Episode #13 of Reputation Radio is LIVE!

Our new episode of Reputation Radio is available on iTunes.

In this episode, we speak with Ken Magill of the Magilla Marketing newsletter and DIRECT about the current state of the email industry. Ken discusses how email industry insiders love to talk about advanced concepts while many businesses are still challenged by the basics. Why do direct marketing veterans still struggle to grasp the unique characteristics of email marketing? Which companies executing email right and which companies are getting it wrong? Ken answers these questions and more.

Is there someone in the email universe you think we should interview? Do you have a question about email deliverability or sender reputation? Call 206-350-5512 and leave a message. Or, email us: podcast@returnpath.net. We might use your question in a future episode.

Listen to episode 13 now and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss a minute of Reputation Radio.

Categories: Email Deliverability | News | Response

Subscribers to Marketers: I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore!

By Stephanie Miller
VP, Global Market Development

Here's some more fodder to build your case for investing in your email program to build long term value, protect your revenue and demand generation success.

While 64% of consumers say promotional offers dominate both the email and traditional mail they receive, only 41% view them as must-read communications and another 22% say that they would definitely defect from supporting a brand in protest of irrelevant mailings, according to a new study out from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and InfoPrint Solutions.

Categories: Response

Poetic Advice: Please Respect Subscribers This Season

By Stephanie Miller
VP, Global Market Development


A poem from an AOL postmaster called Nightmares Before Christmas says it all (and in rhyme!).

You'd think that retailers who already send 5-10 non-targeted email messages a week (yes, that is sometimes more than one a day) would not have much room to grow in frequency this season.

You'd be wrong.

Our Return Path deliverability and reputation data is...

Categories: Email Deliverability | Response

Report from the UK: Acquisition and List Growth Advice

By Margaret Farmakis
Senior Director, Response Consulting

Last week, I attended the first in a series of email marketing customer lifecycle seminars to be held in London over the next 10 months by the DMA UK. This first session focused on the first stage of the lifecycle: acquisition and list growth.

The panel of speakers included Jeanniey Mullen, co-author of "Email Marketing: An Hour a Day" and founder of the Email Experience Council; a joint presentation from Marc Munier, Commercial Director at Pure360 and James Hamlin, Online Marketing Director at Seatwave; and Stephen Groom, Head of Marketing and Privacy Law at Osborne Clark. ...

Categories: Response

Report from the UK: 4 Email Tips Guaranteed to Stuff Your Stocking

By Margaret Farmakis
Senior Director, Response Consulting

With another Royal Mail strike looming just as the busy shopping season gears up, it's understandable for retailers in the United Kingdom to be in a bit of a panic. Having signed off months ago on glossy Christmas catalogues, marketing managers will be left wondering when customers will actually see the results of their hard work (and high printing costs). Will they remain in postal sorting limbo, will they ever be delivered and when? Online retailers will be worried as well: consumers are going to be less inclined to shop online if they can't have a guaranteed shipping or delivery date for their items.

As if this year wasn't hard enough on businesses trying to keep a positive balance sheet and stay upbeat amidst the dire financial and economic predictions, now this. So what's a retailer to do? Where can a retail marketer turn during a quarter so crucial to the company's bottom line? The answer is email. Now, more than ever. Here are three ideas for surviving, and thriving, the Christmas crunch ...

Categories: Response

Bootcamp Lessons for Every Sender

By Stephanie Miller
VP, Global Market Development

No matter how much time you spend perfecting your email marketing, it always comes down to the basics. After you validate all the infrastructure is correct, email marketing is pretty straightforward in concept. Simply: If you give subscribers what they want (a.k.a: helpful, relevant, timely information they can proudly act upon), then they will give you what you want (a.k.a.: revenue, response, loyalty).

Relevancy. That is perhaps the most over-used word in email marketing and deliverability. It's easy to see why increased relevancy will improve results - and help your messages stand out. Most marketing is ill timed, poorly targeted and un-interesting. Do the opposite and your messages will be welcome and earn higher revenue. You will have more loyalty, lower complaints and higher inbox placement.

So go ahead and do that ...

Categories: Response

Cool Email Idea: Secrets to Email that Gets Opened & Read

What: Secrets to Email that Gets Opened & Read

Who: BLR (Business & Legal Reports)

Why we love it: Oh, you just can't make this stuff up! "Banana Decimates Office." "Workers Test Poker Faces." "Invasion of the Robots." "Wanted: Lackey to the Stars."

The stuff of supermarket tabloids? No sir. It's HR Strange but True, the fast-growing, interactive e-zine from BLR, the plain English business compliance training and resource company. Conceived as a column for BLR's human resources website and e-zine, HR Strange but True was so popular that BLR gave it center stage as a stand alone newsletter. Following the best practice that even a little bit of content exponentially increases the value of an e-newsletter, HR Strange But True is grew super-fast - from 278 to more than 7,000 subscribers in just under a year ...

Categories: Response

How Can Non-Profits Send More Engaging Email?

By Bonnie Malone
Director, Response Consulting

Retailers aren't the only ones gearing up for the holidays -- it's a big season for non-profits too. But just how well do non-profits use email to connect with subscribers (and potential donors), engage them in a cause, and spur them into action? Return Path's new research study, "Telling Stories: How Non-Profits Can Create More Engaging Email Marketing Programs," focuses on answering these questions by measuring email use among 50 well known non-profit organizations.

Assessing the entire subscriber experience for 30 days, the study analyzes practices across a wide spectrum of organizations - from children, to health, to politics, animals, and museums. The study identified several areas of strength among these mailers, including 62% of organizations that sent a welcome message immediately upon subscribe (something only 40% of for-profit counterparts do), and a strong integration of social media elements.

However, there were a number of areas where non-profits fell short. ...

Categories: Response

Great Ideas to Steal And A Sneak Peek at the MarketingProfs Digital Mixer

By Stephanie Miller
VP, Global Market Development

Let's be honest. The boss expects us to learn something every time we attend a conference. In fact, he'll be lurking when we return until we report back something great. Something to implement immediately that earns higher response and revenue. Something that makes him look good in the next meeting with the CEO.

That's why I'm delighted to be the "Mixologist" for the Must Know sessions at the upcoming Marketing Profs Digital Marketing Mixer on October 21-22nd in Chicago. A mixologist is part Sherpa, part ambassador, part cheerleader for a track of sessions at the event. The Must Know track is dedicated to providing real world, how-to information about earning higher revenue from digital marketing. There are sessions on email, search and social.

You can learn about this track and the others by listening to the recording of the Sneak Peek webinar (MarketingProfs premium membership required). All the mixologists gave some highlights of learnings you can expect, and we all shared some ideas for your email and social programs that you can implement now. You'll hear from online community maven Beth Harte, customer satisfaction expert Becky Carroll of Petra Consulting and social-email guru Jason Baer of Convince & Convert.

My five ideas to steal ...

Categories: Response

Three Tips for Non-Profit Email Marketing

By Margaret Farmakis
Senior Director, Response Consulting

The British public are a charitable lot. Donations to non-profit organizations totalled £1.3 billion in calendar year 2007/2008, with cash being the most popular form of giving. A few stand-out organizations (of the 171,000 charities registered in the UK as of 2007) include Barnardo's, dedicated to helping vulnerable children through fostering programs and domestic violence education; Marie Curie Cancer Care, providing free nursing care for terminally ill cancer patients; and Mencap, offering support services for people with learning disabilities and their families.

Not surprisingly, email plays a large part in the fundraising initiatives of these organizations. According to a recent study by non-profit technology solutions provider Blackbaud, 62% of non-profits are using email as their most common form of communication with donors, just slightly behind direct mail. When done right, email can make non-profit organizations a lot of money, but when done wrong, marketers run two major risks.

The first risk is that subscribers quickly get tired of ...

Categories: Response