Looking at data provided by Experian Hitwise, we can confidently say that the email channel has lots of traction with some of the most sought-after consumers in the country.

If you follow media news, chances are you’ve heard the expression “coveted demographic” used to refer to a particular audience segment that most advertisers wish to target. Often times, TV networks, magazines, websites, and movie studios tout their “coveted demographics” to give the impression that advertisers are only an ad placement away from reaching the hearts (and wallets) of the free-spending masses.

But what about email? Does the email channel reach these “coveted demographics?” A quick look at the data indicates that yes, email is a popular choice among consumers with the most spending power.

Of the top four Mosaic lifestyle groups that use email the most, three of them are what you would describe as upper-middle to high-end American consumers. In other words, a large proportion of email users have discretionary income to spend on the products and services of their choosing.

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A ‘little wonder’ is a seemingly insignificant action or event that eventually has a large impact on your long-term situation. In the second installment of this two-part series, Jordan Lane looks at some email little wonders — simple ways to improve your email programs — and the key benefits from each of them.

Like diligently saving pocket change, there are some easy additions you can make to your email campaigns that can bring large rewards in the long run. Yesterday we looked  at two tips for improving your email header text. Today we’ll look a third piece of your email header, as well as some straightforward technologies that can bring long-term success.

Ask to add the ‘from’ address to the safe sender list

Email marketers live and die by their deliverability rates. Often times, getting one’s emails into the subscriber’s inbox consistently is a victory in and of itself.  Once an email has been delivered successfully, it is important to do what one can to ensure that future emails will also be delivered. By respectfully asking subscribers to add your sender address to their address book (white listing), marketers not only improve deliverability rates but also help ensure that future deliverability rates stay high. In many cases subscribers will gladly white list an address. Like the hosted version and mobile device link, it is a good idea to place the from address white listing request in the header of an emails. It might be beneficial to test the placement of the white listing request, hosted and mobile version links in the header. Does placing the links on one line or multiple lines produce better results? I’d recommend testing this out. Marketers may also want to consider also placing this reminder in the footer as well as the header of the email.

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A ‘little wonder’ is a seemingly insignificant action or event that eventually has a large impact on your long-term situation. In this two-part series, Jordan Lane looks at some email little wonders — simple ways to improve your email programs — and the key benefits from each of them.

Like diligently saving pocket change, there are some easy additions you can make to your email campaigns that can bring large rewards in the long run. Today we’ll look at two of these tactics that can yield long-term success.

View a hosted version of an email

Providing the opportunity for a subscriber to view an online or hosted version of a message will enable those who might have images blocked or have email rendering issues to be able to view the message. A hosted version, often linked via the text Having trouble viewing this email?, is typically used for HTML and text versions of a mailing.  A great place to put this link is in the top or header of an email.

Subscribers now have one less excuse as to why they should not read the content of an email. If the email can be viewed by the subscriber despite content rendering issues, then the email marketer has overcome a significant technical challenge.

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The following entry is a response to Erin Geoghegan’s piece arguing in favor of shorter email registration pages. Enjoy!

Counterpoint: It’s important to capture as much data as possible during the email sign-up process. The data you capture enables you to deliver the most relevant emails right away, know more about your audience, and build the foundation for successful, long-term customer relationships.

The sign-up page is a great place to capture customer data, especially for non-retailers. If you’re offering a highly personalized email marketing experience, why not give your subscribers the ability to receive the most targeted campaigns right away?

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Point: As consumer patience and attention spans decrease, asking for information beyond an email address (up-front) will most likely result in them not completing the sign-up process at all.

In my opinion, name and email address — or even just email address — should typically be the only information that marketers ask for in their email sign-up forms. Understandably, if it is completely necessary for your business to ask for more information, such as a zip code, then by all means do so. Otherwise, the usage of these two simple entry fields is my recommended maximum.

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In the April 22nd issue of Clickz, Stephen Pollard urged marketers to follow established best practices and to reevaluate their ongoing strategy for addresses acquired via email append programs.

I agree with many of Pollard’s comments about eAppend. Inherently, eAppend carries more risk than organic email capture methods, such as at point of sale or via an email sign up form. Pollard also makes valid arguments about the deliverability risks that can occur from appending email to your customer file. In this tough economy when companies are closely evaluating their budgets, it is very important that they do not compromise quality for price when evaluating third party data providers. Regardless, eAppend can be a very effective means of growing a traditional offline customer file.

One thing that Pollard doesn’t address is the quality of the client data submitted for an eAppend match, or the frequency at which a client runs an eAppend program.

We have a few of our own best practices that are worth mentioning in addition to those mentioned in Pollard’s article.

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Email marketers, from the novice to the expert, should always be looking for ways to touch their subscribers in a positive and effective way. There are a plethora of complicated and expensive ways to do this, including purchasing expensive lists and list building services, creating fancy and complex mailing campaigns, and generating robust and often overbearing reporting.

But as helpful as these higher-level endeavors might be, one should never neglect the low hanging email marketing fruit. This fruit will not only provide no-to-low cost wins, but also offer insight that neither breaks the budget nor strains the eyes.

Several simple email strategies include the following:

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