Kim Garst says, “Email marketing is huge and likely will be for many years to come. In fact, in Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s recently released 2015 State of Marketing Report, 73 percent of 5,000 marketers agreed that email marketing is core to their businesses and 60 percent went so far as to say that it was a “critical enabler” of their products and services, an 18 percent increase over 2014. Here are five quick and easy ways that you can use social media to build not just a large, but a highly targeted and engaged email list. 1. Integrate your email service with your Facebook page. Most... [...]

Rachel Youngberg says, “You’re a smart marketer. You’ve kept up on the latest trends and best practices. You already know that email marketing is one of the largest growing budget areas for marketing departments in 2015. And you also know that if your emails aren’t responsive, you’re missing out on a huge engagement opportunity. According to eMarketer’s 2014 Benchmarks, mobile email opens nearly tripled from 2011 to 2014, and for the first time, mobile email usage reached 50% in November 2014. As an email marketer, my job is to get people to open and engage with... [...]

Emma O’Neill says, “We are living in the era of personalization. We have an abundance of data at our fingertips, but we don’t always make the most of the opportunity it provides. Many businesses have been incredibly slow to take up personalization. In fact it has been reported that only 5% of companies personalize extensively. That is a shockingly low figure. So, why are we failing to use personalization in our marketing strategies? It certainly isn’t because of ignorance of the benefits. Marketers seem to be aware of the value, as 94% of companies say that personalization is... [...]

Erin Hogg says, “Balancing promotional content with brand affinity content is a challenge — how can you meet your business strategy with promotional emails but not overwhelm subscribers? How can you create an experience that is unique to your brand and builds awareness and loyalty with customers? Learn how national restaurant collection Mellow Mushroom goes the extra mile with email marketing, serving up artistic and customer-centric messaging and content for subscribers to devour as well as infusing promotional emails without tipping the balance”. Brand Affinity: Mellow Mushroom builds... [...]

Ginny Soskey says, “I’d venture a guess you get tons of emails in your inbox every day. Coupons, daily deal sites, newsletters, password resets, lead nurturing emails, social media notifications, invitations to friends’ parties, and maybe even a few emails from your mom. That’s a lot to sift through, never mind actually open. So what makes you want to take that extra step to actually open an email? Often, it’s the subject line. After all, it’s your very first impression of the email — and from it, you’ll do your best to judge the content on the... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “From previous Charts of the Week, we learned that Americans overwhelmingly prefer to receive email over other channels and that 91% of people want to receive promo emails. However, that doesn’t mean that customers don’t see room for improvement. In this MarketingSherpa Chart of the Week, we take a look at research from 1,748 American adults who want to receive company emails to help you discover opportunities for improving your email marketing“. How customers want you to change your email marketing MarketingSherpa  [...]

Mashable team says, “So, you sent an email. You expect a prompt response. Then, you wait. And wait. And it starts to feel like dating, where you rethink all of your last interactions and wonder whether you said or did something wrong. Unfortunately, you might be right. We lose 10 IQ points from fielding constant email, so we’re bound to make mistakes when it comes to sending them. Here are some reasons you may be dealing with radio silence. 1. Your email was too long In researching statistics about email usage, I found lots of studies and claims: Over 100 billion emails are sent per day,... [...]

Cara Olson says, “We are already well into 2015, but many marketers are still refining their plans for the year. I’m beginning to hear several common themes emerge among email experts as they evaluate the year’s priorities. Looking back, for many, 2014 was the year of creating more triggers (and optimizing existing triggers) to increase the share of volume and revenue that triggered campaigns represent. While that should be a continued focus, especially if any of those 2014 projects have lingered into 2015, here are some additional priorities to consider as part of your plan. 1. More... [...]

Rob Lass says, “Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. If you’ve been sending emails to your subscribers for the holiday, keep it up! Now’s the time to attract those last-minute shoppers. Considering that consumers are rushing to purchase final gifts (hey – it still counts!), they’re probably searching through dozens of Valentine’s Day-related emails that are swarming their inbox. So how can you stand out from the competition and get subscribers to buy from your business? By using a compelling subject line, of course. To ensure that you have a captivating subject line, we’ve... [...]

Verónica Maria Jarski says, “Are you sharing the love with your customers this Valentine’s Day? You should be. “Data collected on Valentine’s Day 2014 from 500 million shopping experiences showed that retailers experienced an 11% improvement in average order value the week leading up to Valentine’s Day,” according to data cited in a Nextopia infographic. Moreover, total conversions also increased by 24%. So, how can you optimize your ROI on this holiday? One way is to boost your social marketing campaigns. “Shoppers referred from Facebook averaged $125.24... [...]