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Email Is Not Dead—It’s Democratic
This insanely crazy presidential election is just about over, on November 8, and thank goodness. It has been a sad time in American politics, and for some, signals the demise of democracy, for reasons beyond the scope of this blog. But it got me thinking: You know what’s really democratic? Email! First off, no one died First, let’s obliterate some myths here, that relate to both American democracy and to email: No one and nothing has […]
Getting Into the Gray Areas With Email Analytics
Somewhere between the opens and the clicks is a wealth of email marketing data you need to be mining. You might call this the gray area, because it goes beyond the black and white of the simple email reporting of recent history. Yet it’s not actually gray, meaning it’s not hazy or unclear. Rather, in-depth email analytics—when done with the right tool—creates a crystal clear picture of your email marketing program, for each send and each […]
26 Questions to Ask When Evaluating an ESP’s Customer Support
Anecdotally, most companies switch email service providers (ESPs) because they are unhappy with the customer service they are (or aren’t) getting. Given that most companies make the ESP switch about every 18 to 24 months, and given that switching ESPs is both a time-consuming and costly process, wouldn’t it be smart to evaluate the customer service with a degree of scrutiny before committing to a new vendor? With that in mind, I offer 26 questions you […]
Tackling Tough Issues: 3 Real-Life Stories of Email Marketing Wins
One thing about a company like ClickMail: We get involved with a lot of different kinds of email marketing challenges on behalf of our clients. That’s because we offer such a wide range of services, from design to deployment to deliverability diagnostics. And since the best learning often comes from seeing what has or hasn’t worked for others, today I share with you three real-life stories from our client case study archives. Each is unique in […]
Don’t Dismiss the Difference Between the Marketing and the Sales Email
Reading through an article on outbound email FAQs just now, it struck me that marketers have a tendency to treat two very different types of B2B emails as if they were one and the same. For example, the article I just read says: “Opens and clicks only get you so far. In most outbound scenarios, the most desired call to action is an email reply—which is the most direct and reliable way to gauge interest.” In […]
Want Better Email Marketing? Read Those Release Notes
When was the last time your ESP sent you release notes? OK, and when was the last time you actually read them? In our experience at ClickMail, we find clients don’t always read the documentation ESPs put together and distribute when offering new or updated features. It’s kind of like the instructions that come with a new tool or toy: We know the instructions are there, but 9 times out of 10, we fumble through setup […]
Seasonal Sensitivities: Taking Customer Mindset Into Account When Determining Cadence
When summer rolls around, which it will soon do, would you like to see more or fewer marketing emails in your inbox? I, for one, would like to have fewer to keep up with as I take some time to enjoy the summer weather. Hit me up with extra emails in January, but cut back in June, if you want to make me as a subscriber happy. And I’m probably a lot like the majority of […]
“Seeing Is Believing” – Why You Need Visual Email Analytics
“The greatest value of a picture is when it forces us to notice what we never expected to see.” — John W. Tukey, Exploratory Data Analysis, 1977 As you know, we have five senses: touch, hearing, taste, smell and vision. Of those, vision is by far our most dominant sense. It’s also our fastest: Humans process visual information faster than other types of information. In fact, the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than it does text. […]
Tips for Evaluating the ESP Platform When Searching for a New Email Service Provider
Switching email service providers (ESPs) can be expensive, time-consuming and stressful. It’s not something you want to do any more often than you have to. That means doing your homework is critical to ensure you’re choosing an email service provider that will be a good fit for years to come. With that in mind, we publish an annual ESP guide, with up-to-date information to help marketers like you navigate the vendor landscape and find the best […]