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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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Like many seasonal or anniversary oriented retailers, FTD has a Gift Reminder program, which they do a great job of promoting. (Side note: The name “FTD” originally stood for “Florists’ Telegraph Delivery” when the company was founded in 1910. Then, in 1914, the name was updated to “Florists’ Transworld Delivery.” Who knew?)

I recently purchased two flower arrangements from FTD.com and noticed some pretty nice features revolving around their email reminders. The first mention of their reminder program comes during the checkout process — after the delivery information and before the payment options.

FTD does a great job with:

• Being clear that this is an optional form. A customer does not need to fill this out in order to complete their transaction. As a consumer, I know that I am signing up to receive email notifications by completing this form.
• The offer is clear and generous.
• The rules are clear. I need to enter 5 reminders in order to receive 20% off my next order. This information is listed twice in a small space.
• The form is easy to understand and simple to navigate.
• Reminding customers about the gift reminder service again once the checkout process is complete. Since I did not enter 5 reminder email addresses and dates on my first attempt I was given the option to enter them again.

Do you have any examples of Gift Reminder services?  How have these performed for you?  Do you opt-in for these types of services? Share your experiences with us!

If I am a customer of a particular brand, it’s no secret that their sister brands might also try to market to me. This happens all the time in postal mail advertising (think of all the seemingly random catalogs you receive during the holidays), but is a bit trickier in the email marketing realm.

I recently received a cross-branded email from Soap.com. Apparently this is a sister site to Diapers.com, a brand which I subscribe to. Soap.com/Diapers.com did a good job overall with this email. I thought I’d quickly share my thoughts on the pros and cons of their campaign, which can be used as a teaching point for other brand families considering launching new brands.

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For many email marketers the number one goal of an email is to generate revenue. Occasionally, though, it is nice to mix things up and send a message that is less about sales and more about relationships.

Passing along a funny story or telling your subscribers more about who you are as a company is a great way to build brand loyalty that can pay off in the long run. Your subscribers might be interested in hearing more about your employees, the city your business is in, about the models you use in your emails, etc. The trick is giving them something to talk about.

Here are two great examples. The first is from Eddie Bauer — they introduce their company dog, Eddie, and talk all about him on their Facebook page.

The second is from TheLadders.com, whose email is all about the company and includes pictures. The subject line of this email is simply “Photos of us.”

Let’s say you have an upcoming vacation or trip and want to plan accordingly. So you subscribe to a million different email lists related to travel, including airlines, cruise ships, travel destinations etc. Then your trip is canceled or delayed. Boo!

Typically you have three email options

1. Ignore the travel emails in your inbox and become inactive.
2. Go through the tedious unsububscribe process or simply hit spam on all the emails that you signed up for and no longer want.
3. Periodically open the emails and dream about the vacation that might not happen.

Recently I saw an unsubscribe page from a company called Vacations To Go that offers a nice fourth option for the discerning email traveler. They offer an option to suspend your current subscription and then choose a month when the subscription will restart. Vacations To Go also offers a frequency option of once a week, once a month, and every two months. This is smart – especially in the fickle and highly competitive travel industry.

Here is the opt out/out down page from Vacations To Go:

What other creative opt-downs have you seen?

Email marketing is an ever evolving art.  It morphs and changes from one hot topic — or “must have” — to the next. Below are twelve current hot topics in email marketing listed in no particular order. Any serious or casual email marketer should know what these are and should use as many as them as he or she can in their email marketing endeavors.

7) ReMarketing (Abandoned Cart Campaigns)
One especially important and potentially lucrative triggered campaign is the abandoned cart (a.k.a. ReMarketing) campaign. This is an email sent to someone reminding them to purchase items/processes which have been abandoned — or left — in their online shopping cart. ReMarketing is a great way to nudge potential purchasers into converting.

8. Social Media Integration
Everyone seems to be tweeting, Facebooking and doing other awkward sounding social media actions. Be sure you include these important social media outlets in your emails. Allow subscribers to rave about how great you are on various social media sites or browse your corporate social media pages. Email marketing must adapt as the marketplace and subscriber preferences change.

9) Personalization and Dynamic Content
Use personalized or specialized imagery, product placement, or text when you can and when appropriate. Instead of saying “Dear Customer” in your message, it is much nicer to use your recipient’s first name — ‘Dear Balthazar” as an example. Also, utilize the data that you have on your subscribers. Some common dynamic content strategies are using different messaging based on the customer type, location, nearest store, browse or purchase behavior, recency, or email interaction.

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Email marketing is an ever evolving art.  It morphs and changes from one hot topic — or “must have” — to the next. Below are twelve current hot topics in email marketing listed in no particular order. Any serious or casual email marketer should know what these are and should use as many as them as he or she can in their email marketing endeavors.

1) Welcome or Welcome Series
Everyone likes to feel welcome when they join a group. This is especially true when someone opts in to your email marketing program. Be sure you make these new subscribers feel welcome. Send an appropriate and timely welcome (and maybe an offer) to newbie’s to your list.  Better yet, design a Welcome Series.  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.

2) Segmentation Strategy
Careful, well though out, and flawlessly executed email segmentation is crucial to the modern day email marketer.  The days of loading and blasting your list are over. Take a look at this post by clicking here to learn more about email segmentation strategy.

3) Testing Plan
Testing is one of the most important actions an email marketer can take. Be sure to test frequently and use the results of your tests. Re-testing is another good habit to get into. Some examples of common email tests are subject lines, personalization vs. no personalization, dynamic content, creative versions, time of day, day of week, various offers, gender, offer code in the subject line, and location just to name a few. The options are endless.

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