I’m Visited by the Ghosts of Predictions Past, Present, and Future

In my latest Email Insider column for MediaPost, I reluctantly cast myself in the role Emailnezer Scrooge and am visited by three ghosts that hold me accountable for my past email marketing predictions and press me for an assessment of the present and for predictions of the future. >> Read my entire…

E-Gift Cards Increasingly a Real-Time Gift

Better delivery technology and the rise of mobile email reading has made e-gift cards, which have long been branded “the perfect last-minute gift,” into more of a real-time gift. While eGift Card Day is officially on Dec. 23, email messaging about e-gift cards has actually been higher on Christmas Eve since the…

Happy Holidays!

On behalf of my family and the entire ExactTarget and Salesforce.com family, I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and hope that this holiday season has brought you many happy returns! Chad

Free Shipping Day Waning as Selling Day and Brand

With retailers putting greater emphasis on stretching out the holiday season in recent years, Free Shipping Day has emerged as a major email messaging occasion for marketers. However, this year retailers seem to be cooling Free Shipping Day. Among nearly 110 major online retailers that we’ve been tracking throughout the holiday season,…

Few Retailers Respond to Abandoned Carts on Cyber Monday

In my second guest column for ClickZ this holiday season (here’s the first), I take a deeper dive into the cart abandonment email research that’s highlighted in our Email Insights & Trends from Thanksgiving, Black Friday & Cyber Monday #Infographic. On Cyber Monday, ExactTarget clicked through the promotional emails sent that day…

1st Mobile Christmas Greeted with Rise in Email Mobile-Friendliness

In this guest column for ClickZ, I take a deeper dive into the email mobile-friendliness research that’s highlighted in our Email Insights & Trends from Thanksgiving, Black Friday & Cyber Monday #Infographic. Looking at the promotional emails of nearly 110 major online retailers, we found that from early October to late November…

Infographic: Email Insights & Trends from Thanksgiving, Black Friday & Cyber Monday

The Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend includes some of the busiest email marketing days of the year, including top email day Cyber Monday, famed Black Friday, and the up-and-comer Thanksgiving Day. However, consumers behave differently on each of these days, which means retailers have to use different approaches on each day. Based on our…

The Last Word on November 2013

A roundup of articles, posts, tweets and emails you might have missed last month… Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers Consumers Expect Optimized Mobile Experiences, Retail Sites Need Improvement (MediaPost) Subscriber Engagement Over Time (MailChimp Blog) A How-To Guide For eReceipts (Marketing Land) A common preference request error that’s easily fixed (Zettasphere Blog)…

Nov. 2013 B2C Email Volume Jumps: Retailers Sent 20.5 per Subscriber, Non-Retailers 7.0

During November, retailers sent each of their subscribers 20.5 promotional emails on average, up 15% from October. Non-retailers sent each of their subscribers 7.0 promotional emails on average, up 13% from the previous month. This data is based on the anonymous tracking for more than 150 B2C brands, including retailers, restaurants, manufacturers,…

My Top 3 Email Marketing Insights from Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday

In my latest Email Insider column for MediaPost, I share my top 3 insights from the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, which are that… 1. Thanksgiving Eve is the new Thanksgiving 2. Black Friday prompted an increase in mobile-friendly email designs 3. Cyber Monday is the busiest email marketing day of the year…but perhaps…