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Last week’s MarketingSherpa Email Summit was packed full of case studies and best practice recommendations from email marketing experts of all kinds, some of which sparked debate amongst the attendees. We have recapped some of the most prominent themes below and invite you to voice your opinion on these topics by posting a comment on StrongMail’s Email Marketing Insights blog.

Double Opt-in vs. Single Opt-in
A lot of marketers struggle with whether they should build their email program using a double or single opt-in process. Single opt-in entails the subscriber checking a box to imply consent, whereas double opt-in also sends them an email requesting that they click on a link to confirm their intent to subscribe.

Email marketing purists and deliverability experts tend to favor double opt-in, because it ensures that only the most truly engaged and enthusiastic subscribers become members of your list. While double opt-in limits the size of your list, it theoretically increases the quality, which in turn increases response rates for programs across the board.

Dela Quist, the CEO of London-based email marketing agency Alchemy Worx, took an alternative view during his MarketingSherpa presentation. Assuming that a brand doesn’t send email to anyone who hasn’t provided their initial permission, Quist said "Double opt-in is one step too far. Email is the only marketing channel that you can unsubscribe from, so let them." He has a point. While double opt-in is wise for specific use cases (e.g. to stop people from seeding your list with bad email addresses), it may not be so wise to put up an extra barrier for subscribers that are truly interested in hearing from you.

Which approach is the right one? Marketers appear to be divided on the issue. One third of marketers use single opt-in, 17% use double opt-in and nearly half use a mix of both.

List Growth
On a related topic, many speakers at this year's event talked about list growth. A lot of great tips were presented, such as offering opt-ins at every touch point and most importantly, giving your subscribers valuable content that they choose to engage with. But whatever strategy you employ, capturing opt-in email addresses is critical. As Jeanne Jennings, Director of Email Product Development for Cahners Business Media stated in one session, "If you can get [website] browsers to opt-in to your list, you can market to them again. Otherwise they leave your site and are gone forever."

Everyone agreed that building your own list is significantly more targeted and effective than buying or renting. However, hybrid approaches can also be effective when executed properly. According to Jennings, 32 percent of marketers using co-registration see performance equal to that of their house list.

Email Frequency
With regard to email frequency, the ever provocative Dela Quist asked, "Why is email the only marketing channel where frequency is a dirty word? Stop beating yourselves up!" In every other marketing channel, frequency is seen as positive because it increases brand impressions. He illustrated the power of these impressions though a video by UK magician Darren Brown on the power of subliminal messaging. Quist proposes keeping inactive subscribers on your list and using the subject line as a branding opportunity. Just because they’re not opening your email doesn’t mean that seeing your brand in their inbox isn’t going to remind them to engage you in another channel.

Dr. Flint McGlaughlin from Marketing Experiments also presented a detailed study showing a direct correlation between email frequency and revenue for one retailer. The more email they sent, the more revenue it generated. If a recipient is engaged with your brand and you are providing them value, there is no such thing as mailing too often. It’s fairly certain that the millions of frenzied bargain hunters that subscribe to shopping sites like Gilt Group, HauteLook and Rue-la-la would be thrilled to get more than one email a day featuring access to exclusive designer sales.

On the opposite side of the issue was a case study with AirTran, which showed that raising frequency beyond three emails a week resulted in a 4X increase in unsubscribes. Such discrepancies highlight the importance of testing to determine the right approach for your business, but the key takeaway seemed to be that as long as your are providing value to your subscriber base, you shouldn’t be afraid to push the frequency envelope.

If you attended the event or have your own perspectives on any of the topics featured at this event, we encourage you to voice your opinions in the comments section.

We just wrapped up another great MarketingSherpa Email Summit in Miami, FL! StrongMail strategy experts Kara Trivunovic and Chris Lovejoy held a successful email and social media clinic, providing email marketers with free strategy advice on how to integrate social into their existing programs. Check out the photos from the event on StrongMail’s Facebook page.

MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2010 Photos on Facebook >>

As usual, MarketingSherpa attracted a who’s who list of speakers from Dela Quist to Jeanne Jennings and Stephanie Miller, all providing practical advice on how to improve your email marketing programs. Topics included email creative optimization, design, copywriting, deliverability, social media integration and program strategy, with lots of great results to back up the recommendations.

I captured most of the key takeaways in my Twitter stream and have compiled everything into an archive that will remain accessible long after 10 days that Twitter content generally expires. I hope you enjoy it! It appears in reverse chronological order, so if you want to start from the beginning of the event, read the last tweet first and then proceed up from there.

Download MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2010 Twitter Recap >>

With every new year comes an opportunity to stop, review and re-evaluate things that may not be working in your life. Email marketing is no exception. Take this opportunity to review what worked and what didn’t for your campaigns in 2009 and identify several manageable goals that you can accomplish to take your email marketing programs to the next level in 2010.

Looking for inspiration? StrongMail just released our Q409 Email Breakthrough Report, featuring some innovative ideas that you can use to rev up your existing campaigns.

A few of the ideas include:

• Build a list specifically themed around promotions, offering consumers first access the latest deals
• Integrate user-generated content to foster a sense of community through email
• Launch an “email marketing mini-series” to highlight time sensitive promotions
• Use email and social media integration to launch a viral marketing campaign designed to acquire new customers
• Run a promotion designed to boost email open rates

Download the full report for detailed examples of each of these tactics (with creative samples) and start thinking about how you can apply some of these concepts to your own email marketing programs.

http://www.strongmail.com/resources/whitepapers/wp-email-breakthrough-Q409.php

Maybe your closet isn’t the only thing that could use a little spring cleaning.

If you'd like to address the contacts in your email database based on customer life cycle, but don't know where to start, I recommend that you read my latest article in BtoB Magazine.

Knowing where your customers are in the customer lifecycle and sending them relevant messages for each stage is an effective way to increase conversions and customer satisfaction. As I write in my article, you can start out small and then expand your campaigns as you get more comfortable with it.

Whether you work in the retail industry or not, many marketers follow reports about US consumer spending and view them as an indicator as to whether or not the economy is turning around. Retail industry terms such as “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” are now commonly used to refer to the busiest shopping days of the year, and are synonymous with the deep discounts and free shipping offers designed to incentivize consumers to purchase in the days immediately following Thanksgiving.

Today is Cyber Monday, so what is the consumer spending outlook for the 2009 holiday season? According to initial estimates, the prognosis isn’t great… but it’s not bad either. ShopperTrak, which measures traffic and sales in 500,000 brick and mortar retail locations across the country, estimates that Black Friday in-store sales hit $10.66 billion this year, an increase of 0.5 percent over 2008. The National Retail Federation is forecasting a 7.9% drop in combined offline and online sales versus Black Friday 2008 based on a poll of 4,985 consumers, however it also reported a traffic increase of 23 million visitors to online retail websites on Black Friday over 2008. According to the LA Times, it appears that consumers are still spending, but they are opting for reasonably-priced sale items and not choosing full-priced or luxury items. Fortunately for everyone involved, 87.1% of retailers are holding Cyber Monday sales, according to the NRF.

The most positive projection issued to date comes from comScore, estimating that US consumers spent $595 million online this past Friday, up 11% from 2008. Could it be that online commerce is seeing double-digit growth while brick and mortar stores continue to lose ground? It’s still too early to tell for certain, but it’s clear that consumers are becoming more and more comfortable transacting online.

This shift is important to note for marketers in every industry. As business moves increasingly online, it’s more important than ever to think holistically about your email communication strategy and integrate it with customer touch-points in other channels. Email is the conduit for business online and is a mission critical component of any online sales or communication strategy. If you’re still sending “email blasts” each time you need to promote a specific item, it’s time to re-evaluate your approach. Invest in the technology, tools, and resources that you need to build a comprehensive customer communications program leveraging all of the digital marketing channels that make sense for your business, because its future is online.

In today's MediaPost Email Insider Column, I use the game of football to provide some insights into how email marketers can improve the success of their programs. I break it down into investing in the quarterback (you) and having a good offense (driving innovation) and defense (accessing quality data). Read the article for more information and to find out my favorite team.

According to the DMA's newly released Power of Direct Report, commercial email now returns $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. Granted that's down $1.31 from last year, but it's still double the ROI of search advertising, which is the next most effective channel with an ROI of $21.85 for every dollar spent.

The fact remains that email remains a powerful direct marketing channel that generates real results. Despite the Wall Street Journal's infamous proclamation of email's demise, consumers continue to embrace it to communicate with friends and businesses. In fact, when it comes to sharing marketing offers and overall communications with businesses, consumers overwhelming choose email over social media. A recent MarketingSherpa study showed that 78% of consumers share online information via email, versus 22% who prefer social media, and a Harris Interactive poll found that an even higher percentage of consumers choose email to communicate with marketers over social media.

These statistics point to the health of email, but they don't mean that social media isn't experiencing tremendous growth in adoption and utility. Instead of choosing one channel over the other, marketers should look at ways to use them together. There are already natural connections between the two. A recent Nielsen study found that the more people use social media, the more time they also spend with email. That's not too surprising when you consider that social networks rely on sending their members email to keep them updated of new content updates and other changes.

When it comes to social media marketing, StrongMail has also seen a big impact from integrating social media into existing referral campaigns. By making it easy for consumers to share referral rewards with their networks and then track the results of their efforts, these integrated campaigns have generated significantly higher results than relying on email alone. Using this approach, CSN Stores generated a 3X lift in performance over its previous email campaign.

The bottom line is that email remains an extremely prevalent and useful communication tool that is well suited for direct marketing; however, marketers would be remiss not to see how social media can help augment their existing email marketing campaigns. Remember, when it comes to choosing an effective direct marketing strategy, it doesn't have to be an either/or scenario. Leverage email and social media for both their intrinsic and combined strengths, and your bottom line will thank you.

StrongMail announced a new case study with CSN Stores this week that showcases an overhaul of their existing customer referral program. CSN Stores believed that its existing email-based referral program wasn't living up to its potential or making it easy enough for these customers to spread the word about CSN Stores. As a result, CSN Stores turned to StrongMail to create a new referral program that leveraged StrongMail Influencer and our strategic services team to spread the word about its CSN Rewards loyalty program and inspire people to shop with CSN.

Working with StrongMail, CSN Stores developed a StrongMail Influencer campaign that incentivized current Rewards members with a credit to their Rewards account for each friend that enrolled in the program and made a subsequent purchase. Additionally, referred friends were also rewarded with a credit for extending the offer to their networks. CSN Stores then launched the StrongMail Influencer campaign via email to its Reward members and also featured it in the weekly CSN Recommends email newsletter.

Read the Full Case Study >>

Not only did the StrongMail Influencer-powered referral campaign increase reward program sign-ups by a factor of three, it significantly expanded its reach beyond CSN's existing customer base. For every 1.8 customers from the initial mailing who shared the email, one new CSN Rewards account was created, and one in ten of those new members went on to complete a purchase.

This is a powerful example of what's possible when you leverage the natural synergies of email marketing and social media to acquire new customers. If your current referral campaigns aren't leveraging social media, you should consider refreshing them to boost program performance.

I've been working in the email marketing space for many years. Periodically I see email promotions, or components of messages that trigger the, "why didn't I think of that?" reflex. On the rare occasion that I have those moments, I am compelled to write about them - and give kudos when they're due. So today, I pay homage to Southwest Airlines for providing me with a "why didn't I think of that" moment and for that I thank you.

This promotion almost completely makes a subject line strategy completely moot in driving open metrics for the Southwest Click 'n Save email program entirely, and in its place? Good 'ol fashioned bribery. It's genius! I mean, really, why didn't I think of that? It starts with a very direct subject line, "Winter fares on sale, plus a chance to win*!" I'll admit, you do have to open this message to see why this is so smart - but if you do, here's the treat: "Keep opening our e-mails and you could win free travel!" There it is, the bribe to continue opening their email. I love it! (check it out for yourself)

Now, as I scrutinize it more closely there are some opportunities to take a great program and make it outstanding. For example:

• - Socialize this heck out of this email and ask subscribers to share this great promotion with their social networks



• - Leverage sites like Twitter, Facebook and even TripAdvisor to tell the masses - further minimizing the need for a subject line



• - Put it right in the subject line, "Open our email and you could win free roundtrip tickets*"

Southwest has done a terrific job at incorporating content that is viral, engaging and fun in their email campaigns but unfortunately are not actively asking their subscriber base to share it or pass it along. The assumption is that the recipient may share with others, but if you don't ask you can't really expect it.

The other question that looms (which triggers a series of other questions based on the response), albeit a terrific promotion, what's the objective? I assume it is either to drive more opens or drive more subscribers. If it is the former, there must be a direct and compelling correlation between open and conversions. If so, is that correlation minimized because the open behavior is less genuine? If is the latter - then why is there no direct call to share with friends?

Or maybe, just maybe - it is just a fun way to gain entry in to a sweepstakes and I am making it way too complicated - which is ALWAYS a possibility. What do you think? Like it, love it, indifferent?

MarketingSherpa ran an in-depth case study on StrongMail customer FootSmart.com today that is a good example of great transactional email strategy. I encourage you all to give it a read. The key take away from this study is that email marketing is a continually changing discipline. Your customer base is constantly morphing, so it’s important that your email marketing and transactional email strategies stay fresh and be revisited periodically. As our email marketing experts are fond of saying, you are never done testing – and the same applies to your program strategy.

Because their transactional email streams had a 30% higher open rate than their promotional email, FootSmart sensed an opportunity to monetize those unique views with a fresh approach to their transactional email strategy. By integrating StrongMail’s transactional email platform with their customer database, web analytics platform/product recommendation engine (CoreMetrics) and product reviews platform (Bazzarvoice), FootSmart was able to implement relevant offers into their transactional email based on past purchase history and consumer ratings and reviews. The results were impressive, with FootSmart projecting an additional $750K in additional revenue from the program in 2009. The revenue generated per each email from their cart abandonment program alone jumped from $1.95 to $4.00. Not only did this double revenue for this program, it’s significantly more than the $0.15 driven by a typical promotional email.

Here are links to the following resources:

Marketing Sherpa Article >>

Press Release >>

Full Case Study >>

If you’re not already leveraging your transactional email streams such as order confirmations, shipping notices, password reminders and welcome emails, to drive conversions, there’s never been a better time to start. StrongMail can help you launch a new program from scratch, or revitalize an existing program for greater returns.