- 11/11/2009
In all the talk of social media and its influence on email marketing, it occurred to me that email marketers consistently commit an antisocial sin. Worse still, it is a sin often taught as a "best practice" in order to decrease the hassle of managing a large number of responses to marketing email messages. I am writing of the dreaded "no-reply@" email address.
- 11/10/2009
Text messaging is gaining momentum around the world as a preferred communication channel, and it provides a cost-effective way for small businesses to increase real-time communications with other businesses. But where and how should you use SMS? Here are some examples of how it can be used to target and communicate with customers in a business-to-business setting.
- 11/10/2009
This summer, I directed research on consumers' attitudes toward marketing. We surveyed more than 2,300 consumers and interviewed nearly 100 people on the street. Among our findings was that 70% of consumers who visit Facebook at least once a month and are a "fan" of at least one company or brand don't believe they have given those companies permission to market to them. Moreover, 40% of those "fans" don't believe marketers are welcome in social networks at all.
- 11/5/2009
"Marketers just don't get it!" was one common phrase at a conference I attended earlier this month. While quips like this may be useful in drawing the attention of those in the audience, few making these claims ever went on to explain exactly what marketers didn't get, nor did they offer up any hypotheses about why marketers may be having such a hard time doing so.
- 11/4/2009
Newspapers may be reporting on the demise of email, and some research indicates that young people are turning more toward social networking than more traditional online communication, but college students still see email as a critical medium for messages.
- 11/3/2009
Powell’s Books is gearing up to reach customers this holiday season with a targeted email marketing campaign that delivers book recommendations to customers based on their preferences.
- 10/27/2009
Search engines drive website traffic; social networks promote brand awareness and blogs encourage community engagement. But what about e-mail? E-mail marketing drives results — in the form of traffic, awareness and engagement. And don’t think for a moment that your top competitor doesn’t realize its importance to their bottom line either.
- 10/27/2009
The days of “one-size-fits-all,” “batch-and-blast” e-mail marketing are gone. In its place is “e-mail-plus,” a new age e-mail marketing strategy that uses e-mail in combination with other one-to-one marketing tactics and technologies to accelerate conversation and optimize ROI.
- 10/26/2009
Online photo book publisher Inkubook began using ExactTarget for email at its inception in July 2008 to build relationships with customers. Monthly newsletters are sent to a list of 50,000 subscribers worldwide featuring seasonal offers and links to the brand's Facebook and Twitter pages so recipients can share the offers. Activity-based emails remind users to finish photobook projects that haven't been completed yet.
- 10/26/2009
The Wall Street Journal published an article on October 12 called "Why Email No Longer Rules" suggesting that email is dying a slow death as social sites like Facebook and Twitter become the public's preferred communication tools. The story spread like wildfire at email provider ExactTarget's user conference last week. The consensus at the show was that reports of email's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
- 10/26/2009
Integrating your email campaigns with other marketing tools and platforms can drive results greater than the sum of their parts.
- 10/26/2009
In response to a greater demand for better behavioral targeting and other advanced capabilities in email marketing applications, a slew of new and upgraded email tools are coming to market that increasingly use social media and analytics to help marketers better understand and pinpoint sales prospects.
- 10/23/2009
The postal strike could see businesses making greater use of information and communications technology as an alternative, it has been claimed.
- 10/23/2009
How much does your email inbox weigh? Chances are, if all your messages were converted into paper, you'd fell a forest every week. While most of us have adapted somewhat to the constant influx of emails, the barrage has left the medium damaged.
- 10/19/2009
Writing for Media Post´s Email Insider blog Morgan Stewart, director of research and strategy at digital media agency ExactTarget, argued that ´email is dead´ declarations are built on the simplified assumption that people swap one form of digital communication for another.
- 10/16/2009
A new ExactTarget study found that text messaging and social networking increased the use of email, not decreased, as many in the industry have predicted.
- 10/16/2009
Is email marketing on a death watch when "The Wall Street Journal" publishes an article headlined, "Why Email No Longer Rules..."? No way.
- 10/14/2009
The Wall Street Journal is the latest to jump on the "email is dead" bandwagon. The article, "Why Email No Longer Rules... and what that means for the way we communicate," opens with the proclamation, "Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over."
- 10/14/2009
Multichannel campaigns will find greater success when marketers are aware of consumer preferences and behaviors. That finding, from a Forrester Consulting study commissioned by ExactTarget, should not come as a surprise. But marketers may be ignoring its implications.
- 10/13/2009
Fast-growing ExactTarget plans to make a major announcement about the design of its software interface today as it holds its second user conference that's expected to draw 1,300.
- 10/13/2009
Email marketing service providers announced new platforms this week that take advantage of consumers' appetite for social media.
- 10/13/2009
Email marketing software-on-demand provider ExactTarget today announced it has developed a tool that allows its clients to integrate their email marketing content with Twitter.
- 10/8/2009
It seems that everybody talks about multichannel marketing these days. But how many walk the talk? According to a study conducted by marketing solutions provider ExactTarget, UK marketers are walking the talk more than marketers in other countries.
- 10/7/2009
Almost 70 per cent of UK marketers demonstrate a significantly higher understanding of multi-channel marketing than any other country. But despite higher levels of awareness than their counterparts overseas, they are still struggling to address customers via the most effective channels.
- 10/2/2009
Growing a valuable email list is a challenging process, but as Colby Cavanaugh of ExactTarget explains, marketers must be creative and integrate popular media into their email marketing campaigns to be successful.
- 9/29/2009
Email marketing company ExactTarget is partnering with Web analytics company SeeWhy, adding the capability to automatically send remarketing emails to Website abandoners.
- 9/29/2009
Email marketing and solutions provider ExactTarget recently released a new interactive online tool designed to give marketers personalized recommendations to grow their email subscriber lists.
- 9/21/2009
Marketers that use email as part of the media mix can leverage dynamic scripting language to aggregate social networking content into their email messages.
- 9/21/2009
Mike's Express Carwash, a chain of 37 car washes in Indiana and Ohio, launched a back-to-school marketing campaign last month that offered customers free car washes for completing an online customer satisfaction survey and subscribing to its email marketing program.
- 9/17/2009
The World Society for the Protection of Animals is increasing its mobile and digital marketing efforts to build on an increase in online donations.
- 9/17/2009
When email started to gain widespread adoption 15 years ago, the idea of delivering account statements or status updates via email seemed absurd to the majority of consumers. Was it secure? Was it safe? People simply didn't know, nor trust, that email was a permanent and valid form of communication for official matters. Instead, they needed hard copies of those statements, delivered to their mailbox, to recognize formal documentation.
- 9/9/2009
A Downtown email marketing company has acquired a partner in Great Britain, and an analyst says the move puts ExactTarget in a strong position to attract an international market that's mostly filled by smaller competitors.
- 9/9/2009
The story of Canada's oil sands holds a tremendous lesson for email marketers. In the halcyon days of the American economy, many companies, flush with cash (or credit, as it turns out), preferred to invest their marketing dollars in the easy-to-drill "oil wells" of traditional media such as newspapers, radio, and television. The investment that these companies put in online marketing was largely in hopes of finding additional reserves of easy ROI.
- 9/8/2009
Indianapolis email marketing firm ExactTarget has bought London-based Keymail Marketing to spearhead a new international division.
- 9/8/2009
Four months after closing a $70 million round of venture capital funding, email marketing services provider ExactTarget this morning announced the launch of a new international division, and the acquisition of U.K.-based Keymail Marketing.
- 9/8/2009
Indianapolis-based ExactTarget Inc. is expanding overseas. The email marketing provider has launched an international division by acquiring U.K.-based Keymail Marketing.
- 9/2/2009
Founded in 1999, PetPlace.com is one of the top-ten online pet Web sites (according to Nielsen NetRatings). The site offers a vast library of pet-focused articles and medical expertise from 85 veterinary contributors. In 2005 PetPlace.com re-launched with a much stronger advertising presence and a focus on driving profits with email marketing.
- 8/27/2009
Mike's Express Carwash, a chain of 37 carwashes located across Indiana and Ohio, has found email marketing to help clean up in online sales. The brand did its first email marketing campaign, with partner ExactTarget, in June. Its just-released metrics show that the email marketing program lifted online sales more than 60% for the month over sales in June 2008.
- 8/27/2009
Papa Murphy's announced a new sweepstakes that allows customers to register to win a grill when logging on to learn how to grill the company's Take 'N' Bake pizza.
- 8/26/2009
Pier 1 Imports is partnering with Barnes & Noble for an SMS sweepstakes as part of its efforts to reach a younger demographic. The retail giant has deployed in-store mobile calls-to-action — signage next to the prize, a Papasan chair — in 100 Barnes & Noble bookstores near college campuses. Consumers who text in receive a text message confirming their registration in the sweepstakes and asking them to opt-in to receive promotional emails from Pier 1 Imports.
- 8/25/2009
The Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly is using mobile as a customer relationship management tool and a way to connect its brand to fans.
- 8/24/2009
Mike’s Express Carwash used a Father’s Day email promotion in June to boost online sales of its discount carwash books by more than 60 percent over June 2008 totals.
- 8/21/2009
Online, shoppers are abandoning their "virtual carts" as they search for better deals. But Indianapolis-based email marketing specialist ExactTarget is helping reduce that. One of its clients, SkyMall.com, has cut its "abandonment rate" to 49 percent from 56 percent by reducing the steps in the checkout process and sending out email reminders.
- 8/18/2009
The healthcare reform battle has hit every level of society and now it has even encroached on the email space. Concerns about unsolicited emails arose on Thursday last week, after White House senior advisers sent out an email about healthcare with the subject line "Something worth forwarding." Some recipients and Fox News claimed that some of these emails were sent without the user opting in.
- 8/12/2009
Commercial real estate research and information firm CoStar Group has selected the ExactTarget to power its revamp email marketing efforts.
- 8/10/2009
The greatest bookstore in the world is Powell's Books— it takes up a full city block, is three stories high, and new books sit right next to used books. It is a bibliophile's paradise. And even though they have a robust online presence, Amazon.com they are not (who is?) So what do they do? How do they compete with such a big competitor? One way is a new version of an old school idea — they offer great service and added value. For example, Powells.com queries people when they sign up for their great online e-newsletter.
- 8/6/2009
As brands look to engage consumers online, marketers are re‐discovering the value of email marketing.
- 8/6/2009
ExactTarget's Live Offers, a closed-loop solution for managing, delivering and monitoring intelligent offers to its entire base of prospects and customers, is the first offer-management and coupon solution that renders offers at the time that emails are opened, instead of when they are sent.
- 8/5/2009
Email marketing is a Cinderella story. Long after distancing itself from its researcher-centric beginnings and befuddling Tom Hanks in "You've Got Mail," email is rising from the ashes of spam and proving that it's not only a contender, but a hands-down winner. Forrester Research agrees, and its new forecast on the space predicts that "spending on email marketing in the U.S. will balloon to $2 billion by 2014 -- a nearly 11 percent compound annual growth rate."
- 7/31/2009
Designing email messages for optimal performance on your subscribers’ computers and mobile devices can be challenging. Is it worth the effort? That depends on your subscribers’ viewing preferences and behaviors.
- 7/30/2009
Volvo Construction Equipment N.A. Inc. boosts email performance with redesign and content syndication powered by ExactTarget.
- 7/25/2009
Richard E. Bergan is enjoying the fruits of his first start-from-scratch yard, including the visitors who stop and ask how he gets it to grow so thick and green. Bergan attributes much of his success to e-mail messages he gets from Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. Scotts uses Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, an e-mail and marketing solutions company, to provide its e-mail, text-messaging and Web-page personalization services.
- 7/23/2009
Software and services company Aptera Inc. provides software and database development as well as Web development to its more than 180 customers. The 6-year-old company has always used e-mail marketing as part of its lead-generation process. However, until about 18 months ago those e-mails, which went out to two separate lists, were sporadic.
It was clear Aptera needed to overhaul its program so, at the beginning of 2008, the company switched ESPs, moving to ExactTarget, and redesigned its e-mail marketing from top to bottom.
- 7/23/2009
Online marketers are increasingly fine-tuning their strategies to capture consumer email addresses in an effort to promote their products. Prospective vendors use time-honored marketing tactics such as consumer freebies, free memberships, online coupons, and other promotions to tempt consumers into providing their email addresses.
- 7/22/2009
I've been following the Free Debate blow by blow for the past couple of weeks. If somehow you have missed this, then here's the rundown. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a pointed critique of Chris Anderson's latest book, "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" (which you can read for free. Seth Godin jumped in and said that Malcolm is wrong, and the online community has started lining up on different sides since.
- 7/21/2009
BtoB Magazine, a publication for marketing strategists, has named ExactTarget CEO Scott Dorsey to a national "Who's Who" list.
- 7/21/2009
ExactTarget CEO Scott Dorsey earns a spot on the BtoB Magazine's 2009 Who's Who list.
- 7/20/2009
In a recent survey conducted by ExactTarget, in collaboration with the Email Marketer's Club and the Center for Media Design at Ball State University, 38 percent of email marketers cited email list growth as a top priority in the coming year. That so many would have this at or near the top of their list should come as no surprise given the central role of a healthy list of subscribers in the success of any email marketing program.
- 7/17/2009
Mexican fast food chain Taco John's launched an interactive campaign aimed at taking its e-mail-based fan club messages viral through text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
- 7/14/2009
Imagine you owned a grocery store in which roughly half the people who loaded up shopping carts suddenly left them full in the aisles and took off without buying a thing. Most merchants would consider that a crisis, but on the Web, it's the norm. The median abandonment rate is 40 percent for consumer-products companies and 58 percent for service companies, according to a recent survey by MarketingSherpa, a research firm based in Warren, Rhode Island. During periods of economic decline, shopping cart abandonment tends to spike, because potential customers jump to other sites to check prices or simply decide not to buy.
- 7/8/2009
I believe there is beauty in simplicity. I love the practical architecture of a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building, the precision engineering of a BMW automobile, and the technically brilliant functionality of the Apple iPhone. There is also a need right now for clear thinking and simplicity in marketing. So, in keeping with the philosophy of “Do Fewer Things Better,” I recommend a three-point strategy for maximizing the effectiveness of your marketing programs by investing your marketing budget on those things that have been proven to deliver the best results, something I call the Triangle Offensive.
- 7/8/2009
From the days of the pet rock to the latest technological innovations, marketers have achieved success using viral marketing techniques crossing all industries. Today, quality content spreads at a rate never before seen, largely due to the explosive growth of online social network participation. According to Nielson NetView, Twitter’s popularity soared 1,382 percent from February 2008 to February 2009, reaching more than 7 million unique visitors. Facebook grew 228 percent, touching 65.7 million members.
- 7/7/2009
With the growth of smartphones and mobile Web usage exploding, email marketers are tasked with the challenge of delivering relevant, rich content to customers that can be read and interpreted over the mobile phone. Industry experts say the design of emails is critical, as the mobile phone offers a different experience that may not be cohesive to the intended message.
- 7/2/2009
The 2009 Email List Growth Study whitepaper by ExactTarget, in collaboration with the Email Marketers Club, and the Center for Media Design at Ball State University, addresses an ROI-producing email list growth strategy at the top of most email marketer's list of primary concerns.
- 7/1/2009
To stand out in a competitive marketplace and help shoppers feel more connected with their favorite brands, many retailers are upping their e-mail marketing strategies to develop and retain more customers.
In line with the trend, the 159-year-old footwear and accessories company Johnston & Murphy has implemented a targeted e-mail marketing solution to better reach shoppers and ultimately increase sales. Previously, the firm used a general e-mail blast program that sent the same message to its entire shopper database
- 6/30/2009
Powell’s Books has been sending shoppers e-mail newsletters recommending books on subjects the recipients told the retailer they enjoyed. The e-mails were opened 70% more than generic marketing e-mails sent by Powell’s.
- 6/29/2009
Powell's Books, one of the nation's largest booksellers, has reported an increase in e-mail open rate thanks to its new focus on personalization. The Portland, OR-based retailer began an e-mail effort with e-mail service provider ExactTarget that targets customers based on their favorite kinds of books. The effort began in February, and the most recent mailing in June saw a 70% increase in open rate.
- 6/24/2009
Email marketers need our own dose of Chef Ramsay. Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget's Director of Research and Strategy, translates the chef's advice to restaurateurs to advice for email marketers.
- 6/11/2009
Email list growth is a top priority for many marketers this year, according to a new white paper from ExactTarget, a provider of e-mail marketing solutions. The report, “2009 Email List Growth Study” (www.exacttarget/listgrowth), found that 38% of marketers put list growth ahead of other marketing goals such as deliverability, integration with other channels and lowering marketing costs.
- 6/9/2009
In order to optimize marketing messaging and generate the leads needed to feed their sales pipelines, BtoB marketers continue to wrestle with the need to “right-size” their contact databases. Industry experts suggest each organization should have a defined set of lead gen goals and demographics in place.
- 6/4/2009
Record label Roadrunner Records has launched a new e-mail campaign that allows music fans to share e-mail messages they receive from bands on social networks by clicking an icon in an e-mail. The programs, offered by e-mail marketing vendor ExactTarget, are called Social Forward and ShareThis. Social forward embeds an icon of a social network, such as Twitter or Facebook, in an e-mail. A click of the icon enables that fan to share the contents of an e-mail message on the social network selected.
- 6/3/2009
Dave & Buster's Inc., a restaurant arcade chain that has more than 50 locations across the US and Canada, has selected ExactTarget to power its e-mail marketing communications.
- 6/2/2009
List growth was one of the top priorities for e-mail marketers queried in a recent survey by e-mail services vendor ExactTarget – of some 350 surveyed, 38% cited it as a top initiative for 2009, a figure exceeded only by the 41.9% who said making e-mails more relevant and 51% who cited conversions from e-mail.
- 6/2/2009
A new program from site search vendor SLI Systems Inc. and e-mail services vendor ExactTarget has shown Footwearetc.com a whole new way to drive value out of site search—by using it to personalize customer e-mails.
- 5/29/2009
Some interesting research conducted by ExactTarget, Ball State University and the Email Marketers Club was released this week, looking at the list growth tactics for identifying the most effective and fastest growing approaches to building email lists.
- 5/27/2009
As marketers scurry to come up with a social media strategy, many are looking to the integration of social media and e-mail as a critical component. According to a recent collaborative study by ExactTarget, the Email Marketer's Club and the Center for Media Design at Ball State University, only 13% of marketers integrated social media and email last year. 46% plan to do so in 2009.
- 5/26/2009
The most effective email list-growth tactics for marketers are on-site registration and capturing information through inbound call centers, while the least effective tactics are outbound call-center attempts to solicit information and list rental, according to research conducted by ExactTarget, Ball State University and the Email Marketers Club.
- 5/26/2009
ExactTarget is letting marketers track and interact with their email marketing campaigns while on the go.
- 5/26/2009
Thirty two percent of marketers either rarely or never track the performance of their e-mail names by source, according to a recent study by e-mail marketing software-on-demand provider ExactTarget.
- 5/21/2009
A new study has taken a look at the best ways to grow e-mail subscriber files, but one worrisome finding is that 33% of all e-mail marketers don’t bother to evaluate the performance of their list gathering techniques.
- 5/21/2009
B2B email marketers are most likely to drive subscriptions by offering clients incentives to sign, according to new research.
- 5/19/2009
Learn what organizations are doing to make sure their digital marketing reaches subscribers in the most effective way, and find out why investment continues to flow into providers like ExactTarget.
- 5/16/2009
Cellphones are hardly applauded in concert halls, where it’s considered gauche to have them turned on, much less to pull them out during a performance. So at a recent Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra concert of classics like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, it was a little surprising when the conductor instructed audience members to take out their phones.
- 5/14/2009
Social media marketing continues to garner interest -- and email marketing vendor ExactTarget has results to prove it. Research conducted on behalf of the on-demand software provider indicates that, in 2008, 13 percent of marketers planned to integrate social capabilities with email marketing. The increasing customer interest is clearly what underpins ExactTarget's recent announcement of its Social Forward solution . . . Social Forward wasn't the only ExactTarget news of late. Within days of that announcement, the company revealed that a combination of three venture-capital firms had agreed to provide a hefty investment of venture capital -- $70 million, to be exact, representing "one of the largest venture-capital rounds of investment in the nation this year."
- 5/5/2009
Like everything else digital, email marketing is changing. As the lead generation strategy of choice for many years, it is now being reformed by the dramatic shift to social media as a real-time communication platform. For BtoB companies, the email/social synergy can be a profitable one.
- 4/30/2009
Growing businesses that use email marketing should consider integrating the channel with social media platforms, according to an expert.
- 4/29/2009
Earlier this month, fellow Email Insider columnist Elie Ashery wrote "Social Media Vs. Email: The Debate Continues." Elie's right that there is a social vs. email debate going on; however, I'm not sure it's a valid debate. In fact, casting it as a debate makes it sound like marketers need to choose sides when, in fact, the real issue is one of integration, not selection.
- 4/28/2009
ExactTarget recently polled its customers, asking what metric their bosses used to judge the success of their company's email marketing program. Though clicks, conversions, and revenues were at the top of the list for most (thankfully), many said they were also judged by the size of their list.
- 4/23/2009
Many web surfers increasingly use social network email connections, so it makes sense that some new numbers show that social e-mail campaigns will increase in 2009.
- 4/23/2009
A dramatically increasing proportion of e-mail marketers plans to bridge the gap between online social networks and their e-mail marketing campaigns this year, according to a new study.
- 4/22/2009
A record number of email marketers are planning to bridge the gap between online social networks and their email marketing campaigns, and the number of social email initiatives is expected to grow 367% this year, according to new research from Ball State University, the Email Marketer’s Club and ExactTarget.
- 4/21/2009
You get it. Email needs to be relevant, timely, and personalized, and it has to arrive in the inbox—not the spam folder. When an email renders, it should load images perfectly, guide the eye through stunning, effective design that drives subscribers to convert—download, purchase, whatever.
- 4/20/2009
Today's technology is increasingly enabling commercial e-mail solutions to get "smarter," integrating the formerly siloed marketing channel with other marketing solutions. It's been a long time coming.
- 4/20/2009
ExactTarget reseller Hyperdrive Interactive explains how ExactTarget's text capture and triggered e-mail integration helps increase qualified leads.
- 4/20/2009
E-mail is obviously not new. But we're beginning to see e-mail 2.0 in which we can give people the opportunity to interact with a brand by using new technologies. Integration is happening between e-mail and other channels like SMS text messaging or voice. This integration of multiple forms of direct contact is really designed to make a cumulative effect, which can make the e-mail extremely viral.
- 4/16/2009
In an economy where marketing dollars are hard to come by, viral marketing--the kind that can spread a message far and wide by word of mouth--might be part of the cure for ailing retail jewelers.
- 4/15/2009
A new partnership between Microsoft and its Certified Gold Partners ExactTarget and Neudesic is credited by one of the nation's largest privately held commercial real estate developers with creating a more effective market despite the down economy.
- 4/14/2009
Commercial real estate developer Majestic Realty Co. is expanding its e-mail program with a new partnership with three technology services companies: Microsoft, ExactTarget and Neudesic.
- 4/6/2009
The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) has partnered with e-mail services firm ExactTarget to power the e-mail marketing campaigns for all Navy Exchange retail stores worldwide.
- 4/1/2009
Twice this month, I had the opportunity to review and provide feedback on plans to optimize existing email programs. In both instances, I was taken aback by complex webs of information presented as the recommended paths to improving the program performance.
- 3/18/2009
Microsoft Corp. on March 17 announced the formation of a strategic alliance with ExactTarget and Neudesic LLC, a combination of Microsoft and select Microsoft Gold Certified Partners in an integrated solution and services strategy. The alliance will launch the Actionable Market Intelligence Solution supported by a series of webcasts targeting respective segments of the business and IT community.
- 3/18/2009
Recent years have witnessed new interaction channels popping up with increased frequency. According to the latest research from Pew Internet, 58 percent of American adults use text messaging (SMS) and 31 percent do so on a regular basis. In another report, Pew warned, "email may be at the beginning of a slow decline as online teens begin to express a preference for instant messaging." Facebook, among others, continues to explode and the shift toward communication through social networks among teens and college students is well documented.
- 3/17/2009
The Estridge Companies, an Indianapolis-based homebuilder, has selected ExactTarget to run the e-mail acquisition program for its upcoming work with ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project.
- 3/10/2009
Joseph Jaffe, author of “Join the Conversation” and the award-winning blog jaffejuice.com, has often quoted Einstein, who said “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The same goes with email marketing – doing it the same ol’ way just won’t cut it anymore.
- 11/21/2008
"THE CUSTOMER IS king" is taking on a whole new meaning as online retailers struggle to grab shoppers' attentions and turn a profit this holiday season.
- 11/12/2008
Recently I worked on a research project in collaboration with Ball State University’s Center for Media Design — also known to the MediaPost community for their Notes From the Digital Frontier blog. While the primary focus of the paper was on the media consumption habits of different personas including teens, college students, and established professionals, the paper also highlighted a unique perspective on the age-old question about the “Best Time of Day” to send email.
- 11/12/2008
A new whitepaper from ExactTarget has a surprise for marketers seeking to reach teens ages 15-17. The results of its recent research project, conducted with Ball State University's Center for Media Design, show that teens actually prefer to get their marketing messages via—(drum roll, please)—direct mail.
- 10/3/2008
Show your email savvy by entering a campaign in MarketingSherpa’s fourth annual Email Marketing Awards competition. Sponsored by ExactTarget for the second consecutive year, Marketing Sherpa’s awards recognize email campaigns with outstanding response rates. Winning entries will be announced at MarketingSherpa’s Email Summit ’09 in Miami, Florida, on March 15-17, 2009.
- 9/22/2008
After announcing my upcoming course on mobile marketing earlier today, Laura from ExactTarget's PR team over in the States wrote me a lovely email asking me for my opinion on her client's new guide to SMS.
- 9/18/2008
Mobile data service revenues in the US rose to $14.8 billion for the first half of 2008, according to the CTIA. That was up 40% over the first half of 2007, when data revenues reached $10.5 billion. Mobile data now accounts for one-fifth of all mobile revenues.
- 8/28/2008
Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't you? Commonly known as text messaging, short message service has become so popular with consumers that it can be tempting to create an SMS program in a hurry.
But before you jump on the SMS bandwagon, consider the tips laid out here before you spend time or money in the wrong way.
- 7/14/2008
Chief Executive Officer for ExactTarget, Scott Dorsey, was named to the 2008 BtoB Who's Who List for email.
- 7/10/2008
This week, four new rule provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act went into effect. These rules clarify what’s expected from marketers and make it easier for people who opt in to later opt out.
- 7/7/2008
Last week, a marketer asked me what her rights where when terminating a relationship with a search engine marketing agency. Her incumbent agency refused to pass over anything but ad copy. No keywords, no historical performance, nothing.
- 6/30/2008
From birthday discounts to reservation confirmations, triggered emails are the ultimate in one-to-one communications, with benefits to the bottom line.
- 6/5/2008
Text and instant messaging are fine for friends, but not for marketers.
That was the main finding of ExactTarget's "2008 Channel Preference Survey."
Nearly two-thirds of US Internet users surveyed said e-mail was their preferred channel for written communications between friends, with text messaging the next-favorite choice. The phone was the most popular way to communicate with friends overall, with 41% of respondents naming it as their channel of choice.
- 6/5/2008
As a marketer, you should know exactly how your customers want you to communicate with them. But, according to e-mail service provider ExactTarget’s latest white paper, “2008 Channel Preference Survey,” figuring out what to send via e-mail has never been more difficult.
- 5/27/2008
Hot on the heels of the Habeas survey comes more detailed research from ExactTarget on channel preferences among consumers.
- 5/23/2008 Featured
Software developer ExactTarget came to the Summit with a defiant message: “Subscribers Rule!” More academically: Marketing today is bottom-up — top-down is as moldy as dial-up. Give consumers info they want, when and where.
- 5/1/2008
The ExactTarget Route 1to1: The New eMarketing Essentials was in New York this past week. EmarketingandCommerce.com (EM+C) attended the event and recorded two interesting podcasts discussing email best practices and digital marketing trends.
- 4/30/2008
Learn about opt-in email best practices from Morgan Stewart in his latest contribution to MediaPost’s Email Insider.
- 4/3/2008
A Web Site Allows ExactTarget's Sales Force to Post and Answer Questions About the Software Company's Products and Procedures
- 3/27/2008
The open rate is a tired, flawed e-mail marketing metric that should be mothballed. It retains some minor value for diagnostics and benchmarking, but it is largely unreliable and inconsistent. Most importantly, it gives marketers little meaningful data to act on.
- 3/27/2008
Your customers and prospects view e-mails in five stages, according to a white paper released this week by ExactTarget, a provider of e-mail marketing solutions.
- 3/27/2008
For many small businesses, email communication is a key marketing tactic used to generate leads, engender customer loyalty and share important news. We asked Melinda Baxter of ExactTarget, a leading provider of on-demand email marketing software solutions, to share tips on how your marketing emails should be designed to achieve maximum results.
- 3/19/2008
E-mail firms are taking e-mail on the road to educate marketing professionals across the country about the channel.
Both ExactTarget and Return Path have just kicked off e-mail marketing seminar tours starring their in-house executives, as well as clients using their e-mail products for e-mail campaigns, that will run from Miami to Seattle.
- 3/14/2008
ExactTarget, a leading provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions, and Narragansett Technologies, the developer of the award winning on-demand survey and lead acquisition solution called SensorPro, announced that they have partnered to integrate SensorPro's survey and lead acquisition solution with ExactTarget's on-demand solutions.
- 12/28/2007
E-mail marketing services firm ExactTarget has released a new object exchange model version of its e-mail platform, which lets independent software vendors, social networks and other software application developers embed ExactTarget's e-mail messaging Web services inside their applications.
- 12/20/2007
Wouldn’t it be great if you could figure out today what your marketing plan should look like in six months? Crystal balls don’t exactly grow on trees, so we’ve asked two industry experts—Jordan Ayan, president of SubscriberMail, and Joel Book, director of eMarketing Education at ExactTarget—to weigh in on what’s coming in 2008. Here’s what they said.
- 12/12/2007
Cornerstone Solutions recently announced that they have chosen ExactTarget as their partner for email marketing and communications integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
- 10/16/2007
Web 2.0 applications such as Twitter will unseat simple electronic mail as the No. 1 business communications tool. Pro or con?
- 10/3/2007
IF I WAS EVER WORRIED about the strength of the email marketing industry, those fears are certainly being dispelled this week. I'm in Indianapolis attending the ExactTarget Users Group meeting, and was completely shocked by the strength of the attendance. With 600 people registered and a standing-room-only crowd packing a large auditorium for the keynote, it was pretty clear that if "email is over," that message hasn't reached this Midwest crowd.
- 9/21/2007
With shopping carts being abandoned at an alarming rate, many etailers are wondering how to stem the tide. A new case study from ExactTarget indicates that remarketing the items via email could be the answer for which etailers have been looking.
- 8/29/2007
These days, e-mail marketers face a number of new challenges, including increasing pressure to drive response rates, default image blocking at most major ISPs, creating e-mails for subscribers checking e-mail on mobile devices, deliverability changes and waning subscriber attention in a crowded inbox.
- 7/21/2007
43% of consumers use the internal search function immediately upon arriving at a retail site. That's why internal search tweaks are among the most important -- and profitable -- tactics you can test.
- 7/20/2007
The face of mobile access is changing rapidly. ExactTarget has released a survey on mobile use that indicates mobile users rarely read or act on email via mobile devices, with over 88 percent returning to a laptop or desktop computer to review email after first checking their smartphones, reports MarketingCharts.
- 7/18/2007
E-mail users read their messages in a different way on mobile phones than on PCs, according to ExactTarget's "E-Mail Marketing for the Small Screen" report. Nearly nine in 10 mobile e-mail users skimmed messages on their phones, and then read the full version on desktop or laptop computers.