- 3/16/2010
Nineteen percent of online marketing budgets are now allocated to e-mail, according MarketingSherpa, and 54% of marketers plan to increase their e-mail budgets this year, based on research from Econsultancy and ExactTarget. Given that, what adjustments should e-mail marketers be considering only two months into the year? Check out these trends, which are heating already in 2010.
- 3/10/2010
By definition, a tool is something designed to be used. What better way to demonstrate that utility than with video? That's the driving force behind the show-and-tell approach Milwaukee Electric Tool takes to its online marketing.
- 3/9/2010
Video in email is a hot topic on the email vendor side, but I haven't seen a ton of messages from brands with videos in them. The trend is starting slowly.
- 3/9/2010
Video is hot, and email is useful. Obviously, it would be good to combine the two and get both the heat and the utility by delivering video in email. Problem is that email hasn't traditionally been a good medium for serving up video within the message.
- 3/8/2010
We've been hearing for a while now that folks are using email and instant messaging less in favor of communicating on social channels such as Twitter and Facebook. Maybe. But I agree with GigaOm's Om Malik that, for most people, email "remains the hub of our Internet experience."
- 3/8/2010
Let’s start with understanding the mindset of a consumer and your social media brand. Consumers ‘friend a brand’ for these primary reasons: to give feedback, praise or complain; for service; but the largest reason by far is to receive special offers and promotions.
- 3/8/2010
Twitter may still be grappling with how to profit off its 75 million registered users. But some startups in the ecosystem created by the microblogging phenom are starting to look like smart investments.
Just last week, Indianapolis-based ExactTarget announced that it had acquired CoTweet, a San Francisco-based company whose customer relationship management tools had recently attracted a growing stable of companies that pay it $1,500 a month for access to a dashboard that helps them manage various Twitter accounts, knowledge sharing with non-competing clients of CoTweet, and round-the-clock customer service.
- 3/4/2010
Fred Meyer Jewelers, a multichannel jewelry retailer, needed to upgrade an email marketing program plagued by poor deliverability, reporting and overall conversion.
- 3/3/2010
A rather unlikely suspect has been making the rounds lately. And while you may have come to know this blog for covering the cutting edge communications and marketing tools, it may seem odd that this suspect is rather old school. That's right. Good old email is making a comeback. But it shouldn't be a total surprise - it's not like I didn't warn you.
- 3/3/2010
A start-up built entirely to benefit from the explosive popularity of Twitter has produced what appears to be a good exit for its venture backers. ExactTarget acquired CoTweet, which offers software to help businesses send and receive messages from multiple Twitter accounts. CoTweet raised just over $1 million from Baseline Ventures, Founders Fund, First Round Capital, SV Angel, Maples Investments and Freestyle Capital. These investors will get stock in ExactTarget, which, as we reported last month, is doing quite well on its way to becoming a publicly traded company. Of the deal, First Round Managing Partner Chris Fralic told VentureWire: “I think this is a deal where everyone involved could look you in the eye and tell you it was the best outcome for all parties.” Meanwhile, CoTweet CEO Jesse Engle says, “We had exactly the right product at exactly the right time. We made some good guesses that Twitter would take off and businesses would embrace it.”….
- 3/3/2010
Email marketing firm ExactTarget has bought corporate Twitter business CoTweet, which is used by a host of blue chip companies to manage parts of their social media operations.
- 3/2/2010
Quick, pop quiz. What activities do you associate with your email program's design evolution? Chances are you listed endeavors limited to your creative department, such as the development of illustrations, graphics, or photography; application of style and brand standards; and exploration of color, typography, and layout, to name a few. A few of you may have included marketing activities such as conversion, CTR or revenue goals, testing plans, and social media strategy. In order to truly give your program an extreme makeover, both marketing and creative need to work together. Here are a few tips on how both crews can work side by side to give emails an overhaul.
- 3/2/2010
Indianpolis-based ExactTarget announced this morning that it has acquired CoTweet, a customer relationship management tool that sprang up around Twitter in the fall of 2008.
- 3/2/2010
Email marketing firm ExactTarget acquired CoTweet, the Twitter tool that we featured in our Domains section in November. CoTweet allows multiple users to access corporate Twitter accounts, coordinating and organizing those involved in corporate communication, and is used by companies including PepsiCo and Sprint.
- 3/2/2010
CoTweet, the Twitter CRM tool used by several massive brands including JetBlue and Ford, has been acquired by ExactTarget, an email marketing firm.
- 3/2/2010
Indianapolis email marketing firm ExactTarget, sitting rich on a huge $70 million funding it did mid last year, has made its first move beyond email, so to speak: it has acquired enterprise Twitter client CoTweet, for an undisclosed sum, according to separate notes posted on CoTweet's and ExactTarget's company blogs. The rationale is simple, complete with hyperbole: “The combined companies will offer the first complete solution for businesses to manage all aspects of their online communication with customers and prospects, including email, mobile, and social media”
- 3/2/2010
Email service provider ExactTarget on Tuesday announced the acquisition of enterprise Twitter management system CoTweet. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- 3/2/2010
ExactTarget Inc. has acquired CoTweet Inc., which allows companies to manage multiple Twitter accounts, for an undisclosed sum. CoTweet CEO Jesse Engle and Scott Dorsey, CEO of ExactTarget, spoke to The Deal Tuesday about the acquisition. Dorsey said the acquisition will add to the company's social media product development as it expands beyond e-mail marketing. This is ExactTarget's second acquisition. It acquired Keymail Marketing in September to expand into the U.K.
- 3/2/2010
Email marketing firm ExactTarget has acquired CoTweet. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced.
- 3/2/2010
Email marketing firm ExactTarget has acquired Twitter-management platform CoTweet for an undisclosed sum.
- 3/2/2010
Email marketing software giant ExactTarget has agreed to acquire CoTweet, a young company that offers a tool that enables multiple people to communicate on Twitter through corporate accounts.
- 3/2/2010
Email marketing giant ExactTarget bought CoTweet, an early leader in helping businesses manage their presence on Twitter, in a move today that will combine their offerings in email and social media.
- 3/2/2010
Email marketing giant ExactTarget bought CoTweet, an early leader in helping businesses manage their presence on Twitter, today in a move that will combine their strengths in email and social media.
- 3/2/2010
In another sign of how the lines between traditional digital marketing and social media are blurring, email marketer ExactTargethas acquired Twitter management tool CoTweet for an undisclosed sum. ExactTarget, based in Indianapolis, has tools that allow companies to target email marketing pitches and related “permission-based” web campaigns, and has a customer list that includes Expedia, Home Depot, Gannett Co. and Wellpoint Inc. Although it does some text messaging as part of its marketing services, it is not known for its work with social media. The CoTweet acquisition is clearly an attempt to change that.
- 3/1/2010
Reading about an attacker being disarmed by a person using Krav Maga, the official self-defense system of the Israeli Defense Forces, is one thing. Seeing the attack is something entirely different, and much more compelling.
- 2/26/2010
There are skeptics and there are fanatics, but one thing is certain: Email marketers will be jumping at the chance to capitalize on Apple’s iPad. The real question is whether these marketers will fall flat on their faces. Marketers will contend with a host of challenges as they eagerly delve into this uncharted territory, and how they respond will make or break their chances of adding yet another one-to-one marketing channel to their collections.
- 2/26/2010
Customer loyalty doesn't just happen. It must be earned. And the same rule applies to establishing and maintaining email subscriber loyalty.
- 2/24/2010
In the technology industry, we constantly focus on the next big thing.
- 2/23/2010
As reliable and useful a marketing tool as email's proven to be in the past, it'll be better than ever in the future, according to one expert. The Director of eMarketing Education atExactTarget explained during a session at OMS how things are changing and how marketers can continue to use email to their advantage.
- 2/15/2010
For all the excitement about social media, there's a specter hanging over its use by companies. Is all this tweeting, blogging and Facebooking paying off? For some proponents, the question is irrelevant. They agree with the view encapsulated in the social media bible The Cluetrain Manifesto -- markets are conversations. Companies have to participate in the conversations where they're happening, ROI be damned. Their dismissal of metrics is summed up in an oft-repeated question, "What's the ROI of putting on your pants on in the morning?"
- 2/11/2010
A growth in marketers’ investments in social media, mobile marketing, email marketing and search will fuel a 17 percent surge in digital marketing spending this year.
- 2/10/2010
Many companies over the past several years have withdrawn their registration with the Securities & Exchange Commission to go public. Few, however, have landed on their feet like ExactTarget Inc., a provider of on-demand marketing services, which first filed to go public in September 2007. After withdrawing from the IPO process in May 2009, the Indianapolis company raised $140 million in venture funding, completed one acquisition, hired more than 200 employees and reported record financial results, including surpassing the $100 million mark in annual revenue.
- 2/9/2010
About 18 months ago, Hitachi Data Systems' director of Web marketing left the company. Sean Mattson, then the company's TK, took over in the interim, keeping his former title. His directive, he said was to increase organic search traffic and bring in a more relevant and targeted audience. “I wanted to prove to the company that I could change the way we did business on the Web,” he said.
- 2/8/2010
You’d think that the big news from a recent survey of 1,000 marketers by digital marketing firm Econsultancy and services provider ExactTarget would be that companies say they’ll spend more on digital media this year and they did in 2009—17% more on average, to be precise. It’s been the kind of year where a substantial investment in online campaigns should make a respectable splash.
- 2/5/2010
As part of Hitachi Data Systems’ international deployment, the company turned to ExactTarget's professional services team to create a solution to ensure customers across Europe and Asia did not receive duplicate messages from its multiple business units. By creating an online marketing platform to support its global network of field marketing offices and sales representatives, who had previously managed their own digital marketing campaigns, the company reduced its global email marketing costs while boosting brand governance and accountability.
- 2/4/2010
After hearing about job and spending cuts for months, email marketing company ExactTarget, in conjunction with training and advice provider Econsultancy, this week released a new research brief that contains a little good news about marketing spending. The brief, “More Money, More Channels: Marketing Budgets in 2010,” outlines what more than 1,000 marketers that were surveyed said about their expected spending habits this year.
- 2/4/2010
Advertisers look set to increase the amount of their marketing budget that they allocate to digital mediums, such as the internet and mobile devices.
- 2/4/2010
Email service provider ExactTarget released a study this week showing marketers plan to boost spending in email, social media and other non-traditional outreach channels this year. Advisory firm Econsultancy conducted the research along with the Indianapolis-based ESP.
- 2/3/2010
Last year was certainly one most are glad to see in their rearview mirrors. The economy sagged, consumers tightened their purse strings and marketers’ lives were far from easy. But now that 2010 is in full swing and an uptick lies somewhere on the horizon, it’s time for marketers to take action for a healthier, more profitable year.
- 2/3/2010
In December, I began working on a project with Econsultancy to understand where marketers are allocating their budgets in 2010. Consistent with other reports, we found the migration of budgets from traditional to digital channels continues. In fact, digital marketing budgets will increase by an average of 17% in 2010, and 28% of marketers are migrating at least part of their overall marketing budgets from traditional to online channels.
- 2/3/2010
Companies will increase their digital marketing budgets by an average of 17% in 2010, according to new research by Econsultancy and ExactTarget today. The new report, Marketing Budgets 2010: Effectiveness, Measurement and Allocation, finds that digital marketing will account for 24% of overall marketing spend this year.
- 2/3/2010
Econsultancy and ExactTarget have released a report based on joint research, polling over 1,000 marketers about their brand reputation strategies. The research found that marketers are slashing their budgets for radio, TV, and print, while looking online to build their brand reputation. The firms say the research indicates there will be a 17% surge in digital marketing spending this year.
- 2/1/2010
Consumers are actively discussing brands on social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Four experts provide tips on moving corporate CRM initiatives to those social media sites as well.
- 1/29/2010
Icelandair is working with email marketing specialist ExactTarget to personalise customer emails and create automated campaigns.
- 1/27/2010
Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana has bolstered its recruitment and retention efforts with a new Web-based application designed by marketing firm The Jackson Group and powered by software from email company ExactTarget. The multi-response system triggers personalized emails, direct mail, and phone calls featuring requested materials or updates on enrollment status to prospective and returning students.
- 1/22/2010
Reports on the media habits of Gen Y consumers can lull marketers into viewing age as the primary consideration in forecasting media habits. Clearly, age is a factor -- younger people do tend to be more diversified in their media consumption and are more likely to interact regularly with emerging media such as social and text messaging. However, media habits change as people move through different life stages, and these changes impact how people choose to interact with brands.
- 1/21/2010
Successful email marketing can sometimes entail tweaking a few key elements to create the best possible system. But with limited staff and campaign deadlines, marketers may struggle to find time for optimization.
- 1/19/2010
Despite a difficult global economic climate, the email marketing solutions industry is prospering.
- 1/14/2010
It may be the least sexy tool in your digital marketing arsenal, but did you know that in terms of ROI, email is probably its top performer? Such was the assertion made by Jeff Rohrs, VP of marketing for ExactTarget, a Web-based platform for email marketing, during his lecture on "Email Plus: The Medium is the Message," which he delivered at the 2010 CMO Leadership Forum event in New York City's posh Athletic Club.
- 1/12/2010
There's nothing we love more than solutions—top-notch insights from top-of-the-line experts that help solve common marketing problems. ExactTarget's Joel Book addresses this week's problem: How Do I Turn a Touch Into a Relationship?
- 1/11/2010
The people at ExactTarget have just released a new white paper, called “Five resolutions every marketer must make in 2010”.
- 1/6/2010
Email marketing is alive and well, according to Forrester Research's fourth-quarter 2009 Email Wave report, released last week. The report found that the recession and the maturation of the email marketer helped the industry in 2009.
- 1/5/2010
Like many smaller US life insurers, United Home Life Insurance of Indianapolis, Indiana, battles for the attention of independent agents critical to the company's sales efforts. Rather than pour its finite resources into costly mailings, United Home Life turned to email marketing, working with email marketer ExactTarget to build its network of independent agents and boost policy sales.
- 1/5/2010
Acquiring, converting, and retaining customers in today's competitive marketplace has become increasingly challenging for toy marketers. Gone are the days when online toy retailers pumped money into huge marketing campaigns. Consumer acquisition costs are too high for most online retailers, and toy marketers say they are concentrating on their current customer base to drive sales. It's no surprise that toy marketers are doing more direct-response marketing with existing customers rather than spending millions on TV ads, which do not deliver measurable return on investment (ROI).
- 1/4/2010
Some companies may have fretted about abandoning plans to go public. Not ExactTarget. After pulling its application in May, the email service provider went on to raise $140 million in venture capital.
- 12/27/2009
Email service providers Responsys and ExactTarget are industry pacesetters, according to Forrester Research's "Wave" study that was released last week.
- 12/23/2009
On-demand email marketing and one-to-one marketing provider ExactTarget announced today it surpassed $100 million in sales year-to-date, making it one of few software as a service companies in history to exceed the nine-figure mark.
- 12/15/2009
In all of the talk on 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 ‘best practice’ in order to decrease the hassle of managing a large number of responses to marketing email messages.
- 12/14/2009
Since SMS is compatible with all handsets, it is an important component of holiday marketing campaigns – if used correctly.
- 12/4/2009
Millions of marketers across the globe today are competing for clicks in the inbox, yet a growing number of them have yet to adapt strategies built on best practices.
- 12/4/2009
As email has become the direct marketing workhorse of the holiday shopping season, marketers place increasing pressure to avoid colossal blunders that will compromise their retail success.
- 12/3/2009
Last summer, Greg Moser, Web Director, Nytro Multisport, and his team were charged with turning their increasingly stagnant email list into a highly relevant, targeted email program. They also had fallen woefully behind most retailers when it came to the emerging channel of advertising to mobile phones and handsets.
- 12/3/2009
California’s Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has launched a text-messaging program to reduce call-center volume and costs.
- 12/2/2009
Auntie Anne's, a fast-food chain specializing in soft-baked pretzels, is running its first national mobile marketing campaign in a move to build its email database.
- 12/2/2009
California's Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) has debuted a text messaging program to save money on its communications with passengers and cut down on call center activity.
- 12/2/2009
Following recent speculation that new email opt-in laws which came into effect in Germany might be coming to the UK, ExactTarget's Peter McCormick says that this news should only be of concern to organisations that do not have the customer at the heart of their communications philosophy.
- 11/24/2009
You want your email marketing to be 'haute cuisine', not just a load of old spam. But how do you make people love what you send them -- rather than just bin it?
- 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 email? Email 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” email marketing are gone. In its place is “email-plus,” a new age email marketing strategy that uses email 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
When it comes to competing for new and repeat customers in today’s highly competitive digital marketplace, an old adage applies: “One cherry does not a pie make.”
Let’s face it. The business of getting and keeping customers is hard work. And it requires more than one channel or tactic to do it well. Why? Because we’re all different. We buy products for different reasons.
- 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 email messages he gets from Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. Scotts uses Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, an email and marketing solutions company, to provide its email, 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 email marketing as part of its lead-generation process. However, until about 18 months ago those emails, 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 email 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 email-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 email 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 email marketing solution to better reach shoppers and ultimately increase sales. Previously, the firm used a general email blast program that sent the same message to its entire shopper database
- 6/30/2009
Powell’s Books has been sending shoppers email newsletters recommending books on subjects the recipients told the retailer they enjoyed. The emails were opened 70% more than generic marketing emails sent by Powell’s.
- 6/29/2009
Powell's Books, one of the nation's largest booksellers, has reported an increase in email open rate thanks to its new focus on personalization. The Portland, OR-based retailer began an email effort with email 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 email 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 email campaign that allows music fans to share email messages they receive from bands on social networks by clicking an icon in an email. The programs, offered by email 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 email. A click of the icon enables that fan to share the contents of an email 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 email marketing communications.
- 6/2/2009
List growth was one of the top priorities for email marketers queried in a recent survey by email 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 emails more relevant and 51% who cited conversions from email.
- 6/2/2009
A new program from site search vendor SLI Systems Inc. and email services vendor ExactTarget has shown Footwearetc.com a whole new way to drive value out of site search—by using it to personalize customer emails.
- 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 email 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 email names by source, according to a recent study by email marketing software-on-demand provider ExactTarget.
- 5/21/2009
A new study has taken a look at the best ways to grow email subscriber files, but one worrisome finding is that 33% of all email 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 email campaigns will increase in 2009.
- 4/23/2009
A dramatically increasing proportion of email marketers plans to bridge the gap between online social networks and their email 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 email 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 email integration helps increase qualified leads.
- 4/20/2009
Email is obviously not new. But we're beginning to see email 2.0 in which we can give people the opportunity to interact with a brand by using new technologies. Integration is happening between email 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 email 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.