Who sabotaged your email?
Was it the software folk, who now manage to mangle plain text email, too?
Was it your competitor, through unethical webmail tricks?
Or was it you, by neglecting your sign-up form or unsubscribe process?
All the answers to these and other questions in this issue's bundle of email marketing fun.
Happy reading,
Mark
Another superb contribution to email marketing everywhere
Email Marketing Reports | Forward this to friends or colleagues
Must reads...
Outlook messing up text emails?
Nobody expects text emails to display oddly in different email clients. But they do. Find out how Outlook can mangle your paragraphs and what you can do about it.
Unsubscribe lessons from Ikea
Is your unsubscribe process actually encouraging people to report you as spam? Continue reading for tips on how to stop this happening.
Deliverability...
Can competitors sabotage your deliverability?
What's to stop unscrupulous competitors from signing up lots of webmail accounts to your list, then using the "report spam" button to generate a swathe of complaints...potentially getting you blacklisted at that webmail service? Get the answer here.
Your subscribers think like AOL
AOL's rules on acceptable bounce levels offer a wider lesson on winning email marketing. It's not about beating targets, it's about beating the others targeting the same inbox. Continue reading.
Tactics and strategy...
Putting Web 2.0 to your advantage
Nobody says email is dying anymore. In fact, email marketing can profit from exploiting the technologies and approaches used by sites like Facebook. Read on for examples.
Forward to a friend tips
Unimpressed by your send-to-a-friend links? Maybe it's time to reconsider where you put the link and the call to action. Learn more.
Building a list...
Revisit your sign-up form
If you want a relationship to work then you need to make an attractive offer. Take a look at these links and avoid a life of loneliness.
Stats, trends, surveys...
7 tips for interpreting your reports
Campaign reports are like exhibits in a Museum of Modern Art. We're pretty certain they're valuable, but we're not quite sure what they're trying to say. Here some tips to help you get your head around those report metrics...
Case studies...
The good, the bad and the political candidates
Time to drop a hook into the waters of the web and see what fresh case studies bite.
Justin Premick looks at the strategy, design and targeting approach in travel site Kayak.com's emails.
Andrew Seel highlights the good points in consultancy Stanton Marris's newsletter (but still suggests some possible improvements).
DJ Waldow reviews the positives in the opt-in process used by CBS Sports. Then he switches to the other end of the relationship and (together with Kimberly Snyder) discusses how various companies position and present the unsubscribe links in their emails.
InternetRetailer has a brief case study on Jelly Belly's email marketing, which includes some indication of the potential deliverability benefits of email certification.
Lisa Harmon describes some best practices when featuring videos in email (or links to videos), using screenshots and examples to make her case.
Josh Nason wags his finger at California Tortilla, not just for their poor layout, but for failing to live up to their brand image with their messages.
Josh (again) is a little kinder about Barack Obama's choice of subject lines, as the email efforts of would-be US presidents continue to attract interest from marketers.
Anne Holland also visits the topic area, reviewing the sign-up pages, welcome messages, responsiveness, newsletters and "special offers" of the Obama, Clinton and McCain teams. As does Al DiGuido, who's not happy and has his own recommendations on how to use email in political marketing.
That's it for this issue - see you again May 5th...
Copyright Mark Brownlow 2008
