Email Marketing RulesInfographic: A Snapshot of the Email Professional
Posted on March 1, 2018
Nearly 3,000 marketers completed Litmus’ 2018 State of Email Survey, which explores how brands plan, build, approve, send, and measure the performance of their email campaigns.
In addition to fueling our State of Email Survey Research Series, those results provide a great portrait of today’s email professional, which we detail in the infographic below. Thanks again to everyone who took the 2018 State of Email Survey.
To see a snapshot of what our survey-takers look like in terms of demographics, work experience, and company information…
>> View the infographic on the Litmus blog
2018’s Email Marketing Priorities and Budget Changes
Posted on February 27, 2018
Personalization, automation, and A/B testing topped the list of 2018 email marketing priorities for brands, according to Litmus’ 2018 State of Email Survey of nearly 3,000 marketers. Other major email marketing priorities include optimizing the email creation workflow, exploring interactive email functionality, and growing analytics insights.
Those email marketing priorities are interesting in light of other research Litmus has done looking into the Top Email Design Trends for 2018 and The Biggest Email Marketing Challenges of 2018. They are also interesting when compared to planned budget changes across a range of email marketing activities.
For charts on email marketers’ priorities and budget changes for the year and a full analysis,…
>> Read the full post on the Litmus blog
Webinar: ‘Email Tactics Customers Hate’ on Mar. 1
Posted on February 15, 2018
There’s a disconnect in today’s email marketing technology. While some tactics are helping brands get closer to their customers, others are undermining their return on investment by pushing customers away.
In this webinar, I will share the research and advice that helps ensure you’re spending your marketing dollars on the right email tactics and technology. We will discuss:
- How to keep good tools from doing your program harm
- Tools and services to avoid
- Using the right metrics to draw conclusions
Email Tactics Customers Hate: And Why Brands Continue to Use Them
Mar. 1, 2018
1pm ET / 10am PT / 6pm GMT
Your presenter:
Chad S. White, Research Director, Litmus
Can’t make it on Mar. 1? Don’t worry. Register and you’ll receive the recording of the webinar.
>> Register for the free webinar
The Last Word on January 2018
Posted on February 5, 2018
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Why marketing technology is sucking the life out of the marketing profession ({grow})
How a Different From Name Can Hurt Your Engagement (Return Path)
Ten Tips for Giving More Effective Creative Feedback (The Optimization Shop)
Why Microsoft Email Spam Reports Are Increasing (SendGrid)
The Future of email marketing – 2018 edition (EmailMonday)
Pictureless perfect: how to build emails which look good when images are blocked (Display Block)
Email showdown: Verizon vs. AT&T vs. T-Mobile (Emma)
Microsoft using the List-Unsubscribe header (Word to the Wise)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
SuperMailQuest: An interactive email game by @otherside_uk https://t.co/61yds9oqJj #emailgeeks
— Kevin Mandeville (@KevinMandeville) January 4, 2018
Your child might be texting about coding html emails. Know the signs.
LMAO – Leave me alone Outlook
HTH – Huh? <th>?
BRB – Big rendering bug
TBH – That broke Hotmail
WTF – Writing tables forever
LOL – Looked Ok in Litmus
OMG – Only mangles Gmailapp#emailgeeks— Elliot Ross (@iamelliot) January 31, 2018
Just spent all afternoon mapping out a crazy automation that’ll end up having 37 queries…. and my brain feels very happy/fulfilled. #yayspreadsheets
— Email Snarketing (@EmailSnarketing) January 2, 2018
Has anyone pulled off Solitaire in an email yet? That’s when we’ll know interactive email has truly arrived.
— Alex (@alexcwilliams) January 9, 2018
Noteworthy subject lines
Anthropolie, 1/1 — Bonne année!
REI, 1/2 — What’s Your But?
FansEdge, 1/3 — Burn Off The Holiday Meals With New Workout Apparel!
Threadless, 1/1 — Get $15 New Year’s resolution designs!
katespade, 1/1 — i resolve to…celebrate every day.
Crutchfield, 1/1 — 18 cool products for 2018
Pier 1 Imports, 1/2 — Only the best under $20.18
J.Crew, 1/3 — 11 cozy new arrivals for 2018 (aka the Year of the Chill)
FansEdge, 1/5 — BURR! Break Out The Heavy Stuff!
REI, 1/18 — A Better Grip on Ice
Feeding America, 1/5 — East Coast families are blanketed in snow and ice. Help Now.
AutoAnything, 1/5 — Weather Alert = Sales Alert | Winter Essentials on Sale
Ninety Nine Restaurants, 1/5 — Chad, We’ve Got a Snow Day Special for You
Jetsetter, 1/5 — 10 Best Beaches to Visit in January
The North Face, 1/3 — Build your ultimate kit for the slopes…
Neiman Marcus, 1/11 — Pre-order spring looks now
Neiman Marcus, 1/18 — What to wear on Valentine’s Day
Victoria’s Secret, 1/28 — V-Day? More like ME-Day…
Crate and Barrel, 1/18 — 10 of our most popular sofas, now in XL.
Carnival Cruise Line, 1/24 — Get your grub on with this FREE recipe (video inside)
Sony Electronics, 1/5 — You Don’t Want to Miss CES This Year | Big News from Sony
Gander Outdoors, 1/10 — Shop the new GanderOutdoors.com
Make-A-Wish, 1/10 — Introducing the Make-A-Wish podcast – Listen now
Uncommon Goods, 1/20 — Strong Women Keep Marching
AutoAnything, 1/18 — If They Ask…“It Was on Sale”
Uncommon Goods, 1/8 — The most adorable email you’ll get all day
katespade, 1/10 — this bag will have you floating into the new year like…
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Webinar Recording + Q&A: 2018 Email Marketing Kickoff
2018’s Biggest Email Marketing Challenges
6 Manipulative Email Tactics that Disrespect Subscribers—And Hurt Marketers
Webinar Recording + Q&A: 2018 Email Marketing Kickoff
Posted on January 31, 2018
Now is the ideal time for marketing teams to consider their email marketing planning for 2018. In an industry that’s constantly shifting as it adapts to consumer, business, and technological changes, setting the priorities for the months to come can be hard!
We’ll help you set the direction for your email marketing kickoff planning with our three-point plan:
- Assessing your email program to truly understand your audience and to capture what worked in 2017—and what didn’t
- Addressing challenges your team is facing
- Seizing opportunities to leverage the industry trends that can truly move the needle for your program
In the 2018 Email Marketing Kickoff webinar, Bettina Specht and I discuss each of those points. Along the way, we share research and advice that will help you set priorities and distribute resources the right way, so your team is set up for email success in 2018.
>> Watch the webinar on the Litmus blog
Webinar: Email Marketing Kickoff for 2018 on Jan. 29
Posted on January 18, 2018
As we kick off the New Year, now is the ideal time for marketing teams to consider their email marketing planning for 2018. In an industry that’s constantly shifting as it adapts to consumer, business, and technological changes, setting the priorities for the months to come can be hard! We’ll help you set the direction with our three-point plan:
- Doing a program assessment to truly understand your audience, and to capture what worked in 2017—and what didn’t
- Identify, prioritize, and address key challenges your team is facing, both internally and externally
- Identify and seize opportunities to leverage the industry trends that can truly move the needle for your program
During this webinar, Bettina Specht and I will discuss each of those points. Along the way, they’ll share research and advice that will help you set priorities and distribute resources the right way, so your team is set up for email success in 2018.
Email Marketing Kickoff: Start Your Program Off Right in 2018
Jan. 29, 2018
9am PT / noon ET / 5pm GMT
Your presenters:
Chad White, Research Director, Litmus
Bettina Specht, Content Marketing Manager, Litmus
Can’t make it on Jan. 29? Don’t worry. Register and you’ll receive the recording of the webinar.
>> Register for the free webinar
2018’s Biggest Email Marketing Challenges
Posted on January 17, 2018
Companies face a number of email marketing challenges, ranging from staffing to technology to strategy. Litmus polled hundreds of marketers about the biggest challenge, asking them which of the follow issues was hurting their program the most:
- Lack of quality data, integration, etc.
- Poor coordination between other departments, channels, etc.
- Limitations of current email service provider
- Poorly defined email channel goals, KPIs, etc.
- Bad strategy or leadership
- Inadequate tools for email creation process
- Low visibility into email performance, deliverability, etc.
- Insufficient staffing
In this post, we examine each of those challenges and present advice on how to overcome them, with assistance from our friends at MECLABS Institute, Smart Insights, Zettasphere, Epsilon, and IBM Watson Marketing.
For the research and the advice,…
>> Read the full post on the Litmus blog
6 Manipulative Email Tactics that Disrespect Subscribers—And Hurt Marketers
Posted on January 10, 2018
While brands everywhere are embracing customer-centricity, many relics of brand-centric thinking are still out there. This is especially true in the email marketing industry, where we often vilify inbox providers and second-guess our subscribers’ intentions and intelligence.
Let’s resolve to focus more on serving our subscribers instead of trying to manipulate them, and to shift to respecting our subscribers’ intelligence instead of insulting it.
With those goals in mind, here are six manipulative email tactics that have no place in modern, subscriber-centric email marketing programs:
- Using passive-aggressive email signup and opt-out language
- Requiring all customers to receive marketing emails
- Hiding behind people’s names to obscure your brand
- Using misleading, vague, and overly clever subject lines
- Trying to trick Gmail and other inboxes into re-tabbing your emails
- Hiding unsubscribe links
For all the details on each of those…
>> Read the full post on the Litmus blog
The Last Word on December 2017
Posted on January 8, 2018
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
A Beginning of Year Email Audit Checklist (Trendline Interactive)
Repealing net neutrality and its unintended consequences for email (Adestra)
8 Brands Using Email Personalization Like Pros (Campaign Monitor)
Estonia, the Digital Republic (The New Yorker)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
☎️ “Hello Email Rendering Department”
📞 “Yes which version of Outlook?”#emailgeeks
— Elliot Ross | long usernames like msn in 2005 💯 (@iamelliot) December 20, 2017
Noteworthy subject lines
Boston Market, 12/2 — 32 Days of Giving Sweepstakes!
Petco, 12/7 — Santa! We know him!
Under Armour, 12/7 — The Best Gear That Fits In A Stocking
UncommonGoods, 12/15 — Knock Their Stockings Off
Scotts, 12/8 — Gifts for the Lawn Enthusiasts in Your Life
Gap, 12/12 — For every little dasher, dancer, prancer, and crawler
Aeropostale, 12/10 — FREE SHIPPING On All Orders! Green Monday Starts Now!
HP, 12/10 — Hey Chad, Green Monday is on!
Victoria’s Secret, 12/16 — Still shopping for your list? Super Saturday Sexy Savings is here!
Target, 12/13 — Is you home ready for holiday guests? This SALE helps.
Banana Republic, 12/12 — How’s *this* for cozy?
Lenovo, 12/13 — [#Heads Up] 48-Hour Sale Starts Today!
Brooks Brother, 12/8 — Starts today: Free gift card when you give a gift card
ToysRUs, 12/20 — Get Great Christmas Deals, PLUS a FREE $5 eGift Card!
American Red Cross, 12/8 — Send a Red Cross gift to those who need it most
Make-A-Wish, 12/12 — Still searching for a heartfelt gift?
Feeding America, 12/6 — Did you post what you’re #thankFULL for?
MAC Cosmetics, 12/20 — Free Overnight for 12.25 Delivery! Plus Hours Left to Get a Free Lip Palette When You Join MAC Select!
Walgreens, 12/22 — Down to the wire? We are open!
ToysRUs, 12/24 — Forgot Something? Remember We Have eGift Cards.
Express, 12/24 — Always the perfect fit | Gift an e-gift card before it’s too late…
Gilt, 12/21 — Last Minute NYE Looks: It’s the final countdown to style
Applebee’s, 12/15 — Dollar L.I.T. = Awesome
Staples, 12/6 — Pop quiz: Flu viruses can live for ___ hours
Jetsetter, 12/10 — Why Hotel Sex is WAY Better
ThinkGeek, 12/12 — You are one with the Star Wars Sales, and the Star Wars Sale is with you.
FansEdge, 12/15 — #ForceFriday SPECIAL Star Wars Gear!
Epicurious, 12/16 — Our Favorite Cookbooks of 2017
Barneys New York, 12/16 — Meet The Lady Bird Actor Who Nailed Her Role As The Popular Girl
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Happy Holidays from My Family to Yours!
Take the 2018 State of Email Survey: Gain Knowledge + Win Prizes
Webinar Recording + Q&A: Top 5 Opportunities for Improving Your Email Creative
Smart Insights: Email Marketing Trends 2018
Email Design Podcast: The 2017 State of Email Creative
FreshMail: Email Marketing Trends for 2018
Campaign Monitor: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Getting Started
2018’s Top Email Design Trends
Posted on January 3, 2018
This year you can expect to see more interactive emails and personalized emails in your inbox. Those two trends stood head and shoulders above all others, according to a Litmus poll of nearly 600 marketers.
The next tier of trends included creating smaller, more bite-sized email content and using storytelling more effectively, whether within a single email or across a series of emails. The six other trends that we asked marketers about received a bit less enthusiasm, although they’re still likely to be important this year.
To bring some perspective to each of these email design trends, we reached out to our friends at Emma, Trendline Interactive, Yes Lifecycle Marketing, and Shaw + Scott. Let’s discuss each of these 10 email design trends in more detail…
>> Read the full post on the Litmus blog
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
