It is a sad reality that there are unscrupulous folks who send spam and phishing emails. Some of the most authentic looking and most dangerous spam messages I have seen in my inbox have been from phishers trying to replicate financial services emails. These fake emails usually notify me that my account has been frozen and then encourage me to click on a link or to reply with personal information.

Recently I received a legitimate and noteworthy series of emails from Bank of America. Their first email introduced updates to their alert emails so that their customers could expect what to look for. The new features include a new look, personalization, a security checkpoint, alert information and more. I am sure Bank of America has been dealing with spoofed emails for some time now, so hopefully these changes will reduce security headaches and help stop the spammers.

The first educational email from Bank of America draws attention to the forthcoming  changes:

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Tags:
b of a email, bank of america, deliverability, education series, email redesign, email to stop spam, phishing, security, spam, stop fishing

Recently I decided to purchase running shoes, so I went to my neighborhood Big-5 (Big-5 is a sporting goods store located in the Western US) and bought shoes. During the transaction the sales person on the floor also managed to obtain my email address.

The conversation went like this:

Salesperson: Here is the size 11 you had asked for.
Me: Thanks.
Salesperson: Do you use email?
Me: Yes.
Salesperson: Would you like to sign-up for our email program and get 10% off?
Me: Sure.
He hands me a pen and a sign-up form and continues talking.
Salesperson: Email is great because we save money by sending less mailers and we can pass those savings onto our customers. You will receive your welcome email and 10% off coupon in about 24 hours.
Me: Great.

I scribbled my email address on the form and handed it back to the salesperson.

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Tags:
Big-5, Big-5 welcome email, email capture, email POS acquisition, instore email signup, point of sale, POS email capture, subscribe at store

As we’ve discussed on this site before, welcome campaigns are a critical tool in jump starting profitable customer relationships. This week, Experian CheetahMail has a new case study that illustrates how incentivized welcome emails can earn higher order values, click rates and revenue per email.

In the case study, we see that Sundance Catalog was able to increase average order sizes by 2x just by adding a basic incentive to multiple types of welcome emails. Even better, Sundance was able to prove the value of incentives by testing two types of welcome emails — those sent to new subscribers who opted-in by completing an email sign-up form on the website, and those who opted-in as part of their eCommerce checkout process. In both instances, the welcome emails with the special offer outperformed the standard, control message with no offer.

Of course, incentives are not a perfect strategy for every brand. Sundance was wise in their methodology, performing a thorough test before they committed to making any final changes to their welcome email program. As a best practice, we typically recommend that most brands do the same before they begin offering discounts.

To read more about Sundance and welcome email incentives, read the full case study now.

Tags:
case study, incentive, offer, research, sundance, testing, welcome email, welcome message

Header text is a must have best practice for any serious email marketer.  This text will display in an email even when images are blocked and formatting is not quite right.  This actionable area, at a minimum, should deliver the point of the email and have a link to the online version. Header text should be clear, clean and actionable.

The specialty kitchenware retailer and culinary mecca, Sur La Table, recently updated their email header text.  The new text not only follows header text best practices, but it also conserves precious email real-estate, and looks great.

Here is the updated header text. Notice the links are all clickable and are in one line at the top of the email.

Here is the original header text.  The text is not all click-able, is a bit long-winded, and takes up valuable, above the fold, vertical real-estate.

What do you think about these updates?  Have you updated your header text?  Please share your experiences and thoughts with us!

Tags:
above-the-fold, actionable emails, email best practices, email header text, header text, online version, Sur la table, update header text

We are happy to announce that our latest marketing report, The 2010 Holiday Marketer, is available for download today… and it totally rocks!

I mean that literally, of course. Take one look at this report, and you’ll understand what this holiday season is really all about: marketing like a rock star.

Want to know how to win over your adoring fans and go double platinum? Let me to take you on a cinematic, guided tour of the data from the report to find out what it takes to be an email marketing rock star this holiday season.

This year, email volumes will “go to 11″

Every year, email volumes peak during the holiday season, managing to surpass the previous maximum output of the year before. But how is it even possible to exceed what was previously considered the maximum?

By taking your email program “to 11.”

Experian CheetahMail estimates an overall email volume increase of 15 percent to 20 percent for the 2010 holiday season in comparison to Holiday 2009.

This means that email marketers, just like Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap, have figured out a way to ratchet up their volumes “to 11.”

Volumes just keep going up, so email marketers had better be prepared for the barrage of messages coming from their competition and act accordingly.

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Tags:
christmas, day after cyber monday, email countdowns, email hangover day, holiday email volume, holiday marketer, holidays, monday, new years, rock n roll, thanksgiving, timed offer

Microsoft has recently announced enhancements to its Windows Live Hotmail, including features that “help busy people with full lives.” The CheetahMail deliverability team has reviewed these new features and offers these thoughts on their potential impact on senders.

Some of the new features that should have a positive impact on email deliverability include:

• Trusted Senders Icon — Hotmail will now help visually identify ‘trusted senders’ in your inbox, particularly banks and other senders most commonly impersonated in phishing scams, by putting safety logos next to those senders recognized as legitimate. While the exact details on this feature are limited right now, it will most likely be based on a combination of authentication and a consistently positive mailing reputation.
• Tabs — Organizational tools will appear at the top of the inbox that will allow the user to display messages received from specific contacts, certain social networks (such as Facebook notifications), pre-selected email groups, or all of their mail. In addition, “Quick Views” will be available that will automatically sort four types of emails into their respective folders: Flagged, Photos, Office Docs, and Shipping Updates. These tabs can benefit senders by addressing inbox overload issues.

One of the new features that should have a negative impact on senders and deliverability as a whole:

• Time Traveling Filters — Microsoft’s filters can retroactively remove messages that were placed in the inbox if the reputation of the sender later turns out to be poor and the recipient has not yet opened the message in their inbox. That means there’s no longer a guarantee that a message delivered to the inbox will actually stay there until the recipient acts on it.

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Tags:
delete all of them, deliverability, email client, features, hotmail, icon, reputation, sweep, tabs, time traveling filters, trusted senders, unsubscribe, web email, windows email, windows live hotmail

As the marketing geniuses behind Head and Shoulders shampoo once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” First impressions can make or break a friendship, a job interview, or a business relationship. This is especially true when someone opts in to your email marketing program.

Be sure to make new subscribers feel welcome by sending an appropriate and timely welcome message (and maybe an offer) to them. Or better yet, design an entire welcome series of emails. A welcome series is a string of welcome emails that not only says hello to the new subscriber but also can provide them more information about your brand and what you offer.

Regardless of whether you create one welcome message or a whole welcome series for your customers, be sure to take these 10 best practices into account:

1. Thank customers for providing their contact information
2. Send the welcome email as quickly as possible
3. Confirm source of acquisition (kiosk, POS/store, eCommerce, email sign up, etc.)
4. Test the inclusion of an offer or coupon in the welcome email
5. Accurately and creatively introduce your brand identity
6. Set expectations as to the types of emails your new subscribers will receive and how often they will receive them
7. Provide a link to “My Account” or “My Preferences”
8. Provide a link to white listing instructions in the email
9. Provide links to a store locator when appropriate
10. Test the inclusion of lifestyle or product imagery in the email

Below are four examples of welcome emails that treat the welcome process slightly differently:

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Tags:
email opt-ins, first email, New subscribers, welcome best practices, welcome email, welcome examples, welcome series