Today’s consumers are more connected to their electronic devices and gadgets than ever before. To provide insight on the demographic traits and behavioral tendencies of the consumers that purchase electronics in America, Experian Simmons analyzed relevant information from its 2009 National Consumer Study and New Media Study. Key findings include:

• Seventy-one percent of new TV buyers in 2009 reported purchasing either an LCD or plasma TV, more than double the rate in 2006
• Nearly half of all TV buyers reported that the screen size of their most recent purchase was 40 inches or larger
• Between 2006 and 2009, ownership of VCRs among US households dropped 13% to 79%. Meanwhile, DVR ownership doubled
• The most popular mobile function today is taking pictures, which 70% of mobile phone owners do each month
• Video gaming among adults grew a relative 9% between 2007 and 2009, with half of almost all adults now saying they own or play games

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.

Read More »

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.

Read More »

An interesting story trickled out in today’s New York Times about AT&T using less-than-responsible mobile messaging tactics in a recent American Idol campaign.

AT&T sent the promotional message to a “significant number” of its subscribers but did not seem to apply traditional opt-in practices to this campaign. Apparently, their standards of what constitutes spam is different from what email marketers consider it to be, with their corporate spokesman going so far as to assert that “it couldn’t be more open and transparent.”

Mr. Siegel said the message went to subscribers who had voted for “Idol” singers in the past, and other “heavy texters.” He said the message could not be classified as spam because it was free and because it allowed people to decline future missives.

First of all, what exactly is a “heavy texter?” That sounds like some sort of text messaging addict who needs a 12-step treatment program. And second, how can you blindly justify sending these people communications as if they’d opted-in?

While I’m not a compliance expert, I would guess that AT&T could have saved themselves a boatload of trouble by sending the message only to previous Idol texters, and then phrasing their message as a request to opt-in more than a straight advertisement. If I was running the show over there, my 160 characters would have gone something like this: “American Idol is back! Calling all past Idol voters: visit us online at (web address) to find out more. Would you like to receive future messages from us? Opt-in at (short code) or ignore this message to be removed.” 

That would have been rather easy, no?

As 2008 comes to a close, I’ve done some thinking on the myriad of issues facing the mobile channel compared to email, at least here in the USA: largely sub-par devices are tied to a single carrier, carrier networks operate independently from one another, consumers are locked into year(s)-long contracts and are penalized for terminating them early, all of the carriers seem largely the same, and no one can clearly explain the myriad of charges that appear on your everyday phone bill.

The New York Times recently ran a particularly damning piece on this last point, entitled What Carriers Aren’t Eager to Tell You About Texting, and it is well worth looking at. The article poses a number of pointed questions (arising from a simple inquiry from Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl) that none of the mobile carriers seem eager to answer. The main issue at hand: why does text messaging cost so much? 

Think about it. Your marketing emails are what, 15-45KB in size? Standard text messages are only 160 characters in length (less than 1KB). How much does each ISP charge you to send an email to a recipient at their domain? Zero. How much does it cost your customers to open your email marketing campaigns? Zero. How much does it cost them to open your mobile SMS campaigns? 2-25 cents, usually. 

Why does texting cost so much? Is there some hidden but necessary cost in SMS that the general public is simply unaware of? Is a rise in texting costs due to increased volume?

Read More »

Yesterday I stumbled upon this post by Jay Seaton at the Mobile Messaging 2 blog, which covers a topic we all could learn something from: “Tips for (Responsible) Texting.”

There are a couple of real gems in there worth considering, including this one:

Remember that “Text Language” is for texting only! Sure when you’re limited to a few characters it makes sense to abbreviate and use acronyms; it’s a part of texting culture. But don’t forget Grandma won’t understand it when you respond to her joke with LOL.

The same could easily be said of making sure your email copy is understandable to your whole audience if your list covers a wide range of demographics. After all, you don’t want to alienate certain edges of your customer base by talking too much about, say, your memories of the William Taft presidency when most of them are concerned with the latest episode of Hannah Montana.

The big news of the day comes as no big surprise to tech-geeks, but is significant nonetheless: RIM, the maker of the Blackberry, is one month away from releasing “Storm,” its first-ever touch screen phone.

What does this mean for email marketers? For starters, it means that HTML emails with images will soon render properly on more than just the iPhone. This is great news as it will allow even more customers (i.e. business folks who are loyal to the Blackberry) to stay connected with their favorite brands on the go. It also will open up the market for RIM to go after home users rather than just corporate email junkies and power brokers. 

Mobile email has already proven to be a great thing for marketers, but even more so for consumers. if you’ve ever needed that flight confirmation number at the airport, forgotten to clip an in-store coupon, or wanted a real-time direct deposit posting confirmation of your bank account, then you can see the value of email on the go. 

No word yet on the exact plans and pricing, but the best news of all is that the phone looks ready to be taken around the world where it can function on a variety of well-covered cellular networks.