11 Tips for Crafting an Effective Speaking Proposal and Session Description

kane-reinholdtsen-LETdkk7wHQk-unsplash-1-600

As programming chair for Email Innovations World since 2020, I’ve reviewed a lot of proposals to speak. And as someone who’s been speaking at industry conferences for more than 20 years, I’ve probably written nearly as many as I’ve reviewed! So here are some tips to make your speaking proposal stand...

Continue reading
  2427 Hits

Let's Get DEVICE-ive: Email Marketing Strategies for Android vs iPhone Users

rebecca-matthews-MjW3S0C1dCo-unsplash-600

Let’s begin with a thought experiment. Close your eyes for one second and imagine two people. Person one is an Android user. Person two is an iPhone user. What do you see? How are they the same? How are they different? What were they wearing? What cars do they drive? What...

Continue reading
  1652 Hits

My Go-to Solution to Increase Revenue During the Holiday Rush

aaron-burden-Mu_9w7l1koI-unsplash-600

Soon comes the busy holiday season lots of marketers and companies anticipate and fear at the same time. Want to stand out and make the most of it? Here's the solution that we've been using for the last few years: launch a special project that goes beyond the usual email format...

Continue reading
  1150 Hits

The Email Design Debate: Picture Perfect or Text Included?

raphael-schaller-GkinCd2enIY-unsplash-600

I recently found myself scrolling through a lively LinkedIn thread where the debate over email design strategies was in full swing. On one side, emerging email marketers were singing the praises of image-only emails, while the more seasoned pros favored mixing images with text. This got me thinking: Is one approach...

Continue reading
  825 Hits

Beyond the First Click: Exploring the Long Tail of Newsletter Engagement

mark-vihtelic-6aaHCgKoSoo-unsplash-600

Recently, I upgraded our newsletter software to introduce a new image-handling service, changing the domain for all image links in our newsletters. Why, you might ask? To give us more control of image rendering in the emerging world of AI. But that’s a topic for another day. But First, A Little...

Continue reading
  2188 Hits

Why reactivation campaigns need more than a token gesture

ram-kishor-clsgJJdSvY8-unsplash-600

If you work for a consumer facing brand in sectors such as retail, marketplaces or travel where there is a relatively high propensity to buy multiple times, the chances are you are sat on a goldmine of under explored opportunities in relation to reactivating lapsed customers. I could quote lots of...

Continue reading
  1638 Hits

The Connection Between Email Marketing and Organizational Processes

sellayoffe_A_realistic_photo_of_a_board_meeting_with_business_e_6a3ec7e6-dca5-4425-8a00-38cbc44bedfc

Email has become integral to our lives, allowing us to communicate efficiently and effectively. It’s simple to use and all around us - at work, home, and on the move. Email communication and its smooth operation are crucial for the functioning of every business, regardless of its size or industry. Because...

Continue reading
  1445 Hits

First Take on the 2024 Forrester Email Marketing Services Providers Wave™

jeremy-bishop-iftBhUFfecE-unsplash-600

The 2024 Forrester Email Service Provider (ESP) Wave™ finally dropped today, August 5, and as usual, it’s filled with a mix of great insights, missing vendors, and “what were they thinking?” conclusions. As most of you know, for the last 9 years, my business has exclusively focused on helping enterprise brands...

Continue reading
Tags:
  4793 Hits

Setting a Minimum Email Frequency: Lessons from Publishing for eCommerce

towfiqu-barbhuiya-bwOAixLG0uc-unsplash-600

A recent conversation with some well-known folks in the space turned to the question about email frequency; but from the perspective of setting a floor – the minimum number of emails you should send folks on your list – rather than the maximum. Many eCommerce brands spend a lot of time...

Continue reading
  2046 Hits

No Clicks Needed: How Zero-Click Thinking Can Enhance Your Newsletter

jeremy-perkins-1XgFFEG_RGA-unsplash-60_20240805-150044_1

We’ve all been trained to look at click data to evaluate the performance of our newsletters.  Click Reach, Click-Through-Rate, Click-To-Open.  Changes to open tracking have conspired to limit the value of the open as a measurement of engagement, which has put even more focus on clicks as the primary engagement metric....

Continue reading
  1991 Hits

Email Quality Score: Your Secret Weapon for Post-MPP Success

element5-digital-LTyDj7u_TU4-unsplash-600

The Challenges of Post-Apple MPP for Email Marketers As email marketers, one of the biggest challenges we face is trying to figure out what content resonates best with our audiences. Prior to Apple Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), a lot of folks were using open rate along with click rate to give...

Continue reading
  2798 Hits

Identify What’s Causing Your Deliverability Issues in a Single Step

ben-wicks-iDCtsz-INHI-unsplash-600

If one dares to look, one can find that two things that are seemingly unrelated can actually be connected and teach us quite a bit about each other. My work and my kids are huge chunks of my life, so they easily inspire my thinking and get intermingled. Just watching how...

Continue reading
  1498 Hits

Imposter Syndrome in Email Marketing

Mask-600

I was listening to an interview recently that discussed how common imposter syndrome is among many professionals today. It got me thinking about how this very common issue might relate to email marketing in general. Defining Imposter Syndrome Imposter Syndrome is described as the psychological experience of having self-doubt in one’s...

Continue reading
  1825 Hits

Is Honesty the Best Policy? The Truth About AI Content Disclosure

In today's digital landscape, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into content creation is becoming increasingly common. As AI tools become more sophisticated, they are capable of generating content that is virtually indistinguishable from that written by humans. This raises a crucial question for content creators: should they disclose the use...

Continue reading
  2073 Hits

Why ESP migration is “Lift and Innovate,” not “Lift and Shift”

allen-perper-lJtcWSZkesU-unsplash-600

Almost everybody in the email world has gone through a technology platform migration. But few share my perspective as a tech user, platform vendor, and now head of an agency that shepherds enterprise-level companies through the migration maze. Today's technology can do things I couldn't even dream of when I started...

Continue reading
  1409 Hits

Email Marketing: Unlocking business-wide intelligence.

aneta-pawlik-qWRSHoeTn2I-unsplash-600

Email marketing - a goldmine of business intelligence. Ready to unlock the hidden power of your campaigns? Read on to transform your email marketing from a communication tool into a strategic powerhouse. From sales to product development, customer service to brand strategy, discover how email insights can give your company a...

Continue reading
  1644 Hits

Email Marketer vs. Clients/Higher-ups & The Best Practice Battle

brian-mcgowan-LObpG0ku8VM-unsplash-600

There is often a discrepancy between what we, as email marketers, know is a best practice and what consulting clients or higher-ups in our organization tend to ask about. Our responsibility as email marketers is to steer the conversation based on our expertise, even when challenging. Clients/higher-ups should also understand that...

Continue reading
  1212 Hits

An Email Data Visualization Primer

luke-chesser-JKUTrJ4vK00-unsplash-600

Data visualization is an important part of email marketing and it’s reporting. In fact, many marketers are already using it even if they don’t realize it. For example, if you graph your email metrics over time, then you already visualize your email data. In a real way, making those charts IS...

Continue reading
  1046 Hits

6 Great AI Ideas

danielle-rice-wWk0cMJTwVA-unsplash-600-1

It was such a pleasure to present ’35 Great AI Ideas in 35 Minutes’ with Tamara Gielen, Materialise, at Email Innovations World 2024! For those of you who missed our presentation, I thought I would present 6 of my ideas here, and another 6 on my Email Optimization Shop blog; I’ll...

Continue reading
Tags:
  1571 Hits

GenAI in the automation of email production: distant fantasy or a near-future workflow?

zhenyu-luo-kE0JmtbvXxM-unsplash-600

GenAI has recently captured significant interest in our industry, particularly for its potential to enhance email creation — from drafting subject lines to generating complete emails. Despite the current hype surrounding GenAI and the many applications being built on it, the practical utility of GenAI often falls short of expectations. Demonstrations...

Continue reading
  1563 Hits