In the email industry, we have a lot of terms we use regularly. Deliverability, Open Rate, Inbox, Subject Line, Friendly From, Call-to-Action, etc. For the most part, we all have a consistent shared definition of what these terms mean. But there is one commonly used email term where the definition can...

It’s that time of year again when we either look back at what happened over the past year or what’s coming in the year ahead. Looking back and writing about what happened is easy, so I figured I would try to tackle some predictions for the New Year. I promise to...

Regardless of whether you are a believer that AI is going to revolutionize every industry for the better or a skeptic who sees AI as a threat to original content creation and a host of other ‘human’ roles, I think everyone agrees that AI is here to stay. In the email...

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...

Back in 2021, I wrote an article for Only Influencers sharing data from OPTIZMO’s annual Email Opt-Out Infographic. That infographic covered data from 2018-2020, so it culminated with a look at how a year of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced email opt-out behavior. (Is it just me or is it hard to...

It’s that time of year again, time for a slew of articles either forecasting what will happen in the email marketing industry during 2024 or focused on New Year’s resolutions marketers should have on their lists. Far be it from me to swim against the current over the holidays, so here’s...

When I brainstorm topics for an upcoming OI article, sometimes I focus on bigger trends in the industry (AI!) or areas where I can speak with some authority (email compliance). But I also like to think about topics and conversations that have come up on our Thursday OI-members-only Live Zoom calls,...

Not sure if you’ve heard, but Artificial Intelligence (AI) is kind of a hot topic right now - in literally every industry and even among consumers. If you’ve attended any of our Thursday Only Influencers (OI) Members-only Live Zoom calls this year, you’ve probably noticed that AI comes up on pretty...

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...

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,...

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...

As we approach the halfway point of 2022, we’re now a bit over 2 years since Covid was declared a pandemic (March 11, 2020). At that point, it's safe to say that marketers had little to no idea how dramatically our businesses and marketing programs would be impacted. Now, with 2...

With 2022 speeding along at a breakneck pace, I wanted to take a moment and consider the outlook for the email channel in the overall marketing mix this year. Over the course of the last two years, digital marketing, in general, took on more importance than ever before, as real-world business...

As we speed toward the end of the year (seriously, it’s almost Thanksgiving - how did that happen so fast?), email marketers are focused on two key projects. 1 - Ensuring those all-important holiday season campaigns all go out without a hitch. 2 - Finalizing your 2022 email marketing strategies. While...

Privacy. Consumers want it (or at least say they do) and in many cases they feel that companies know too much about them and their activities. Admittedly, you can create surveys that will demonstrate how much consumers value their privacy and others that show how much consumers enjoy marketing that is...

Here we are in 2021, getting ready to celebrate the 43rd birthday of email marketing. Who would have guessed back in 1978 that email would become the first digital marketing channel, helping to pave the way for every other digital channel in the next four decades? Maybe even more impressive is...

For the past few years, OPTIZMO has been publishing infographics based on email opt-outs processed on our platform (100s of millions every year). While there are many insightful reports, white papers, and infographics released every year by various companies in the email marketing industry, the vast majority focus on email activity...

Earlier this year, I wrote a post for Only Influencers on Turning a Negative into a Positive which highlighted the value of analyzing the negative marketing signals generated by every email campaign (opt-outs, spam complaints, non-responders, etc.). I thought I would build on that topic just a bit before 2020 comes...

On a recent OI-members-only Live Zoom discussion we spent some time talking about how to leverage video in email campaigns. The conversation was spurred by Tejas Pitkar’s (Netcore) recent OI blog post and there were a lot of great ideas brought up by the group. So, I thought it would make...

As email marketers, most of us are focused on how our campaigns perform. Even if our emails aren’t specifically designed to drive leads, sales, or other recipient actions, we still monitor key metrics like Open Rate to at least determine if recipients are looking at the message.  For those email marketers...