This is a story about how you may unknowingly be a spammer. Ok, let me rephrase, you may unknowingly look like a spammer. And I say spammer because nowadays in the mailbox providers' eyes, unwanted mail is spam mail. SOME BACKGROUND I consult with a number of different senders with different...

The email marketing landscape is changing rapidly, and what worked years ago may not work today. ISPs now consider a variety of factors to decide if our emails reach their customers. As such, we must continuously strategize new initiatives to remain successful in this ever-evolving ecosystem. All ISPs strive to protect...

Are you spending your working hours efficiently? Can you unlock the full power of email marketing and achieve the highest ROI possible with your current approach? If you read my previous article for OI, you already know that I’m a huge fan of the resource-efficient approach in marketing: I believe that...

I’m not usually one to make assumptions. There’s an old saying about what happens when you assume things (you make an a$$ out of you and me). But, I’m going to ignore that advice and assume that just about anyone reading this has now heard about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how...

With an updated and greatly expanded 4th edition of my book, Email Marketing Rules, out this month, I wanted to look back at the predictions I made about the future of email marketing in the 3rd edition nearly six years ago. I predicted 11 changes would occur in the next 10...

A year back I started a new job as an Outbound marketing specialist in a demand generation team at Hurix . I call it the year of being uncomfortable… Transitioning from a product marketing to an outbound role was challenging but also interesting. A year into the role, I have seen...

For at least a decade, posts and pundits have pushed the notion that personalization is a key — maybe “the” key — to email marketing. Personalization in digital channels seems like a logical, natural goal. People say they like being treated “more personally”.  So, marketing content that is more personal should deliver...

It’s almost International Women’s Day, a day to recognize women who are achieving – and who are also helping other people, women and men, achieve. So here is our list of women whose accomplishments we applaud and appreciate – because they are all incredibly accomplished women who are paying it forward...

The business of advertising and marketing is constantly changing. As marketers and business operators, we are tasked with finding the most effective marketing channels and techniques. The current medium taking off for small and large businesses is text message marketing. With open rates of around 80%, it’s no wonder why this...

In the B2C world what is the difference between CRM and email marketing? Nowadays the terms seem interchangeable. You only have to see many job ads that refer to CRM Manager who it seems sole responsibility is managing the email channel. Yet I would say there is a significant difference in...

The recent advancements in AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney have left many of us overwhelmed. It's no secret that even email providers such as Gmail have utilized AI for some time with their email filtering algorithms. This has led to discussions and articles about the future use of AI in...

This is the third year that Only Influencers and Email Connect have conducted a brief survey with brands regarding their plans to switch vendors in the upcoming year. The survey was originally intended to measure the impact that COVID-19 had on brands’ plans to conduct ESP RFPs in 2020—2022. What we...

Many companies struggle with attribution in general, but when it comes email the failure to measuring the true impact of email on their revenue is spectacular! As a result, the email team at most brands face a constant struggle for recognition and more importantly a fair share of available resource. The...

I had another topic queued up for my regular Only Influencers (OI) post, but I hope you will indulge me as I switch it out for some late-breaking news. I just received the ANA-Email Excellence Center's annual Thought Leader of the Year Award – an honor already bestowed on several long-time...

The latest round of tech layoffs hit home recently. In a call with a marketing team, I discovered half the team had been quietly laid off the week before. It seems every week brings news that a past colleague or fellow member of the email community is looking for new opportunities,...

We all know that sales are important - that's partly the reason why we’re here right? To improve sales and increase year-on-year revenue. But what about community? We’re in an era where knowing a company’s values, having a sense of belonging, and feeling connected are key drivers for many people. Shifting...

Congratulations! We survived the 2022 email equivalent of Sharknado!  But instead of sharks in tornadoes, we had the 2022 U.S. midterm elections and Black Friday-Holiday shopping filling up inboxes at the same time.  And that’s the good news. The bad news is that there’s an email Sharknado of epic proportions heading...

Are you curious about how ChatGPT and AI could change the game for your campaigns? Look no further. In this blog, we're going to dive into the world of ChatGPT and explore how this powerful language model can help improve your email marketing efforts. But before we get into the nitty-gritty,...

As a new year begins, I thought it timely to take a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at some of the challenges that a full-on omni-channel strategy can pose to an already robust and successful email marketing/CRM program. These challenges flow from two opposing forces that exist in contemporary marketing. Each has an...

As a marketer with a deep love and passion for email marketing I can’t ignore all the other marketing tactics and tools available to help our clients grow their business and reduce the risk of something very bad happening. What could this very bad thing be?  I’m happy you asked. The...