Ask the OI Experts: How can agencies and consultants adjust their marketing strategies for their clients given the uncertainty surrounding the current economic situation in regard to a recession and inflation?   Kate Barrett Owner of eFocus Marketing Marketing is often one of the first budgets cut in hard times –...

For those who have had the pleasure (!?) of working with me over the years they’ll probably say I’m partial to a moan or a rant. I’d prefer to spin that as being a critical thinker but yes, there is a lot of truth in that! In all seriousness though no...

Hello, friends! It's November, and I am ready to dive into 2023. I want to get through these next six weeks and to be done with 2022. This is the time of year when people start predicting what to expect for the coming year, but I think it's equally important to...

Anyone who follows me will know how unusual a post like this is for me, as I am generally reluctant to make predictions about the future for good reasons: they can come back to bite you. Just think back. How many predictions about 2020, made in 2019, anticipated the changes COVID...

Ever thought "My click rate is decreasing, but I don’t know why." Here are some ways to further assess the situation and 7 key areas to focus on to create increased engagement (the clicks will follow.) When reviewing your email performance are you seeing a downward trend in your click rate?...

I am excited to announce that we are accepting speaker proposals for the 8th annual Email Innovations Summit, taking place June 19-21, 2023, at Red Rocks Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event is a joint production from Only Influencers and Rising Media. Read on to learn more about: my...

In the early days of mass advertising, customer trust was a tagline – "The most trusted name in widgets!"   But brands didn't do much to earn that trust or prove they had it. Thankfully, things have changed over the last 100 years or so. Data privacy and security are now everyone's...

Now that it's autumn, it's time for email advisers to send out their annual lists of the automated email programs a sensible email marketer needs to employ to maximize revenue. What's on the list? The usual: welcome emails, abandoned-cart reminders, win-back messages. All three are helpful because they address customers at...

I haven’t written recently about the Request-for-Proposal (RFP) process, but given that Halloween is right around the corner, this seemed like as good a time as any to revisit the RFP Crypt and share some examples of RFP horror!  Before sharing some of the scariest RFP stories around, I think we...

The growing Martech Stack The global martech industry is worth an estimated $344.8bn (The Martech Report, 21-22). The ecosystem itself has grown considerably to over 8,000 vendors in 2020 (The Chief Martech landscape). In 2021, 76% of companies reported using marketing technology (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2021), and usage will...

Our goal is to have the diversity in the United Kingdom (UK) email industry match that of the UK census by January 2025. Won't you help us by taking the 2022 Racial Diversity in the Email Industry Survey? It's now open through October 31, 2022 (we extended it), covering the US, UK,...

Data is fantastic for the insights it can provide for improving your program, increasing personalization, and increasing revenue. Despite the benefits, the challenges around collecting and organizing the data often holds marketers back. A 2020 survey held by Evergage (now Salesforce), showed that lack of personnel, lack of knowledge/skill and access...

Our goal is to have the diversity in the US email industry match that of the United States (US) census by January 2025. Won't you help us by taking the 2022 Racial Diversity in the Email Industry Survey? It's open through October 31, 2022 (we extended it), covering the US, UK,...

In life, we all use conventional wisdom (CW) on a regular basis. We come across it in every facet of our lives. “If the stove gas burner doesn’t light the first time, wait a few seconds for the gas to dissipate before trying again.” “Kids should do homework every night.” “It’s...

You may have seen the recent announcement by Amazon that they are going to let their brands and sellers send out marketing emails. It’s generated a lot of chatter, with some expressing concerns that the move could result in a new wave of spam hitting inboxes. How could this impact email's...

The world has had its fair share of crisis, I don’t need to remind you of the pandemic we’re still recovering from! In the UK, our nation has been catapulted from one unrest to the next. From Brexit and the Pandemic, to the rising fuel costs and now to the passing...

It started with a letter to the FEC, then took us on a whirlwind of emotion through the landscape of political email, and has landed us back to where we began. And where was that? With best practices. In June, Axios posted an article detailing Gmail’s move to allow political spam...

Basketball hall of famer and greatest of all time Michael Jordan once said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And...

In some of our projects, promotional emails bring up to 80% of all the sales from email communication. If you see that your promotional emails are no longer effective, search for the reasons and improve the situation as fast as you can.   How to understand that your emails are bad...

Recently I had the honour of teaching a group of eager University students who wanted to learn everything there is to know about email marketing. It promised to be a fantastic experience, especially given the venue: the stunning city of Barcelona. But there was a catch. I had to teach these...