Return On Subscriber - Email Marketing Blog

We have all been at the EEC conference this last week listening to some of the top minds in email. One question that has come up a number of times over the years is whether or not you should have a dedicated IP when sending email. MarketingSherpa recently released a new paper Top 12 Email Newsletter Mistakes Nearly Everyone Makes. In this report Mistake #7: Deliverability: Content, Formatting & Lack of Self-Advocacy was to insist a dedicated IP from your ESP. This sounds great in theory, but not in practice.

Deliverability relies on a number of factors and one of them is volume. Low volume and/or sporadic volume hampers your deliverability dramatically. Since many ISPs base their blocks and temporary deferrals on complaint rate, your low volume and inconsistency of sending, albeit, dedicated could be one of the worst things you could do. All of those other senders might actually help your deliverability as long as your ESP employs best practices. So before you “insist” on a dedicated IP like MarketingSherpa says, ask your ESP if it would benefit you. Our job is to provide you with the best solution to get your email to the inbox.

We are headed to San Diego for the eec’s Email Evolution Conference. The eROI crew will be there in full force, so make sure to say hello if you see us.

Also, eROI’s Dylan Boyd will be sitting on a panel with fellow email marketing bloggers Tamara Gielen of BeRelevant, Chad White of The Retail Email Blog/EEC Blog and Maddy Hubbard of Blue Hornet. They’ll be talking about all aspects of blogging.

For those of you who won’t be there, I will be blogging about the panel session from the show. Visit www.theemailwars.com on Feb. 13 in the morning to see the play-by-play.

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

Is it me, or are you over the same old top 10 lists before x-mas, then the resolution lists before NYE. Maybe I am a jaded 31 year old, but this has been going on for years and I am officially over it. If it is a notable columnist, blogger, or critic - ok. But every blog and every company too? “Top 10 2008″ had 81,800,000 results in Google.

Here is a new years resolution idea:

Be original in 2008.

Social networking is such a strange mistress.

I read an article that said, basically, that you know it’s time for a new social network when random people from your past or people you don’t want to find you, request to be your friend.

The person above was from my high school and on my freshman year basketball team. NIce enough guy, but I don’t remember a time, ever, when I would consider us “friends.” Also, when you say “Remember me?”,
that might be a sign that we don’t know each other that well.

So, now comes the big decision. Do I approve or ignore.

I thought I would send the following email:

“Hey _______, I do remember you, high school right?

Were we ever friends?”

I won’t do that, of course. But why do these Websites require us to make these tough decisions?

Anyway, if you want to be my “professional” friend, using the new Friend grouping feature, let’s be friends

Holidays extend way into the New Year

Your customers are likely to get gift cards. Those customers need to spend gift cards, show long term value and offers. If you can have them spend above that gift card, you win twice - the original purchase and the added revenue at purchase.

Partners can help

Find a few good partners, leverage lists, interests and goals. Co-market an entire theme. For example. if you sell TVs, partner with an audio equipment manufacturer, furniture company, and a video rental company. You can help sell the entire experience. Get your product in front of more customers that you could have on your own.

Make the common unique

Everyone wants something interesting, but not strange. Try a new spin on an proven idea. Help make the gift giver look like a rock star.

Add Emotion

The holiday season is full of emotion, use that to your advantage. People will spend more or will be more willing to buy if you can meet their emotional needs as well as their financial ones. Nostalgia, joy, guilt, whatever your angle, use it.