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...

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...

Happy New Year! 

It's that time again -- our top blog posts of the last year, 2022. 

We appreciate the expertise that our blog authors share all year long -- every post provides value to our readers. That said, here are the top reads, based on number of views, of 2022. And many of these are still relevant today, at the start of 2023 -- so check them out!  

Congratulations to those with more than one post on the top ten list: 

• Chris Marriott, Email Connect, with 3 posts in the top 10
• Chad White, Oracle Marketing Consulting, with 2 posts in the top 10

Photo by Simon Fitall on Unsplash

With a near certain recession in the future, at least according to the Bloomberg Economic Model, a lot of uncertainty hovers in the air for businesses, individuals, and families. 2023 may feel like the start of yet another bleak year, sweeping layoffs in Big Tech  at the end of 2022 from...

It's the time of year when a lot of people are putting together their holiday wish lists. Whether it’s kids putting together a list of toys for Santa (Xbox, Elmo, a Red Rider BB gun), or grown-ups letting their partners and family members know what they might want (Amazon gift card,...

Gmail is getting old. What’s the next hot email app? That was the gist of a tweet I saw early this year. At the time, the question made me reflect on the different features and capabilities of all of the major inbox providers, and what those differences said about inbox providers’...

According to Litmus, in 2020, 44% of teams spent about 1–2 weeks producing one email, and 52% of them spent at least 2 weeks on the same task. That’s a lot! To stay ahead of the competitors, we must find ways to work faster, better, and cheaper than others. Being the...