Return On Subscriber – Email Marketing Blog

Below are 2 very similar emails I received that are worth taking a look at. It looks like the ESP (probably the same one) lost some data, to the extent

What I don’t understand is why the only thing to do in this email is unsubscribe or ignore. I think a “profile update” or “check your preferences” option should have been added as well.

Chad White of RetailEmail.Blogspot.com and contributing writer to the Email Insider on Media Post had a great email article yesterday that focused on simple mistakes marketers and agencies make in email. We are all guilty of a misspelled word, a link pointed to the wrong place or the wrong image. Here is a snippet of Chad’s article.

“While mistakes are pretty much inevitable, there are some processes that you can put into place to minimize them and to respond appropriately when they occur. Some tips:

1. Develop a pre-flight checklist and follow it every time.
2. One word: Spell-check.
3. View a test send in accounts from all the major email clients, or use a rendering tool to ensure consistent rendering across platforms.
4. If you make a mistake in an image, simply correct the source file.
5. Don’t resend emails that contain minor mistakes. Only resend those where the mistake has significantly impaired the message.
6. If the error is significant, see if you can halt the send. You may be able to stop your entire list from receiving the erroneous email.
7. Develop a protocol for your apology emails, so you can respond quickly when serious mistakes happen.

Let me end by saying that the best feedback I got on last year’s Oopsy Hall of Fame was from a marketer who said, “I feel so much better after seeing the mistakes that other marketers made. They make my mess-ups seem not nearly so bad.” I hope that’s how all of you feel after reading this.”

Read the full post here

I had just told a client a few days ago – “BlackBerry’s are going to have to add some type of support for HTML emails this year.”

Now this announcement, thank you RIM.

HTML and Rich Text Email Rendering - BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to view HTML and rich text email messages with original formatting preserved including font colors and styles, embedded images, hyperlinks, tables, bullets and other formatting.

More details on the new release here

You’ve all been told how you need to start segmenting your lists and sending more relevant emails to yoru subscribers. Here is an out-of-the-box example from HornyToad.com (who just opened the very cool Lizard Lounge store in PDX).

View Full Version

How they will determine what to send me from this, who knows.

But I found this to be a fun excerise and break from the same old routine. Think of ways you can get creative to engage your customers this year.

View Full Screen

Although one of my resolutions this year was to watch less TV, NBC came right in my inbox with a reason to scrap that and watch more TV.

This email does “the fold” right. Why, you ask? Because I never looked at the rest of the email, but I do know that “American Gladiators” is on Sunday and “Celebrity Apprentice” is on tonight. And that was the main goal of this email, to get me to watch those shows.

This area is sometimes your only shot, the only thing they will see. Good images and great copy that get your message across are key. Anything that takes away from that, (like my favorite waste, banner ads), move it down or get it out.

Here’s to more “folds” like this in ‘08.