ADVANCED

EMAIL MARKETING
Tools for professional marketers
edited by Sendlaster
!!!"sendblaster"#om
INDE$
%RE&ACE
S'(ECT LINE AND DESIGN
1. Subject line: Some advanced suggestions
2. Choosing the right color for your newsletter
3. Designing emails also for mobiles
. !"#$ for newsletters
MARKETING TEC)NI*'ES
1. %ddress &eo&le' not their email addresses
2. Database segmentation
3. (mail a&&ending: a controversial &ractice
. )emar*eting: abandoned sho&&ing carts
+. ,solate inactive users
-. .ther remar*eting ideas
/. !ow to res&ond to an email
0. Customer service: the right way
DELIVERAILIT+ AND S%AM
1. ,m&rove your ,12s re&utation
2. (mail authentication
3. 3rying the bacon: S&am 2.4
. Streamlining the o&t5out &rocess
+. 6ee& in mind the churn rate
-. % brief history of s&am
L,,KING A)EAD
1. "he 7death of the email7
2. "he evolution of email sharing
C,NCL'SI,N - Digital mar*eting and ha&&iness
%RE&ACE
Advanced email marketing is a su&&lementary guide
to any straightforward overviews of the best
&ractices in the sector that enable anyone to start u&
and manage their own email cam&aign. ,t2s thought
for &rofessional mar*eters and &eo&le who want to
ma*e a step .p in t/eir strate0y.
8e offer useful ti&s for im&roving the design of your
template 9with an e:tensive guide to the right use of
!"#$ in newsletters;' to getting down to the nuts
and bolts of certain marketin0 te#/ni1.es 9such as
reactivating 7dormant7 customers to better customer
care;.
8e have also dedicated considerable s&ace to those'
often overloo*ed' technical issues such as
deli2erability< and of course a loo* at how the email
world is changing and its future.
Des&ite the &roliferation of a wide range of other
ty&es of digital communication 5 instant messaging to
social &latforms for e:am&le 5 email is still an
e3tremely important #/annel. ,t2s able to generate
very high returns on low initial investment costs.
%nother good reason to keep impro2in0 one4s skills'
targeting your messages more accurately' ma*ing
them more relevant and eye5catching.
5
S'(ECT LINE AND DESIGN
5" S.b6e#t line7 some ad2an#ed s.00estions
% ne!sletter4s s.b6e#t line is its calling card to a
user2s inbo:' offering a tantali=ing taste of what2s to
come. "o stimulate ade>uate attention' it must
adhere to some basic re>uirements: such as brevity'
com&actness' ca&turing the essence of the message2s
meaning' and originality.
.f course' writing something really effective in a
limited n.mber of #/ara#ters 9the recommended
length being between 2+ and +4; is obviously not
easy. !owever' with a bit of &ractice' anyone can
become a good short te:t co&ywriter. !ere are some
useful advanced suggestions:
&ine-t.ne t/e order of ea#/ !ord.
?ou say that fifty characters sim&ly aren2t enough.
!owever' they are@ 3or e:am&le' &lacing the discount
or offer at the beginning' i.e. 752+A off all boo*s and
CDs7' is much more effective than 7%ll boo*s and CDs
are 52+A.7
T/ink in se0ments.
Segmenting your list and mailing5out customi=ed
newsletters is one of the basic ste&s for any modern
email mar*eting strategy 9as we2ll discuss in more
detail further on;. .bviously' each mail5out should
also corres&ond to a different subject line 5 ma*e
sure that the coherence between content and
subject line is always consistently high' and &lay
around with the most suitable words for each of the
database segments.
Ne2er stop testin0.
.ne will never insist enough on the im&ortance of
testing as an essential way of im&roving all as&ects of
a cam&aign. "he subject line is one of the easiest
elements to be tested: try sending the same
newsletter but with two different versions to two
segments chosen from your database' and evaluate
their im&acts. %bove all' don2t limit yourself to
&erforming a one off test: the control and
enhancement &rocess should be ongoing.
'se symbols.
,nstead of just &lain old letters and basic signs' why
not add a touch of creativity to your subject line by
&laying around with different symbols such as
Bnicode characters. 3or instance:
Thank you for your registration
We have a special offer only for you
"he idea is that a heart or a star has a much better
chance of catching the user2s eye. % bit li*e loo*ing
for a needle in a haystac*' it2s more li*ely to stand
out amidst all those other subject lines that only
contain letters and numbers. ,t just might give
readers that one invaluable second of gratification
and a smile.
%lso' there does not a&&ear to be any evidence that
lin*s symbols to s&am: therefore' from this &oint of
view there2s nothing to hold you bac*. Ceware'
though: certain mail clients 5 such as .utloo* 2443
and $otus Dotes 5 do not &ermit them to be
dis&layed: it is therefore vital to carry out tests.
%s for effectiveness' it de&ends on your brand 5 a
com&any with a more distinguished or serious &rofile
runs the ris* of loo*ing stu&id 5' on the segment the
message is to be sent to such as age' tastes etc' on
the message itself i.e. the ty&e of offer or advertising
and of course' on the ty&e of symbol used. ,f you
thin* that all it ta*es is a tiny heart in the subject line
to bolster the o&en rate' then thin* again. Cut a
symbol of a &lane for a D(# that sells discount flights
... 8hy notE
8" C/oosin0 t/e ri0/t #olor for yo.r ne!sletter
Choosing the ri0/t #ombination of #olors for your
newsletter' website or banner' isn2t as trivial as it may
seem. Colors have a strong visual and &sychological
im&act and can &lay an im&ortant role in the success
of any cam&aign. So' gra&hically s&ea*ing' what do
we need to loo* atE
A2oid t/o.sands of different #olors. ,t only creates
confusion and disru&ts the reading hierarchy. Color
hel&s to em&hasi=e or ma*e certain elements stand
out. ,f everything is colored it wor*s against its
original sco&e.
S&ecial attention should be given to the font #olor'
es&ecially in terms of readability. % yellow te:t on a
white bac*ground is very difficult to read and is li*ely
to be over loo*ed. "he basic readability rules are the
same ones that a&&ly to signs. Bse shar& contrasting
colors such as yellow on blac* or the classic blac* on
white or vice versa.
Choosing the color of your com&any2s lo0o or
#orporate #olors can also &lay an im&ortant role. ,f
the logo is red' by &laying on the tone' you can
transform it into the symbol of your newsletter. ,n
doing so' it becomes instantly recogni=able. Ceing
#onsistent !it/ t/e ori0inal #olor of the website is
therefore essential.
%ll the colors &laced in your newsletter are all
some/o! interrelated" So' don2t forget to create a
balance between them. ,f you2re not sure of the right
choice' refer to ,tten2s wor* on color combinations.
3or e:am&le' one as&ect is sim.ltaneo.s #ontrast i.e.
a color always loo*s for its com&lementary. "his
means the color &ositioned o&&osite each other on
the 12 colors wheel and it s&reads into neighboring
colors.
.r' rely on 6uler to create your own color scheme.
"his is %dobe2s online color tool. Starting off with one
color' it hel&s you determine the others. "here are
several criteria to choose from' such as
monochromatic' analogous' com&lementary' same
tone' or starting from an image.
3inally' !e are not dealin0 !it/ /ard #opy' where it2s
easier to control the &ublished results' but the web.
"he gra&hic dis&lay of colors de&ends also on the
ty&e of screen you2re viewing from. ,t2s best to
choose saturated and decisive colors in order to
avoid overly bright tones that can hinder legibility.
%void highlighter colors that tend to da==le the
reader.
.f course' carrying out a n.mber of tests on a wide
range of different dis&lays 5 such as des*to&s or
mobiles 5 is still the best way to verify the im&act of
your tem&late.
9" Desi0nin0 Emails for Mobile
.&timi=ing the design of your newsletter to s.it
mobile de2i#es is crucial. Do longer is it just
im&ortant' it2s become fundamental.
3irstly because the amount of mobile traffic on the
web is constantly increasing. ,n &articular' $itmus2s
7(mail %nalytics7 re&ort e:&lains' :5; of email is
no! opened on a mobile de2i#e.
#oreover' mobile received the lar0est per#enta0e of
.ni1.e #li#ks <=>;? according to (:&erian 7Fuarterly
(mail Cenchmar* Study7 9F2 2413;.
,n short' we are no longer dealing with 7gaining a
slice of the &ublic7' or creating a visual design
different from the classic one: direct mar*eting as a
whole has been constantly moving to mobile devices.
%nd so' only one tem&late should be used that is
suitable for every ty&e of device.
So' chec* these ti&s out.
Si@e matters"
"he first &oint is the most obvious: ma*e sure the
layout of your newsletter can be dis&layed on a small
screen. .ne of the worst things that can ha&&en to
someone reading an email on a mobile is to have to
scroll across the &age.
"he &rinci&al concern to *ee& in mind is therefore
the width of the message. ,n any case' it is best to
use the 7view&ort7 meta tag in the newsletter2s
!"#$. %s far as the si=e of the message' *ee& it
around 2+534 *b 9allowing it to be downloaded
ra&idly' even with 3G networ*s;.
S.b6e#t lines - t/e s/orter t/e better.
%nother factor that should come naturally' but
unfortunately far too often it isn2t so: the mobile
trend re>uires us to be more concise. "his doesn2t
mean to sacrifice the clarity of our message in the
name of conciseness' but sim&ly to &ay more
attention. % subject line a fraction longer than the
standard 45+4 characters might not cause any big
readability issues on a des*to&' but on a smart&hone
it2s li*ely to create an annoying 7line brea*er7...
Key information #omes first.
8hile the classic visual dis&lay of des*to&s enable
users to view almost the entire content or at least a
large &review' mobile screens tend to cut out much
of the content in the first 7glim&se7 of the message.
,t is therefore vital that *ey information is &laced at
the beginning of the newsletter 5 and that the
newsletter itself does not waffle on too much. "ime
is of the essence when it comes to online messaging'
here is even shorter.
Tr.ly Adi0italA #ontent.
?ou can2t use a mouse on a smart&hone: so whilst it2s
best to *ee& the si=e com&act' don2t forget that our
fingers do all the interacting 5 they are much larger
than a &ointer and far less accurate. "he call to
action' in &articular' must be large enough to be be
easily ta&&ed by a finger5ti&.
%ro2ide a te3t-only 2ersion.
% te:t only message 5 which would loo* rather &oor
on a 1C 5 is in many ways ideal for the si=e and the
ty&e of use of mobiles. !owever' we must always
*ee& in mind that users can o&en our emails through
different channels: removing images just because of
smart&hones is a bit dumb 5 you need to design a
layout that is valid for both media. % sensible
alternative is to always &rovide a te:t version'
&erha&s via a lin* in the header: 7Clic* here' if you2re
reading from a mobile7. ,n any case' when it comes
to images' always &ay &articular attention to their
si=e and include a descri&tive te:t i.e. alt attribute in
!"#$ 5 just in case they fail to be dis&layed.
It4s a - smart - p/oneB
,t might be smart' but it2s still a &hone: remember to
always include your &hone number so that your
contacts can get hold of you >uic*ly. Bnli*e classic
com&uters' you2re only a finger5ti& stro*e away. ,t2s
also a good move in terms of customer service.
Carry o.t tests.
Cecause mobile visual dis&lay standards aren2t
standard' it2s best to carry out a round of tests on
different devices to evaluate the results before going
ahead with any mail5outs. % great tool in this regard
is 1review #y (mail' which lets you simulate the
&erformance of your layout on a wide range of media
devices.
=" )TML for ne!sletters
Casically' a newsletter is nothing more than an !"#$
&age. !ere we have &ut together a number of
advanced ti&s to develo& a clean and efficient code:
they may be useful also if you2re not an !"#$ e:&ert'
or &assed to your own web designer.
Tools.
"he recommended tools to write !"#$HCSS code for
email are te:t editors. ,n fact' software with
8?S,8?G interface tends to insert bloc*s of code or
styles which' although valid for a normal !"#$ &age'
are not always suitable for !"#$ email 5 which must
com&ly with much more restrictive characteristics.
8e recommend above all Dote&adII' which unli*e
8indows2 Dote&ad integrates useful features such as
7code suggestion7 and an o&timal standard of 7code
highlight7.
Dreamweaver can also be used' as long as you ta*e
full advantage of 7view code7 to enter andHor chec*
and correct the source code generated by 8?S,8?G
commands.
&ile si@e and #ontent.
"he ma:imum width of the newsletter body 5
e:cluding the bac*ground 5 should not e:ceed -44&:.
8hilst the only height limits are based on common
sense and the assumed level of interest of reci&ients.
!owever' considering that the bloc* at the to& that
has the greatest im&act is 344H44 &: high' thus it2s
here that all *ey information and any call5to5action
must be &laced.
8hen it comes to the si=e of the email' it is good
&ractice not to e:ceed 144 6C. ,n any case' always try
to create tem&lates as light as &ossible.
,t also a&&ears that Gmail' on some mobile devices'
limits the dis&lay of the first 1426C of the email'
a&&ending a lin* at the bottom so as to view the
entire message.
)TML str.#t.re of t/e pa0e.
"he &age should be develo&ed using the 7classical7
tags such as JtableK and related sub5tags' JimgK' J&K
and related inline elements li*e JemK' JstrongK'
Js&anK etc e:cluding JfontK which should be
avoided' JhrK and for lin*s JaK.
1ay s&ecial attention to tags such Jh1K' Jh2K etc as
they tend to be read in very different ways by certain
clients. Should it be the case' try to define the
highest number of &ro&erties with CSS 5 as we will
see shortly. %lthough the JdivK tag is not &rohibited'
it is advisable to use it as s&aringly as &ossible' as it
and any associated CSS styles are not always read in
the same way by different email clients. ,n addition'
CSS styles that have made the JdivK tag so &o&ular
9&osition' dis&lay' etc; don2t wor* with most mail
clients. "he same a&&lies to JolK' JulK and JliK tags.
"herefore' the basic structure of the &age should be
based on tables' inserting as little as &ossible one
inside another' and &ossibly without rows&an and
cols&an attributes 9that join several cells in the same
row or column;.
3or all valid tags it2s much better to s&ecify the !"#$
attributes of the tag itself' rather than only
e>uivalent CSS declarations.
3or e:am&le' defining the width of a table in JtableK
tag' it is best to also use the !"#$ &ro&erties
widthL7-447 instead of only CSS in the form of
styleL7width: -44&:7. Bsing both these declarations
is the best thing to do.
3or cells' ?ahoo uses non5standard alignment values
valign and align' so it is always better to declare them
for each JtdK containing images or te:t smaller than
the cell itself. ,n addition' ?ahoo never considers the
cells&acing attribute but does acce&t cell&adding.
Mavascri&t' e:ternal CSS' JobjectK and JiframeK are
strictly forbidden.
,n order to create a bac*ground for the entire &age'
larger than the actual content of the newsletter or to
&lace it in the centre of the &age' insert all the !"#$
code in a 7father7 table with a width of 144A and set
a bac*ground. % &ractical e:am&le:
Jtable cell&addingLA8>A cells&acingLA>A widthLA5>>;A
bgcolorLACCCCCCCA styleLA!idt/7 5>>;AK
JtrK
JtdK
Jtable cell&addingLA>A cells&acingLA>A widthLAD>>A
bgcolorLAC&&&&&&A
styleLA!idt/7D>>p3A alignLA#enterAK
JtrK
JtdKC,NTENTJHtdK
JHtrK
JHtableK
JHtdK
JHtrK
JHtableK
CSS.
CSS is very im&ortant because it enables the
newsletter to be dis&layed in the same way by
different mail clients. ,t should be used following
certain tric*s.
3irstly' you should clearly *now which attributes can
be used' as not all of them are su&&orted. ,n
addition' CSS style declarations should be inserted
7inline7 rather than in the !"#$ &age2s JheadK tag'
because often clients delete this bloc*.
So' don2t:
JhtmlK
JheadK
JstyleK
pE
font-si@e758p3F
#olor7C999999F
G
JHstyleK
JHheadK
JbodyK
J&KLorem Ips.mJH&K
JHbodyK
JHhtmlK
Cut do:
JhtmlK
JheadK
JHheadK
JbodyK
J& styleLAfont-si@e758p3F #olor7C999999F H"""IAKLorem
Ips.mJH&K
JHbodyK
JHhtmlK
!owever' some non5decisive features can be
included in the JheadK bloc*' such as the &seudo5
class :hover. Cut it2s worth noting that in many
situations these styles have no effect. ,n addition' the
contracted forms of CSS declarations are not always
su&&orted. "herefore' do not:
J& styleLAfont7 bold 58p3 Geor0iaJserifFAKLorem
Ips.mJH&K
Cut rather:
J& styleLAfont-!ei0/t7 boldF font-si@e7 58p3F font-family7
Geor0iaJserifFAKLorem Ips.mJH&K
3or more information on contracted forms of CSS'
chec* out 8eb !osting Search.
Te3t.
#a*ing the te:t of an !"#$ email as less sensitive as
&ossible to clients dis&laying it is &erha&s the most
laborious tas*.
.ne of the first &roblems is the different
management a&&roach by different clients' such as
margin' &adding and line5height attributes.
,t is good &ractice to include an inline statement to
get rid of this &roblem' and thus refine these values.
3or e:am&le:
J& styleLApaddin07>p3F mar0in7>p3F mar0in-bottom75:p3F
line-/ei0/t75Kp3FAKLorem Ips.mJH&K
Such &ro&erties should be declared for any J&K'
Jh1K' Jh2K etc.
"o enter a s&ace above the element it is
recommended using &adding' because !otmail does
not su&&ort margin5to&.
3or line5height &ro&erty it2s best to use the &: unit of
measurement' since Gmail does not correctly
inter&ret &ercentage values and .utloo* 244/
doesn2t inter&ret those e:&ressed in em.
Jh2K to Jh-K tags re>uire some e:tra tric*s when it
comes to the CSS style color. ,t a&&ears that !otmail
doesn2t su&&ort this style for such tags. !owever' it2s
easily resolved by &utting the JhnK tag content in a
Js&anK tag' as shown in the following e:am&le:
Jh2 styleLA"""""""AKJs&an styleLA#olor7 CDD99>>FAKLorem
Ips.mJHs&anKJHh2K
,t &ays to remember that these tags aren2t so
im&ortant in a newsletter' and can therefore be
re&laced by normal &aragra&hs a&&ro&riately
styli=ed. "he same &roblem also cro&s u& in the
hy&erte:t lin*s' since some clientsHwebmail find it
difficult to acce&t a different color than the default2s
one. %lso in this case' adding a Js&anK tag allows for
a more uniform dis&lay:
Ja styleLA#olor7 CDD99>>A
hrefLA/ttp7LL!!!"!ebsite"#omAKJs&an styleLA#olor7
CDD99>>FAKLorem Ips.mJHs&anKJHaK
,n terms of which font should be used' given that
emails are often read via webmail' it is necessary to
limit the choice amongst the set of standard web
characters. %n official list of web5safe fonts can be
consulted at 83Schools.
,t2s also useful to *ee& in mind that Gmail doesn2t li*e
the use of 2single2 or NdoubleO >uotes that enclose a
font name consisting of several words. Bse style
L7font5family: "imes Dew )oman' serif<7 instead of
styleL7font5family: 2"imes Dew )oman2' serif<7.
,n some cases it2s &ossible that instead of an image
missing or bloc*ed by the client' the content of the
res&ective attribute altL77 gets dis&layed. 3or this
reason' if the image is located directly within a JtdK
cell' it is best to a&&ly the te:t2s CSS definitions also
to the cell container.
3inally' .utloo* 2412 doesn2t handle the JolK' JulK
and JliK tags &ro&erly. .ne solution is to use the
Pbull< symbol to dis&lay a bullet &oint before the
listed items' or manually insert each number in the
case of ordered lists 9JolK;. ,f you foresee that even
one element re>uires more than one line' you can
enter the various items in the right hand column of a
table' and the bullet &oints in the left one.
Ima0es.
"he first &oint to consider when it comes to the use
of images in newsletters is that the majority of
des*to& and webmail clients bloc* them by default'
unless the mail5out software includes them in the
email.
So' if the images &lay an im&ort role in getting the
message across' here are two tric*s:
1. ,nsert a &iece of te:t 9near the to& of the email;
re>uesting users to a&&rove the download of images<
2. ,nsert an alternative te:t and e:&lanation 9tag
altL77; of the image' ma*ing sure that its color is not
lost in the bac*ground a&&lied to the container of the
image 9usually a JtdK;. Bsing a colored bac*ground
for the container can also hel& to draw attention to
the alternative te:t.
,n order to align an image to the left or right hand
side of a bloc* of te:t' it2s best to use the !"#$
attribute alignL77 rather than the corres&onding CSS
float:' which tends to be less su&&orted. "he
su&&orted formats are .j&g and .gif.
Some webmails add a few &i:els above or below the
image' and so if multi&le images are contained in
different cells to form a single gra&hic element the
effect is li*ely to be very un&leasant.
"his &roblem can be overcome if the container2s CSS
line5height attribute is less than the font si=e. Bsually
a value of /4A is sufficient. 3or e:am&le' if a font5si=e
e>ual to 12&: has been a&&lied to a cell' set the line5
height to 0&: 92 : ./ L 0.;' as can be seen below:
Jtd styleLAfont-si@e7 58p3F line-/ei0/t7 Kp3AKJimg
srcLA""""""A HKJHtdK
"his value can be directly set to 4&:' &rovided that it
can accurately foresee that any alternative te:t does
not go over two lines 5 which would otherwise
overla& and thus be unreadable.
,f your mail software or online &latform doesn2t
su&&ort the inclusion of images' it is a good idea to
u&load them by ft& to a server' and insert them in
!"#$ using the absolute &ath:
srcL7htt&:HHwww.website.comHenHQ...RHimage.j&g7.
"his also lets you create a lighter newsletter' which is
easier to mail5out.
#ost clientsHwebmail su&&ort the use of bac*ground
images' with certain limitations though:
S the bac*ground image should be declared
using the !"#$ attribute bac*groundL7...7
rather than the e>uivalent CSS bac*ground5
image: url9...;<
S the CSS bac*ground5re&eat: value is not
always su&&orted' so consider using bac*ground
images that can be &ut side by side in any
direction 5 es&ecially when they are used for
elements larger than the images themselves<
S it2s also necessary to consider having a 7solid7
dis&layable bac*ground if the bac*ground
image isn2t su&&orted at all' so that the
a&&earance of the newsletter is not ruined' and
any alternate te:t is still visible.
Testin0.
3inally' it is good &ractice to test your tem&late on a
number of &latforms. 8e recommend that testing
should be carried out on at least %.$' ?ahoo' Gmail'
!otmail 9.utloo*.com;' %ndroid #ail' %ndroid Gmail'
%&&le #ail' Gmail for i.S' and clients li*e
"hunderbird' 8indows #ail' %&&le #ail' .utloo*
244/H14H13I' .utloo* 2444H43.
8
MARKETING TEC)NI*'ES
5" Address peopleJ not t/eir email addresses
(mail databases are every email mar*eter2s &ri=ed
&ossession: unfortunately' it is often guarded with
very little care.
.ne of the most common mista*es' even made by
e:&erienced &rofessionals' is to b.y address lists in
order to mail5out offers and communications. Sure'
buying a large number of addresses chea&ly might
seem attractive but in reality they lac* any worthy
value. ,t is not the >uantity but rather the 1.ality of
the users that ma*es the difference.
,n other words: when you buy an email address list'
you only purchase the email addresses. ?ou don2t buy
all the interests of the &eo&le behind that list' nor
the information about them.
Cut the true &ur&ose of email mar*eting is right to
address people. )ecogni=ing their tastes' interests'
desires' diversity and reactions.
So the biggest mista*e to ma*e is treating your
contact database li*e some sim&le s&readsheet' to be
co&ied directly into your mail5out software. ?ou2ll just
end u& mailing5out your newsletter without having
&ut any thought into. "he feeling such &aid lists give
is in reality the e:act o&&osite: lifeless lists 5 as long
as you want' but com&letely useless.
3or this reason' advanced email mar*eting o&&oses
indiscriminate mass mail5outs that use the old
fashion method of 7hitting as many &eo&le as
&ossible with the same message.7 % to&5down
a&&roach to advertising that fails to ta*e into account
the #on2ersational and n.an#ed #/ara#teristi#s that
any communication on the web is made u& of 5
es&ecially the social web.
.n the contrary' a well5thought out email mar*eting
strategy is based on user se0mentation and the
conse>uent profilin0 of messages' grou& by grou&. ,n
more concrete terms: *now your customers 5 by
studying their &urchases' desires' &references 5 so as
to tem&t them through more attractive and
com&etitive ad hoc offers. %nd above all' addin0 t/at
little bit of /.man to.#/ and A!armt/A that many
mar*eters loose as a result of the more 7distant and
cold7 digital medium.
%ll it ta*es is a little bit of good will.
8" Database se0mentation
"o segment your database correctly it2s im&erative to
carefully analy=e the characteristics shared by grou&s
that a&&ear to be 7all the same7. .f course' you must
collect such information !it/o.t infrin0in0 on .sers
pri2a#y.
"he best way to it is to as* your users some basic
data in the re0istration form such as &ostal address
or age' and gather other info through s.r2eys and a
rigorous post-#ampai0n analysis. .f course' don2t let
any other o&&ortunities to build u& your *nowledge
sli& through your fingers: thus' very often #.stomer
ser2i#e &roves to be a gold mine when it comes to
revealing the needs of &eo&le and their tastes.
Dow you can decide to s&lit your list into several sub5
lists 5 to mail5out different offers. Must as a
sho&*ee&er would recommend the right &roduct for
the right customer according to age' needs' the bits
of *nowledge he2s ac>uired over time.
%fter all' isn2t it satisfying being able to wal* into a
&lace and as* for 7the usual7E
So' chec* out these categories5and5hints to hel&
segment your lists.
A#ti2e or non-a#ti2e.
Se&arating active users 5 those who fill u& their carts'
ma*e &urchases or at least access the website 5 from
the inactive ones 5 those who have sim&ly
disa&&eared for some time 5 is an essential first ste&.
,nactive users should be targeted with notifications'
differing from loyal users who contribute to your e5
commerce activity' with the goal to 7re*indle7 their
interests 5 &erha&s with some ty&e of truly enticing
offer. "he same a&&roach can also be a&&lied to
active users who don2t go through with a &urchase'
or users who abandon their sho&&ing carts. 9?ou2ll
find a number of suggestions about it' in the
&roceeding cha&ters;.
Demo0rap/i#s.
,t2s a &retty obvious segmentation o&tion' es&ecially
if you sell a varied and wide range of goods. 3or
e:am&le' it is ideal for any ty&e of clothing e5
commerce activity. %ll it ta*es is a bit of analysis to
create &romotional cam&aigns according to users2
age' and in this case gender.
.yin0 be/a2ior.
Classifying users according to their choices and their
tastes is another clever move. ,f you sell CDs and a
user buys two )adiohead albums' it2s definitely
worth sending him and other interested customers a
&romotional D(# about that artist2s ne:t album. .r if
you sell boo*s' and a grou& of users have just bought
several fantasy boo*s' let them *now about the
release of Christo&her 1aolini2s new novel.
,t2s the same mechanism effectively utili=ed by
%ma=on' just to name one 5 7if you li*e this' then
you2ll li*e this.7 "his strategy tends to &roduce
e:tremely good results. !owever' it2s advisable not to
go overboard and to carefully evaluate the offers.
1eo&le aren2t algorithms' and trying to guess their
s&ecific tastes to base your offers on is a good
&ractice' but it2s also always a bit ris*y.
"he researcher (li 1ariser s&o*e about the filter
bubble in terms of the tendency arising from
continuous search engines customi=ation' trying to
obtain information tailored towards our beliefs and
reinforcing a vision of the world that we already
believe in.
3rom this &oint of view' an e:cellent way to obtain
additional information and avoid the filter bubble is
to &ro&ose a survey or introduce o&tions to be
selected during the newsletter registration &rocess.
3or e:am&le' what *ind of music or boo*s do you
li*eE 8hat things are you &articularly *een onE %nd
so on. ,n this way' it will be the &eo&le themselves
who define their own &rofiles.
Geo0rap/i#al ran0e.
,f you sell &roducts that are associated with a
geogra&hical area' or events that occur within a
s&ecific area e.g. concert tic*ets' segmenting based
on geogra&hic location is a winning solution.
*.ality and fidelity.
% careful analysis of your customer management
software will >uic*ly come u& with the best
customers. %nd as everyone *nows' whoever has
&urchased a lot always a&&reciates a small gift or an
e:clusive &romotional offer...
!owever' the >uality of a customer is not only
measured in terms of how much they s&end.
)ewarding customer loyalty is crucial' even if they
ma*e small &urchases.
%nother segment that could easily be &ic*ed out and
rewarded is the most loyal users over time. "his is
the &erfect way to demonstrate that they2re
im&ortant to you.
e for!ard t/inkin0B
Dot every sub5categori=ation of the database is
suitable for every ty&e of business. ,n short' you have
to &atiently &lay around with your own... %nd
remembering that you2re li*ely to ma*e some
mista*es along the way. "he art of segmentation can
be done in many different ways' and you yourselves
can just as easily come u& with other new ones.
"hin* beyond the standard &atterns and being
fle:ible is one of the fundamental rules necessary to
structure truly effective cam&aigns. "here is no such
thing as 7one segmentation fits all7 or a ty&e of
universal targeting. "he only way forward is to
&roceed by trial and error' testing each small ste&.
,n short' it is &ossible 9and worthwhile; to im&rove
together with your customers' listening with &atience
and humility to their needs and acting on it. "hey2ll
really a&&reciate it.
9" Email appendin07 a #ontro2ersial pra#ti#e
(mail a&&ending is the one5to5one &rocess of
mat#/in0 #.stomer information !it/ t/eir email
address. $et2s assume you2ve already got a list of
names of &eo&le you *now' but not their email
addresses. %&&ending is all about finding the missing
&ieces and inserting them into your database.
,t is not entirely clear whether this is considered &art
of the best &ractices of email mar*eting or not. Some
e:&erts' li*e (ric Groves discourage it. .thers' li*e
Simm Men*ins' thin* just the o&&osite 5 &rovided you
follow a fe! pre#a.tions.
3irstly' email a&&ending should never be carried out
using random lists of names or lists collected willy5
nilly. Tery often' the &eo&le whose emails we2ve got
sim&ly don2t want us to have them. (mbar*ing on
such a strategy goes against the f.ndamental opt-in
r.le 5 only mail5out your newsletter to whoever2s
clearly given their consent.
"hat said' there are ad hoc services that offer ways of
a&&ending by means of a database. !ughes and
Sweeters recommend in Successful Email Marketing
Strategies' to use 3resh %ddress. %nother service is
i%&&end. "hese &latforms first send an invitation to
an email address they want to do the a&&ending
with. ,f the invitation is acce&ted' you receive the
corres&onding account.
"his does not mean that the account should be
inserted immediately into the address boo*. ,t2s
necessary to re&eat the &rocedure to ens.re yo. 0et
t/e opt-in permission.
,n any case' from where we stand' email a&&ending
a&&ears to be >uite an aggressive &ractice that lac*s
transparen#y. "here are several other ways to bolster
your database. 8hy ta*e ris*sE ,t2s better to rely on
secure and &roven strategies.
=" Remarketin07 abandoned s/oppin0 #arts
)emar*eting is a 7second stimulus 7 given to a user
who &reviously showed some interest in a &roduct'
but failed to take any a#tion or p.r#/ase anyt/in0.
,t2s ty&ical of many e5commerce sho&&ers to fill their
cart with items but e:it before &urchasing anything.
"he advantage of sho&&ing online' after all' is the fact
that &eo&le are able to go cra=y filling u& their virtual
cart but then &ut their &urchase off for a later date.
"he reasons for such behavior vary. #aybe the
sho&&er doesn2t have his credit card handy' or needs
to dash off or more sim&ly' &refers to wait and thus
uses the cart to save the wish list items. %nd it is
highly li*ely that users !ant to !indo! s/op aro.nd
and look for t/e best deals.
%t the end of the day' it leads to guaranteed losses in
revenues. "his &henomenon is far more common
than &erha&s one might imagine.
So what can be done about itE
(asy: send off a profiled email to awa*en this
7slee&ing cart7.
"he idea is sim&le. Send an automated follow5u&
email every time users abandon their &urchase' to
remind them of what they2re missing out on. Bsing
several im&ortant ti&s' li*e the good old ones
recommended by Sherry Chiger on Chief#ar*eter:
Ne2er send t/e messa0e too soonJ b.t don4t lea2e it
too late eit/er. % good rule of thumb is between 0
and /2 hours after the sho&&ing cart was abandoned.
Sending it too early may give users that un&leasant
2big brother2 feeling' but leaving it for more than
three days runs the ris* the user may forget about
you or go elsewhere.
T/e !innin0 strate0y is to .se a #.stomer ser2i#es
orientated approa#/. "he less commercial your email
comes across the better. ,nstead of a 7!ey' why didn2t
you finali=e your &urchaseE7' offer assistance with a
78ere there any &roblems at the chec*outE Can we
give you a hand to com&lete the &rocessE7
Insert a link to t/e abandoned s/oppin0 #art. "his is
im&ortant' as it enable sho&&ers to immediately get
their hands on the items they left behind. ?ou can
also insert images of other similar &roducts to
encourage cross5selling.
Create a sense of .r0en#y during the &urchasing
&hase but don2t go overboard' of course@ ,t is
enough to state that their bas*et will be deleted
within a few days. .ur suggestion is that &erha&s this
is too much and it may ma*e customers feel they are
being &ressured and their sense of freedom
threatened which is essential in e5commerce for
one to feel free to come and go as she &leases.
,t2s not vital to in#l.de in#enti2es or dis#o.nts' in
return for ma*ing a &urchase. Cut if you do' be
careful not to give the im&ression that it is better to
abandon ones cart in order to be tem&ted with a
discount. Customers will see through this little tric*@
*.antity or 1.alityE Sure you can send more than
one follow5u& email' but ma*e sure never to harass
users unnecessarily.
8e are also com&elled to mention another &oint
about sending emails of this nature. Carefully
segment the users in >uestion and fo#.s on t/ose
s/oppers !/ose abandoned #arts /a2e a #ertain
dollar 2al.e: these &eo&le are more li*ely to be
better targets for a follow5u& o&eration 5 instead of
someone who only selected one or two &roducts.
:" )o! to find o.t t/e ina#ti2e .sers
6ee&ing your lists healthy does not just mean
deleting incorrect or du&licate addresses' but more
im&ortantly re-a!aken .sers who haven2t carried out
any actions on your newsletter for some time 5
haven2t clic*ed the call to action' or even bothered to
o&en the email.
Cut more &recisely' what do we mean by ina#ti2e
.sersE 8hen and in what way can we consider one
of our subscribers 7dormant7 and therefore worthy
of some ty&e of direct action to re*indle their
interestE
"he first &oint one must consider is that the inactivity
rate de&ends largely on your email deli2ery strate0y.
#eaning' the number and fre>uency of newsletters
mailed5out to the selected segment or the entire
database.
"he second im&ortant consideration is that there are
different de0rees of ina#ti2ity all the nuances
re>uiring different solutions that must be decided
case by case.
"herefore' it2s im&ossible to come u& with universal
guidelines. "he best solution is to follow a ty&ical
case and develo& general considerations that can be
ada&ted 5 !it/ a pin#/ of #ommon sense 5 to almost
every situation.
8e2ll ta*e for e:am&le a fairly standard mail5out
strategy: two D(#s &er wee*. 8hat are the &ossible
inactivity scenariosE $et2s loo* at a few of them:
5" No #li#ks after 9> days.
,t is very im&ortant to distinguish between a clic*5
through and just o&ening an email. ,f your emails
continue to be o&ened but there are no clic*s on the
call to action' it &robably means the user is
tem&orarily not interested in the offer. ,n other
words' you still have to monitor this &ortion of users'
but there2s no need to &anic.
8" No emails opened after 9> days.
,f the number of users who fail to o&en the
newsletter is very high' then the cause is &robably
endemic and ste&s need to be ta*en to review the
>uality of your subject lines and offers. ,f the
segment is limited' the best solution is to tailor ma*e
an offer to 7wa*e them u&7.
9" No a#ti2ity after t!o mont/s.
,f there isn2t any *ind of reaction after all these
emails' then the user can be &retty much considered
inactive. (ven in this case' the best solution is the
dedicated offer' &ersonali=ing the a&&roach as much
as &ossible. ,f the inactive numbers are relatively
small' this is easy enough to do. "o get to the root of
the &roblem rather than merely treating its
sym&toms' it is necessary to loo* into the causes of
this behavior and accordingly develo& suitable
strategies.
=" No a#ti2ity after si3 mont/s L a year.
!ere users are very dee& slee&ers' and there are a
number of different reasons: a com&lete lac* of
interest in our services to an un5notified change of
email address 5 few give it much thought@ % >uic* call
5 if you have the customer2s number 5 or sending a
strictly &ersonal email are the best ways to solve the
&roblem. %nd if the user really wants to o&t5out' our
advice is always the same: ma*e the &rocedure as
ra&id as &ossible. ,f you can avoid sending another
useless message' it is better for you and the &erson.
.f course' these are just some &ossible scenarios
used as a guideline' but you will find that your
reactivation reci&es may vary.
8hat2s im&ortant to remember is that the analysis of
your databases should be carried out as a##.rately
as possible.
3or e:am&le' a loyal .ser !it/ a #ertain p.r#/asin0
tra#k re#ord should certainly be considered in a
different way from a recently registered user: if the
first has been inactive for some time' it is worth
&ersonally writing and trying to find out whether the
already virtuous relationshi& has bro*en down 5 and
if so' how to go about fi:ing it.
,n short' the art of managing customer relationshi&s
and finding the best solution for each individual
segment is very delicate and re>uires a lot of effort 5
and also many failed attem&ts.
,f the ideal of 7an ad5hoc email for each user7 is just
an ideal' then this shouldn2t sto& us from *ee&ing in
mind the need to profile in t/e best possible !ay
both our active and 7reactive7 cam&aigns.
D" ,t/er remarketin0 ideas
,n addition to the ad hoc emails aimed at those
abandoned carts and 2re5*indling2 inactive users2
interests' there are other ways to give users a second
chance when it comes to emailing. !ere are a few
ti&s to get your new remar*eting strategies started.
Miden t/e s#ope of yo.r follo!-.ps so as to include
&eo&le who have abandoned the registration form. ,t
could be a good idea to &re&are a tailor made
message for those users that only filled in half of it 5
es&ecially for forms that as* for a lot of information.
Create #ross-sellin0 and .p-sellin0 opport.nities.
)emar*eting isn2t only about recovering &otential
clients 5 it also hel&s to further boost customer trust.
#ail5out tailor made &romotions to &ro&ose
alternative or additional &urchases. Dot only that'
you can segment your remar*eting de&ending on the
target audience.
Consider inte0ratin0 !it/ ot/er tools. %s &art of a
com&lete mi:' you can also thin* of integrating
emails with social su&&ort tools' or a &hone call 5 for
elderly users it might be a good idea.
%nd on a final note' al!ays pay spe#ial attention to
pri2a#y and sendin0 o.t too m.#/ information.
)emar*eting emailing is a very &owerful tool' but
bombarding users with too many messages or worse
sending them to &eo&le that have already o&ted5out'
means ruining ones chances with ones own handy
wor*.
N" )o! to respond to an email
.f the many vices lin*ed with the way we do
business and our wor* culture' one of the worst is to
be indifferent when it comes to email
communications. "he li*es of 7,2ll re&ly when ,2ve got
time and if , feel li*e it7 or worse 7not even
bothering7.
"he ty&ical e:cuse being 7,2ve got too much on my
&late to dedicate time to this too.7 Ans!erin0 emails
takes time' as everyone *nows. Cut it2s a
fundamental as&ect of your &rofession. ,f you2ve
made the choice to be contactable 5 which is crucial
in today2s business world 5 then you2ve got to give
some ty&e of feedbac* to whoever as*s for it.
"his not only affects the way we communicate with
individuals' but also mana0in0 mass email
responses. %s the basics say' if you have mailed5out a
newsletter from an address that you can re&ly to 9as
you should;' then it is yo.r responsibility to ans!er
e2ery messa0e yo. 0et.
"his is of course fundamental in the case of urgent
matters 5 such as as*ing to be removed from your
database' or the notification of a serious &roblem.
Cut also when it comes down to sim&le forms of
criticism' com&liments or general in>uiries' at least a
single line res&onse is always necessary. ,t also hel&s
reinforce your brand re&utation' and demonstrates
that you have a high standard of business ethics:
benefiting your email marketer professional
rep.tation.
"hat said: /o! to respond to an emailO "he >uestion
seems a bit silly' but judging by the large number of
messages left unanswered' or res&onses that don2t
ma*e any sense' it seems to warrant a re5ta*e of the
situation. !ere are five short sim&le ti&s.
e 1.i#k abo.t it.
"his basic rule is fairly infle:ible: always res&ond
within 250h. .f course it also de&ends on the ty&e
of email. ,f you2re res&onsible for customer service
and it comes from a very angry user' it2s necessary to
re&ly immediately. ,f it2s a general in>uiry' it could be
&ut off for a while 5 but don2t forget about it@ %n
im&ortant s*ill to learn' in order to best manage
emails' is the ability to set the right &riorities.
!owever' don2t forget that the longer you wait' the
more ris* you run of creating a nagging feeling of
neglect. % ra&id res&onse is always a&&reciated.
e #lear and informati2e.
"he worst thing that can ha&&en to someone who is
see*ing some information is to get an email bac* that
fails to offer any res&onse' or resolves the wrong
&roblem. Double chec* the message you receive so
as to clearly understand what they2re as*ing' ta*e a
moment to thin* it over and then get straight to the
&oint. ,f you are as*ed about a &articular &oint' your
res&onse should be focused on answering it and
sto&. .f course' try to avoid s*im&ing on any relevant
details' if you have got the time. Cut never get side
trac*ed. %nd this brings us to our ne:t &oint:
Keep it briefJ b.t not o2erly so.
$ong5winded res&onses should always be avoided:
it2s a waste of your &recious time not to mention the
users2' and it undermines the value of the res&onse
i.e. being informative. Crevity 5 the ca&acity to clearly
e:&ress oneself in the shortest &ossible s&ace 5 isn2t
easy any way you try it' and so it also re>uires a bit of
&ractice when it comes to emailing. Cut' even more
im&ortantly' don2t get wor*ed u& over the 7a few
lines7 issue. ,f a &roblem re>uires a bit more s&ace to
clear the hurdle' it2s totally fine 9&rovided you solve
it' of course;.
,ffer ot/er possibilities.
% good &ractice' whenever &ossible' is to include
other ways to get in contact: &hone number' a social
networ* account etc. .f course' ma*e sure you
res&ond to these channels@
e #o.rteo.s and pre#ise.
,t doesn2t matter who gets in touch with you' unless
they immediately come across as being rude' they
deserve your utmost courtesy and attention. "his
also includes the form of your res&onse 5 so *ee& a
shar& eye on grammar and synta:.
%nd above all' make s.re yo. al!ays reply to yo.r
mail. "hin*ing that email is only a one5way tool to
send a newsletter and that &eo&le will sim&ly read it
or throw it away' is a serious mista*e. (very time
users send you a message' they are sharing
information with you 5 regardless of what it might be.
Don2t let that valuable &iece of information sli&
through your fingers. ,t might hel& you better
segment your future offers.
K" T/e perfe#t #.stomer ser2i#e
,t2s highly useful to add to this collection of email
mar*eting techni>ues some advice on how to offer
e:cellent #.stomer ser2i#e.
Customer service is one of several factors that &lay
the most critical role in the entire online buying
&rocess. 8e can im&lement highly elaborate
mar*eting strategies' but without having switched on
&eo&le able to &rovide the right su&&ort in case of
&roblems' all that hard wor* goes out the window.
,t2s im&ortant to remember this de&artment is
directly res&onsible for dealing with criticisms and
resolving &roblems. Customer service is often a
t/ankless task' re>uiring a lot of hard wor*' but it2s
essential for every com&any: its >uality is
synonymous with the value of one2s brand 5 fairness'
trans&arency' o&enness' ability to manage issues.
So' here are si: ti&s to ma*e this service even more
effective and guarantee that your email cam&aign
doesn2t get lost in the void of &ost sales
mismanagement 5 which could s&oil a customer2s
entire e:&erience.
A2ailability.
,t may sound corny' but it is often the starting &oint
that far too many overloo*: the aim of customer
service is to su&&ort the customer' so when the
customer needs it' it must be there. Do ifs or buts@ ,t
must be available' at the time and method indicated.
.verly long waiting times to get through to someone
or even worse numbers that endlessly ring into the
abyss 5 as well as emails that never get answered 5 is
the worst &ossible calling card.
%atien#e and kindnessJ b.t ne2er ser2ility.
%nyone who2s ever wor*ed in customer service
*nows how difficult it is to *ee& a cool head'
es&ecially during &articularly busy &eriods such as big
&romotions' Christmas sho&&ing etc. 3rom this &oint
of view' mediated communication ma*es things even
more com&licated' but you can 5 and should 5 smile
even by tele&hone' email and social networ*s.
1atience and *indness are the best wea&ons for
anyone dealing with an angry or disa&&ointed
customer.
Cut beware: these >ualities should never sli& into
servility or the desire to &lease customers at any
cost. ,t is both counter&roductive' since too many
&eo&le will &lay on your *indness 5 without hesitation
5 demanding' for e:am&le 7Give me another discount
or ,2ll s&ea* badly of your brand7' as well as sim&ly
being unfair from a human &oint of view. Sometimes
it2s not easy' but it2s a &oint in which one must stand
firm on' so as not to create bad &recedents. 78e are
not in the service' but we offer a service7 is the
motto that every customer care manager should
re&eat 5 and be &assed on to every subordinate in
the team.
*.i#kJ #on#ise and effi#ient ans!ers e2ery time.
8hen &eo&le turn to customer service it2s because
they2ve got a &roblem. "he first thing to do is to listen
carefully and accurately ascertain what is their
&roblem: then solve it without getting lost in endless
chatter. ,f the matter re>uires more time than
e:&ected' immediately say so and say that you2ll do
everything in your &ower to resolve it as >uic*ly as
&ossible. 8hen it comes to communicating by email'
the suggestions you have just read on how to
res&ond to an email' also a&&ly here. Conciseness
and s&eed are always welcome' but being effective is
much more im&ortant: leaving customers without
any way of resolving their &roblems or coming u&
with only half ba*ed solutions is sim&ly
unacce&table.
M/en yo. make a mistakeJ apolo0i@eB
% golden rule to stic* to: if there2s a glitch of any *ind
and the system is to blame' the first thing to do is
admit it and calmly a&ologi=e. "rying to &ush the
blame onto the customer or conceal it with some
chea& tric*s is the worst strategy &ossible. !onesty
always &ays off' even in the worst case scenario: no
matter how angry the &erson you2re dealing with is'
starting off with an a&ology will immediately cool her
down and hel& you resolve the &roblem in a calmer
and more &roductive way.
A#tin0 instead of rea#tin0.
8hile the mar*eting &eo&le tal* about data mining
and analy=ing the number of li*es on 3aceboo*'
those wor*ing in customer service interact directly
with customers: hel&ing those who2ve made
&urchases or who are truly interested in ma*ing
them. "hus' customer su&&ort is a goldmine for
anyone who2s got the &atience to listen: not only
does it allow you to get concrete information on the
status and >uality of customer satisfaction' but you
can also antici&ate &ossible &roblems and come u&
with the best strategies. ,nstead of sim&ly reacting to
issues' it2s &ossible to ta*e actions to &revent them 5
or to ma*e the &urchasing &rocess even sim&ler.
M.lti-#/annel isn4t 6.st a !ord.
3inally' one last observation in terms of the evolving
relationshi& between clients and customer service in
light of the changes in the ty&es of media. % multi5
channeled a&&roach and the ability to interact in
more than one5way with com&anies is common&lace:
now it2s normal to as* for information or clarification
via a tweet or a 3aceboo* comment instead of a
&hone call.
?et' a lot of com&anies fail to even res&ond to &eo&le
as*ing >uestions directly on their social &age. Clearly'
there is still much wor* to be done' and &erha&s the
idea &ersists that 7brand &ages7 on social &latforms
are used only as a &assive window dis&lay 5 this way
of thin*ing is a big mista*e.
8ithout getting too bogged down' the main issue
remains the same: if you o&en u& any ty&e of
channel of conversation' you2ve got to *ee& it
monitored. ,f you haven2t got the resources to do it
well' then maybe it2s best not to bother. Ceing on
social networ*s 7just because you should be there7 is
nonsense' even more so when thin*ing about it from
a customer care &ers&ective.
9
DELIVERAILIT+ AND S%AM
5" Impro2e yo.r I% Rep.tation
An email t/at 0ets sent is not ne#essarily an email
t/at is deli2ered. Getting this message across to
those who deal with newsletters and the world that
revolves around them is &erha&s one of the hardest
things to do. #any &eo&le 9alas' also many
mar*eters; truly believe that clic*ing 7Send7 is
enough to troublelessly dro& the message in the
reci&ient2s inbo:.
Cut that2s not the case. ,n fact' deli2erability 5 the
ability of a message to reach the reci&ient2s inbo: 5 is
one of the most critical issues for every mass mail5
out. %n email can in fact always run into reci&ients2
spam filters' while being &erfectly legal and
authori=ed.
Deliverability de&ends on many factors: a subject line
that doesn2t contain s&am5 ris*y words' a well5made
!"#$ structure' images that aren2t too bul*y' and so
on.
3rom a &urely technical &oint of view' however' the
most im&ortant factor is t/e rep.tation of t/e I% that
sends the messages.
"he ,nternet 1rotocol 9,1; 5 is sim&ly a number that
identifies a device connected to the 8eb. "here are
several tools available to hel& you find out what your
,1 number is' for e:am&le Get,1.
"he best thing to do in order to verify the ,1 of an
email 5 whether received or sent 5 is to loo* at the
so.r#e #ode. ,f you want to chec* your own ,1
address' just send an email to yourself. "he address
will a&&ear in the first lines of the header. %s in this
e:am&le' highlighted in bold:
Return-Path: <info@sendblaster.com>
Delivered-To: test@sendblaster.com
Received: (qmail 2!2 invo"ed from net#or"$% &
'eb( 2)*+ **:*):,+ -))))
Received: b- simscan *.+.) ..id: 2!2+( .id:
2!2,( t: &.*+,*s
scanners: none
Received: from tb//bihbhd//.turbo-smt..net
(199.187.173.99$
,n a few words' the re&utation of an ,1 is its validity in
terms of sent emails' assigned s&am notifications'
messages sent to none:istent addresses' and so on.
,f an ,1 isn2t &ro&erly used' its re&utation is adversely
affected and will be subject to restrictions and
controls by s&am filters' and eventually winds u& on
a blac*list 5 the list of &rotocols that are flagged as
unreliable. %nd your emails will get bloc*ed.
,t2s therefore very im&ortant to monitor this value:
for e:am&le' controlling it via the tools offered by
SenderScore or SenderCase. %nd once the re&utation
of an ,1 has been verified' there are also ways to
im&rove it:
Al!ays reply to emails askin0 for feedba#k. ,n
addition to being a general good &ractice' it shows
that behind the sent messages there is a &erson and
not a s&am factory.
Make s.re yo.4re not on any bla#klist 9and if so as*
to be removed;. "here are many blac*lists: the major
ones can be found on S&am!aus and Dnsbl. % good
&ractice is' however' to do a cross test of one2s own
,1 address' e.g. with the hel& from #:"oolCo:.
'se a #ertified SMT% ser2er. S#"1 is the &rotocol
that controls the mailing5out of the emails: the
7&ostman7 res&onsible for trans&orting messages
across the web. Common connections' however' use
S#"1 servers that are constantly changing' and that
can also use ,1s that have &oor re&utations. "he
&roviders2 filters of course negatively react to this. %
way to avoid this &roblem is to get a &rofessional
S#"1 service that is able to ma:imi=e the
deliverability. 8e highly recommend our &artner
turboS#"1.
Al!ays #arry o.t a spam #/e#k.
Due to the aggressiveness of email filters 5 having
significantly reduced s&am in the last two years 5
even those newsletters that are fully authori=ed and
structured according to all of the sector2s best
&ractices often get bloc*ed.
"herefore' it is good &ractice to carry out tests in
order to &in &oint &ossible &roblems associated with
the wording of the te:t' image >uality' and any other
factors that might affect the deliverability of your
newsletter.
% good mass email mar*eting service or software
should have an inbuilt s&am chec*er' but it2s also
&ossible to turn to e:ternal a&&lications.
"his series of accurate controls enables you to
minimi=e the ris* of falling victim to filters and
correct any errors before the final mail5out.
8" Email a.t/enti#ation
% strange email notification arrives from the 1ost
.ffice or a ban* 5 in which you mightn2t even have a
ban* account: obviously it2s s&am' but how do
s&ammers manage to &retend to be someone else so
wellE
.n one hand' it4s 2ery easy to #reate a false sender
identity 5 just enter a com&any name. (ven if the
email address from which you are mailing5out from is
com&letely different: in fact' many clients and web
services dis&lay the name and not the email address.
.n the other hand' there is still a /i0/ de0ree of
illitera#y when it comes to using email 9and
sometimes the internet in general' alas;: far too
many &eo&le are easily fooled' ma*ing even rather
sim&le tric*s highly &rofitable.
"o co&e with such &roblems 5 and &revent your
newsletter from being mista*en for s&am by su&er5
sce&tical users 5 it2s worth ta*ing advantage of email
a.t/enti#ation. "hat is' the &rocess that accurately
chec*s and guarantees the origin of your message
and the address matches the sender2s name.
"here are several ways to get authentication: the
main ones are Domain Keys' DKIM' S%& and
SenderID. "he first two re>uire a code that is
embedded in the email itself' while Sender,D and S13
u&load a file to your server so that the reci&ient
email address ma*es a crosschec*.
(ven though not every &rovider enables this' there
isn2t a better method' for e:am&le ?ahoo #ail and
Gmail do not su&&ort Sender,D. ,n order to avoid any
&roblems' the best thing to do is to rely on an email
mar*eting service that performs a.t/enti#ation
a##ordin0 to all t/ese standards.
%gain' relying on a &rofessional S#"1 server li*e
turboS#"1 is an e:cellent way to solve this issue
once for all' since it &rovides a f.ll email
a.t/enti#ation by all standards s*yroc*eting your
delivery rate.
9" &ryin0 t/e ba#on7 spam 8">
,t2s called bacon' but in reality it2s s&am. 8ell almost:
some call it spam 8">' even if it has nothing to do
with the factories that &roduce unsolicited jun* mail.
"o be &recise' ba#on 5 or bacn 5 are all the
newsletters you willingly subscribe to 9with o&t5in or
double o&t5in;' but arrive in huge >uantities and with
little or no content value' sometimes reaching the
critical &oint of over5whelming your inbo:. Casically'
it all boils down to the good old5fashioned >uestion
about relevance that many mar*eters tend to ignore'
and in whose clutches one ends u& far too easily.
!ow many emails of little or no value will we
continue to getE Definitely a certain number. !ow
many communications truly target their audience
and are worthy of one2s attention' and are not just
email blastsE ,nevitably too few.
"he solutions are the classic ones: users should be
brave and reduce the number of their subscri&tions'
whilst mar*eters should aim at in#reasin0
se0mentation and rele2an#e. !owever' the more
interesting >uestion is why these solutions are rarely
ado&ted.
,t a&&ears that users fail to unsubscribe for several
reasons: the inability to find the a&&ro&riate lin*' or
the o&t5out &rocedures are too long winded and
com&le:' or it2s often easier to &ut it off for a later
date and just delete the mail... .f course' all these
e:cuses ma*es it much sim&ler for the creators of
bacon: the ridi#.lo.sly lo! #ost of sending mass
emails' lac* of delisting and the tem&tation to get
immediate conversions encourage them to continue
with these su&erficial and non5target s&ecific
strategies.
So it shouldn2t be sur&rising that a /i0/ per#enta0e
of t/e spam #omplaints is triggered by the very
D(#s and newsletters themselves mailed5out by
mar*eters. 1ure and sim&le bacon.
#oreover' des&ite the various com&laints related to
email overload' the number of newsletters mailed5
out continues to remain very high. %nd this is good
news because basically someone enjoys them.
%lmost a third of all the messages we receive are
made u& by newsletters' and the )., from email
mar*eting is still the best in the digital sector 5 almost
twice as much as search' amongst others. ,t is &retty
natural that com&anies dot on it.
So' how does one avoid winding u& in the bacon and
remain honest and relevantE
"he answer is sim&le: simplify t/e pro#ed.re for opt-
o.t. $et2s see how.
=" Streamlinin0 t/e opt-o.t pro#ess
%s we have seen' the e:cess number of messages
drives users to get rid of all the emails they deem
useless. Bnfortunately' a &o&ular a&&roach is to
discard the unwanted mail in the jun* bo: 5 labeling
it as s&am so as 7not to have to thin* of it any
further7: the spam #omplaint met/od has become a
shortcut for getting rid of overly &ushy or no longer
interesting offers.
% staggering number of users still do e:actly that'
thereby fueling the number of 7false &ositives7 i.e.
messages actually re>uested but get branded as
s&am. "echnically s&ea*ing' this adversely effects the
mail server2s re&utation' and as a result !orsens
deli2erability.
"his behavior is due mainly to certain bad &ractices
carried out by mar*eters who in a des&erate attem&t
to hold on to their customers 5 or sim&ly due to
ignorance 5 ma*e the o&t5out &rocess overly com&le:
or sometimes even im&ossible.
(very email should instead have a clear disclaimer
that &ermits users to opt-o.t in 6.st one #li#k: we are
not im&licitly inviting users to leave' instead ma*ing
the relationshi& with them a whole lot clearer and
more trans&arent. "hereby' im&roving the virtuous
circle of communications.
%lthough it may seem a bit ris*y' don2t be afraid to
ma*e the o&t5out &rocess as >uic* and sim&le as
&ossible. T/e fa#t t/at one of yo.r .sers !ants to
opt-o.t is f.lly nat.ral and is a normal &art of any
list life cycle 9as we shall see in the ne:t cha&ter;.
,f you2ve got worthy content value' your users will
remain loyal. %nd if someone wants to leave all the
same' it2s better to say goodbye in a 7correct7 way
rather than receiving unnecessary s&am re&orts 5
which will just cause a whole load of other &roblems.
"hat said' the general issue surrounding deliverability
remains urgent. "he very &oint is that t/e
a00ressi2eness of spam filters very often bloc* even
fully legitimate newsletters. ,n addition to this' many
mar*eters continue to believe in 7indiscriminate
mass mail5outs7 that lac* any segmentation' are
overly careless and sent far too fre>uently.
:" Keep in mind t/e #/.rn rate
8hat ha&&ens if a customer really o&ts5out from
your databaseE Do &roblem.
"he #/.rn rate 5 the &ercentage of users who remove
themselves from the database 5 is a constantly
changing rate' for every : unsubscribing there will
always be y new registrations. .f course' if the
number of o&t5outs increases 2erti#ally and
s.ddenly' it2s necessary to figure out what2s going on
and remedy the situation.
Cut &ay attention: behind those o&t5outs there may
be a reason that few mar*eters consider. 1erha&s
users are still interested in our offers' b.t not 2ia
email marketin0. 3or e:am&le' a user may not wish
to clutter u& the inbo:. ,n other words' you must find
a way to tem&t them by using other channels.
9"his of course begins with an im&licit assum&tion:
your business must have a proper marketin0 mi3'
and not rely only on one single form of
communication;.
"he best and less intrusive way to 7change channel7
is to include a suggestion at the end of the o&t5out
&rocedure. .n the unsubscribe landing &age just
before the final clic*' two lines could be added
&ro&osing ot/er #onta#t met/ods to *ee& them u&
to date i.e. 3aceboo*' "witter account' your own
cor&orate blog' your 1interest &age...
?ou can even &ro&ose to users' if they want' to write
a message to e:&lain the reasons why they want to
7jum& shi&7 and &ossibly together choose an
alternative means of keepin0 in to.#/.
8ithout trying des&erately to *ee& hold of them' as
they are obviously fed u&' try to find out where and
how you went wrong.
D" A brief /istory of spam
$et2s end with a short story: %las' as we *now too
well spam affects the vast majority of all of the
emails mailed5out and received around the world.
Cut how did it all startE
3
rd
#ay 1U/0' Gary T/.erk' a mar*eter at Digital
(>ui&ment Cor&oration' needed to hastily &romote
an event to &resent his com&any. %nd he didn2t have
a lot of time to get it done.
So' he sent the following unsolicited &romotional
message to about si: hundred &eo&le via %)1%Det:
8( ,DT,"( ?.B ". C.#( S(( "!( 2424 %DD !(%) %C.B"
"!( 3%#,$? D(Csystem524
%" "!( "8. 1).DBC" 1)(S(D"%",.DS 8( 8,$$ C( G,T,DG
,D C%$,3.)D,% "!,S
#.D"!. "!( $.C%",.DS 8,$$ C(:
"B(SD%?' #%? U' 1U/0 5 2 1#
!?%"" !.BS( 9D(%) "!( %,)1.)" $.%.;
$.S %DG($(S' C%
"!B)SD%?' #%? 11' 1U/0 5 2 1#
DBD3(?2S ).?%$ C.%C!
S%D #%"(.' C%
9 #,$(S S.B"! .3 S3 %,)1.)" %" C%?S!.)(' )" 141 %DD
)" U2;
% 2424 8,$$ C( "!()( 3.) ?.B ". T,(8. %$S. ". ."!()
"()#,D%$S .D5$,D(
D(Csystem524 S?S"(#S "!).BG! "!( %)1%D(". ,3 ?.B %)(
BD%C$( ". %""(DD'
1$(%S( 3(($ 3)(( ". C.D"%C" "!( D(%)(S" .33,C( D(C
3.) #.)( ,D3.)#%",.D %C.B" "!( (VC,",DG D(Csystem5
24 3%#,$?.
,f you want to read the reactions of various reci&ients
of that fateful message' chec*out "em&letons' but
what we are more interested in is the fact that it was
"huer*2s email that started t/e spam ball rollin0.
Cefore then' no one else had done anything li*e it 5
also because it was e:&licitly &rohibited from sending
unsolicited messages on %)1%net.
"huer*' however' didn2t have enough time to
&ersonally write to every single contact' and this
unmalicious act sparked off today4s ni0/tmare.
% beautiful &iece by David Streitfeld a&&eared in "he
$os %ngeles "imes a few years bac* that included a
mini5interview with "huer*. Summing u& his very
&ristine actions' li*e a sort of mini5credo of the
s&ammer:
The whole idea was tell as many people
as possible. Any other method making
phone calls writing real letters would
have been much more e!pensive and
taken much more time.
Since then' it has meant endless trouble for
everyone. Cut /o! m.#/ money do spammers earn
from t/eir a#ti2itiesE
%le:is #adrigal from the %tlantic as*ed the same
>uestion' and found the answer in a &a&er written by
#icrosoft2s Mustin )ao and Google2s David )eiley:
about P8>> million per year on a2era0e' with an
investment of 1 to 10 million.
8e2re not tal*ing about huge sums of money' but
s&am costs are so small that the net gains are
substantial: abo.t 5: times t/eir start .p #osts.
%ccording to )ao and )eiley' it2s enough that 1 out of
2+'444 &eo&le is gullible enough to fall into the tra&.
,nitially it might seem that the game is &rofitable' but
it is not. 3irstly' because the majority of the money
generated is not/in0 more t/an simple fra.d 9li*e
the fa*e ban* accounts or the classic 7Digerian
scam7;. %nd secondly' because the generic s&am
activity 5 mailing5out an advertisement without
&ermission to any address found on the internet 5
means ruining one2s brand. 9Dot to mention
com&romising deliverability' as discussed above;.
%ny revenue obtained in this way !ill al!ays be
ins.ffi#ient' and in any case entirely transitory: the
e:act o&&osite of the long5term strategy that should
ins&ire every successful email mar*eting cam&aign.
%nother interesting as&ect is the ne0ati2e e3ternality
of s&am' that is the indirect adverse effects of such
activities com&ared to its direct benefits' is very high:
7S&ammers weigh heavily on society and get little in
return.7 ,n a nutshell' s&am causes enormous
information &ollution com&ared to the gains made.
,ts e:ternalities are even higher than those generated
by car theft.
,t is obvious that such an im&act on society is
unacce&table: the s&am &lague is much more &ainful
than one might originally thin*. Bnfortunately' the
daily fight to counter it' as we have all seen' hasn2t
&roduced any major winning results yet. 9%t the end
of 2411' ,C# hy&othesi=ed that spam !o.ld be dead
!it/in : years 5 as a result of im&rovements in the
analytical ca&abilities of com&uters. 1robably it2s too
o&timistic' but ho&efully there is some truth to it;.
%ccording to )ao and )eiley' in any case' the
s&ectrum of solutions ranges from a f.rt/er
stren0t/enin0 of filters to some form of 0o2ernment
inter2ention. ,n &articular' they suggest ni&&ing the
&roblem in the bud i.e. by increasing the cost of their
o&erations. ,n this way the &rofit from their activities
would be reduced' and conse>uently the volume of
jun* mail sent out.
=
L,,KING A)EAD
5" T/e Adeat/ of t/e emailA
% lot has been written about the alleged deat/ of t/e
email 5 and email mar*eting itself 5 as a result of
social networ*s.
.n the contrary' searching and emailing are firmly .p
t/ere amon0st t/e top .ses of Internet.
3or now email has resoundingly managed to
withstand the su&&osed 7attac*s7 by the social
networ* &henomena. "he li*es of which include
3aceboo* #essages' a*a the famous 71roject "itan7
launched a year ago but turned out to be a real flash
in the &an.
"hus' tal*ing about the 7death of the email7 is' in the
&resent state of things' totally premat.re and lac*s
any concrete foundations: the re>uiem has been
sung far too many times' while email continues to
bury its underta*ers.
8hat should be &ointed out' however' is that new
instant messaging habits or the use of alternative
methods of communication will ne0ati2ely affe#t its
f.t.re. .f course' social networ*s almost always
need an email account to wor*' but it will be used
more and more as a simple a##ess key' limiting the
actual email transmission to a minimum.
$oo*ing at the results in terms of age' there is
definitely a do!n!ard trend in the use of the email
amongst adoles#ents.
Guys and girls aged 12 to 1U are much more
interested into 8hatsa&& than in their email
accounts. "hey seem neither to be a s&ecific target
for email mar*eting' nor users interested in this tool 5
which they may consider for 7old fol*s7.
,n fact' instant messaging and social networ*s enable
users to communicate in a m.#/ more e3#itin0 and
2aried !ay' which includes games' lin* and &hoto
sharing' &ublic message boards etc. 3rom this &oint
of view' it ta*es a minimum of honesty and self5
criticism. ,f your goal is to sell prod.#ts to teena0ers'
a D(# cam&aign may not the be most a&&ro&riate
tool: you have to go and discover where they are
more active.
So' the interesting >uestion is not whether emailing
is dead 5 the answer being no 5 but if it has any /ope
of s.r2i2in0' or better ada&ting' to new generations.
(ven in this case we can say the answer is positi2e.
%s you get older you tend to &refer this more formal
ty&e of communication. (ntering the wor*force
would also naturally re>uire one to ado&t this
&ractice.
!owever' there is one last s.btle point to #onsider.
(verybody based their o&inion around the fact that
everything remains the same' when today2s
teenagers become tomorrow2s thirty5somethings'
social media will &ass over to emailing and voila. ,t
isn2t clear if emailing is destined to remain in any
case: it #o.ld e2ol2e or per/aps e2en disappear all
to0et/er. !ow many &rior technologies have met
with the same fate' after allE
"he >uestion becomes &articularly &ressing in terms
of commerce: in the face of in#reasin0ly pa#ked
inbo3es on one side' and ne! forms of
#omm.ni#ation on the other' does email mar*eting
really have a futureE
"he re&ort 7(mail #ar*et' 24125241-7 by the
)adicati Grou&' issued in 241' says that 7email is
e:&ected to grow to a W12 billion mar*et by 241- and
email traffic is estimated to grow to over 1U2 billion
emails sent &er day by 241-7.
%lso' according to the 7(mail #ar*eting ,ndustry
Census 24137 by (consultancyH%destra' 7/A of
email mar*eters re&ort having an 7e:cellent7 or
7good7 ).,' com&ared to just 3/A who do not test.7
So the answer seems to be a good 7yes7: but.
% few years ago newsletters were more or less the
only direct and interactive mar*eting channel on the
web 5 e:cluding dis&lay and *eyword advertising.
"oday the possibilities of intera#tion made available
by social media has definitely revolutioni=ed the
landsca&e and has made t/e pat/ to #on2ersions by
.sers more fra0mented.
!owever' it doesn2t mean one has to have certain
radical misgivings about email mar*eting strategy nor
a negative o&inion about the other channels: on the
contrary' it should be #aref.lly inte0rated into yo.r
marketin0 mi3.
%nd if the conversions come from other sources' it
does not matter: the im&ortant thing is that email
still has a &owerful effect on customers.
"hus' for the moment mar*eters can stay calm and
thin* of something else: instead of com&laining' they
should first take better #are of t/eir #ampai0ns and
ma:imi=e the &ossibilities.
8" T/e e2ol.tion of email s/arin0
"he 2iral rate of an email' in terms of classic email
mar*eting' has always been measured based on the
n.mber of for!ards.
3orwarding a friend is a clear signal the content or
offer was a&&reciated. 3or this very reason many
mar*eters recommend adding an ad5hoc button in
one2s tem&late' so as to encourage users to clic*
away' by ma*ing it easier and effortless to do.
Cut things are changing 5 at a ra&id &ace. "he
statistics show that 7forwarding7 has dro&&ed since
244U whilst 7social networ* sharing7 has risen. "he
&ositive im&act is even greater when it comes to lin*s
to com&anies2 social communities.
,t doesn2t sto& there. %n interesting internal analysis
carried out two years ago by Cu==3eed 5 on all its
websites containing &ortals such as "#X and the
Daily #ail' and thus highly statistically significant
number of users 5 revealed a large dro& in traffic
from email clients li*e Gmail' !otmail' ?ahoo #ail
and so on. %s illustrated in this gra&h:
.n the contrary' traffic originating from Google
searches and 3aceboo* continues to increase.
"his would a&&ear to demonstrate a very sim&le and
unsur&rising fact: t/e .se of so#ial net!orks /as
0ro!n 5 than*s also to the introduction of new
&latforms such as 1interest 5 and has gradually
started re&lacing other forms of communication' for
e:am&le wor* messages can now also be sent via
3aceboo* instead of email alone.
,n addition' as we have already &ointed out in the
&revious cha&ter' there is an a0e fa#tor at play' or at
least a certain ty&e of audience: generally' emailing is
used by more mature users who tend to be a little
less familiar with social media tools. %ccording to
Cu==3eed this e:&lains the greater im&ortance'
certain websites com&ared to others' give to the
7(mail this7 button. Cearing in mind that websites
such as Cu==3eed 5 full of viral and ty&ical 7social
networ*7 articles 5 wor* on &ublic sharing.
"his' however' casts also an interesting light on
s/arin0 in 0eneral. Sharing via email seems to be
somet/in0 2ery different than a tweet or &asting
something on 1interest2s board. ,n the first case' the
reci&ients are selected and it usually involves just a
close circle of friends or colleagues. ,n short' the two
different modes are worlds a&art: t/e first is
e3tremely pri2ateJ t/e se#ond a lot more open.
Cut' the idea that the two are somehow the same is
starting to ta*e hold: it is faster and easier to tweet
content instead of sending it to a grou& of reci&ients
5 as it2s li*ely that the same &eo&le follow the sender
also on "witter. 9,t is a fact that if the content is very
&articular and can be understood only in the conte:t
of a circle of friends it shouldn2t be flaunted on social
networ*s with the same light heartedness' but here
you o&en u& the debate about our &ublic role on the
web;.
,n summary' the winning model seems to involve
again a #loser inte0ration bet!een email marketin0
and so#ial media marketin0' with the aim of enticing
users to s&read the message to a larger radius' thus
fully e:&loiting the &ower of social media.
"he &roduct or information e:&erienced therefore
goes beyond the limited s&ace of the newsletter'
which in many ways begins to loo* more and more
li*e a ste&&ing stone 5 not only to their own landing
&age' but also to other ty&es of sharing.
C,NCL'SI,N
Di0ital marketin0 and /appiness
1erha&s the most interesting as&ect of digital
mar*eting' is the conce&t of fairness and
transparen#y' when it comes to &romoting a &roduct
or service. "his a&&lies just as much to email' li*e any
other channel.
8hat e:actly is a &otential client loo*ing forE "o get
what he wants without being ri&&ed off. So' what is a
loyal customer loo*ing forE "o remain faithful and to
be given &referential treatment. Sounds &retty basic'
but many mar*eters still fail to reali=e that it2s e:actly
this basic starting &oint that we must always begin
from.
"he most im&ortant innovation lies in thin*ing about
mar*eting as a way to in#rease #.stomer satisfa#tion
- and /appiness 5 rather than a set of tric*s designed
to get as much money out of them as &ossible.
%nd not only that' it2ll also hel& increase your own
ha&&iness and satisfaction. Cy doing things the right
way and fostering a sense of trans&arency and
trustworthiness' !ill /elp yo. earn a lot more. %nd
this isn2t loo*ing at it from a &urely monetary &oint of
view: it2ll ma*e your wor* easier' you won2t have to
worry about harsh criticisms for &laying dirty' and
you2ll be able to slee& serenely.
,t2s astonishing how many mar*eters' es&ecially
those wor*ing in large com&anies' still believe ri&&ing
off their users is the best way to ma*e a &rofit.
%ll this is #ompletely !ron0' and even more so in the
o&en conversation world 5 where even the most
obscure bloggers can suddenly become "witter
trendy. ,m&osing unfair contractual clauses' such as
the classic tele&hone or internet com&anies often do'
will sim&ly f.el ne0ati2e /ype a0ainst oneself.
%t the end of every year' it2s standard &ractice to &ull
together a number of mar*eting &revisions for the
coming years. Bnfortunately' they often are either
banal or ideas which fail to withstand the test of
time. Cut out of the ones &ulled together by
Cusiness2Community in December 2411' those of
%ndrew Caird haven2t dated one little bit: 7"he future
of mar*eting lies in engaging your customers 9and
&otential customers; to be truly interested in your
messages 5 and &erceive them as useful' not sim&ly
as mar*eting.7
So' that old &iece of advice to &ut yourself in the
user2s shoes' but loo*ed at from a different angle:
sto& thin*ing just in terms of statistics' mar*eting
forecasts and manuals' and start t/inkin0 in terms of
.sef.lness. .ffer &eo&le something interesting and
treat them as human beings' is all you need to do to
get your business ahead.