Chris Baggott's Email Marketing Best Practices

How I'm spending my 4th of July Weekend

In case you are wondering what I'm reading this weekend.... I'm not going to be very popular with my family.

Like a lot of us, there are a few of these that I've been waiting forever for.

Congratulations to Brian Carroll for his new book. I've been panting for "The Long Tail" for months, Jeffery & Brian Eisenberg had a home run with "Call To Action" so I'm fired up for "Waiting for your Cat to Bark".

I saw Robert Scoble and Shel Israel speak at the Womma conference last week. I loved Robert...you can tell he didn't plan this :-)

Of course any journal with Seth's picture on it automatically moves to the top of my pile.

Have a good weekend!

E-mail marketing secrets and lies: Conversion rates

Good Story from Karen J. Bannan @ B2B Online.

Jun 29, 2006

E-mail marketing experts often say that it’s not the click-throughs or open statistics that matter so much as your conversion rate, which translates into revenue. Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse, and Morgan Stewart, director of strategic services for ExactTarget, let us in on one secret and one lie about conversion—that Holy Grail of e-mail marketing.

read it all here....

Where to find Marketing Innovation

I’m frequently asked who the most innovative marketers are.   When I go to the many conferences on marketing and internet marketing…I see that usually the keynotes and most of the speakers are coming from big well know brands….

Guess what?  That’s not where the innovation is happening.   I touched on this on my post called Marketing Democracy a few months ago.   The reality is that the best most innovative marketing is coming from the middle tier, not at the far left side of the long tail.

I’m becoming more convinced that something happens to marketers when the get to the top of the food chain….they get conservative.  I get the feeling that these marketers are more concerned about getting knocked off than actually pushing the ball aggressively down the field.

Something that made this clear to me again,  was a visit we had this morning to our office from the marketing folks at Icelandair.

Now what is interesting about them is that they are based in a country of only 300,000 people yet they carry over 1.5 million passengers each year.   They are the only airline on earth that carries more passengers than the population of their home country. (they also shared some other interesting stats about Iceland…like 62% of them believe in elves)

So what makes them interesting is the focus on a two pronged strategy:

Getting travel to and from Iceland  and  Convincing the world that trips from the EU to North America and back are faster & more convenient through Iceland.

The also are unique in that they split their business right down the middle between online sales and leveraging the old fashioned channel of travel agents and tour operators.

But what really has me excited is that they have decided to embrace an all online marketing strategy…no more print, no more billboards, no more TV or Radio…just the internet & WOM.

That my friends is innovation…it’s the kind of boldness that you won’t experience when you get your weekly “escapes” email from your big airline full of trips that don’t even originate from your home airport.

And you know what will happen?  They will succeed.  The other airlines will eventually copy their tactics…and their marketers will get promoted and start speaking at marketing conventions.

If you are looking for innovation in marketing, be careful….chances are the best innovation is coming up behind you.

I’m frequently asked who the most innovative marketers are.   When I go to the many conferences on marketing and internet marketing…I see that usually the keynotes and most of the speakers are coming from big well know brands….

Guess what?  That’s not where the innovation is happening.   I touched on this on my post called Marketing Democracy a few months ago.   The reality is that the best most innovative marketing is coming from the mid tier, not at the far left side of the long tail.

I’m becoming more and more convinced that something happens to marketers when the get to the top of the food chain….they get conservative.  I get the feeling that these marketers are more concerned about getting knocked off than actually pushing the ball aggressively down the field.

Nothing can be more clear on this that the visit we had this morning to our office from the marketing folks at Icelandair.

Now what is interesting about them is that they are based in a country of only 300,000 people yet they carry over 1.5 million passengers each year.   They are the only airline on earth that carries more passengers than the population of their home country. (they also shared some other interesting stats about Iceland…like 62% of them believe in elves)

So what makes them interesting is the focus on a two pronged strategy:

Getting travel to and from Iceland  and  Convincing the world that trips from the EU to North America and back are faster & more convenient through Iceland.

The also are unique in that they split their business right down the middle between online sales and leveraging the old fashioned channel of travel agents and tour operators.

But what really has me excited is that they have decided to embrace an all online marketing strategy…no more print, no more bill boards, no more TV or Radio…just the internet & WOM.

That my friends is innovation…it’s the kind of boldness that you won’t experience when you get your weekly “escapes” email from your big airline full of trips that don’t even originate from your home airport.

And you know what will happen?  They will succeed.  The other airlines will eventually copy their tactics…and their marketers will get promoted.

So when you are looking for innovation in marketing, be careful….chances are the best innovation is coming up behind you.

Thank you for your support with the Marketing Sherpa 2006 Blog Awards

Let me just say a sincere "thank you" to everyone who voted for this blog in the Marketing Sherpa Blog Awards.

I am most humbled by this quote from Anne Holland:

Sherpa Note: Email Marketing is a new category for us -- last year it was lumped in with 'online marketing.’ Chris' blog won that category this year, and he continues to prove he can dominate his league. This year he also got the highest "Excellent" percent rating out of all 107 nominated blogs across 11 categories. A stunning victory

I now feel a lot of pressure :-)  Please let me know if I'm not living up to your expectations.

Nomination for MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice Blog & Podcasting Awards 2006

I got a really nice comment the other day from Ron McDaniel @ Buzznoodle...

Hi Chris.
Congratulations on your nomination for MarketingSherpa Reader's Choice Blog & Podcasting Awards 2006.  That is not interuption marketing, just good content.
Best of luck.  Ron

I really appreciate that Ron, it's great to be recognized. I would appreciate it very much if all of my readers take a moment and cast a vote.

Please click on the link and scroll down to the email marketing section and cast your vote for Chris Baggott’s Email Marketing Best Practices. 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=803032287919

Any of you fellow bloggers, please link back so we can get the support of your readers as well.

Thank you!

The Problem With Email Complaints

There was an interesting discussion yesterday in eMail Insider about why people complain and hit the Report as Spam button.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=44785

I posted a reply and thought I would share it here:

Here is another tactic: Talk to people like human beings!

What you want is the customer, subscriber, whoever to complain directly to you.

If you come off like a mass marketer or “institution” people are inclined to go to a third party to complain. If you are just David, people are more inclined to complain (directly) to you…in a much gentler tone.

People get angry, stop and scream when they are afraid of not being heard in any other way.

Email is the perfect medium to add this human touch…but most marketer still prefer to hide behind the skirts of a “Brand” or Institution.

Chris Baggott
ExactTarget

Advertising in Video Games....

So someone explain this to me please:

There is a ton of hype about Ad's in Video Games.   But so far the best argument in favor of these branded placements is: "The Gamers Don't Seem to Hate them as much as we thought."

Not the most compelling argument I've ever heard.....

And compounded by comments by respected analysts like Charlene Li of Forrester who in IBD this weekend questions the Ad Model in Social Network Sites.   Charlene said: "One of the biggest problems with social networks is that consumers are not engaging with the ads."

Does this seem like a double standard to anyone else?   Am I more likely to click an ad when I'm doing an outside pass on turn 4 at 115 mph?

A New Study On Email Newsletter & RSS Usability

Dan Farber highlights in his blog "Between The Lines" this week a new study published by Nielsen Norman Group on email newsletter usability, including 165 guidelines for subscriptions, content, managing accounts and RSS-based news feeds. I'm not familiar with this group, but apparently the company has produced a similar report about every two years.

What's great here is more reinforcement of the obvious. You have to be relevant. Don't waste my time. One quote: "People scan the inbox list in quite a brutal manner. If they don't think it's worthwhile or spam they delete it."

Keywords to success: Timely, Short & Scannable.

My words: Use your data. Talk to me only when you have something to say. You constituents will reward you.

Thomas Paine and the "Common Sense" of software driven marketing.

As I was rereading "Common Sense" last night (remember, there are very few new ideas...only new applications of old ideas) this line in the opening paragraph struck me:

"A long habit of not thinking something wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right...."

So many of us have had our primary focus on Mass Marketing, Branding and expensive professional services that they are so familiar & comfortable....they 'seem' harmless. But according to our old friend Paine, that doesn't make them right.

We all know that Marketing Democracy, The One-to-One Future, Left Brain Marketing....are all inevitable. But when? What is the right time?

Again, lets go back to the wisdom of my friend Mr. Paine:

As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of things, and endeavor, if possible, to find out the very time. But we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the time hath found us.

The Time Hath Found Us.

I can think of no more exciting time in history to be a marketer.