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April 30, 2008
Maybe Not So Stupid... Just the Agency
So after a few weeks of letting this stew with legal and PostNet Canada, seems that they are good guys. We got word back that they had NO idea that there was a product named emailROI that had been in existence and use by some of our Canadian customers since 2002.
But what is amazing is that the agency they hired to create the brand mark never took the steps to look before presenting it to the client. I really want to know who this agency is and if they will ever get hired again.
Here is the response from our law firm:
"Here's a win for the good guys! I just got off of the phone with Rob Anderson, President of PostNet Canada. He got our letter and wanted to apologize for their use of the "Email ROI" mark. Apparently, their marketing company didn't complete any diligence at all to make sure that no one was already utilizing that name in this space. He said that they will immediately cease all use of the mark."
Thanks Rob for realizing this mistake and taking the high road on this. I know that it is going to be painful to pull all the collateral and other elements that are out in all of your stores already, but hey good news... you guys are in the printing business. I bet you can make more.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:26 AM | Permalink
April 29, 2008
Off the Email Grid
Well hypothetically I am in Mexico this week drinking up the sun and time away from the internetZ. This is IF I can stay off the wifi there. I anticipate that there will be bets at the office. We will see.
So I have made sure not to let you down and set up some posts to keep you engaged during my absence. Hope you enjoy them and I will be back next week in the flesh, although I hope it is tanned and not crispy.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 12:52 PM | Permalink
Happy 3rd Anniversary Email Wars Blog
Just realized tonight as I was putting together posts for this week that I have been diligently writing and posting to this blog for 3 years this month. Wow if I added up the hours spent on this I might actually had time for a few more vacations.
Overall we have been actively blogging since July 1, 2003 which makes it 5 years almost. Long time. We mothballed the two first blogs out there, and moved to this one, EmailDays, and ReturnOnSubscriber. In tribute to this work we are adding 2 more blogs this summer. One from our NYC office and the other from the Creative team at eROI. Should be fun.
We have new designs that are in production for the 3 current blogs and I know you will like them. They are well designed of course and I think will allow you to get more information from our collective noggins.
Thank you for your steady readership as over 1000 of you are reading it almost every day and 1000s of others are jumping in a few times a week. Makes me feel like the time is worth it if I am a good resource for you.
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 12:35 PM | Permalink
April 28, 2008
Lost In Translation?
Really???
You want to create a product called emailROI and roll out as a new product at the FedEx/Kinkos of Canada (PostNet) called emailROI? Guys, ever thought about doing a Google search let alone trademark search before naming a product that purports to be EXACTLY the same thing? OMG these are some dumb SOBs. Sorry if I am offending the smart Canadians out there but this is insane.
Wait, if you type it with a space (email ROI) instead of as one word (emailROI) it must be completely different... right? I have been sitting on this for a few weeks but still cannot wrap my head around this. Guess sending it over to the lawyers is all we can do now.
Tip: Go to Google, enter desired word or name, see what comes back. Revise product names.
Apr 08, 2008 08:29 ET
Email ROI (Return on Investment)
PostNet (Canada Post's Authorized Business Centre) Launches New Business Product
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 8, 2008) -
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=841224
ATTENTION: Business, Technology/Printing, and Marketing Editors
PostNet locations are set to launch Canada's only in-store business support centre email marketing service Email ROI, allowing its clients quick and easy email marketing solutions.
Email marketing in 2006 had the highest return within the communication medium, an averaged $51.45 return on investment (ROI) dollars for each $1 spent (Canadian Marketing Association).
"PostNet has seen a significant increase in small to medium businesses choosing cost effect online marketing in conjunction with traditional direct mail approaches. The demand for PostNet to implement e-marketing was too strong for us not to move forward," says Rob Anderson, President of PostNet Canada.
Email ROI promises to offer small to medium sized business owners a wide variety of cutting edge full & self-serve online marketing solutions that will help entrepreneurs take charge of their email marketing and communication efforts from start to finish.
Email ROI changes the way e-business is done.
Email ROI is unparalleled in its appeal to consumers by literally cutting costs of printed materials, postage and time. Through Email ROI, business owners can directly maximize their online marketing initiatives - from organizing, managing and growing your lists; to customizing messaging and deployment (98 per cent delivery rate); to measuring recipient response through unique Email ROI open rate statistics and click analysis; to studying audience reaction and fine-tuning positioning to better suit their needs.
The addition of Email ROI not only provides PostNet customers with tailored e-marketing campaigns but also re-affirms PostNet as Canada's boutique business solution centre.
About PostNet
PostNet is the ultimate business support centre. The company has grown to more than 900 franchises throughout North America and abroad and is working towards a goal of 1,500 global franchises within three to five years.
For more information, visit www.postnet.ca.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:52 AM | Permalink
Moving from Transaction to Interaction
As a creative interactive agency, we buy images from online sources for web design and email campaign projects. But we don't always opt in for the email newsletter from the check out. I am sure that this is also the case for you and even for your own customers. So you can message them around transactional emails, product updates of products they bought and even ones like this that ASK them if they want to get on the newsletter list. If you do it right you can have a good lift into your house list. But automatically placing them on an email newsletter list is not the right thing to do and you will end up losing them or at the worse end of the spectrum, offending them.
So here is a good example of what Corbis did to reach out to me. Does not hurt that it is pretty to boot.
View image
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 6:00 AM | Permalink
April 25, 2008
Yahoo Mail Blows Up
Over on the Yahoo Mail Blog they stated they have been doing work on Yahoo Mail classic, and of course, anytime they do work, there are bugs.
http://www.ymailblog.com/blog/2008/04/24/update-to-yahoo-mail-classic-has-resumed/
The postmaster and development teams at Yahoo have been using the blog to communicate changes, and actively read comments from users. If you are experiencing problems, it is a good place to post or read comments from other users to see if they are already aware of the issues.
Comments from the WEB on this:
Someone was asking about problems with Yahoo yesterday. I use Yahoo Classic for my personal emails and I noticed yesterday and today that it's making emails that I haven't opened as read. If I mark those as unread, it then marks other unread emails as read. So perhaps there's not a deliverability issue but one with open and click rates because subscribers are not reading messages because Yahoo is telling them that they've already looked at the emails. Anyone else seeing this?
------------
I'm seeing similar problems in the new version of Yahoo Mail. Over the past week, in my personal account:
Previously read & deleted emails have returned to my inbox as unread
The inbox has failed to load & generated JavaScript errors
Individual messages have been failing to load, generating internal Yahoo error messages to try again
It seems as if they may be doing some behind-the-scenes work that's negatively impacting the user experience--and, in some cases, making select messages unreadable for a period of time.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 11:01 AM | Permalink
Using RSS with Email Marketing
I wanted to share with you another client that is doing a good job of using our RSS to emailROI system to help them get timely content out in an automated manner. Sure they could use RSS, but their audience really does not grasp RSS as a whole. So the solution was to create a blog that could feed by RSS categories into an emailROI template without duplicating efforts.
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Why is this important? Well you have 10,000 things you are doing this week. Blogging could be one of them. Most likely adding content to your site is the primary task in most cases as static web sites do not bring your customers and prospects back to you. So instead of copying and pasting to create another email that would be using content you have already spent time placing on your site or blog, we give you our system that automatically grabs the content, builds the HTML and Text versions, and then lets you know when it is ready to go at the pre-defined time you set. Simple? You bet it is. And effective. Instead of rushing to put together a campaign, you can sit back and let the campaign build itself from your content fed by RSS.
I can tell you that it is a time saver for many organizations that are eROI clients.
And take a look at how nice it comes out. On brand, relevant, timely, and we throw in an RSS feed from that campaign to boot if you have folks that subscribe to newsletters by RSS.
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 4:02 AM | Permalink
April 24, 2008
Who Are The Email Bloggers?
Interesting article, but let's take a peek in the email marketing space. Just who are our bloggers? Are they in line with what is reflected in this study?
It seems to me that the email marketing blogger community is not reflective of this study. Maybe we are all just above average?
Gender seems to be evenly reflected.
I would go out on a limb and state that many are around the age found in this study as well.
I took a look at many of the ones that I read. Now this is not ALL of them as there are about 50 email blogs that I track, but these folks are the most widely read and most prolific.
Tamara Gielen
Chad White
Denise Cox
DJ Waldow
Kath Pay
Alex Williams
Loren McDonald
Anna Billstrom
Jeff Mills
Kelly Rusk
Stefan Pollard
Janine Popick
Jeanniey Mullen
Stephanie Miller
Mark Brownlow
Lisa Harmon
The Study: What's A Blogger?
Bloggers are younger and higher percentages are Hispanic & African American than the general population. A higher percentage of Democrats than of Republicans are blogging.
Now that Blogging might better be called a market segment rather than a market niche, it's useful with regard to positioning the marketing message to understand what a Blogger looks like, as distinguished from the rest of the population. According to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey, 26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog.
Of those:
53.7% are male
44.7% are married
28.4% hold a professional or managerial position
10.4% are students.
Bloggers tend to be younger, averaging 37.6 years old, compared to 44.8 for adults 18+ (the "general population"). Ethnically:
69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian (vs. 76.1%)
12.2% are African American/Black (vs. 11.4%)
3.7% are Asian (vs. 2.0%)
20% of Bloggers are Hispanic, compared to 14.8% of adults 18+
In addition, Bloggers report a lower income ($55,819 vs. $56,811) and are better educated (14.3 years of education vs. 14.2).
Although Bloggers are more likely to use new media, the analysis finds that more conventional forms of media trigger their Internet searches. Magazines, at 51.6%, rank highest, followed by:
48.8% reading an article
46.1% broadcast TV
44.5% cable TV
42.5% face-to-face communication
39.7% newspaper
Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch, concludes "Bloggers are a diverse group and not who you would expect..."
Do you have some blogs I should be reading? Share them with me.
Comments (6) | Posted by dylan at 4:59 AM | Permalink
April 23, 2008
eROI email Survey: The Cradle & The Grave
Over 500 marketers were surveyed about the subscribe/unsubscribe process. While these processes are improving, they have yet to reach what we would call exceptional.
You can get the whole PDF in our resources section (Quarterly Studies tab)/ but the call outs below are not in the PDF.
High Level Thoughts:
- Email marketers are not matching up other marketing efforts like they should. Email, search, DM, Print, Call Centers, and sales teams need to get on the same page.
- Email marketers are not monitoring feedback loops and complaint rates. Are they counting on the ESP to do it? Many ESPs like eROI do this, but some do not. Does yours? Or does your program if you run it in house?
- The thank you page, prime visitor real estate is being wasted. There are so many opportunities to be testing the thank you page with Progressive Profiling and offers. As well as setting expectations.
- Not surveying subscribers at opt out. Remember high school when someone wanted to break up? Didn't you ask WHY are you leaving? This still holds true. Exit surveys are key to finding out why you have churn.
- Not allowing frequency changes. Subscribers should have access to change preferences of frequency just like they can manage a profile with your programs. Do they want to hear from you monthly, weekly, daily, as things that are important to them change? Listen before you speak.
Here is a teaser. You can get the whole PDF in our resources section (Quarterly Studies tab) . If you already have been there, all you need to do it log back in. No more forms, questions, or steps. Nice touch huh. What other email marketing agencies have you seen do this? None, they all want your information EVERY time. There are better ways to do this, Take a look for yourself.
Opting-in- the cradle
When obtaining permission to send out emails, only about 30% of email marketers use a confirmed opt-in method, where a confirmation e-mail including an activation web link (or requiring a reply email) is sent to verify the subscriber. This number has grown quite a bit over the years, but is still well below where the industryshould be. confirmed opt-in helps ensure quality of the email list by requiring an action by the user to begin receiving emails. about 75% of email marketers provide only a small number of ways for subscribers to opt-in (one to three), whereas about 4% have more than 10 ways for subscribers to opt-in.
This story got picked up by ClickZ last friday which we appreciate.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 1:00 PM | Permalink
What If We Sent Hugs Instead of Emails?
In the world of viral email I am often not that impressed with the value of the "viral" pre-planned ability of a campaign, but in the meat of the campaign. IF it is truly something that is authentic, credible, transparent and worth sharing for cred or value... then it has legs to be "viral" or sent on to someone in the peer group of your subscriber. So many times I hear companies, service providers or agencies talking about how they will make it viral. No secret sauce here, you all have the abilities to give your subscribers the content that will help them spread your meesage.
Church of the Consumer had an inspiring post about this below:
How free goes viral - By Jackie Huba
Michele Miller posted this on SWOM. It's so good I wanted to repost it here:
One of the hottest videos on YouTube today is the Free Hug Campaign - one man giving away free hugs and the effect it has on the people around him.
It's a perfect parallel to building a viral campaign for your business.
Watch the video and observe:
People's resistance to anything free... even if it's a hug
The breakthrough that happens when one random individual decides to try one
A tsunami of response once people watch the experience of others
The fight to defend their right to hug when barriers are erected by "authorities"
If you believe strongly enough in your product or service, give it away for free. In the beginning, no one will believe you. Stick with it long enough, experience breakthrough, and you'll have more business than you know what to do with.
And you'll have a band of merry men (and women) who will be your brand evangelists.
The funny thing is that here it is peculating up and it was done last year in 2007. Good content has legs to stand over time and keep engaging.
How can this not be just like email? What if you could send things that people wanted, trusted and felt like sharing and spreading for you after engaging with it? And I bet you that these videos were emailed out time and time again, making email this media platform and YouTube the delivery vehicle.
The it went to Korea
Then Amsterdam
Then NYC
Then Scotland
Then Venezuela
Where will it strike or launch next? Your guess is as good as mine.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:00 AM | Permalink
Great Email Presentations
If you have not seen SlideShare, it is something you might want to learn more about. I was looking through it the other day and found some great email marketing decks that are loaded up there. It is a good resource for presentations you might have seen, and an even better one to give your old PPT decks some extended reach and life.
SlideShare allows you to load up your deck, add audio and embed your presentations into sites and blog posts.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:49 AM | Permalink
April 22, 2008
Anti-Spam Bill Being Crafted in CA
From Ken Magill on DM News. Worth the read. Will the state by state insanity ever stop? Can't they involve the marketers, ISPs and ESPs when they go to create a new bill? We all want it to stop, as it would only benefit our double opt in, above board clients.
Not Again: Anti-Spam Bill Being Crafted in CA A bill is working its way through the California legislature that supporters contend would strengthen its anti-spam laws and could go in to effect as early as this fall, the San Francisco Chronicle reported last week.Why is it that so many anti-spam activists refuse to understand that spammers are generally breaking about 142 laws every time they hit "send" already, and that a 143rd magical piece of legislation will do nothing to fix the problem that can't already be accomplished with existing law?
Click here to read about another misguided effort at trying to legislate spam out of existence.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 2:23 PM | Permalink
Zinio and VIV Help Us Go Green
In tribute to Earth Day here are some gifts from Zinio and VIV Magazine. We all live online, why not start reading your magazines this way? If you have not seen how this works, you need to check it out. For long flights, being offline and even being able to read them in a better format it makes sense.
What is so cool is how it is tied into email as the vehicle for delivery and how the triggers work during the run time of each edition. Something worth checking out.
With over 850 Publications like BusinessWeek and others using it, it will only be a matter of time till we all consider this this standard.
VIV: VIVmag is packed with hundreds of pages of dynamic, fresh, actionable content you can interact with exactly as YOU choose. Discover what's new in awareness, beauty, fashion, fitness, health, nutrition and travel in the March/April 2008 issue of VIVmag, the first exclusively digital, interactive women's lifestyle magazine.
Digital Classics: Zinio's new Digital Classics Library features 100 available titles on a scrollable bookshelf where users can simply click on the spine of a book to open it in their browser. In addition to reading online, consumers can search for content within the books, share titles with friends or save books to read offline later. Your special access to the digital library lets you be one of the first to choose from great classic books such as Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and many more!
Enjoy.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 6:00 AM | Permalink
Avoiding Email Bankruptcy
Amazon's Jeff Barr has admitted to being one of those folks with too many unanswered email messages piled up. But unlike some, he didn't declare email bankruptcy. Instead, he's worked out a systematic plan for getting out of trouble:
- Don't get further behind
- Set aside time to work on the backlog
- Track your progress
What makes this method work - with email or any other giant backlog you're trying to clear up - is the tracking. If you actually get the daily numbers down where you can see them, it becomes impossible to fool yourself about whether you're making progress - and you get additional motivation to get to zero.
Try it yourself if you're in a similar situation!
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:00 AM | Permalink
April 21, 2008
Search to Acquire - Email to Retain
According to a new report released by trade group Shop.org, conducted by Forrester Research, online sales excluding travel are expected to hit $204 billion in 2008, an increase of 17% over last year. The top three categories will be apparel at $26.6 billion, computers at $23.9 billion and autos at $19.3 billion, according to The State of Retailing 2008 Marketing Report.
Online commerce is expected to account for 7% of all retail sales in 2008, and will top $300 billion in five years, the report said. In addition, 53% of online retailers' marketing budgets are spent on customer acquisition compared to 21% spent on retention.
The top customer acquisition tactic for online retailers is paid search, which accounts for 35% of new customers on average, according to the study.
The second highest source, attracting 18% of the new customers, is Organic Web traffic. Affiliate programs and e-mail were tied for third place, accounting for 7% each, according to the study.
Though paid search is the top acquisition tool, e-mail to house files is the top online marketing tactic as 92% of online retailers said they use it. 79% say Paid search will be an increased priority this year.
Nearly half of online retailers said they send print catalogs and 46% said they plan to make them an increased priority in 2008, the study said.
Online retailers report popular promotional tactics in this order of preference:
85% say they use free shipping with conditions, with it, the study said
82% use percent-off promotions with saying they use it
69% prefer dollar-off promotions
68% like gift with purchase
67% support online-only sales
For more information, please visit direct magazine here.
http://directmag.com/news/online-sales040808/
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:00 AM | Permalink
April 19, 2008
Partner Wins adTech Award for Wacom
The Wacom work continues to win some awards. Well this time it was not eROI doing the work, but a partner we brought in to do some Facebook campaigns for Wacom and the new Bamboo Tablet. The results were off the hook. After a few contests, they were getting 1000s of pieces of original art submitted and over 500,000 votes per campaign. Amazing.
View image
It is not a simple thing to run an online campaign in a social media environment, but GuerillaPR continues to blow it out for customers. It makes me very happy to recommend them to our clients and bring them in when it makes sense.
We have a few other campaigns that are in the planning stages now with them to drive more insane results.
Congrats GuerillaPR and way to knock one home for Wacom. You make us proud and YOU won for best social media campaign. That says ALOT.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:38 PM | Permalink
April 17, 2008
Lessons to Learn for One to One
Let's set this one up as "What not to do in email marketing".
So not sure if this was done in a find/replace method or driven from a CRM.
Lesson One: Use the right company name in your email. We are eROI not Exact Target. Those are those guys in Indy. We are the sexy ones in Portland, Oregon (HOLLA).
Two: Proof it for any typos or grammar.
Three: Cold Calling sucks, make me learn about your event and the value prop instead of making me HEAR about your event from you. You move straight into the you need to buy pitch and I still don't know what the event is.
Don't want to stir any Cold Call Cowboy karma, but if you don't plan your email outreach, even on a one to one level, you might as well not email.
Sorry Marc-----
------------------
From: M Rosenfeld
Date: April 14, 2008 2:32:24 PM PDT
To: Dylan Boyd
Subject: Request for call re Online Market World
Hi Dylan,
I left you a message this afternoon about to see if you had some time over the next few days to discuss the opportunities for Exact Target at Online Market World, October 1-3 in San Francisco. I know you're busy, so rather than trying to catch you on the fly, I was hoping to carve out a few minutes to take you through the details of the event, and to see if this is a good fit for you.
A limited number of speaking opportunities and high-profile sponsorships are still available, as well as prime exhibit space on the show floor. We've also added a new Community section to our website (Click here for our latest newsletter, which links to it) and can offer you a number of exposure options (podcasts, webcasts, etc.) on the site, to help you start promoting your company before the event in Oct.
Please let me know what day/times work best for you to chat. Thanks in advance for your time.
Regards,
M Rosenfeld
Sales & Business Development Mgr.
Online Market World
www.onlinemarketworld.com
Online Market World 08: October 1-3, '08 San Francisco
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:20 AM | Permalink
April 16, 2008
Last Days to Save on Email Insider Summit
If you have not mentally packed your bags for sunny FLA for the Email Insider Summit then get on your horse.
Friday is the last day to save $500 on the event. I can personally tell you that this is the event (Spring and Winter) that we look forward to each and every time. It is small enough to be intimate, allowing you to meet peers and brand marketers, while at the same time large enough to bring some of the top minds together.
It is in line with Fight Club as what is shared between rivals, brands, and ESPs tends to stay in the room. It is a real event of collaboration and openness.
Get your act together and meet me there. I will buy you a drink with an rainbow umbrella....
Register TODAY - Save $500
Early Bird Pricing Ends Friday
http://www.mediapost.com/?fa=rsc.form&showid=45
Learn more after the jump...
Spend three days on Captiva Island, Florida surrounded by palm trees and sparkling water while networking with over one hundred brand marketers and agency decision makers in the email industry at MediaPost's Email Insider Summit on May 21-24. Act now, early bird discount ends Friday!
"Bar none, it was the best Email Marketing event I attended last year, and I went to several." Scott Barnett Manager, Marketing Programs Citrix Online
The Email Insider Summit brings the best minds in the industry together to discuss and debate eEmail strategies, tactics, and hot issues in the business of email. After a morning of intense learning, you will have the opportunity to relax and continue your conversations over a game of golf or onboard a sailboat. Each day concludes with cocktails and a summit dinner party. After three days, you will walk away with new ways to improve your business through email, strong connections in the industry, and maybe even a tan!
"The Email Summit provided an excellent networking opportunity and great topics for today's Email Marketer! Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge and expertise!"
Daphne McHone, Senior Ecommerce Marketing Manager, Hanesbrands, Inc.
Past Attendees Include:
1-800 CONTACTS
IBM
Polo Ralph Lauren
Amazon.com
Avery Dennison
Babycenter.com
Hewlett-Packard
Microsoft
Return Path
Diageo
Capital One
Expedia.com
eROI
American Express
Lenovo
Lands' End
Hanesbrands, Inc.
Kodak Imaging Network
EmailLabs
LifeScript
Habeas
American Express
Register today to be a part of the industry's most thought-provoking and focused conference that helps you take your email marketing campaigns to the next level.
http://www.mediapost.com/?fa=rsc.form&showid=45
Registration includes: access to keynotes, general session, workshops, meals, cocktail parties and networking functions for three days.
Early Bird Discount: $1,995 (ends 4/18/2008)
Regular Price: $2495 (Onsite: $2995)
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 1:45 PM | Permalink
Email Landing Page Let Downs
The timing was right, the offer was strong, the creative compelling, the message was clear... so what happened? This is the part of the email marketing issue that drives me nuts. I call it the loss leader email. If you have ever seen that car ads in the paper or on TV that say we have X car starting at X price, hurry in. Well an email campaign like this leaves me with some email remorse.
View image
Let's set this up more.
I was looking at booking a hotel room this AM for next week in NYC. This email popped into my inbox. Timing... perfect. The offer was good so I immediately clicked through. I got to the landing page, saw 3 possible locations, clicked through to book, and guess what... no more rooms for that offer were available. So I went to the next location, same thing. Then the next location, same thing. I spent 20 seconds thinking maybe I could just spend a little more (now picture the sales manager walking onto the floor of the auto dealer ready to make you a "special offer"). No dice. I was a bit let down and even felt mislead by the offer.
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And then, 8 hours later, I got the email again. It was the same creative used in the first on top, but it had an extended area showing me what was available. Nothing that met what I needed, but interesting that they did the one-two combo in the same day. Was this behaviorally triggered based on my last search? I had to look. And once again no dice.
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BUT what they did to was call out what my past searches were on the left hand side. Liked that touch.
So guess I will have to look somewhere else, even if it was just a little more it still left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
What I did love about this was the landing page had a countdown timer running on the right side letting me know when this offer was up. In the context of this post, it killed me, but from a campaign immediacy idea it was a stand out driver. I wish that this countdown timer was in the email as well.
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Unfortunately it is hard sometimes to control what is going to be left when someone clicks from your email and drives to the site. Whether it is in stock or available sometimes is out of your control if it is popular and a good email campaign. So what can you do? Can you honor the price? Make a deal on another room or product? How can you keep the offer compelling when the offer is gone? Things to think about when you are driving to limited offer.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:01 AM | Permalink
April 15, 2008
Getting Local with Twitter Stats
Portland-based TwitterLocal, the service built by Matt King that allows you to create an RSS feed of Twitter users for a particular location, has just moved added a feature that takes the site from a one-time visit to a regular destination - a leader board for the top 30 cities on Twitter. The leader board currently ranks cities by the number of tweets by residents in a rolling 24-hour period.
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Why is this cool? Well from what I have been studying there are over 7.3 million users of Twitter thus far in the world. Some stats say over 10 million. I like to err low here as many people set up an account and never understand how to use it, and thus don't like your neglected MySpace page.
I have been trying to understand by the geographic area who is actually using them as I think that this application is the mobile space killer app and can be tied into email marketing. Already there are APIs to pull the twitter content from a brand into your site. Here is an example of how a brand is using it not only as a mobile communication system, but also to pull it into a brand site.
From 8:00PM, April 8, 2008 through 8:00PM, April 9, 2008, the list looked something like this:
Tokyo
San Francisco
New York City
Paris
(Japan)
London
São Paulo
Los Angeles
Chicago
Seattle
Toronto
Portland, OR
Boston
Washington, DC
(United States)
Austin
(Mexico Distrito Federal)
(California)
Atlanta
Taipei
Sydney
London
Osaka
(Brazil)
Madrid
(Mexico)
Melbourne
Barcelona
Keep your eyes on http://www.twitterlocal.net/stats
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 1:43 PM | Permalink
April 11, 2008
What Traits Do Marketers Seek?
I had to repost this article from Email Insiders from David Baker as it hits the hammer on the nail in many cases. It is not that there are some strong email marketers out there doing great things, but the fact that our expectations of an email marketing manager at many companies line up just like the intro below.
Are you this person or are you trapped at this company?
Help Wanted: Email Marketing Manager by David Baker , Monday, April 7, 2008
SEEKING SKILLED PROFESSIONAL WITH EXTENSIVE knowledge of email marketing, including all aspects of customer segmentation, deliverability, ISP relations, authentication, email delivery systems, creative design, HTML coding and campaign management skills. No need to understand reporting or analytics, as we really don't do much with the results. Must have strong communication skills, with ability to spin useless open rates into meaningful information and correlate it to great customer experiences that mean something to the business. Must have strong work ethic and thick skin, as you will be overworked and under-appreciated. Should have ability to negotiate the lowest prices imaginable with email vendor. Must be able to work alone, as you'll be a one-person team. Should be able to work on-demand, as we'll ask for things at the last minute. We offer below-market compensation program and no bonus, since we can't prove the value of email to the company.
Is this job description really so far from the truth?
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 4:34 AM | Permalink
April 10, 2008
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out
Scoble has an interesting thought today.
http://scobleizer.com/2008/04/10/not-productive-enough-turn-off-the-internet/
Now I hear "WHAT" he is saying. I drink the Kool Aid of all of these systems, but they are not replacing email. They are all using email, even Twitter.
Having just spent another 36 hours on the road this week with the same problematic email issues at hotel and other wifi networks, I relied on Twitter again. But also got more productive work done rather than just work. Some of my BEST work takes place on the airplane. Two great project strategy docs were written in two 90 minute flights this past year rather than over 3 weeks.
Best yet, if you need to focus, turn on CallerID, send it to Voicemail, close the inbox for a few and dive in. I have a door to close, but that does not stop anyone....
UPDATE: Here is a TWEET I saw that made me laugh about this. ...
from @thisKat My Twitter DM "box" is beginning to look like my email inbox (es).
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 12:19 PM | Permalink
Growth of the Daily Emails
I love news and information, as it seems so does the rest of the world. Every after Daily Candy burst onto the scene many new companies have sprung up over the past few years for daily emails. Let's back up... new media companies are being created around the sending of emails on a daily basis. Now they are all in different niches and I know that there are readers for all of these, but can you build your list and maintain it with daily opt in and opt out churn to make it rock? And if so how are you managing to launch them and gain traction fast.
The creation of content is often the biggest challenge in any email marketing program, so these below leaders are knocking it out. I am sure that there is stress on a daily basis to produce content that is going to be engaging and make people want to send it on to others to help grow that list. It is no different that running a traditional daily newspaper, but completely focused.
Setting expectations in your messaging has to be the lead here as well as the value of the content. I get a ton of daily industry emails but one focused on say green living? Do I need a daily tip to help me shed my consumer ways (wait isn't just a different type of consumer they are fostering?) to be more green? But when I sign up knowing that I am going to get something interesting and not going to get email fatigue is important.
Here are a few I can share, but love to hear from others about ones you might know to grow my list of ones to watch.
Activate
Flavorpill
Thrillist
Bethree
Daily Candy
Ideal Bite
Very Short List
Simply Headlines
Ideeli
GetTrio
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 4:47 AM | Permalink
April 9, 2008
How to Use Video in Email
In a follow up post to the last one I wanted to share with you some good examples of how not only to code emails so that they work, but also how to use video in your email marketing campaigns.
I am going to show two examples below of not only great strategy but execution. The eROI team did the first one so I am biased and the second is from one of our agency clients that "gets it".
Notice in both that they each act like a video player with the opaque play button floating over the video window. This should be the way you present it as well as set expectations of the action that will be delivered once they click. The last thing you want to do is not properly set click expectations.
We do not try in either force the video to play in the window but rather drive it to a landing page where we KNOW the video will play fast, properly and deliver the experience that they are asking for.
It is NOT rocket science, and yes video does drive a higher click through, but if you fail on the delivery then you might as well have not sent the campaign.
RidgewoodTV example:
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Citrus Agency example:
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Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:58 AM | Permalink
Updated: New Mobile Release
UPDATE: We released a new version of our mobile email marketing news RSS reader this past week. If you have the old version, please delete it from your mobile device and reinstall the new one. Works harder, better, faster, stronger....
Details below:
Now you can stay in touch with email and marketing news on the go, on us.
eROI wanted to give marketers a new mobile tool to help them stay connected to the sites and blogs that they should be reading on the go. We have brought together a collection of some of the top sites as a starting point for you. We have also allowed you to add your own content from a library of sites and blogs as well as given you the ability to add any RSS feeds you might find useful.
This is a way to start thinking about mobile and what it means to you, your brand and your customers as you start to dip your toe into mobile marketing this year and next.
We can warn you that this application is addictive and will empower you to follow anything you are interesting no matter where you are.
If you have not had a chance to check out our new mobile RSS News Readeryet, you owe it to yourself. As a blog reader and marketer we are giving you your own copy of the eROI Mobile RSS News Reader. We have aggregated feeds from blog like:
The Email Wars, Email Days, ReturnOnSubscriber, EEC Blog, Mail Chimp, Mediapost: Email Insider, Retail Email Blog, Strongmail, Marketing Profs, MIT Ad Lab, Engadget, Springwise, TechCruch, Bronto Blog, Campaign Monitor Blog, Denise Cox's Blog, Email Marketing Reports, Email Marketing Voodoo, Email Standards Project, ReturnPath Blog, Smith-Harmon Blog, Vertical Response Blog, What Counts Blog .... and many more.
Not only will you find these resources now on your phone, blackberry, treo or other mobile device, but you can add any others you would like to follow.
Go get a copy for yourself and move to the 3rd Screen today with the eROI Mobile RSS Newsreader.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 7:41 AM | Permalink
Adventures in Travel Email Marketing
Like most business persons, as well as consumers in some cases, we get a fair share of travel emails from airlines. hotels and travel portals. Those of us that spend much of our time on the road might get a few more than others... but what works? I am not, well maybe slightly, an email design snob, but I really wanted to take a look at some that have called themselves out to me for various reasons lately.
When I think about travel I think about fun, excitement, new experiences, safety and a good time. Are email marketing campaigns from travel brands delivering this experience? Let's see.
American Airlines: They get it.
Not only is the design attractive, but they use copy and well intentioned buttons (I <3 red buttons as they make me want to push them for some reason) that drive me to take some action, even if I am not booking a trip. Maybe they have me well conditioned in what to expect.
The only thing I would call out is the bottom 50% of the email is full of terms and conditions. Couldn't this be placed on the site? I get so engaged with the top 50% that when I see the bottom I am not sure that if I book this trip to Paris I am going to be left in Germany instead. Trust is everything, and small print can scare people away if they NEED to read it all before they click.
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Southwest Airlines: Yuck.
Does the fact that flights are cheap make them think that their email should reflect budget pricing. Every week I cannot wait to delete this one as it is just so damn ugly. Really, does anyone want to tell me different? It might work for the audience, but couldn't they hire an intern that could use iStockPhoto and spend 3 dollars on a decent image? As a brand email, this does not motivate me to want to even set foot in their terminal.
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Jet Blue: Sexy and Clean
Jet Blue always delivers on the brand promise at every step of the way. The creative wins me over, that desire to book a red eye to NYC every time I see it. They have a great voice in the email, set clear expectations and deliver on the brand experience. Even at a discount carrier model they make me feel like I am going to have a good flight.
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Morgan's Hotel Group: This is going to be fun
I love the hotels that Morgan's runs. I will book there first if heading to NYC. The email every time tells me that it is going to be a unique and beautiful visual treat when I get there. Now isn't this what you want to evoke in an email? I think so. Connection with the experience wins me over.
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Travelocity: Is that me in that photo? It should be.
I am so happy to see a new layout and voice in the recent Travelocity emails. For so long their "alerts" we busy and used so many dark colors I had a hard time knowing if I should read them or not. Well this new look with the Polaroid style photos is very inviting. The copy is clear and the deals are cleanly presented. It makes me want to book with them. So I did. Captiva for Email Insiders here I come.
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In closing: Setting the mood, delivering on the brand. These give me the information I need to want to interact, and know what the expectations are when I take action. In 4 of these 5 above examples they are doing a good job. So SW, DING, get on it and make us want to want you.
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 4:01 AM | Permalink
April 8, 2008
Called out on ClickZ
Now many of you MIGHT not have read this or put this together yet, but I heard recently that over 300 people figured it out. Wow am I that bad? Or is it that I am just that good?
I have some basic rule that work. Always respond quickly, always read the email 3 times before responding and IF you are emailing me (remember I get over 500 emails a day I need to read, sort, and react to) then make sure your points are clearly called out. (I suggest, as eROI employees have conditioned me, to using "***" before the points you want me to take away.) It is not that I do not have time, I am merely trying to process emails, IM, TXT, Twitter, RSS, client/partner calls, conferences, meetings, and that damn blackberry.
I suppose that this applies not only to others in the industry you are trying to reach and connect with, but also the email marketing campaigns you are working on. If you can distill your email campaigns to 1. Tell me what this is about, 2. What do you want me to do/Value prop, 3. What is the call to action (hint here... buttons work), then you are on the right path.
In e-mail, three is also important. It's the optimal number of times you should put a message in front of readers to maximize clicks. It's also the number of e-mail messages new subscribers will read to determine if they'll stay engaged with your brand's e-mail program. And it's the average number of e-mail subscriptions a reader opts in to for a given category.Acknowledging that every e-mail, personal or business, needs to battle not only reputation, relevance, and delivery but also e-mail ADD, and understanding how to leverage the power of three to help you do that can move you three steps ahead in creating a most successful conversation.
I'd be remiss to end this column without giving a shout-out to the person who inspired me to write about the prevalence of this topic (and whose name is in this column three times). Thanks!
You can read the full article here on ClickZ.
And thanks for being so observant that you nailed me. If you have not yet, see if you can find my name in this article THREE times. (Look for the bullets.)
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:56 AM | Permalink
I Love It When a Plan Comes Together
So I want to start by saying that I love video and I love email. What I don't love is when you combine them and it not only does not work, but it looks like the below image (fished out of my Junk folder)
Let's start at the top at the jump >>
1. Headers : If you can't test you can't tell if it will get there let alone get to the inbox.
Example headers:
Received: from unknown (HELO avimail-sender2) (67.51.210.148) by mailscan0.--------s.com with SMTP; 3 Apr 2008 18:20:03 -0000
X-Spam-Flag: YES
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.2 (2007-07-23) on mailscan0.0--------.com
X-Spam-Level: ***********
X-Spam-Status: Yes, score=11.0 required=5.0 tests=DOS_OE_TO_MX, FORGED_OUTLOOK_HTML,FORGED_OUTLOOK_TAGS,HTML_EMBEDS,HTML_IMAGE_RATIO_02, HTML_MESSAGE,MIME_HTML_ONLY,WHOIS_PRIVPROT,XMAILER_MIMEOLE_OL_1ECD5 autolearn=no version=3.2.2
X-Spam-Report: * 0.6 HTML_IMAGE_RATIO_02 BODY: HTML has a low ratio of text to image area * 0.4 HTML_EMBEDS BODY: HTML with embedded plugin object * 0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message * 1.7 MIME_HTML_ONLY BODY: Message only has text/html MIME parts * 2.8 WHOIS_PRIVPROT URL registered to WHOIS Privacy Protection * [URIs: avimailer1.com] * 2.8 XMAILER_MIMEOLE_OL_1ECD5 XMAILER_MIMEOLE_OL_1ECD5 * 0.0 FORGED_OUTLOOK_TAGS Outlook can't send HTML in this format * 0.0 FORGED_OUTLOOK_HTML Outlook can't send HTML message only * 2.8 DOS_OE_TO_MX Delivered direct to MX with OE headers
Message-Id:
Organization: AVI Communications
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-Msmail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1081
X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1081
X-Spam-Prev-Subject: Heidi Foglesong Talks Video Email
2. Rendering: If you don't test if it will render don't send it. I mean not only video BUT this entire email is images. Really images? Come on man you are targeting ESPs, email marketers, and brand marketers. We all know best practices so if you are going to sell to us... follow them.
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3. Who the hell is Heidi Foglesong? And why should I care in email?
Really do you know who she is? Unless you live in AZ and watch the local news you have no clue.
I had to google her to even get an idea of why I should care, Ask yourself if your target audience would go to this length. Time's Up... Answer is NOPE.
So I turned on the images to see, but would others even take this step? Please code your emails in HTML and not ALL images and ALT tag your images.
View image
So I will go on record that I do not HATE video in email (but I do like the team at AVI) and everyone is all over it lately in all the email marketing industry articles, BUT I have yet to see a campaign that worked 100% everywhere and one that has compelled me to buy. I know others will argue this, so bring it on. Show me the data, the creative, and the results.
Sell me.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:03 AM | Permalink
April 7, 2008
Financial Services ROI on Email And Internet Marketing
If you are in the financial services industry it looks like you are now embracing the internet and the use of email marketing and email outreach at a fast pace (see article below). At eROI we have seen more and more inquiries and new accounts from this industry sector. But along with growth and use come understanding and reputation.
It is not that they are in a bad place, BUT there has been so much negative email floating out there around these industries that they need to be both cognizant of the junk as well as aware of what approach they are going to take to use email as a channel of outreach.
What this means is they need to research who might be spoofing their brand, what is floating out there about them, and decide HOW they are going to talk and interact in the email channel. It is something that cannot be entered into lightly. Reputation, setting clear communication policies and plans, as well as TELLING the customer what they are going to send is going to lead to success if the below projected use growth of 17.8% annually is going to be in their favor.
With over 40 plus financial institutions using emailROI to communicate with their customers we are always trying to educate them on these thoughts and strategies. After all, who wants to get another email letting you know your account needs to be verified or that there has been suspicious activity in your account by email?
Email and Internet Top Direct Media Choices For Financial Services
According to a recent Direct Marketing Association report, American financial services institutions are increasing their use of direct marketing. The $13.4 billion that U.S. banks and credit institutions spent last year on direct marketing advertising generated $178.8 billion in sales. These sales are forecast to hit $286.2 billion In 2012, according to the report.
The report also found that:
Banks and credit card institutions had the best return on investment in this sector in 2007 at $13.37 per dollar spent
Financial services direct marketers mainly use non-catalog direct mail (41.8%) as their primary direct marketing channel
Financial services companies' advertising expenditures for commercial e-mail is expected to have the largest growth among all media types between 2007 and 2012 with a compound annual growth of 22.5%
Internet advertising spending in this sector is projected to grow at the second highest rate, at 17.8 % each year from 2007 to 2012
Telemarketing advertising expenditures for the overall financial services sector are expected to reach $7.4 billion in 2008 and $8.4 billion in 2012
Broadcast advertising sales are expected to climb 4.8% each year from 2007 to 2012
Insert media sales in the financial services arena will exceed $1.1 billion in 2008, with banks and credit institutions comprising half of sales
Financial services companies are projecting to spend less on print advertising than they currently do.
Banks and credit institutions' ad spending is expected to decrease 0.5% by 2012.
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 9:01 AM | Permalink
Validating Short Form and Progressive Profiling
Often a topic when we are building a new campaign or site is just how much data should we be capturing or requiring to let a new customer, prospect, user or lead into a site. Forms are always something that are debated over and over again. Should we ask for 3 fields, 5, 7, 10? Are we creating roadblocks to completion or reasons for someone NOT to complete a registration or sign up for a newsletter or account? Many times clients are trying to ask too much. And how do we know this?
1. Basic rule: Would you complete this form in order to move forward?
2. Do you need this? Are you going to use this information in order to validate or allow them to get/use something?
3. What will you do with the data? Many times they just feel they need to get everything at once without a clear understanding of what they are going to do with it
And just what will they do. 9 out of 10 times they cannot tell us. So why ask? If you are blocking your goal with too many fields that will stop forward progress, get rid of them. Keep it simple and then look at the idea of progressive profiling.
Just what is progressive profiling you ask? It is the practice of asking more data as you need it, as people progress through a customer lifecycle, or you need to get more to give more. And guess what? It works. Really, we know.
Gradual engagement or progressive profiling allows you to shape the relationship and walk people through an expected (clearly define why and what you need) level of task completion.
Best Practices
Here is a great article and examples on the topic that might help you see how you can use progressive profiling to your advantage and create a better user experience.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:00 AM | Permalink
April 4, 2008
Email Words of Wisdom From Dr. Mullen
Jeanniey Mullen, owner of more titles that Dr. Drew or Rocky Marciano, has some ideas on our LOVE/HATE with email. Personally... I Heart it so much that I might need a 12 step program OR a ticket on Oceanic 815. But consumers share some other sentiments that are important to hear.
From the article:
A Love/Hate Affair With E-Mail Marketing By Jeanniey Mullen, The ClickZ NetworkLast week, I did a Webinar with the Email Experience Council in which I shared some very interesting research from a Harrison Group study conducted with digital publication readers. (You can see the study results here.)
A key finding was that people enjoy digital ads more than print ads. That's because digital ads allow them to engage with the products and services they see, on demand. I thought this was a very interesting statistic and could possibly be a reason that e-mail marketing is still such a successful medium for us today!
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:53 AM | Permalink
Make Your Email Campaigns Mobile-Friendly
Great article from Stefan in an easy to digest list of FOUR key things. I know we marketers love our numbered lists...
In this article, Stefan Pollard explains how to make your email campaigns mobile-friendly:
1. Reformat text
You should always offer a text option as an alternative to HTML for all readers. You can send this version to your mobile readers, but you might also have to reformat it to make it show up better on the smaller screen.
Most text messages have 60 to 80 characters per line. Mobile platforms will show 20 to 40 characters in 12 to 15 lines per screen, depending on screen width and type style.
Desktop-friendly line lengths can create long paragraphs in the mobile reader. If you use typographic devices as copy separators that also run 60 characters, for example, you'll give up four to five lines on the screen for something that adds no value.
2. Rethink tracking URLs
Same goes for URLs. Tracking URLs can also consume four to five lines per screen. If you can, use a simpler URL even if it means sacrificing some tracking ability. These long URLs can result from automatically reformatting HTML copy into text, so your text version may need some hand-tweaking in order to render better on all platforms.
3. Be brief.
Message size must come down whether you send in text or HTML. Messages over a certain size -- even as small as 12KB -- risk being cut off halfway through. In many clients, your reader can opt to click a button that will call up the rest of the message, but do you want to throw up that obstacle?
Personally, I hate it when I open a message and find "message truncated" right at the top. I need more to make me want to click the button that will deliver the rest of the message.
Another message I get that frustrates me to no end is "This message contains a rich-text HTML portion. Consult your mail client's documentation for information on how to view it." Uh, I don't think so. Delete! That means it won't be there when I get to my desk.
Also, rethink the content itself. Long sentences in long paragraphs force more and more scrolling. This also can be a barrier to conversion or another source of frustration for readers.
4. Validate your Web site, too.
Is your Web site mobile-friendly too? Probably not, if you haven't had it redesigned specifically for mobile applications. If you have to send readers to your Web site to get the most value from your email marketing, better make sure it will also render on their devices. You can check it easily by using a new validator developed by the World Wide Web Consortium: http://validator.w3.org/mobile/.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:00 AM | Permalink
April 3, 2008
What Else Do You Need in Email?
Email knits together everyone on the web, and yet there are some things missing from it that can be very useful in a business setting. Verifiable delivery, for example: how do you prove that someone got an email when you said they did? RPost has an answer to that: install their add-in, and their servers will optionally provide signed, verifiable proof of delivery for any email you send with notice to their "registered" service.
They've recently added another feature, which could also be useful in business settings: the "SideNote", which lets you put a little sticky note on emails that is only visible to cc: and bcc: recipients. That's a nice touch to let recipients know why they got copied on this mail. Pricing starts at 59 cents per unit of use. Unfortunately, at the moment the client side software is Outlook-only.
http://www.rpost.com/site/registered/registered_core.htm
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:00 AM | Permalink
April 2, 2008
From, Subject Line or Content?
I am often asked from customers what is the most important thing to think about in an email program? Is it time of day? Frequency of campaigns? Rendering and Delivery? Relevance of the content or offer? Or even the customer touch points?
I am here to tell you that it starts at the basics in regards to the most important thing in an email campaign. These are the "from" field and then the subject line. If there is one area to focus on once you are in the inbox it is instant recognition and value. Think closely about your own behaviors when you open your inbox. What do you see first? Now I have not done any user testing on this, so this is not official research, but I can tell you from GUT if you do not immediately recognize the WHO and the WHAT then your campaign might as well have not been sent at all.
We all know how cluttered and busy the inbox is on most days for B2B and B2C. But there is, IMHO, a slight difference on these in the where the email is read. Now I am not talking about mobile, but I am talking about business outlook versus ISP web mail inboxes in regard to B2B and B2C. When during a work day we are engaged with so many emails in our business inbox, we scan and react. When we are logging into a gmail, msn, or yahoo account for personal email, we typically peruse more than we would in business. Both of these factors are important to consider as you better be able to be recognized in either and fast.
IF I know your name I will take the time to read, IF I don't know your name or your brand name, you stand a good chance of just getting deleted or saved for later review. I don't want to sound snobbish or rude in anyway, but an individual does not know you... odds are you go to trash and don't get the read. I have seen brands change from fields at times and it ruins the "trust" and recognition I have immediately. Now this can also play havoc if you have ASKED them to add a certain email address to a trusted whitelist or address book.
Now all that time you just spent working up the best copy, creative and targeting a list is all for not if you have not started with the basics.
Here is a survey from EEC Two-Click Survey
Two-Click Survey Results: Which is more important to generating opens: the sender name or subject line?
The answer...
55% --> The sender name. The reputation of the sender is key.
45% --> The subject line. Subscribers want to know what the email is about before they open it.
Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 4:00 AM | Permalink
April 1, 2008
eROI Abandons New Offices, Goes Green
eROI Abandons New Offices, Goes Green
Portland Interactive Agency Takes 'Natural Approach' to Marketing
Portland, OR - In a move that both shocked and surprised the city of Portland, eROI left the urban grid. After 12 months of negotiations, remodeling and settling into their new building in Old Town Portland, they just picked up and moved to a field of solar powered yurts just east of their world HDQs along the Willamette River.
Many in the interactive community asked how they would survive as a business working on the web if they were going completely sustainable.
"We have always strived for a sustainable model for not only our clients and the community," answered CEO Ryan Buchanan, "but also to act as a beacon of light for the rest of the technology industry. By eROI adopting the XO Laptops (see OLPC Project) we have streamlined our dependence on the non renewable resources."
Other measures the tribe as adopted: organic pixels, hand writing code on bark and with henna, Recycling Bandwidth, Exercise bikes, and treadmills. Blackberries were traded in for free-range signal mirrors, Morse code and stealing Free Wi-Fi from local coffee shop as well as a CSS Bio-dynamic Garden planted next to wild Java stream. eROI hopes that many other business and agencies follow their lead in striving to give more back to the global grid and not using media ploys like recycling and green tags. "If we were all just to live more like the San Paolo tribes of New Guinea we would find that our work would break all conventions and rule imposed on us by society," stated Buchanan. "In order to be a creative interactive agency we need to mime more and work on our improvisational comedy skills. These are attributes that drive business forward and help our clients to excel."
Others in the Tribe embraced the move. "I am so much more comfortable in the yurts as I can now smoke my hand rolled cigarettes in the work place. I don't even need to leave my thermarest pad to smoke and code," said Web Development Manager Tore Gustafson. "Now yoga class is not just a Friday AM event but an every day, all day event. I love eROI!" exclaimed Mai Nakamura, Web Developer. New Company uniforms made from locally grown eROI Hemp stalk have helped to both reduce the carbon footprint of eROI as well as increased the productivity of the workers by not worrying about being fashionable and hip. The city of Portland being the leader in sustainability and urban planning in the US eventually embraced the move on city land and will be encouraging others to do the same.
Comments (7) | Posted by mitchell at 9:40 AM | Permalink
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