Expectation is the root of all heartache - William Shakespeare

Hey you. 

Do you have customers? Prospects? Or just fans of your organization?

If you can name two people who might fit into any of these categories, you probably need to put list management as your number one task in your managed email marketing efforts.

If "list management" sounds boring, that's okay. Your email marketing pro won't care if we change the name. Instead of list management, let's call it sales prediction. Because the better you handle your lists, the better you understand how...

What tactics have you been employing to increase your email subscriber base? Many email marketers take the eay way out and purchase bulky email lists from a reseller.

If you are considering purchasing a ready-made email subscriber list and tempted to take this unethical shortcut to reach inboxes, you would do well to heed the following notes of caution.

• An otherwise amicable recipient in this email list is sure to look askance at any unsolicited message.
• Even with this list, you have to go through...

The average email subscriber hates seeing the likes of !@#$%^&*() in the subject lines of incoming mail. It turns out symbols and email messages don’t need to be mutually exclusive. In fact, special characters can be put to good use, in several kinds of email messages. Look up this set of specific instructions to create a striking subject with symbol characters.

But you and I know that ‘traditionally’, inserting special characters in the subject line of email marketing messages are not quite...

Some of the best email marketing insights are to be had from managers of fundraising campaigns, mainly of the non-profit kind. I came across several bits of useful information on email marketing best practices shared by these campaigners, in all of half-a-day’s work.

So here is a quick (and deeper) look into email marketing, going beyond the basics (ABC’s) of this marketing tool. Let’s call them the QXZ’s, shall we?

Q: Quality better than quantity: get rid of wrong and inactive email addresses. As...

Most companies face the 80/20 rule – 80% of the business comes from 20% of the clients. This apparently unhappy ratio holds true with email marketing too. Your email analytics reports will tell you what percentage of your subscribers are engaged with your email marketing messages. Surprisingly though, not all email marketers heed the fact that only a small percent of the subscribers have opened, clicked or somehow taken desired action with an email message in a specific period.

That means a clear...

When Apple decided to release their newest iOS update for their devices without Google Maps, it was a bold move - a decidedly bad one.  Despite record sales for the iPhone 5, there has also been a record amount of discontent as people began using Apple's own Apple Maps on their device.  Misplaced subways, airports, and streets were among the issues encountered.  Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, signed a note apologizing.  Not good.

When companies create a new version of their software and make any...

When your customer receives hundreds of mails every day, it is likely a huge chunk of them hits the trash pile without even being read. The 'trash can' and 'spam filters' are the last place you want your email to end up. How can you ensure your email is read and is acted upon? Here are a few tips to ensure email deliverability success:

• Welcome your readers: Your email should begin with a good welcome message to set the tone of your email and tell your reader what to expect from your email. Why is...

I recently listened to a webinar conducted by Dan Zarrella of Hubspot about “The Science of Email Marketing.” While he presented a variety of interesting statistics, the one that grabbed my attention was also the simplest statistic: 88% of people do not have separate inboxes for their personal and professional emails. As someone who does have separate inboxes for work and play, I find this to be shocking.

Let’s think back to the 1950s household where the wife was at home, while the husband was at...

Do you send to anyone in Canda? If so, you will want to make sure you are aware of Canada's new Anti-Spam Bill (C-28) that was recently signed into law on December 15, 2010. According to authorities, full details of the regulations will be published in January, here is what we have learned of this new regulation: 

1. The original bill was written and introduced in 2009 and intended to cover requirements of permission in sending email marketing messages. However, the final version passed also...