Email Marketing RulesHappy Holidays from My Family to Yours!
Posted on December 25, 2017
Whatever you celebrate, I hope your holidays are filled with family and fun.
Best wishes, Chad
Take the 2018 State of Email Survey: Gain Knowledge + Win Prizes
Posted on December 21, 2017
The 3rd annual State of Email Survey will get you thinking critically about every facet of your email marketing program—from organizational structure and planning to design and deliverability.
Plus, you’ll be helping the email marketing industry identify trends and establish benchmarks, when we release the results of the survey as part of our free State of Email research series of reports, infographics, webinars, and blog posts.
Plus, everyone who completes the survey by Jan. 31, 2018 will be entered into a drawing to win a free ticket to Litmus Live or a Mystery Litmus Swag Pack.
Those are all great reasons for a savvy marketer like yourself to share how you plan, create, and send your email campaigns.
>> Start the survey
Webinar Recording + Q&A: Top 5 Opportunities for Improving Your Email Creative
Posted on December 20, 2017
Email creative is unlike web or print creative. It has its own unique constraints that marketers must master to make the most of the channel.
In this webinar, expert email developer and Litmus Product Manager Kevin Mandeville and I identify the top 5 opportunities to improve your email creative strategy, based on the findings of Litmus’ 2017 State of Email Creative research report:
- Responsive design
- Animation
- Styled ALT text
- Dynamic content
- A/B testing
But we don’t just give you the data-backed insights. We also share practical how-to advice to help you executive on each opportunity at your brand.
>> Watch the webinar on the Litmus blog
Smart Insights: Email Marketing Trends 2018
Posted on December 19, 2017
In 2018, email marketing is one the most effective techniques for digital marketers, so keeping up-to-date with the latest trends in the industry is super important. Given the ongoing importance of email marketing for customer acquisition and retention in most organizations, understanding and testing the latest email options and techniques is essential for businesses to stay engaging and competitive in the inbox.
To that end, Smart Insight’s Email Marketing Trends 2018 report brings together trends, insights, and advice from 14 email experts, including me. The 54-page report covers a wide range of topics and trends that will be key during the coming year:
- Increasing regulation
- Email rendering
- Device friendliness
- Intelligent personalization
- Sophisticated segmentation
- Subject line effectiveness
- Writing for emails
- Deliverability
- Code like it’s 2018
- Marketing automation
To read about all the predictions and trends…
>> Download the free report
Email Design Podcast: The 2017 State of Email Creative
Posted on December 18, 2017
In the 86th episode of The Email Design Podcast, I join host Kevin Mandeville to discuss the findings from Litmus’ 2017 State of Email Creative report.
We walk through each section of the report, discussing:
- How marketers find email inspiration
- The value of email brand guidelines
- The adoption of responsive email design and how marketers are using it
- The various email design elements that are used, including animation, alt text, interactivity, and more
- When to use one-off email designs
- How to use A/B testing to get the greatest competitive advantage
- Email redesigned schedules
- Why you want landing page responsibilities
>> Listen to The Email Design Podcast on the Litmus blog
FreshMail: Email Marketing Trends for 2018
Posted on December 12, 2017
I join 11 other experts in sharing my email marketing predictions for 2018 with FreshMail. My predictions is that:
Creating and optimizing automated emails will be a major trend in 2018. Already, nearly 13% of brands already generate the majority of their email marketing revenue from automated emails, according to our 2017 State of Email Survey. That number will only grow going forward because the timing and content of automated emails are hyper-relevant. If you’re not adding new triggered emails and expanding, updating, and A/B testing your existing ones, now is the time to dedicate more time to doing that.
For predictions of email marketing trends for 2018 from Laura Atkins, Adam Q. Holden-Bache, Samantha Iodice, and others…
>> Read the entire post on the FreshMail blog
Campaign Monitor: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Getting Started
Posted on December 8, 2017
I got serious about email marketing back in 2006 when I started the Retail Email Blog. Since then, I’ve worked for three of the largest ESPs in the world—Responsys, ExactTarget, and Salesforce—and learned a ton about email marketing.
If I could go back to 2006 and give myself one piece of email marketing advice, what would it be? Campaign Monitor asked me and 10 other email that question and here’s what I told them:
“I wish I’d understood from the beginning how inconsistent email client support for coding is and therefore how complex email rendering is. For marketers who now understand that the new challenge is to avoid creating consistency by playing down to the lowest common denominator. Instead of trying to create ‘pixel-perfect’ emails, marketers need to use progressive enhancement thoughtfully to create ‘platform-perfect’ emails that deliver the best experiences for users of key email clients.”
For all the great advice from Kath Pay, Jordie van Rijn, Justin Khoo, and the others…
>> Read the full post on the Campaign Monitor blog
The Last Word on November 2017
Posted on December 7, 2017
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
2018 Email Marketing Predictions (Campaign Monitor)
Meet the #Emailgeeks community on Twitter [Infographic]
Ditch the Bunker Mentality: Email Works Better with Other Channels (MediaPost)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
In 2017 the year of our lord, I’m still explaining to colleagues the the Gmail Promotions tab isn’t what’s making their open rates lower
— Email Snarketing (@EmailSnarketing) November 16, 2017
“Email is like the mafia… you can’t leave.” 😆 – Jordan with Fluent #foe2017 pic.twitter.com/xJJ0x922ZI
— Elizabeth Lewis (@Elliemonstr) November 2, 2017
Yesterday in my #ID24 talk when talking about using fewer tables in your email code, I said I’ve seen an email with over 200 table elements in it.
Today I saw an email with 495 <table>’s and 2550 <td>’s
— Mark Robbins (@M_J_Robbins) November 17, 2017
🔥 Hot Email Alert!
Amazing #email from Nest featuring an interactive shopping cart experience. There is also a really nice floating banner on mobile. Well done @ericlepetitsf + the Nest team 👏 Take a look here #emailgeeks – https://t.co/rrSaZdXCmC pic.twitter.com/iShJwzMqzT— Andrew King (@akingkiwi) November 26, 2017
Noteworthy subject lines
AutoAnything, 11/5 — Save More Than Sleep This Weekend
Urban Outfitters, 11/11 — 11 essentials • $11 each • 11.11.17 only
Epicurious, 11/8 — 97 Thanksgiving Pies (and Cakes…and Cookies…and Tarts)
Horchow, 11/13 — Get set for Thanksgiving
Costco, 11/24 — Happy Black Friday! Shop Online! Warehouses Open at 9:00 AM Friday!
Banana Republic, 11/24 — 50%. OFF. BLK. FRI.
Lego, 11/24 — “Brick” Friday Offers Are Officially Here!
Zappos.com, 11/24 — SALE: Black Fri-YAY!
Tiny Prints, 11/24 — Black Fri-Yay! Up to 40% Off + FREE Ship
Vera Bradley, 11/24 — Bright is the new Black (Friday)! Shop now for amazing deals.
Ann Taylor, 11/24 — PINK Is The New Black Friday
Crate & Barrel, 11/24 — You’ve waited all year for this sale
J.Crew, 11/24 — Shopping > sleeping. 40% off your purchase is ON.
Levi’s, 11/24 — This is the big one…
Target, 11/24 — Today only! Spend $50, get 20% off your next purchase.
Petco, 11/30 — Last Day! Take 25% off your first Repeat Delivery order
Crutchfield, 11/29 — CYBER Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…
REI, 11/29 — Cyber Week Sale – New Deals Added
Anthropologie, 11/8 — Still or SPARKLING?
ModCloth, 11/8 — Current mood: very merry.
BabiesRUs, 11/5 — Get Ready for a Stress-Free Holiday (Kinda)
Godiva Chocolatier, 11/10 — It’s Here! NEW Advent Calendar + FREE Gift for 1 DAY
ModCloth, 11/3 — Now present-ing our holiday gift guide!
Saks Fifth Avenue, 11/8 — Hello, Gift Guide: holiday shopping made easy
Fossil, 11/10 — DIY Gifts
Wine.com, 11/10 — Everyone Will Think You Paid Way More + 1-cent Shipping Inside
Nike, 11/5 — Coats for every kind of cold.
Neiman Marcus, 11/5 — 7 dresses for 7 occasions
Jetsetter, 11/8 — Where to Travel This Fall—According to JS Editors
Ann Taylor, 11/14 — This Is Packing-List Perfection
Vera Bradley, 11/4 — Love options? Customize what you carry with this stylish new sidekick!
Gap, 11/5 — Sorry to bother you, but you’ve got no exclusions AND free shipping (ending today!)
Wayfair, 11/8 — Save on TV stands + storage. Netflix, anyone?
ThinkGeek, 11/30 — Sun’s getting real low…These are your final hours to get up to 25% off!
Kate Spade, 11/3 — vvvvvvelvet. trending right now.
FansEdge, 11/2 — CHAMPIONS! Get Your Astros World Series Gear Now!
NFLshop, 11/12 — Patriots Win! Celebrate with 25% Off Sitewide!
Kate Spade, 11/8 — shop the looks from the new #missadventure episode…
Carnival Cruise Line, 11/29 — Your vacation snapshot: #CarnivalCaribbean
St. Jude, 11/29 — On #GivingTuesday, friends united to help St. Jude
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
20 Things Successful Email Marketing Programs Do
Campaign Monitor: 2018 Email Marketing Predictions
The 30+ Emails that Email Marketers Love Most
Webinar: The Top 5 Opportunities for Improving Your Email Creative on Dec. 12
Report: 2017 State of Email Creative
Sleeknote’s E-Commerce Boost Podcast: The Hierarchy of Subscriber Needs
Email Brand Guidelines: Why You Need Them and What to Put in Them
20 Things Successful Email Marketing Programs Do
Posted on November 29, 2017
While it’s difficult to fail at email marketing, success can be elusive. Shifting consumer behaviors and expectations, new technologies, improving cross-channel integration, changing anti-spam and privacy laws, evolving inbox provider capabilities—all can make getting ahead a huge challenge.
Less than 10% of marketers say their email programs are very successful, according to Litmus’ State of Email Research Series. The majority say their email programs are average or even unsuccessful.
It can be difficult to know how to take your email program up a notch. What changes should you make? What technologies should you leverage? How can you improve your organization?
We can help. Based on our survey of more than 3,500 marketers worldwide, we’ve identified 20 operational, strategic, and technological differences between successful email marketing programs and less successful ones.
Here are the 20 things that successful email marketing programs do more often than others…
>> Read the full post on the Litmus blog
Campaign Monitor: 2018 Email Marketing Predictions
Posted on November 22, 2017
What’s in store for email marketers in 2018? Campaign Monitor asked this question to me and five other email experts:
- Samantha Anderl, Senior Director, Acquisition Channels, Campaign Monitor
- Alex Williams, Creative Director, Trendline Interactive
- Philip Storey, Founder and CEO, Enchant
- Kath Pay, CEO, Holistic Email Marketing
- Jordie van Rijn, Founder, emailvendorselection.com
My prediction focused on automated emails and how we’re approaching a tipping point that will affect marketers’ overall email strategy and workflow. Others’ 2018 email marketing predictions centered on personalization, omnichannel integration, predictive analytics, customer journeys, and ESP tools. Their roundup of predictions also included some great ones from the Campaign Monitor community.
All the predictions will get you leaning forward as we enter 2018. There are lots of opportunities ahead!
>> Read all the predictions on CampaignMonitor.com
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week, we’ll explore strategies and tactics, discuss tips and inspiration, and dig into industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Digital Experience Agency
Author of Email Marketing Rules and nearly 4,000 articles about digital and email marketing
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