A presentation explaining how to plan and optimise automated emails

Created for the International Email Marketing Summit, this free webcast explained the options for creating more relevant automated emails - one of the biggest missed opportunities in Email marketing. I covered: How Automated, Event-triggered or Behavioural emails are surprisingly rare. The 10 options for automated email campaigns. Recommendations to optimise these emails using the CRITICAL framework we use in the Smart Insights 7 Step Guide to Email Marketing. Here is the Slideshare which gives a lot of examples across the different types, but especially Welcome Emails. You can view the talk via the link. Creating more relevant, more responsive more value Event-triggered Emails from Dave Chaffey …

10 permission marketing principles and campaign examples integrating web, email and social media marketing

It is now nearly 15 years since Seth Godin launched his permission marketing mantra. Yet it remains highly relevant - I still recommend newcomers to online marketing download and read his permission marketing principles.

But how does permission marketing apply today? In this post I show examples of how digital marketers today are applying Permission marketing principles  to their email marketing and social media marketing activities today.

In his book, Godin explains the principles of using permission marketing both in the offline world and online world, but he doesn't describe in detail how to best achieve permission marketing using web and e-mail.

For each of the core principles of permission marketing, I identify, define and illustrate my principles of ‘e-permission marketing’ which show how web,social, e-mail and offline communications can be…

Examples from testing the best time of day for email broadcast in different sectors

Sending emails at the right time to reach your subscribers when they are actively using their email will affect overall campaign response. Given the ongoing interest in this topic I've updated this post based on some of latest research from Pure360 where they looked at emails from 40,000 different campaign the last year from 150 of their clients (900 million email delivered). As you would expect the best time varies by sector, but they do recommend a best time for consumer emails:  'In fact, the best time to send an email is now during the ‘Post Work Peak’, as people are finishing up at work and heading home. Over a quarter (26%) of marketing emails that are sent in the most successful hour, 5pm to 6pm, are opened, which is 9% above average. '

Optimal time to send your email by…

How well do you manage your email marketing?

I recently completed the 2013 update to the 80 page Smart Insights ‘Seven Steps to Success’ Guide on Email Marketing. As part of updating the guide I was looking to highlight best practices for email marketing. Thinking through the mistakes or omission that are often made in email programmes is one way to define the best practices, so I thought it would be helpful to pick out ten of the common gaps and errors. I have focused particularly on strategic issues that are less commonly talked about, but nevertheless I encounter fairly often in my consulting work and are most important to the success of the programme. Mistake 1. Not setting long-term Email-specific goals. Measure long-term engagement using hurdle rates or open reach. This measures customers not campaigns and considers the engagement across the whole of the database rather than just customers…

The Truth about Video Email Marketing

Look in your email inbox, and on any given day you’re likely to find several emails that feature videos. They can range from informational, educational to simply entertaining. But what is all the fuss about? Does video email marketing really lift response rates? Can anyone use video in their email marketing? What are the best tactics (or best practices for that matter)? Let’s find out!.

Video Email Marketing Statistics and Reports

Simply including the word 'video' in an email’s subject line saw an increase of 7%-13% in overall click-through rates (CTRs) in 2011, according to Experian’s 2012 Digital Marketer Benchmark and Trend Report. Embedding a video in an email generated an average conversion rate 21% higher than emails containing a static image alone. And Videoretailer.org reported that using the word 'video' in the subject line…

Retail email expert Chad White talks about email frequency, list acquisition, mobile challenges, and more...

Retail email has seen its stock rise significantly in recent times. And recognition of its value as a significant source of both online and offline sales has reignited debates on permission requirements, optimum frequencies and just what constitutes a best practice. There are few people in this world who know more about these kinds of retail email issues than Chad White. Currently Principal of Marketing Research at ExactTarget, Chad recently authored a new book: "Email Marketing Rules: How to Wear a White Hat, Shoot Straight, and Win Hearts". Given his expertise, I decided to get his opinion on some of the top practical issues facing retail email marketers today... The first issue concerns a bit of a backlash among the email marketing community against "best practices",…

The Email Marketing timeline

It’s been 42 years since Ray Tomlinson sent the first ever email. The history of email itself is one thing, but the evolution of email marketing is quite another. Over the past 42 years, email (the ability to send messages through a network) has evolved into one of the most cost effective forms of direct marketing. Not only is the method fast and cheap, but it has opened the door to how marketers can monitor and react to consumer behaviour in a way that was never previously possible. This blog post provides the history to email marketing along with an Infographic below. How far back do you remember?

Timeline for email marketing

Billed as the 'Father of Spam' Gary Thuerk, a Marketing Manager at Digital Equipment Corp started the ball rolling for commercial email by sending the first mass emailing. (Ok, it was only a few hundred but in those…

8 hacks for common email tasks

In the spirit of working smarter, not harder, here are eight tools that can maximize your email marketing efficiency.

1. Scope - Go behind-the-scenes of an inspiring email

Have you ever wondered how that beautiful email in your inbox got so beautiful? Scope creates a web-based version of any email you choose and reveals its HTML source code, mobile rendering, and desktop and plain-text views.

The free tool, created by the email marketers at Litmus, comes as a bookmarklet and works inside supported email clients like Gmail. Open an email, click the Scope button in your bookmark bar, and start inspecting.

2. Premailer - Convert HTML design to email-ready inline CSS

The retro nature of email design—heavy on tables, blind to external…

Examples of Email campaigns designed to maximise ROI

2012 has proven that email is very much still king; achieving the highest ROI compared to any other channel, as well as the following impressive stats from DC Financial Insights, 2012.   77% of customers prefer to receive permission-based promotions via email  Only 6% of customers preferring these messages via social media  ROI of 3000% achieved through email in 2012 With a great strategy you can expect this to grow into 2013!. In this blog we will look at six key strategies for successful email marketing, illustrated by brands such as Topshop, Tetley, Cosmopolitan and innocent drinks.

6 Key Tips for maximising your email campaigns

1. Realise the importance of good data Implications of sending to old or non-opted-in data should always be in a marketers mind. Spamhaus monitor senders and have the ability to block IPs with ISPs so…

Email marketers still see much room for improvement, but not all optimization needs may be critical

As Benjamin Franklin no doubt mentioned, "...nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes (and email ROI)." Of the 1300+ marketers surveyed for the latest Econsultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census, 66% said email marketing delivered "excellent" or "good" ROI. Only organic SEO was reported as a better in terms of ROI. This result continues a history of email ROI success that has outlasted every sparkly new online marketing toy. The census results also echo the UK DMA’s recent National Email Client Report, where 89% said email marketing is "important" or "very important" to their organization. The same report found the average return on each pound spent on email was £21.48: How much is the approximate return you get back for every pound spent on email marketing? …