May 12, 2008

eec Does Good

I wanted to share this great one year wrap up of the latest project the eec has been working on. This is the second year of helping a non profit get an email marketing program together. Countless volunteer hours were put in by some great people in the email marketing industry to make this not only a success, but also a system that the Women's Bean Project can continue to leverage and use to help grow their donor base support.

This is just one of the great things that the eec is doing for the not only the non profits out there, but the email industry as a whole. Way to go guys.

How E-mail Impacts Society
This week I wanted to share something inspirational happening in the e-mail industry -- and some best practices! It's a recap of the Email Experience Council's (EEC's) Eality project. The Eality project originated as a way to enable peers and competitors in the e-mail marketing industry to put business aside and work as a team to create the best e-mail efforts for a good cause.

In 2007, the EEC selected the Women's Bean Project (WBP) as its Eality focus. Stephanie Miller from Return Path volunteered countless hours to lead this initiative and its team on behalf of the EEC. I spoke with Miller to get the inside scoop on the project.

Read the whole story

Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:00 AM | Permalink

May 2, 2008

Happy Birthday Spam, Now Die

Really it is 30 years today that the first documented spam email was sent. And look where we are today, still fighting the battle that Gary Thuerk started. Interesting history on Wikipedia, but would be even more interesting if we could mark this the year that we killed it off.

Mashable has a good article around it as well.

What can we do this year as email marketers to make it die a painful death?

1. Stop sending to people that don't want your email. Sure they opted in in 2002, but they have not read it for the past 3 years and you keep them on your active email list. Time to purge them. They are of no value to you and you are of no value to them no matter what you think.

2. Start segmenting your lists and send relevant campaigns based on their profile, what they tell you, and past behaviors.

3. ESPs need to be more vigilante on the lists that their clients load into their systems. Although sometimes tricky when you are bringing a client onto your email platform that you have no history with, you need to set some guidelines, educate them, and keep your eyes on the feedback loops and bounce reports from an account by account level.

Help us all help each other. No one no matter who they are want spam emails. Really.

Comments (1) | Posted by dylan at 4:00 AM | Permalink

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 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

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 22, 2008

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