Crystal Ball: More issues ahead for Yahoo! Email Marketing
June 26, 2008
Yahoo! is introducing new email address domains - ymail.com & rocketmail.com. Good for users, bad for email marketers.
I have always hated my Yahoo! email address, so I jumped at the chance to get something better. Score! I got the same extension as my Gmail address (us email marketers have a lot of email accounts, and we actually check them all).
Why is that bad for email marketing? Because Yahoo! didn't ask me to change my @yahoo.com to the new address. And in my @yahoo.com account, there is no tool that I have found that allows me to change my account to my new address. There are numerous implications for both ESP's and Email Marketers.
As a user, do I have to go into my (now) old account and change all of my subscriptions to my new address? I now have 2 Yahoo! ID's with no ability to merge. Manually? Fuggeddaboutit. Apparently Yahoo.com Id's are technically based on Email addresses.
We are looking at potentially millions of email addresses that will go dormant. Will they become honeypots? Will you be penalized by Yahoo for emailing these addresses once they stop checking?
Also, if the adoption rate is as high as I think it will be (hate your jsteve87321@yahoo address?), and Yahoo! doesn't adopt an account transfer tool, we are looking at millions of wasted dollars from Companies emailing people who "moved without a forwarding address".
Maybe Yahoo! is worse off than we thought. This seems like a no-brainer. Apparently it's a Yahoo no brainer. Let's hope they figure it out, or sell to Google.
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (0)
CAN-SPAM Update: Have You Complied With the New Rules Yet?
June 25, 2008
The Federal Trade Commission's latest update on CAN-SPAM regulations take effect in less than two weeks. Is your email compliant? Not sure?
We have the nitty-gritty on what the new provisions mean to email marketers. The updates include:
- Good news (what didn't change)
- Five major provisions to review
- Definition of a sender
- How to handle re-subscribes
The Federal Trade Commission's latest updates to the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM) become enforceable on July 7. So, it's prime time for a look at the updates - and at CAN-SPAM in general - to make sure your email programs remain on the up and up.
Posted by Jeff Mills. | Comments (0)
Email Image Blocking - Try This Technique of Mine
June 18, 2008
I recently tried a new technique for a client who send predominantly full image emails. With many email clients blocking images by default, it is more important than ever to use Alt Tags and HTML elements to get the subscriber to unblock those images and view your email in all it's glory.
HUF, a hip chain of skate culture shoe stores in SF & LA, has a pretty hip and fun audience, so I took a little different approach to the image ALT tag....
The read/open rate increased on this campaign by 27% from the previous sale email. Did this ALT tag cause the difference? It didn't hurt, that's for sure.
What I am challenging you to do today is to keep pushing the envelope and trying new things. This copy is aimed at a certain audience. Something like "You're missing a great deal" or "A great offer awaits, unblock these images" would be in the same vain. Have fun with it!
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (0)
An Example of Why You Need a Preference Center
June 11, 2008
What better way to illustrate the importance of a email subscriber preference center than through real world examples, right?
After blowing past 1100 work emails last week, I decided it was time to move some newsletters off my work address, and over to a personal address. I imagine a lot of people have this need as well everyday.
So,the first two newsletters I tired this gave me wildly different results.
Email Preference Center - One & Only Resorts
One & Only is giving me one and only one choice here, to unsubscribe. So I removed myself from the list, but didn't want to go signup again at that moment. Maybe I will again. Maybe I will won't.
Email Preference Center - TED
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) has the email subscriber preferences that you want. The 2 features that really rock here are the ability to tell why you unsubscribed and the ability to change your email address. I added my new address and went on with my day.
If your Email Service Provider doesn't allow you to provide these options, you may be losing subscribers who didn't want to leave but are forced to.
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (1)
Logitech's "Remote Disaster" is a Disaster!?!
May 20, 2008
Logitech is not what you would think when you consider cutting edge campaigns, but I was plesently suprised when got the email, even more when I saw the site, then it fell apart.
The Email
Solid creative, a great subject line, and good use of best practices (eventhough the whole email is images). The call to action at the top works great in the preview pane. The branding of "Remote Disasters" is solid - it does not make me feel like you are selling me something. The call to action to pass along to a friend is clearly either the agency's or Logitech's poor attempt at viral.
The Site
Again, it is clear they want everyone possible to embed this video where ever they can in any fashion possible - Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon, MySpace, etc. Every video on the site has a "share" "embed" and "email" function on each. I wonder what they want me to do. Should I spread the Logitech love.
The Problem
I don't know another way to say this, the videos flat out suck. It is like watching a comedian with one joke try to fill a five-minute segment. For videos like this to work they need to be short and funny. The over-the-top antics are trying to make up for bad writing/scripting - the gratuitous remote to the groin of course made an appearance. The quality of the video and what they are about should be the driving force for passing the videos along. Social plugins and sharing functions should support the videos, but not so blatant. Telling everyone 5 times to share your video devalues the content and the point of the campaign. People will pass along what they want, not because you told them to 5 times.
Posted by Jeff Mills. | Comments (1)
How to setup a Sender ID in Register.com
May 19, 2008
Sender ID is a Microsoft initiative that validates the origin of e-mail messages by verifying the IP address of the sender against the alleged owner of the sending domain
To add a Sender ID record in Register.com, follow the steps below:
1. Go to the desired domain in your account and scroll down to "Advanced Technical Settings"
2. Click on "Edit TXT (SPF) Record."
3. In the TXT Name field enter a "@" character Then in the TXT Value field,
4. Enter the SPF record supplied to you WITHOUT quotes
5. Click Continue and click Continue to confirm the changes
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (0)
How to To setup a Domain Key in Godaddy.com
May 12, 2008
This info is based on eROI clients. Your Domain Key may differ, ask your provider.
The Domain Key is added as a TXT entry. Below are some examples of what these TXT entries will look like:
TXT Name
_domainkey.eroi.com
kesp._domainkey.eroi.com
TXT Value
"t=y; o=~;"
"k=rsa\; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb...."
1. Click on "Add New TXT Record"
2. For the TXT Name, enter "_domainkey" and for the value type in "o=~".
3. Click to add another TXT record.
4. For the value field, take the entry from your email (example from above is "kesp._domainkey.eroi.com") and copy all the text up to the "." after "_domainkey" (kesp._domainkey) and use that for your TXT Name.
5. Your TXT Value is the long string without the "\". Godaddy's DNS doesn't like the "\" so just leave it out.
Click OK and the change should take around an hour.
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (0)
To setup a Sender ID record in GoDaddy.com
May 9, 2008
We get asked this question a lot, so we thought we would post it.
To setup a Sender ID record in GoDaddy.com:
1. Go to Domains and Select the domain,
2. Click on TotalDNS and click on "Add New TXT Record"
3. In the TXT Name field enter a "@" character.
4. In the TXT Value field, enter the Sender ID record supplied, be sure to NOT include the quotes
5. Click OK.
You will need to get your sending IP or IP ranges from your IT team or ESP. If you are an eROI client, email me and we can ensure your SenderID is setup.
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (0)
Yahoo! Scorched Earth?
May 7, 2008
I am sure a number of you had read the news about Yahoo!'s scorched earth tactics to evade the Microsoft buyout from a few weeks ago. Recently Yahoo! has appeared to change their whitelist/bulk sender application. We have a client that has not gotten word back in nearly 2 weeks from Yahoo! due to "Unforeseen internal circumstances that are delaying the processing of this request."
I wonder, have any of you out there see this issue? I wonder if this is part of Yahoo!'s scorched earth tactic - stop caring about your business and customers all together. Will withdrawing the MS buyout bid devalue Yahoo! so they can buy it for even less? I hope so because Yahoo! is broken.
Posted by Jeff Mills. | Comments (2)
A Rant: Is playing it safe, playing it dumb?
April 20, 2008
I come across a lot of email, well all of us do, but I start to get annoyed by the "play it safe mentality". Especially the blatantly safe images:
- The B2B email with the five way too happy people sitting around a conference room while trying so hard to say diversity at the same time.
- The jewelry email with the excited woman with love in her eyes and a diamond ring on her finger.
It has been a long time since I have seen a unique email come out from a major brand. Is it the direction from the client, trying to be so mass audience that they don't want to offend anyone? Or is it the agency trying to speak to everyone through one ad? It is probably a little bit of both, but either way something needs to change. Major brand emails need to stop playing it safe and start doing something edgy with their email programs. The most interesting emails I see these days are those brands trying to stand out - t-shirt sites, video games, even text emails from new Web 2.0 companies can be intriguing.
Stop showing the same recycled content over and over. You lose reader interest and soon don't stand out from the noise, but are the noise.
Brands, ask for your agency to do something more cutting edge, push the proverbial envelope. You pay them for a reason beyond being a production shop, you pay them for ideas. The agency is your partner, stand up for them internally if you like the idea or think they have a good point.
Agencies, show your best work, not always what the client wants. You will be amazed at what they like sometimes. What is the worst that could happen, they say they don't like it? Actually, no, they fire you but you get the point.
Posted by Jeff Mills. | Comments (0)
Before the @ is important - another example
March 29, 2008
What you are seing in this image is the rollover Mail preview on the AOL homepage. Look at how much "trailblzaers" sticks out in that list. If you read this blog you know I hate webmaster@ in email marketing. This validates that point. This view is very similar to the view on a mobile device as well.
Brand before the @ in your from address and you will see improved open rates, guaranteed.
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (0)
Steal this idea for your Newsletters - Mobile Friendly Version
March 27, 2008
This was the first time I have seen this at the top of an email:
"Click here for the Wireless Version: URL"
Brilliant idea by the AAAA. I personally would change it to "Mobile Friendly", wireless is kind of confusing.
Most HTML email is worthless on a Blackberry, so daily news briefs, professional newsletters, etc... would be smart to add this feature.
How you do that, either through your ESP tools, or creating that mobile browser friendly version in HTML, you can figure that out through testing.
Click on the image to enlarge
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (2)
New Email Marketing Survey: The Cradle and the Grave
March 19, 2008
Here at eROI we go to great lengths to keep you up to date on the latest trends in email marketing. Our latest survey asks for your input on the Subscribe/Unsubscribe Process.
This survey should take just a minute or two, and we will share the results with you when complete.
All survey participants will be automatically entered to win one of a handful of iPod Shuffle mp3 players!
Posted by Jeff Mills. | Comments (0)
Frequency: Caged or free range
March 17, 2008
During the EEC event in February in one of the sessions the topic was frequency of email. The panelists had discussed email frequency and how much is too much as well as capping the frequency of your email, i.e., only allow a subscriber to be emailed X times per month. I asked, "If you cap the frequency of email to a subscribe to, say only get 5 emails per month, but you send out 10 a month, how do you determine what email is most relevant to them?"
I watched the panelists skirt around a non-answer as no one could tell me how you determine which emails are most relevant to the subscriber. If the 7th email might be the one that makes me purchase, you missed the boat.
Limiting the frequency by subscriber, in my opinion, is a bad idea. I welcome the conversation about why it is good, any lift in ROI you have seen etc., but I see the practice more harmful that good.
I always found that setting subscriber expectations is much more appropriate than a predetermined number. Tell subscribers that you send your newsletter once a month, promotions weekly, and event announcement every other week. Let them determine what is too much. It would be interesting to see if anyone has seen a lift in overall subscriber activity, as well as revenue and ROI that has implemented a predetermined frequency limit.
Posted by Jeff Mills. | Comments (0)
Why you should follow eROI on Twitter
March 16, 2008
We have set up a Twitter feed for eROI to keep you posted on news, blog posts, cool things to check out, new project launches, and resourceful tidbits you can use to become awesome.
If you are not on the Twitter bandwagon yet, now is the time to jump on. Twitter is the new micro-blogging service that a lot of us at eROI love, especially Dylan.
We don't have much up yet, but head over to our Twitter page and follow us. We'll do the same to you.
Thanks to our friend Tamara Gielen, who posted this great video description of Twitter on the blog from the folks over at Common Craft.
Posted by AlexWilliams. | Comments (0)
