Take into consideration that eROI is not only an email marketing software company, but also a full service digital creative agency. We deal with email daily and create campaigns, but we are also building corporate websites, blogs, social media sites, online strategy, lead generation campaigns, branding, and building custom applications to solve our clients problems. Ok off the stump now.

Here is the Creative Session: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWoy1Rfq5Oo that will illustrate this thought.

I have to say that this movie was years ahead of it’s time in. Think about how relevant this is today when it was written years before the invention of the internet, and decades before the rise of social media, transparent pr, and consumer controlled brands.

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