The blogosphere is a buzz with tired arguments over whether or not social media signals the death of email. The most recent prediction comes from Matt Cain of Gartner, signaling that “by 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.” This very well might be true, for the 20% that need to collaborate, however it in no way replaces the need for bi-directional communication.

Anyone that engages in a debate over which channel is superior is approaching this from the wrong angle. Not only do both channels complement each other from a marketing perspective, they are significantly more powerful when used together than either channel alone. What’s most interesting is that while the talking heads continue to debate the value of one channel vs. another, the 800 pound gorillas in the email marketing and social media spaces are answering this question for us by taking convergence to the consumer.

The Market is Shifting
In the past three weeks, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have all announced plans to integrate email and social media for their end users. Google and Microsoft plan to integrate social functionality into Gmail and Outlook respectively, and Facebook is rumored to be launching its own webmail service. These announcements are significant in that, if all three are successful, the consumer’s view of email and social media will become highly integrated during the next year or so. As email marketers, it is important to prepare for this shift by developing an integrated marketing strategy for the two channels now. Get ready for your viral marketing programs to become exponentially more powerful.

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.

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.

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?

As my first post on the Email Marketing Insight blog, I thought I would give you some background on me.

When I tell one of my three children to hold the railing when coming down the stairs or not to touch the hot oven, they are taking advantage of my years of experience negating minor burns and abrasions.

In my non-mommy role, there is hardly a day that goes by that I’m not explaining to a colleague, prospect or client the “why” of the methodology behind an email strategy or the technology that drives it. The moniker of “email expert” didn’t come without years of research, hundreds of hours of coding experience, industry conferences and countless debates on best practices with fellow email cronies. Did I also mention that I’m a very humble person? (smile) Title aside, I’ve earned my email chops and in the end, what’s in my head can help you. All you need to do is take notes and be ready for answers that you might not want to hear.

As email marketers, we are all at different stages of our career and the sophistication level of the marketer on the other end of the line often correlates with the amount of information that is digested and eventually incorporated. My role is more about taking a concept and serving it up in a way that is understandable from the tech folks to those looking at the bottom line. With the tug and pull of getting the most of your email program in the shortest amount of time, those little nuggets of goodness might get lost. Sure, search long enough and you can eventually find someone who will tell you what you want to hear; however, good things don’t come easy. Engaging with an email expert and giving them your ear can definitely make things easier.

I liken my role in the email world as more of an email doctor. I can help fix problems but also provide a bit of insight on the best plan to keep your email programs healthy and fit, as well as ideas on how to grow big and strong. So I might say “because I said so,” but know that I’ve got your best interests at heart. If you have got the time to listen, I’ll gladly explain why.

As StrongMail spends more time working with email marketers to accelerate their program through the social web, we find ourselves constantly reminding clients that email is still the preferred channel for customer communications with brands.

Nowhere is this more true than in service-oriented or transactional emails. Read my latest MediaPost Email Insider post as a reminder about how critical it is to ensure that your transactional email streams are just as relevant as your Facebook Fan page!

I had the opportunity to speak at the Canadian Marketing Association annual meeting in Toronto this week, and the topic was email marketing ROI. As some of you may know, I was a CPA before I jumped head first into digital marketing and, in particular, email. So I feel just as at home in Excel as I do in email marketing applications. Now, I know what you are thinking -- how does one go from accounting to blogging about email marketing? Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that I was a terrible accountant. However, I was able to learn a few things that have served me well over the years, and believe it or not, a few of the lessons provide insight that is easily applied to the email channel and how we can look at calculating program effectiveness. Read the full article at my MediaPost Email Insider Blog!

It seems our clients are becoming more and more focused on automation. How can email marketers leverage technology to automate communication workflows, enhance relevance and in general, do more with less? Read my latest Email Insider Blog for some ideas on how StrongMail's clients are marching towards email marketing automation.

With the hundreds of emails that I receive on any given day, an email looking like this would get passed over very quickly in my inbox.

With so much competition in a person’s email inbox, it is critical to design your email to be effective with images on and off. With the images turned off, the majority of the email above does not tell a reader who it's from or what's the call to action.

Let me walk through an example that highlights the potential impact.

 > One in five emails is invisible and ineffective due to blocked images.
    - Email Experience Council (Jan 2007)

> Let's apply the statistic above to a mailing with 1 million delivered messages. 
    - 800,000 delivered with images on
    - 200,000 delivered with images off / blocked

> Assume 50% of emails with images off / blocked were opened.
    - 100,000 total emails potentially looked over in your readers' inboxes.

In this example, wouldn't you want to have an extra 100,000 people read your email? Especially when this can be easily accomplished by tweaking your template so it still offers valuable information when images are turned off.

In terms of ROI, a few small adjustments to your emails will allow you to see improvements across every category.

By Peter Norton

As I speak to clients and prospects, one of the top questions I’m inevitably asked is what they can do to grow their list. While there are numerous ways to do this, I always like to respond with a question of my own: "Do you have any old email files?"

Almost every company I ask has an old list. And, I am not talking about a few thousand email addresses; many were in the hundreds of thousands to a few million. Not surprisingly, none of them wanted to admit that they had so many potentially good email addresses just sitting there.

Companies list several reasons for having these old files, and the top explanations include:

1. These were there before I started. (My favorite)
2. We did not know what to do with inactive emails, so we put them on one list.
3. They were incomplete. (missing first name or missing zip code)

So, my next question to these clients is simply "Do you have a plan for the list." The two most popular responses to this question are "No, because we don’t think we would be able to do anything with it" and "No, because using it would hurt our reputation."

"Fear not email marketers!" I typically exclaim. A strategic, well-executed re-engagement campaign can turn those dusty old filed into gold. The following example is based on actual results from one of my clients.

Example Re-Engagement Scenario

1. The client had an inactive list of opt-ins that had not responded to an email in over one year.
2. List size= one million.

Example Re-Engagement Strategy

1. Created a mini-series of 4 - 6 emails/surveys sent only to the inactive, opt-in list.
2. Delivered the emails over an IP that was different from those used for main list.
3. The purpose of this program was to recapture a portion of the lost audience.
4. Analyzed results after each mailing and made necessary tweaks for the next email in the series.
5. Provided a powerful incentive (if they did not respond, it’s safe to assume they never would.)

Re-Engagement Results

Here are the results achieved by following the strategy outlined above.

   1 million inactive opt-ins @ 90% delivery = 900,000 delivered
                                        15% open rate = 135,000 opened
                                   10% click through = 13,500 clicked through to offer
                                  5% conversion rate = 675 purchased
   675 purchased @ $100 conversion value = $67,500 total revunue

While these results might seem high, remember, they are the actual results from a past client. For such little effort, they were able to grow their list and create net-new revenue.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you go rushing off and start mailing to your inactive lists. You must be careful and take a methodical approach. However, after properly vetting the opportunity and executing it correctly, the gains can be quite rewarding!