Email + Social: Attaching Value to Social Media Marketing

Let’s take a look at the value of marketing via social networks. It’s no secret that marketers have been struggling to measure the return on investment for their social media efforts. However, a recent report finally sheds some light on the issue. A survey conducted in early June reports that 43 percent of US marketers have successfully used social media to increase customer acquisition in 2011.

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Webinar: Building Reputation and Spurring Email Engagement in the Age of Social and Mobile

Please join me on Thursday, June 9th, 2011 at 1:00PM EST for a discussion on how to use new inbox technologies, mobile and social to achieve higher engagement and deliverability rates.

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How Inactive Addresses Hurt Deliverability plus 3 Tips on What to Do

Inactive subscribers are a liability to anyone who sends email. They hurt deliverability, which in turn reduces your response rates, and before you know it, your email program isn’t making as money as it used to. Marketing managers usually understand that the key is to get rid of the deadweight to solve these problems, but most executives try to solve the revenue problem through a numbers game and sending to even more email addresses, many of which are inactive as well. So why should you care about removing inactive addresses?

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Return Path Expands into China, Signs Top ISPs, Tencent/QQ and Sohu, to Certification Service

Return Path, the global leader in email deliverability and reputation management services, today announced the company’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, signing on China’s two largest Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Tencent/QQ, and Sohu, to use Return Path Certification, the largest global whitelist of certified, legitimate email senders. As part of this expansion strategy, the company is also unveiling a new report for digital marketers called “Email Marketing in the New China,” which analyzes user behaviors, identifies market opportunities and details best-practices for email marketing in China.

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How to Be a Great at Ping Pong and Email Marketing

I love ping pong, and that’s probably a bit of an understatement. I may have gotten a blister from playing so much during my last visit, but I will neither confirm nor deny that. Luckily, I’m not the only one who appreciates a good game of ping pong. I’ve had a lot of fun spending time with some terrific Return Path players. As it turns out, ping pong is actually good for you, according to this article sent around by our own Senior Director of People, Cathy Hawley, who beat me the last time I visited. I’m currently in training for the rematch.

So what does ping-pong have to do with email marketing? It turns out that the best practices that apply to optimizing your email marketing campaigns and the skills required to win a game of ping pong are actually very similar. Let me elaborate…

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We Are All In the Digital Publishing Business

At this week’s DPAC III event three hundred publishers, brand advertisers, agencies and technology solution providers gathered to discuss the state of the digital publishing industry. The content was great and the conversations very thought provoking.

Key takeaways for me, along with links to the Digiday Daily blog posts that I wrote from the show floor:

The new consumer priority is saving, not spending. Marketers must adjust our messaging and channel strategy to engage with consumers who value savings, quality and collaboration when buying. The “I want” culture is shifting to a “We need” mentality. …

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Do you need a vacation?

When was the last time you went somewhere exotic? Or experienced a different culture? Wouldn’t you just love to fly to a faraway country and immerse yourself in new foods, experiences, and languages? Well, you’re not alone: your subscribers do, too.

Often, marketers get stuck in a rut sending campaigns that look and perform the same week after week. Why? Because it’s the way it’s always been, or it’s the formula that works, or it’s easy to execute. But this kind of routine gets stale quickly both for the marketer measuring performance (and looking at that same creative week after week), and for the subscriber bored with each predictable email campaign.

So, let’s take a vacation! …

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Emailcenter UK Subscriber Study: Say Something Worthwhile

Our partner Emailcenter, an email service provider in the UK, recently polled British consumers about their inbox habits and preferences. It’s a good study (free registration required) and the report is full of wonderful ideas to improve email marketing response and deliverability.

The main findings are straightforward:
1. Consumers get a lot of email.
2. Relevancy matters.
3. Many marketers take a short term, aggressive approach to email.

It’s not surprising the study finds that most email marketing is pretty terrible – it’s irrelevant, untargeted and poorly timed. What the study really points out is that consumers notice. …

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How Non-profits Can Profit from Email Marketing Even in a Down Economy

With the global economy in a tailspin, marketers are increasingly being asked to do more with less. As a result, email has never looked better when it comes to delivering a high ROI for your marketing investment. Why? Minimal sending costs, instantly available performance metrics and the potential for huge revenue, relationship building and branding gains.

There may be one industry in particular where email could and should, play an increasingly important part of the marketing mix: charitable organizations. After all, nonprofits have always relied on the generosity of others and are now doing so in an environment where people have less and less to give.

In fact, a recent article in the NonProfit Times cited a study by the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation (DMANF) showing that more than two-thirds of non-profit executives plan to change their marketing strategy because of the economy. Why? The study showed that …

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BOO! Email Marketing Statistics That Just Might Scare You

Email marketers, BEWARE! Do not press “send” before you read this, or proceed at your own (and your subscribers’) peril. Just in time for Halloween, we have some gruesome and gory email marketing statistics that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and your blood run cold.

While you won’t be inclined to do the Monster Mash, you may think twice about sending another promotional email with the same “buy now” messaging. A recent blog posting by Jason Baer shared some seriously scary email stats that were used in a presentation at the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer earlier this month. They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky all right. In fact, they’re all together “ooky,” but not nearly as harmless as the Addams Family.

But fear not brave marketer – even the most devilish of Halloween tricks can be countered with a deliciously yummy and potently sweet treat. So stop repeating “I see dead people” when referring to the inactive portion of your email file, break out the candy corn and read on. …

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