Archive for 2006
December 5, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
An article from Online Media Daily says email marketing is losing its ground since aggressive spam filtering is affecting deliverability, and people are moving to new Web 2.0 tools - blogs, RSS, social networking etc.
I admit, I don’t really remember life before email… I was pretty young, but I’m willing to bet in email’s heyday everyone was saying that direct mail was dead… and look over 10 years later, it’s still around!
However, as the article says, I would like to see some of these new exciting social media tools better integrated with email, but I suspect, with all the different email clients, it definitely be a slow transition.
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
December 4, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
An article from iMedia Connection today, “Get the Most ROI from your Email” is a great how-to article about choosing an agency to help with your email strategy.
This is extremely relevant, as the perceived “Easiness” of email often makes people overlook a solid strategy. But of course, without a plan and strategy, the goals of your email program start to get overlooked or ignored. While the article recommends working with an expert (and so would I… Since that’s what we do!) If you don’t have the resources, do some research, make some goals, and try it yourself, as the article cites, the latest figures has an ROI of around $57 for each dollar spent (as opposed to $22 for other marketing channels)So it’s definitely worth it to make the most of your email program!
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
December 1, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
Exciting News! We’ve partnered up with the Search Engine Specialists at Drive Traffic to offer a very special Search Engine Optimization contest!
Have you thought about optimizing your web site but not sure where to start? Or maybe you’re looking to hire someone to help, but aren’t sure if it’s worth the money.
Basically what happens is, you enter the contest, if your name is chosen, you will get an SEO expert who will set you up with Google Analytics, show you how to use it, and optimize one page of your site for the very, very reasonable price of $350.
Check out more details.. OR Enter the contest now!
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No Comments | Posted in Search Marketing
November 28, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
Ok, we usually think of email as being around a decade old… but did you know the first email was sent 35 Years Ago?
Thanks to the folks over at MailChimp blog for pointing to this article, Cringe! Worst emails ever, talking about some of the world’s most infamous email blunders, in honour of Email’s 35th birthday this past Saturday.
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
November 24, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
The Globe and Mail today had an article about new “stealth” spamming techniques that evade filters. A lot of it, I’ve talked about before in this blog, but the article also has a great list of tips for not getting spam.
Although one of them, “Do not click on any links contained in a spam message, especially the “unsubscribe” links.” I’m not too sure about the validity there - I mean I get tons of spam and I’ve never seen real spam with an “unsubscribe” link. It’s just not even there. However, I hear this “warning” all the time, and it leads to people reporting legitimate opt-in email as spam (which causes problems for legitimate email marketers).
If anyone has any info or examples of this, please share with me!
UPDATE: OK I swear someone is playing a cruel joke on me, because the day after I posted this, I received this in my inbox… and I’ve gotten similar ones everyday since!
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
November 23, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
So a few months ago, my mom told me about this beauty bulletin email and how it had good tips and whatever, so I signed up for it.
Anyway, it’s not the greatest email I’ve ever seen, but it was short and sweet, well organized and had good subject lines, so they get some points. But, I was browsing my gmail and I discovered it’s no longer HTML - all text - and I can’t even bear to read it anymore…
I’ll show you what I mean, I won’t post the whole thing since it’s a mile long, but here’s the opening paragraph (!!!)…
Some regulations make sense and some are just, well, you wonder what they were thinking. In September 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that products containing hydroquinone be sold only with a prescription due to their opinion that it poses certain health risks. There are some animal studies showing it may be a possible carcinogen, and studies from Africa have shown a risk of a skin disorder called ochronosis (Source: fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/E6-14263.htm). Hydroquinone-based products were banned in South Africa years ago where problems were most frequently seen. However, hydroquinone products in South Africa were also notorious for containing mercury and glucocorticoids, among other caustic contaminants, which were believed by many to be the cause of the disorders experienced (Source: British Journal of Dermatology, March 2003, pages 493-500).
More than 200 products containing hydroquinone are currently sold in the United States, and, according to Dr. Susan Taylor, founding director of the Skin of Color Center in New York City and assistant professor of dermatology at Columbia University, “Hydroquinone is the gold standard for treating pigmentation disorders and has been for many years. I consider it to be very safe and effective” (Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Wednesday, September 6, 2006). Currently, a product containing up to 2% hydroquinone may be sold over the counter, while a product containing more than 2% requires a prescription or can be purchased from a physician (Source: fda.gov).
As someone who sells skin-care products containing hydroquinone and who has researched the cosmetics industry for years, this proposed ban on hydroquinone does not make sense. I base that statement on abundant research from reputable sources that shows hydroquinone to be safe and extremely effective in the manner in which it is used in over-the-counter and prescription products (Sources: Cutis, August 2006, Supplemental pages 6-19; Journal of Cosmetic Laser Therapy, September 2006, pages 121-127; American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, July 2006, pages 223-230; and Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, May 2006, Supplemental, pages 272-281). Surprisingly, there is even research showing that workers who handle pure hydroquinone actually have lower incidences of cancer than the population as a whole (Source: Critical Reviews in Toxicology, May 1999, pages 283-330). Research to the contrary was done either using products contaminated with other ingredients or was performed on mice using high concentrations of hydroquinone–and that doesn’t equate to the levels of hydroquinone used in topical, over-the-counter skin-care products. Further evidence that this proposed ban doesn’t make sense comes from the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), who doesn’t agree with the FDA’s proposal–yet the AAD stands to gain the most if consumers can only obtain hydroquinone products with a dermatologist’s prescription.
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
November 21, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
If you are in Ottawa, and interested in Social Media, I definitely recommend checking out Third Monday, which happens (you guessed it!) the third monday of every month.
This was my first time, and it was great! The speakers, Marc Snyder (from Montreal) and Darren Barefoot (Vancouver) were interesting and informative, and the informal, conversation-style presentation was great too. Plus I loved the location - Fresco Ciela - a 30-second walk from our office.
Some other bloggers I met there were John and Brett from 76design (blog = shift+control), Joseph Thornley from Thornley Fallis (blog = Pro PR) (one of the organizers) and Michael O’Connor (Uninstalled).
I met some other cool people too, these are just the ones that told me about their blogs.
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2 Comments | Posted in Email marketing
November 20, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
Now to totally contradict everything I say, I’d like to point you to this article by David Baker on MediaPost called “Don’t Believe everything you hear” basically it says ignore what the experts tell you, about preview panes, images-only emails, email length etc.
Basically it contradicts a lot of stuff I say regularly in this blog…
BUT, the point the article makes, which I 100% agree with is TEST your OWN emails against themselves. It’s very true to - While I DO think you should consider all the above expert topics - afterall, this advice comes from people who live and breath email everyday - however, you should also TEST, test, test your own emails, because just because I know a lot about email in general..doesn’t mean I know anything about your subscribers and what they want.
Secretly, it breaks my heart when I suggest a client that they test something and their response is something like “Yea, but I read this article that says you should always do this…” (ESPECIALLY when it’s something I wrote!)
So in closing I’ll quote the last and most important paragraph from the article:
The moral of this urban legend is, use best practices, studies, and guidance from the experts as a starting point, but don’t consider their advice to be absolute. You need to adjust your e-mail for your target audience and for what you want to achieve. Most importantly, test, test, and test some more.
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
November 14, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
Ok so my last post was all about best practices for the unsubscribe function, well not long after I posted that, I recieved a forwarded email from a friend with a really bad example for unsubscribing, and the culprit is Chapters/Indigo!
First of all, after the email, there were four pretty lengthy paragraphs of “fine print” and buried at the bottom was the instructions to unsubscribe:
This email was sent to: …. If you no longer wish to receive our promotional emails, click here to log into your Online Account, select “Your 1)Settings”, deselect the email checkbox in the “Email Extras” section and click “Submit” to update your settings. If you are an irewards member and do not have a Chapters Indigo Account, you can unsubscribe by emailing your irewards number to iRunsubscribe@indigo.ca.
Please allow up to 7 business days for your request to be processed.
So let’s look at this closely, in order to unsubcribe, you must:
- Click the link
- Log in to your account (what are the chances you even remember your username/password?
- Select “Your settings”
- Deselect “Email Extras”
- Allow up to 7 days to take effect.
That seems a little ridiculous to me! Oh wait - you can also unsubscribe via an email to a seperate email address, but you must include your iRewards member number (which is not included in the original email) so that means you have to go digging around in your wallet to find the card then type out the long number.
This is very unacceptable, especially when it’s so easy to make a quick, and instant, unsubscribe feature. Your subscribers should not be “punished” for not wanting to receive your emails anymore!
PS- I may be a little cranky today due to my horrible cold… I will say that aside from the lousy “unsubscribe” instructions, the email was very, very good. 
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
November 14, 2006 by Kelly Rusk
Return Path posted a great article about best practices for the unsubscribe function in your emails.
You should always make the unsubscribe easy to do, and easy to find, because there is absolutely no benefit to “tricking” your subscribers to stay on your list - it just leads to peeved subscribers and spam complaints!
This article is especially timely, given the current YesMail Fiasco, so it’s definitely worth checking out.
Does Your Unsubscribe Process Follow These 5 Best Practices?
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No Comments | Posted in Email marketing
