Dec
29
By Matt Blumberg
CEO & Chairman
Last year I thought it would be easier to make a list of things that WOULDN'T happen in 2008. Well, that turns out to be 60% true. Below see my original list of "unpredictions" as published on January 2, 2008 alongside an accounting of how I fared.
1. Email won't die! Despite at least 38 articles which will be published during 2008 predicting the imminent demise of our beloved channel, there will be more people using it, more companies using it, and more emails sent in 2008 than in 2007.
Thumbs up: Email certainly didn't die. It remains a strong, vibrant and interesting channel.
2. Multichannel retailers won't send out more email per subscriber in 2008 than they did in 2007. The best ones have already gotten the idea that less is more - or at least that less CAN BE more if segmentation, targeting, and user preference centers are done properly.
Thumbs down: Segmentation didn't increase appreciably this year. Too many email marketers continued ...
Categories: Email Deliverability | News
Dec
22
By George Bilbrey
President
This week was a pretty nostalgic week from many old-time Return Path employees as we moved our Colorado offices three miles down the road to Broomfield. We've been in the current offices in Superior, Colorado since the formation of one of Return Path's predecessor firms (Veripost) moved in during the spring of 2000. When I look at where we were and how far we've come, I'm really proud of the entire Return Path team. In 2001 (after the bubble had popped), I'm pretty sure that I wasn't predicting the long strange trip we've taken and the level of success that we currently enjoy.
Friday was our first day in the new digs ...
Tell me moreCategories: News
Dec
16
December 16, 2008 -- The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), in partnership with Return Path, a leading deliverability and email reputation services provider, has launched a Web-based Email Reputation Registry giving member companies unprecedented access to third-party data about their email programs. The registry makes it easier for DMA's 3,400 member companies to increase the integrity and value of email marketing and in doing so, reinforces the Association's efforts around self-regulation in the digital marketing arena.
"Millions of marketers around the world depend on email to communicate with their current customers and to reach new ones, and that is why it is essential that email is viable and trusted," said Senny Boone, DMA's Senior Vice President, Corporate & Social Responsibility. "Authentication plays a major role in ensuring trust in the electronic marketplace because it lays a framework for legitimate email marketers to be identified. DMA's Email Reputation Registry, which will provide authentication verification, is a major step towards preserving email as both an important tool for marketers and a vital communications and commerce channel." ...
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Dec
07
By Anita Absey
SVP, Sales & Marketing
On Saturday Return Path celebrated its ninth anniversary. I hope you'll indulge me a bit as I go ahead and admit that I am biased, of course, but that I think this year may be our best yet.
A few highlights ...
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Nov
25
By Matt Blumberg
CEO & Chairman
Since its early days Return Path has had a tradition to send Thanksgiving cards to our clients and other friends of the company. We like the idea of being ahead of the holiday madness. More importantly, though, Thanksgiving just seems like the right holiday for expressing thanks. There is the name of the holiday, after all. And as a bonus it's a non-religious holiday which solves a lot of potential problems. (Ask me about the year we accidentally sent Christmas sleighs to some Jewish clients - from a CEO named Blumberg! On second thought, don't ask.)
But this year we decided to shake up the tradition just a bit and send an e-card instead. Again, this just makes sense for us. We are an email company, after all. And it's so much greener than ink on dead trees. As an added bonus, you can just have so much more fun with an animated card.
And boy did our agency have fun! ...
Tell me moreCategories: News
Nov
14
Check out some recent mentions of Return Path, both in the news and around the blogosphere.
In the news ...
Matt Blumberg was featured in this New York Times piece about our recent acquisition of Habeas. He was also quoted in a piece in the New York Observer about managing in a slowing economy.
An Associated Press piece on how retailers will be using email this holiday season features quotes from Stephanie Miller.
On the blogs ...
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Nov
06
By Stephanie Colleton
Director, Strategic Services
We just completed a panel discussion led by Anita Absey entitled "IN Their Own Words - How Top Marketers Get Delivered Every Time - Well Almost." Our panelists included Jenny Ahujo from comScore, Michael Cleary from Proctor & Gamble, David Maher from Fidelity Investments and Herschel Thompson from Charming Shoppes.
We started out with polling the audience to get a sense of what types of email people are sending. Turns out, most people are sending a mix of promotional and editorial email. In addition, most people are not including any promotional messaging in their transactional messages.
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By Bonnie Malone
Director, Strategic Services
With great flair and charisma, Chad Malchow, Return Path's VP of Sales, played game show host in a fun, interactive game deemed "Inbox or No Inbox". The format was that of a familiar, popular TV game show - and in this version, the audience got to participate. Three contestants were pulled to the stage from the audience and asked individually to choose a briefcase containing an Email Marketing question.
Each question was given a dollar value ranking from $100 to $25,000. Once the question was asked, the audience first was polled while the contestant determined her answer. Then, the audience response was revealed and the contestant was given the opportunity to change her answer or "lock in" her previous choice.
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By Margaret Farmakis
Senior Director, Strategic Services
Stephanie Miller kicked off the afternoon session of IN: The Email Reputation Conference by stating that the only way marketers can leverage ROI and harness the power of the email channel is to send email that will make subscribers happy. How? By respecting the subscriber experience and sending relevant emails. Unfortunately, many marketers simply aren't doing this and continue to send the same messages to everyone (the opposite of relevancy).
In order to illustrate this concept of respecting the subscriber, Stephanie shared some real email examples from marketers who are following best practices, and those that aren't. She also asked the audience to vote on what they thought of the email examples using an interactive feedback tool called the Perception Analyzer to track results instantly.
Tell me moreCategories: News
By Bonnie Malone
Director, Strategic Services
The fourth session of IN: The Email Reputation Conference featured a panel of speakers from ISP's Comcast and Time Warner/Roadrunner. The conversation started with some statistics about the mail that an average ISP receives. For many, these were surprising numbers, as most marketers didn't realize the discrepancies in volume between legitimate and illegitimate senders:
Categories: News
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