Subject lines are the first, and sometimes only, impression an email makes on a customer. Mastering this magical one-liner is not easy. The key here is to diversify your email subject line. Any one of the ideas below, if used too frequently, will lose its efficacy.

Compound Topics: I’ve seen this used regularly by Karmaloop. They cram about as many topics, brands, or product names into the subject line as possible, in hopes that something will …

Email deliverability is a headache. We used to worry about the content of an email blast, and avoid spammy words like free or using ALL CAPS. But with the shift in the last few years towards repuation based SPAM filtering, email deliverability tactics have changed drastically. Now, instead of one isolated email getting stuck in the bulk folder, you risk damaging your long term sender reputation if you’re not using best practices. Below, I’ve gathered …

I suppose I can title this post “25 Email Marketing Mistakes I’ve Made.” But rather than focus on the negative, below I’ve outlined the best practices I’ve come to adopt over the years. Hope you find something here useful.

Diversify your Content: If your entire email focuses on one product, service, or topic, you risk alienating all but the few people who will be interested. Unless you have segmented your database based on previous behavior, do …

As marketers, we all like to think we know all the answers for our clients. Unfortunately we don’t, which is why we need testing. Especially in regards to email marketing, testing campaigns can be the difference between a moderately successful program and a breakout success. Let me share some variables I’ve tested with my clients in order to determine the best paths to success.
Text vs. Image: Should emails be text or image heavy? In my …

E-commerce has one glaring problem. Because you can’t interact with your customers face to face, you often don’t know what the greatest barriers are that prevent purchases. The savvy e-commerce marketer will do everything in his power to make up for this by interacting with their customer base in other ways. In my experience, the difference between a customer centered company and a self centered company is how they deal with and encourage customer feedback. …

It’s not often that you are blown away by the customer service of an online retailer. After all, how much of an impression can a company make when the only contact points are usually email or a help page?
Recently, I purchased a cream for the Eczema problem I have on my skin from DermaTechRX. Immediately following the purchase, I received the typical order confirmation receipt. Not long later, I received another email from a name I …

Transactional and trigger based emails are becoming more effective as generic, mass email blasts are becoming more irrelevant. Why? For one, an transactional email is usually in response to a request or an action a customer takes, therefore it is more inline with a pull marketing strategy rather than push. Below I’ve listed 4 ways I’ve successfully used transactional emails with my clients. Keep in mind many of these strategies won’t work for all business types, and most of them are …

 5 years ago, I would have told you the most important tactic for email marketing was building your list. Today, that would probably be the last tactic I would recommend. Email marketing has evolved from a shot-gun approach to highly targeted sharp shooting. In this post, I’ll list some of the best ways to derail the effectiveness of your email marketing machine. Remember, these are ways to ruin your program, not improve it.
 1) Not Removing In-Active Subscribers: …

In the past, SPAM filters have relied heavily on a content based filtering system. Recently however, it seems that ISPs are moving towards a reputation based filtering system. Instead of focusing too much on the content of the email, they seem to care more about the reputation of the sending IP address or domain name.
So how much does content matter? Recently, I performed an A/B test with one of my customers in an attempt to answer this …

Years ago, when email marketing was still in it’s infancy, it was quickly and thoughtlessly adopted by many companies seeking an inexpensive alternative to traditional print media. “Why not email our customers and save thousands in mailing costs?” many executives thought. “Email marketing is cheap, effective, and easy.” Or so they thought.
I’m going to venture to say that email marketing is as expensive, if not more expensive, than traditional print mailings. Why? Consider these hidden …