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Delivra is sponsoring All About eMail Live! - a one-day event for email marketers. This intensive workshop will allow you to join your peers and collaborate with an all-star lineup of industry leaders who will discuss the hottest email marketing trends, including best practices and strategies, acquisition, data management, email and social, rendering, and more. 

It's being held at: 

New York Marriott 

http://live.emarketingandcommerce.com/agenda/

I'm moderating a roundtable at 1:30pm entitled: 2012 Email Marketing Best Practices. 

We will be discussing the top trends and best practies for 2012 such as: data integration, relevant list building, content, content, content, mobile (design and messaging), testing and analysis and much more!

Look me up if you plan to attend...

Justine Jordan from Litmus has posted a fun infographic that outlines, "ten important guidelines to an amazing mobile experience, as well as six things you'll definitely want to avoid."  

See it here.

By the way, Litmus also has a tool to help you determine the kind of mobile device your email subscribers are using to view your messages. Rendering is limited to the following list. 

• Android 2.2
• Apple iPhone
• Apple iPad
• Blackberry Text & HTML
• Symbian S60
• Windows Mobile 6.5

Delivra uses their service and we like it!

On the Delivra blog, we've written several times to the fact that email marketing is not dead and is very much alive. Of course, there still exists the occasional nay-sayer that argues that email marketing is dying out.

A recent article by Steve McGrath of Big Dot Media offers some great examples to explain why email marketing is not dying out; in fact, he states that it's merely changing.

I love the part, in particular, where he says: "Email marketers have to work smarter not harder to combat the distractions of today's modern social media and spam filled world."

It's so true, although there may be "distractions" pulling the attention away from email marketing. There are ways for email marketing to stay relevant and even work along side some of these "distractions."

Steve highlights a number of various ways to improve your email marketing efforts to ensure that they can combat through those distractions. Listed below are a couple of examples. (Click here for the article.)

Segmentation. I agree that segmentation is a great way to personalize an email. In the article, McGrath points out that "an email should contain some kind of personalization, even if it just says 'Dear <name>' at the top".  Although, yes, that's a starting point, I have to point out that segmentation is much more powerful than that and can be used to add a lot of personalization to your marketing if done correctly - using an email marketing service provider like Delivra can help you learn more about how to use segmentation to send targeted emails to subscribers.

Transactional Emails. These are a great way to increase open rates because they are sent via a timely manner. Say for example that someone signs up for your newsletter - send them an email that thanks them and provides them with what they should expect from signing up.

Here are some further thoughts:

Social Media. I don't see this as a distraction for email marketing if these two tools are set up to work harmoniously with one another.  Social media can be a route to encourage people to sign up for your email marketing campaign.  You can easily place a sign up form on some social media platforms that people can fill out quickly to become a subscriber.

Mobile Marketing. Email marketing can work really well with this new marketing channel.  There are several ways, in fact, that mobile marketing can play a role in your email marketing campaign.  For example, partaking in simple best practices can improve how your emails render on a mobile device.

Clickstream tracking. Clickstream tracking is a great way for email marketers to be proactive - especially for online retailers.  For example, a marketer can see, using purchase tracking, that a client has looked at a particular item on their website, but didn't follow through with a purchase.  The email marketer could send an email encouraging them to buy with an offer.

To read the rest of the article and learn more about why email marketing is not dying, click here.

For more information on how to implement some of these tools and make your email able to combat distractions, contact Delivra today!

Lavon Temple | Marketing

The worst part about the MBO Conference 2010 for me was when I was in the bathroom washing my hands.  I went to pump soap into my hand and the soap dispenser attacked. I had soap running down my forehead, into my eye, and all over my white shirt. It's one of the many graceful moments I've had in my life and I'm sure there will be plenty more to follow...

Besides getting into a less than graceful fight with the soap dispenser, I learned a lot from the MBO Conference and I was so excited to attend (even with a pink soap polka dotted shirt). It was a great event with a lot of insightful presentations and networking opportunities. Some of the reoccurring themes and topics that kept being reiterated throughout the conference are mentioned below:

Content is Still King. It has never stopped being so. You have to have interesting information that intrigues your audience and present it in a way that keeps them coming back to see more from you. Even with all of these other channels available that make content shorter or reach more people faster, you still have to have something worthwhile to say. Be aware of all the different places that people are talking about your company and what they are saying about you - you need to be there because it's important to manage your content as well.

Mobile Marketing. There were other presenters that mentioned that mobile marketing is increasingly becoming more important and needs to be at the forefront of marketers' minds (along with the several other things they have to continuously think about on a regular basis). The U.S. mobile marketing owning a smart phone is at 24% and is growing. It's predicted that by Christmas of 2011, 1 of 2 people will own a smart phone. Therefore, it is pertinent that you are reaching these people by getting your information to their phone and making sure that your message is rendering properly. (Delivra can help with that.)

Don't Suck. Basically meaning, there are a lot of companies out there trying to reach the same people that you are trying to.  You need to make sure that your story doesn't suck  and engages your audience with your product or service.  A presentation by Don Schindler, Managing Director of AgencyND, was not only a laughing break (he opened with a great story about the bathroom on a submarine), but he also advised on what makes a good story.

I'd definitely like to attend MBO 2011 and recommend those of you that didn't go this year to attend to learn more about online business and have the opportunity to network with people that have the same interests as I do and can provide their invaluable insights. Let's just hope that next time, the soap dispenser is kinder or that I bring hand sanitizer.

What information did you get from the event that was helpful to you? I'd love to read about them and I can always use a good refresher of what was talked about!

Lavon Temple | Marketing

Picture Courtesy of Kalavinka on Flickr

If you are like me or anyone I know, you are likely always on the go.  Life today is not as simple as it used to be.  One of my saving graces has been my smartphone.

• It literally never leaves my side
• It serves as my alarm clock
• It provides me with entertainment
• It has my calendar
• It has my email
• It has my contacts
• I can get movie tickets with it
• I can watch videos
• And so on....and so on...and so on

Sound familiar?  I could go on all day, but simply put mobile devices have become a way of life for everyone these days.  It's not just businessmen anymore.  It's every generation.  My kids are even using them non-stop.  I was in a restaurant earlier this week and saw an elderly woman pull out her cell phone to call her daughter since there was bad weather.

The point is this, while mobile may be exploding, email is just as important if not more than it ever was!  Why, you ask?  It's simple...with smartphones today your email marketing campaigns become a quick way a mobile user can get to a phone number, an address, a map, or even a link.  In fact, I will often  forget to save a contact in my email.  My solution...my smartphone.  Where else can I get to a phone number, click on the link and be able to call that person quickly.  Not only that, but my phone is advanced enough to remind me to save that contact while I am at it.  I even use my smartphone to map out directions.  Don't have an address?  I bet that email I just received has a link!  I was even recently shopping at a store that sends me email coupons.  And as usual, I forgot my coupon!  When the cashier asked me for my coupon I grumbled that I forgot it at home.  She asked if I had the email on my phone.  Can you believe I still got the discount because she was able to take the coupon info right from the email on my smartphone.  ONE DEVICE, but so many uses.  As technology evolves and cost goes down, people like me will be the bulk of your database one day.

Remember, when you are creating email campaigns to include some of those simple things you may think your recipients might already know.  Your website, phone number, address, or even links to email or maps.  Chances are that your recipients might have that info or have seen it in the past.  But if they are like me, they will refer back to emails from key senders for those very links they might need on a smartphone.

You don't necessarily have to have an advanced or costly mobile marketing strategy.  But, what you should always keep in mind is where your emails might be read, how they render, and what information you include (even if you feel you are repeating often) that might link on a smartphone.

Need help making sure your email incorporates some of these strategies? Contact us today at info@delivra.com or at 877-915-9465 and we'd be happy to help.

Carissa Newton | Marketing

The Email Evolution Conference opened in Miami yesterday with a day full of pre-conference workshops, setup and a welcome reception.  I've been able to meet with email marketers and vendors from the U.S. and Europe.  I'm very interested to learn insight from so many talented marketers.  For those able to attend, be sure to stop by Delivra's booth #104 for your chance to win a Flip HD Camera!  If you are unable to attend, not to worry, we will be sharing plenty of insight from the various events, workshops, roundtables and discussions.

In looking at the agenda, there are a number of hot topics that will be covered in the various sessions.  Topics ranging from:

• Email Compliance/Reputation/Deliverability
• Social Media Strategies and how they blend with email
• What's working in email marketing/What's not
• Video in email
• Segmentation/Targeting Strategies
• Tracking/Metrics
• Mobile Rendering

As the conference progresses, stay tuned for more detailed insight from the events as Carissa Newton and Scott Cramer share their takeaways from the Email Evolution 2010 Conference-The Event for Email Marketers.  Interesting to see that amongst this audience we have all calibers of email marketers and yet all are struggling to stay on top of the very same trends.  Everyone's goal seems to be similar in that they are looking to enhance their email with various mediums to further engage their audiences.  They are looking to build their audience in a way that will last.  They are looking to measure their email effectively.  Bottom line, email is a powerful medium and marketers of all types can benefit from topics covered at the Email Evolution Conference.

If you are unable to attend, be sure to stay tuned to eMailChatr for up-to-date synopsis' of the events.  If you are attending, be sure to stop by Booth #104 and visit with Scott and Carissa.  The Experience Hall opens at 7:45 AM tomorrow!  Come join us for breakfast and a chat.

While the weather is not perfect, we thought we would share a few snapshots of the Miami pre-conference day views.....

Carissa Newton | Marketing & Scott Cramer | Business Development & Sales

In last week's post, we looked at Marshall McLuhan's statement "the medium is the message" and mulled how it could be applied to our favorite medium, email.

Savvy email marketers take the time to get their message "right." They test different headers and subject lines. They spell check, and proofread, and spell check again. They run SpamAssassin checks and use the results to lower their message's spam score. They perform audits to see how their message will render in different email clients or browsers, or on mobile devices.

But despite all these checks, their campaigns can still fall flat with recipients. Often, this happens because the marketer didn't fully appreciate the unique properties of their medium. Marketers should also examine whether the message of their campaign is consistent with the message of the medium they're using to transmit it. As illustration, I offer a counterexample from my own inbox:

When this message arrived with the subject line "KYMCO USA Introduces New Scooters and All-Terrain Vehicles for 2010‏," my first thought was not, "I simply must know more about these new scooters and ATVs!" Rather, it was, "Who the heck is KYMCO, and why are they spamming me?"

Sure, the email is well-crafted enough: pleasant graphics, lots of links, rendered properly in my client. But the effort of the marketer was overshadowed by the more powerful message of the medium. The power of email is that it is more personal than other forms of communication. And an effect of this power is that recipients take it's usage very personally.

To be clear, I'm a suburbanite with absolutely no use for a scooter or an all-terrain vehicle. So anyone sending a message like this obviously knows nothing about me. Moreover, I never gave permission for KYMCO to contact me via email. Therefore, I was about to hit the "Report Spam" button when I noticed that the sender of the message was familiar:

This email was sent by: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
4790 W 16th St. Indianapolis, IN, 46222-2573, USA

Well, that explains how KYMCO got my address. I'm a huge fan of IndyCar racing, and of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So I had signed up for the IMS newsletter some months ago. I'm guessing they allowed KYMCO to "blast" their subscribers in exchange for a sweet deal on some ATVs or scooters.

If so, both parties made a bad deal. Had I viewed this advertisement in a race program, I might have lingered on it before turning the page. Had KYMCO been given a placement in the regular IMS email newsletter, I might have formed some positive associations between the two brands. But via the highly personal medium of email, I viewed it as an intrusion, an abuse of the permission I gave the Speedway to email me. What made them think it was OK to rent out our relationship to a 3rd party vendor? This was surely not the kind of introduction KYMCO was hoping for.

(As an aside, I hope the Speedway got a good bargain on those scooters, because I'm sure this mailing cost them subscribers. Unsubs and feedback loop complaints are the natural result when people get emails they don't want, and don't understand why they received them.)

No matter how much effort you put into crafting your email, if you misunderstand how the medium itself is perceived, you risk your message being as unwelcome as the telemarketer calling during dinner. Know your medium, or you could be sending the wrong message entirely.

Chris Broshears | Product Development