And we're back

Happy New Year!
I am back and ready to talk email with folks.
December is always a busy time, both between the holidays and all associated personal stuff, but also for delivery consulting. There are senders that suddenly discover their email going to the bulk folder and needing help and assistance. But now it’s January and email marketing gets a brief break.
The beginning of the new year and the lull after the Christmas season marketing storm is a good place for folks to think about marketing and email goals for the upcoming years. Many senders get so wrapped up in the day to day details of email that they fail to think strategically about email and their business.
It works much that way for me, as well. I hate it when my clients have bad delivery and do everything I can to fix their problems. If their mail isn’t getting to the inbox, then it’s as much my problem as theirs. I’m thinking and working to get to the root of their problem and come up with solutions to get their mail sent. This sometimes means my own strategic planning gets pushed aside while I focus on client needs. January is a fun time of year for me, because it’s all a little more relaxed and I can look at the new year and how to improve services and share more of my knowledge with folks.
You’ll start to see some of those improvements in the upcoming months. I’ll also be blogging regularly. We should be getting some research and white papers out over the next few months. I’ll be catching up on the Google privacy cases and updating on some other email related lawsuits.
2014 is looking like a year of growth and excitement.

Related Posts

Inbox challenges and dull email in the tabbed inbox

Getting to the inbox is becoming a greater and greater challenge for many marketers. According to Return Path, 22% of opt in mail doesn’t make it to the inbox.
The challenge to marketers is that a lot of opt in mail isn’t important to the recipient. Sure, they’re happy enough to get it if they notice it, but if it’s not there then they don’t care. They’ll buy from an email ad, but it might not be something they’ll seek out. Recipient behaviour tells the ISPs that the mail isn’t all that important, and a lot of it is just background noise so the ISP not delivering it to the inbox doesn’t matter.
Email marketing is like the Girl Scout of the Internet. If the Girl Scout shows up at your doorstep, you’re probably going to buy those 3 boxes of thin mints. But if she doesn’t, that’s OK. If you really want the cookies, you’ll find the co-worker who is taking orders for his daughter. Or you’ll find the table outside the local coffee shop. The Girl Scout showing up on your doorstep makes it more convenient, but she’s not critical to get your fix. Of course, the bonus of the Girl Scout on the doorstep is that a lot of people who won’t go find the cookies will buy when she’s on the doorstep.
A lot of email marketing triggers purchases that recipients would make anyway. They think they might want a particular product, and when they get that coupon or discount or even just a reminder they make the purchase. The email triggers the purchase of a product the buyer intends to purchase anyway. Some email marketing trigger purchases of things the recipient didn’t know existed, but is so enticing after one email they can’t live without. Some email marketing triggers an impulse purchase. In most of these categories, if mail doesn’t show up in the inbox, the recipient really doesn’t miss it.
Many marketers, despite loud protests that all their mail is important and wanted, know this. That’s why so many marketers are having conniptions about the new Gmail tabbed inbox. They’re losing access to the impulse.
From the data I’ve seen, tabs are effecting email marketing programs. Some programs are seeing more revenue, some are seeing less. I think it really remains to be seen what the long term effects are. For many recipients the new tabbed inbox is a new way to interact with their email. Change is hard, and there is a period of adaptation whenever an interface changes. We really don’t know what the long term effect of tabs on sales will be. Sales may go back to previous levels, sales may increase over previous levels, sales may decrease from current levels or sales may stay at their current levels. The full effect isn’t going to be obvious for a while.
It does mean, though, that email marketers need to step up their game. Email marketing in the age of a tabbed inbox might be less about the impulse purchase and more about cultivation and long term branding.
 
 
 

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Lavabit shuts down

Lavabit is a secure mail system. Today their CEO announced he was shutting down the service immediately.

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The power of email marketing

Email is a helluva drug. That must be why I’m sitting here in a hotel room in Chicago where it’s minus something-a-lot outside and the roads are full of ice, salt and dingy snow.
It seemed like such a great idea at the time. Virgin America sent me an email advertising a 20% off sale for 20 hours. Al has been bugging us to come visit him in Chicago for months and I could get a storming deal on tickets. I poked around various websites and found a decent deal on a mini-suite at a hotel in downtown, just a block off Michigan Avenue.
It will be fun! The lights! Christmas Shopping! Maybe see some snow!
Well, we got the lights. We got to watch Christmas shoppers hurry along the avenue. We got to see the ice on the lake and throw snowballs. We even got to walk outside in a gentle snowfall on Saturday.
I realized, though, that I no longer have outerwear appropriate for midwest winters. I remember my years in Madison fondly, but I seem to have forgotten that I lived in 2 – 4 layers between September and March. I have forgotten that gloves and a scarf are not a fashion accessory, but are a necessity.
It was email marketing that reminded me of all that. And I have my fill of cold and snow and ice for a while.
Had a great time in the city, and Al was a wonderful host. But I’m ready to go back to my warm California, where as a friend of mine commented, “we keep the snow in the mountains where you can visit it.”

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