Alex Krylov says, “Globalization affects retailers in a number of ways. Complying with commercial laws wherever they have brick-and-mortar stores is one such impact. Navigating through privacy rules that impact e-commerce efforts is another. There is one blind spot in particular that deserves attention  — sending shopping cart abandonment emails. I am often asked, “How are abandonment emails treated under the CAN-SPAM Act? Canada’s stringent Anti-Spam Law (CASL)?” “Can I even send abandonment emails to my Canadian customers?” But let’s back up… What is an ‘abandonment’... [...]

Ashley Lockridge says, “By now you’ve all seen the headlines about the burgeoning success of eCommerce compared to the relatively drastic decline in transactions for brick-and-mortar stores during the holiday season. ComScore data showed desktop online sales in the last two months of 2016 rose 12%, and are expected to rise to 16-19% once the mobile commerce numbers are tallied. This steady downward trend for brick-and-mortars has been caused by a variety of factors. Amazon has carved out a desire for free, fast shipping and one-stop shopping. The rise of “fast-fashion” pushes consumers... [...]

Experian team says, “Engagement matters.  It matters to marketers and it matters to the consumer…but what is the most effective way to improve that engagement?  We sat down with Marketing Expert, Liz McLemore to get her take on the top 5 marketing resolutions to improve your marketing programs. Resolution 1: Gain a full understanding of your data This year, strive to get a full picture of what data you have available. In order to really know who your customers are across all channels and be able to deliver meaningful experiences to them, you’ll need to consider what sources of data... [...]

Spencer Kollas says, “In recent weeks I have had a number of customers ask me about purchasing an e-append in order to increase their overall customer list size right before the holiday season. For those of you who are unfamiliar with an e-append, it is the process purchasing email addresses from a third party company and then matching them to your known customer demographic information, so that you may start emailing customers whose contact information you previously did not have. There are a number of potential issues with the use of e-appends so I want to caution anyone considering this... [...]

Sophia Jacobson says, “Whether you’re moving to a new Email Service Provider (ESP) or simply adding new IPs or domains to your current email program, ‘warming’ is one of the most important steps to establishing a good sender reputation with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and maintaining strong email delivery performance.  Warming a new IP or domain is the process of gradually increasing volume from each over a certain amount of time, based on total volume you plan to send daily – usually following a customized schedule developed by your ESP.  The overall goal is to be considered... [...]

Kevin Dean says, “Every day more and more consumer data becomes available from a variety of sources. And every day, marketers struggle to capture, integrate and understand how to make that data relevant and actionable. Marketers need to use their data intelligently in order to gain a more holistic view into their customer base.  As consumers jump from one device/channel to the next, marketers need to meet them where they are. Clearly, data has the potential to be powerful. But it can also be meaningless if organizations do not have the resources or know-how to capitalize on its potential.... [...]

Bridget Bidlack says, “Every organization has first-party data — and first-party data is every organization’s golden goose. But not all organizations understand how to capitalize on its potential. Part of the challenge: With data growing at such an exponential rate, many marketers struggle to sift through the attributes that can inform their next customer interaction. While the abundance of available data can have tremendous value, it can be rendered useless without the know-how to activate it properly. I recently participated in a panel at the AdExchanger Programmatic I/O Conference,... [...]

Spencer Kollas says, “As many folks within the email eco-system probably know by now, Spamhaus, an organization known for compiling several widely used anti-spam lists, has been extremely active this week. Over the past week, Spamhaus has listed a number of potentially hazardous IP addresses used by some of the world’s largest email service providers due to the way their newsletters signups are set up. According to most of the listings, Spamhaus has stated: Unfortunately, the said newsletter service is not verifying the email address of new subscribers. Due to this, the service can be... [...]

Matt Tipperreiter says, “Remove the divisions causing a disjointed customer journey The term “single customer view” gets used in many ways and it can mean different things to different people. For our purposes, a single customer view is a person’s identity — the core attributes that bring together marketing events, such as each individual’s behavior, contact data, preferences and motivations. Managing identities isn’t just an academic exercise. Every organization needs a marketing strategy that helps them understand who each individual customer is no matter when or how they are... [...]

Scott Paprocki says, “As marketers continue to examine the effectiveness of new channels and devices to incorporate into their marketing mix, your email list remains a key ingredient. Whether being used as a personal identifier across channels or as a tried and true channel for delivering marketing messages, marketers will continue to see benefits from maintaining an email marketing program, even beyond the inbox. Maintenance is essential to keeping that email marketing program moving and hinges on managing the overlap between sender reputation, large inactive email lists and driving return... [...]