Email marketing experts agree that an essential part of your email campaign is timing. You want to make your messages go out on exactly the right day at exactly the right hour.

Unfortunately, there isn't much agreement on when that should be. Copyblogger reports many expert email markterers prefer different times. Rick Whittington notes there several studies all showing different data. Scott Stratten insists content is more important than the timing. Even Delivra's competitor (and other email...

I love testing. I love finding out what works and what doesn't. It's amazing the things you learn by watching how your recipients interact with your content.

The problem? Not enough email marketers try it. Even within my own client base at Delivra, only a handful have chosen to run valuable test scenarios with actual takeaways. This just blows my mind: why are marketers so hesitant to start? It does take time and effort. You will need to be dedicated to your email marketing strategy to run...

The last entry for prepping your Holiday email campaign focuses on content and evaluating results. Choosing your content focus should be easy if you completed the tasks from week one and week two.

Test your subject lines and content. Can't decide on a subject line or where to place that "Buy Now" button? Email AB split testing takes the guess work out of it and shows you the results instead. Do not lean on just open or clickthrough numbers, instead keep the focus on conversion.

Keep your content...

Anyone using email for marketing needs to understand the power of testing content. Now there is a way to rate your acumen with Anne Holland's newsletter for whichtestwon.com.

In her newsletter, she shows two content samples and asks you to guess which one had the better response. This week a button with the words, 'Go to payment options' out performed by 86% a button with the word 'Submit'. Wow! Now this got my attention. 

Anne says, "A/B and multivariate testing can - on average - help lead...

• Testing 1...2...3: Delivra Dish on a new A/B Testing Resource
• Split Testing
• Refine your Email Marketing Tactics

Email marketing is a great tool to help you reach your overall marketing and sales objectives. However, sometimes it's hard to know where to to start to make the leap from sending everything to everyone to really utilizing the targeted and dynamic power of email marketing. Here are some tips that should help you get started:

Define your Goals- This should not be confused with your email marketing statistics. Email open rates and clickthrough numbers are good indicators of how you are...

It's been a while since we highlighted a new resource on Delivra Dish, so I thought I would share a resource that I like to follow:  the website is called WhichTestWon.  It is a site and blog created by Anne Holland (best known as creator of Marketing Sherpa.)  She now provides consulting services and hosts this website and blog to educate email marketers about the advantages of split testing.

The site, blog and email regularly cover different email tests where you can guess which test won, but...

If you are working in email marketing or are in charge of your company's email marketing campaign, then at some point you have probably been told  -- do what's best for your audience.

For example, you ask "When is the best time to send an email?" Some resources will offer a specific time, but most answer that by saying, "Well, it depends...on your audience and when they will most likely read your email."

Okay...then comes the task of figuring out what your audience wants.  Fortunately, Delivra...

The dog days of summer usually signify really hot, lazy days where little progress is made.

Are you in the dog days of summer right now?

Feeling unmotivated and unmoved by anything?

Shake it off, get moving and give your email marketing plan a kick in the rear! Here are 5 things you can do with your email marketing efforts to beat the dog days of summer:

1. Welcome new subscribers- Set up a warm welcome email message for new subscribers. Include what your emails are all about, allow them to select...

As a busy marketer and mom, I can tell you that it takes a lot to capture my attention away from whatever my focus may be at the time.  Last night after checking my personal email account, I quickly scanned a whole host of emails (50-60 at least.)  Some of which, like Land's End and Borders I had requested. Others...not so much. And then there are the host of emails I receive as a result of having two pre-teen daughters that love to shop. I guess this is their way of tipping Santa off on their...