ADVANCED

EMAIL MARKETING
Tools for professional marketers

edited by SendBlaster

www.sendblaster.com
 INDEX

PREFACE

SUBJECT LINE AND DESIGN

1. Subject line: Some advanced suggestions
2. Choosing the right color for your newsletter
3. Designing emails – also for mobiles
4. HTML for newsletters

MARKETING TECHNIQUES
1. Address people, not their email addresses
2. Database segmentation
3. Email appending: a controversial practice
4. Remarketing: abandoned shopping carts
5. Isolate inactive users
6. Other remarketing ideas
7. How to respond to an email
8. Customer service: the right way
DELIVERABILITY AND SPAM
1. Improve your IP's reputation
2. Email authentication
3. Frying the bacon: Spam 2.0
4. Streamlining the opt-out process
5. Keep in mind the churn rate
6. A brief history of spam

LOOKING AHEAD
1. The "death of the email"
2. The evolution of email sharing

CONCLUSION - Digital marketing and happiness

 PREFACE

Advanced email marketing is a supplementary guide

to any straightforward overviews of the best
practices in the sector that enable anyone to start up
and manage their own email campaign. It's thought
for professional marketers and people who want to
make a step up in their strategy.
We offer useful tips for improving the design of your
template (with an extensive guide to the right use of
HTML in newsletters), to getting down to the nuts
and bolts of certain marketing techniques (such as
reactivating "dormant" customers to better customer
care).
We have also dedicated considerable space to those,
often overlooked, technical issues such as
deliverability; and of course a look at how the email
world is changing and its future.
Despite the proliferation of a wide range of other
types of digital communication - instant messaging to
social platforms for example - email is still an
extremely important channel. It's able to generate
very high returns on low initial investment costs.
Another good reason to keep improving one's skills,
targeting your messages more accurately, making
them more relevant and eye-catching.
 1

SUBJECT LINE AND DESIGN

1. Subject line: some advanced suggestions

A newsletter's subject line is its calling card to a

user's inbox, offering a tantalizing taste of what's to
come. To stimulate adequate attention, it must
adhere to some basic requirements: such as brevity,
compactness, capturing the essence of the message's
meaning, and originality.

Of course, writing something really effective in a

limited number of characters (the recommended
length being between 25 and 50) is obviously not
easy. However, with a bit of practice, anyone can
become a good short text copywriter. Here are some
useful advanced suggestions:

Fine-tune the order of each word.

You say that fifty characters simply aren't enough.
However, they are! For example, placing the discount
or offer at the beginning, i.e. "-25% off all books and
CDs", is much more effective than "All books and CDs
are -25%."

Think in segments.
Segmenting your list and mailing-out customized
newsletters is one of the basic steps for any modern
email marketing strategy (as we'll discuss in more
detail further on). Obviously, each mail-out should
also correspond to a different subject line - make
sure that the coherence between content and
subject line is always consistently high, and play
around with the most suitable words for each of the
database segments.

Never stop testing.

One will never insist enough on the importance of
testing as an essential way of improving all aspects of
a campaign. The subject line is one of the easiest
elements to be tested: try sending the same
newsletter but with two different versions to two
segments chosen from your database, and evaluate
their impacts. Above all, don't limit yourself to
performing a one off test: the control and
enhancement process should be ongoing.

Use symbols.
Instead of just plain old letters and basic signs, why
not add a touch of creativity to your subject line by
playing around with different symbols such as
Unicode characters. For instance:
★ Thank you for your registration★
♥ We have a special offer only for you
The idea is that a heart or a star has a much better
chance of catching the user's eye. A bit like looking
for a needle in a haystack, it's more likely to stand
out amidst all those other subject lines that only
contain letters and numbers. It just might give
readers that one invaluable second of gratification
and a smile.
Also, there does not appear to be any evidence that
links symbols to spam: therefore, from this point of
view there's nothing to hold you back. Beware,
though: certain mail clients - such as Outlook 2003
and Lotus Notes - do not permit them to be
displayed: it is therefore vital to carry out tests.
As for effectiveness, it depends on your brand - a
company with a more distinguished or serious profile
runs the risk of looking stupid -, on the segment the
message is to be sent to such as age, tastes etc, on
the message itself i.e. the type of offer or advertising
and of course, on the type of symbol used. If you
think that all it takes is a tiny heart in the subject line
to bolster the open rate, then think again. But a
symbol of a plane for a DEM that sells discount flights
... Why not?
2. Choosing the right color for your newsletter

Choosing the right combination of colors for your

newsletter, website or banner, isn't as trivial as it may
seem. Colors have a strong visual and psychological
impact and can play an important role in the success
of any campaign. So, graphically speaking, what do
we need to look at?

Avoid thousands of different colors. It only creates

confusion and disrupts the reading hierarchy. Color
helps to emphasize or make certain elements stand
out. If everything is colored it works against its
original scope.

Special attention should be given to the font color,

especially in terms of readability. A yellow text on a
white background is very difficult to read and is likely
to be over looked. The basic readability rules are the
same ones that apply to signs. Use sharp contrasting
colors such as yellow on black or the classic black on
white or vice versa.

Choosing the color of your company's logo or

corporate colors can also play an important role. If
the logo is red, by playing on the tone, you can
transform it into the symbol of your newsletter. In
doing so, it becomes instantly recognizable. Being
consistent with the original color of the website is
therefore essential.

All the colors placed in your newsletter are all

somehow interrelated. So, don't forget to create a
balance between them. If you're not sure of the right
choice, refer to Itten's work on color combinations.
For example, one aspect is simultaneous contrast i.e.
a color always looks for its complementary. This
means the color positioned opposite each other on
the 12 colors wheel and it spreads into neighboring
colors.

Or, rely on Kuler to create your own color scheme.

This is Adobe's online color tool. Starting off with one
color, it helps you determine the others. There are
several criteria to choose from, such as
monochromatic, analogous, complementary, same
tone, or starting from an image.

Finally, we are not dealing with hard copy, where it's

easier to control the published results, but the web.
The graphic display of colors depends also on the
type of screen you're viewing from. It's best to
choose saturated and decisive colors in order to
avoid overly bright tones that can hinder legibility.
Avoid highlighter colors that tend to dazzle the
reader.

Of course, carrying out a number of tests on a wide

range of different displays - such as desktops or
mobiles - is still the best way to verify the impact of
your template.
3. Designing Emails for Mobile

Optimizing the design of your newsletter to suit

mobile devices is crucial. No longer is it just
important, it's become fundamental.
Firstly because the amount of mobile traffic on the
web is constantly increasing. In particular, Litmus's
"Email Analytics" report explains, 51% of email is
now opened on a mobile device.

Moreover, mobile received the largest percentage of

unique clicks (40%) according to Experian "Quarterly
Email Benchmark Study" (Q2 2013).
In short, we are no longer dealing with "gaining a
slice of the public", or creating a visual design
different from the classic one: direct marketing as a
whole has been constantly moving to mobile devices.
And so, only one template should be used that is
suitable for every type of device.
So, check these tips out.

Size matters.
The first point is the most obvious: make sure the
layout of your newsletter can be displayed on a small
screen. One of the worst things that can happen to
someone reading an email on a mobile is to have to
scroll across the page.
The principal concern to keep in mind is therefore
the width of the message. In any case, it is best to
use the "viewport" meta tag in the newsletter's
HTML. As far as the size of the message, keep it
around 25-30 kb (allowing it to be downloaded
rapidly, even with 3G networks).

Subject lines - the shorter the better.

Another factor that should come naturally, but
unfortunately far too often it isn't so: the mobile
trend requires us to be more concise. This doesn't
mean to sacrifice the clarity of our message in the
name of conciseness, but simply to pay more
attention. A subject line a fraction longer than the
standard 40-50 characters might not cause any big
readability issues on a desktop, but on a smartphone
it's likely to create an annoying "line breaker"...

Key information comes first.

While the classic visual display of desktops enable
users to view almost the entire content or at least a
large preview, mobile screens tend to cut out much
of the content in the first "glimpse" of the message.
It is therefore vital that key information is placed at
the beginning of the newsletter - and that the
newsletter itself does not waffle on too much. Time
is of the essence when it comes to online messaging,
here is even shorter.

Truly "digital" content.

You can't use a mouse on a smartphone: so whilst it's
best to keep the size compact, don't forget that our
fingers do all the interacting - they are much larger
than a pointer and far less accurate. The call to
action, in particular, must be large enough to be be
easily tapped by a finger-tip.

Provide a text-only version.

A text only message - which would look rather poor
on a PC - is in many ways ideal for the size and the
type of use of mobiles. However, we must always
keep in mind that users can open our emails through
different channels: removing images just because of
smartphones is a bit dumb - you need to design a
layout that is valid for both media. A sensible
alternative is to always provide a text version,
perhaps via a link in the header: "Click here, if you're
reading from a mobile". In any case, when it comes
to images, always pay particular attention to their
size and include a descriptive text i.e. alt attribute in
HTML - just in case they fail to be displayed.

It's a - smart - phone!

It might be smart, but it's still a phone: remember to
always include your phone number so that your
contacts can get hold of you quickly. Unlike classic
computers, you're only a finger-tip stroke away. It's
also a good move in terms of customer service.

Carry out tests.

Because mobile visual display standards aren't
standard, it's best to carry out a round of tests on
different devices to evaluate the results before going
ahead with any mail-outs. A great tool in this regard
is Preview My Email, which lets you simulate the
performance of your layout on a wide range of media
devices.
4. HTML for newsletters

Basically, a newsletter is nothing more than an HTML

page. Here we have put together a number of
advanced tips to develop a clean and efficient code:
they may be useful also if you're not an HTML expert,
or passed to your own web designer.

Tools.
The recommended tools to write HTML/CSS code for
email are text editors. In fact, software with
WYSIWYG interface tends to insert blocks of code or
styles which, although valid for a normal HTML page,
are not always suitable for HTML email - which must
comply with much more restrictive characteristics.

We recommend above all Notepad++, which unlike

Windows' Notepad integrates useful features such as
"code suggestion" and an optimal standard of "code
highlight".

Dreamweaver can also be used, as long as you take

full advantage of "view code" to enter and/or check
and correct the source code generated by WYSIWYG
commands.
File size and content.
The maximum width of the newsletter body -
excluding the background - should not exceed 600px.
Whilst the only height limits are based on common
sense and the assumed level of interest of recipients.
However, considering that the block at the top that
has the greatest impact is 300/400 px high, thus it's
here that all key information and any call-to-action
must be placed.
When it comes to the size of the email, it is good
practice not to exceed 100 KB. In any case, always try
to create templates as light as possible.
It also appears that Gmail, on some mobile devices,
limits the display of the first 102KB of the email,
appending a link at the bottom so as to view the
entire message.

HTML structure of the page.

The page should be developed using the "classical"
tags such as <table> and related sub-tags, <img>, <p>
and related inline elements like <em>, <strong>,
<span> etc excluding <font> which should be
avoided, <hr> and for links <a>.
Pay special attention to tags such <h1>, <h2> etc as
they tend to be read in very different ways by certain
clients. Should it be the case, try to define the
highest number of properties with CSS - as we will
see shortly. Although the <div> tag is not prohibited,
it is advisable to use it as sparingly as possible, as it
and any associated CSS styles are not always read in
the same way by different email clients. In addition,
CSS styles that have made the <div> tag so popular
(position, display, etc) don't work with most mail
clients. The same applies to <ol>, <ul> and <li> tags.

Therefore, the basic structure of the page should be

based on tables, inserting as little as possible one
inside another, and possibly without rowspan and
colspan attributes (that join several cells in the same
row or column).

For all valid tags it's much better to specify the HTML
attributes of the tag itself, rather than only
equivalent CSS declarations.

For example, defining the width of a table in <table>

tag, it is best to also use the HTML properties
width="600" instead of only CSS in the form of
style="width: 600px". Using both these declarations
is the best thing to do.
For cells, Yahoo uses non-standard alignment values
valign and align, so it is always better to declare them
for each <td> containing images or text smaller than
the cell itself. In addition, Yahoo never considers the
cellspacing attribute but does accept cellpadding.
Javascript, external CSS, <object> and <iframe> are
strictly forbidden.
In order to create a background for the entire page,
larger than the actual content of the newsletter or to
place it in the centre of the page, insert all the HTML
code in a "father" table with a width of 100% and set
a background. A practical example:

<table cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"

bgcolor="#CCCCCC" style="width: 100%">
<tr>
<td>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600"
bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
style="width:600px" align="center">
<tr>
<td>CONTENT</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
CSS.
CSS is very important because it enables the
newsletter to be displayed in the same way by
different mail clients. It should be used following
certain tricks.
Firstly, you should clearly know which attributes can
be used, as not all of them are supported. In
addition, CSS style declarations should be inserted
"inline" rather than in the HTML page's <head> tag,
because often clients delete this block.

So, don't:

<html>
<head>
<style>
p{
font-size:12px;
color:#333333;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Lorem Ipsum</p>
</body>
</html>
But do:

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<p style="font-size:12px; color:#333333; [...]">Lorem
Ipsum</p>
</body>
</html>

However, some non-decisive features can be

included in the <head> block, such as the pseudo-
class :hover. But it's worth noting that in many
situations these styles have no effect. In addition, the
contracted forms of CSS declarations are not always
supported. Therefore, do not:

<p style="font: bold 12px Georgia,serif;">Lorem

Ipsum</p>

But rather:

<p style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px; font-family:

Georgia,serif;">Lorem Ipsum</p>
For more information on contracted forms of CSS,
check out Web Hosting Search.

Text.
Making the text of an HTML email as less sensitive as
possible to clients displaying it is perhaps the most
laborious task.
One of the first problems is the different
management approach by different clients, such as
margin, padding and line-height attributes.
It is good practice to include an inline statement to
get rid of this problem, and thus refine these values.
For example:

<p style="padding:0px; margin:0px; margin-bottom:15px;

line-height:18px;">Lorem Ipsum</p>

Such properties should be declared for any <p>,

<h1>, <h2> etc.

To enter a space above the element it is

recommended using padding, because Hotmail does
not support margin-top.
For line-height property it's best to use the px unit of
measurement, since Gmail does not correctly
interpret percentage values and Outlook 2007
doesn't interpret those expressed in em.

<h2> to <h6> tags require some extra tricks when it

comes to the CSS style color. It appears that Hotmail
doesn't support this style for such tags. However, it's
easily resolved by putting the <hn> tag content in a
<span> tag, as shown in the following example:

<h2 style="......."><span style="color: #663300;">Lorem

Ipsum</span></h2>

It pays to remember that these tags aren't so

important in a newsletter, and can therefore be
replaced by normal paragraphs appropriately
stylized. The same problem also crops up in the
hypertext links, since some clients/webmail find it
difficult to accept a different color than the default's
one. Also in this case, adding a <span> tag allows for
a more uniform display:

<a style="color: #663300"

href="http://www.website.com"><span style="color:
#663300;">Lorem Ipsum</span></a>
In terms of which font should be used, given that
emails are often read via webmail, it is necessary to
limit the choice amongst the set of standard web
characters. An official list of web-safe fonts can be
consulted at W3Schools.
It's also useful to keep in mind that Gmail doesn't like
the use of 'single' or “double” quotes that enclose a
font name consisting of several words. Use style
="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;" instead of
style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;".

In some cases it's possible that instead of an image

missing or blocked by the client, the content of the
respective attribute alt="" gets displayed. For this
reason, if the image is located directly within a <td>
cell, it is best to apply the text's CSS definitions also
to the cell container.

Finally, Outlook 2012 doesn't handle the <ol>, <ul>

and <li> tags properly. One solution is to use the
&bull; symbol to display a bullet point before the
listed items, or manually insert each number in the
case of ordered lists (<ol>). If you foresee that even
one element requires more than one line, you can
enter the various items in the right hand column of a
table, and the bullet points in the left one.
Images.
The first point to consider when it comes to the use
of images in newsletters is that the majority of
desktop and webmail clients block them by default,
unless the mail-out software includes them in the
email.
So, if the images play an import role in getting the
message across, here are two tricks:

1. Insert a piece of text (near the top of the email)

requesting users to approve the download of images;

2. Insert an alternative text and explanation (tag

alt="") of the image, making sure that its color is not
lost in the background applied to the container of the
image (usually a <td>). Using a colored background
for the container can also help to draw attention to
the alternative text.

In order to align an image to the left or right hand

side of a block of text, it's best to use the HTML
attribute align="" rather than the corresponding CSS
float:, which tends to be less supported. The
supported formats are .jpg and .gif.
Some webmails add a few pixels above or below the
image, and so if multiple images are contained in
different cells to form a single graphic element the
effect is likely to be very unpleasant.
This problem can be overcome if the container's CSS
line-height attribute is less than the font size. Usually
a value of 70% is sufficient. For example, if a font-size
equal to 12px has been applied to a cell, set the line-
height to 8px (2 x .7 = 8.4), as can be seen below:

<td style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 8px"><img

src="......" /></td>

This value can be directly set to 0px, provided that it

can accurately foresee that any alternative text does
not go over two lines - which would otherwise
overlap and thus be unreadable.

If your mail software or online platform doesn't

support the inclusion of images, it is a good idea to
upload them by ftp to a server, and insert them in
HTML using the absolute path:
src="http://www.website.com/en/[...]/image.jpg".
This also lets you create a lighter newsletter, which is
easier to mail-out.
Most clients/webmail support the use of background
images, with certain limitations though:

• the background image should be declared

using the HTML attribute background="..."
rather than the equivalent CSS background-
image: url(...);
• the CSS background-repeat: value is not
always supported, so consider using background
images that can be put side by side in any
direction - especially when they are used for
elements larger than the images themselves;
• it's also necessary to consider having a "solid"
displayable background if the background
image isn't supported at all, so that the
appearance of the newsletter is not ruined, and
any alternate text is still visible.

Testing.
Finally, it is good practice to test your template on a
number of platforms. We recommend that testing
should be carried out on at least AOL, Yahoo, Gmail,
Hotmail (Outlook.com), Android Mail, Android Gmail,
Apple Mail, Gmail for iOS, and clients like
Thunderbird, Windows Mail, Apple Mail, Outlook
2007/10/13+, Outlook 2000/03.
 2

MARKETING TECHNIQUES
1. Address people, not their email addresses

Email databases are every email marketer's prized

possession: unfortunately, it is often guarded with
very little care.

One of the most common mistakes, even made by

experienced professionals, is to buy address lists in
order to mail-out offers and communications. Sure,
buying a large number of addresses cheaply might
seem attractive but in reality they lack any worthy
value. It is not the quantity but rather the quality of
the users that makes the difference.

In other words: when you buy an email address list,

you only purchase the email addresses. You don't buy
all the interests of the people behind that list, nor
the information about them.
But the true purpose of email marketing is right to
address people. Recognizing their tastes, interests,
desires, diversity and reactions.

So the biggest mistake to make is treating your

contact database like some simple spreadsheet, to be
copied directly into your mail-out software. You'll just
end up mailing-out your newsletter without having
put any thought into. The feeling such paid lists give
is in reality the exact opposite: lifeless lists - as long
as you want, but completely useless.

For this reason, advanced email marketing opposes

indiscriminate mass mail-outs that use the old
fashion method of "hitting as many people as
possible with the same message." A top-down
approach to advertising that fails to take into account
the conversational and nuanced characteristics that
any communication on the web is made up of -
especially the social web.

On the contrary, a well-thought out email marketing

strategy is based on user segmentation and the
consequent profiling of messages, group by group. In
more concrete terms: know your customers - by
studying their purchases, desires, preferences - so as
to tempt them through more attractive and
competitive ad hoc offers. And above all, adding that
little bit of human touch and "warmth" that many
marketers loose as a result of the more "distant and
cold" digital medium.
All it takes is a little bit of good will.
2. Database segmentation

To segment your database correctly it's imperative to

carefully analyze the characteristics shared by groups
that appear to be "all the same". Of course, you must
collect such information without infringing on users
privacy.

The best way to it is to ask your users some basic

data in the registration form such as postal address
or age, and gather other info through surveys and a
rigorous post-campaign analysis. Of course, don't let
any other opportunities to build up your knowledge
slip through your fingers: thus, very often customer
service proves to be a gold mine when it comes to
revealing the needs of people and their tastes.

Now you can decide to split your list into several sub-
lists - to mail-out different offers. Just as a
shopkeeper would recommend the right product for
the right customer according to age, needs, the bits
of knowledge he's acquired over time.
After all, isn't it satisfying being able to walk into a
place and ask for "the usual"?
So, check out these categories-and-hints to help
segment your lists.

Active or non-active.
Separating active users - those who fill up their carts,
make purchases or at least access the website - from
the inactive ones - those who have simply
disappeared for some time - is an essential first step.
Inactive users should be targeted with notifications,
differing from loyal users who contribute to your e-
commerce activity, with the goal to "rekindle" their
interests - perhaps with some type of truly enticing
offer. The same approach can also be applied to
active users who don't go through with a purchase,
or users who abandon their shopping carts. (You'll
find a number of suggestions about it, in the
proceeding chapters).

Demographics.
It's a pretty obvious segmentation option, especially
if you sell a varied and wide range of goods. For
example, it is ideal for any type of clothing e-
commerce activity. All it takes is a bit of analysis to
create promotional campaigns according to users'
age, and in this case gender.
Buying behavior.
Classifying users according to their choices and their
tastes is another clever move. If you sell CDs and a
user buys two Radiohead albums, it's definitely
worth sending him and other interested customers a
promotional DEM about that artist's next album. Or if
you sell books, and a group of users have just bought
several fantasy books, let them know about the
release of Christopher Paolini's new novel.
It's the same mechanism effectively utilized by
Amazon, just to name one - "if you like this, then
you'll like this." This strategy tends to produce
extremely good results. However, it's advisable not to
go overboard and to carefully evaluate the offers.
People aren't algorithms, and trying to guess their
specific tastes to base your offers on is a good
practice, but it's also always a bit risky.
The researcher Eli Pariser spoke about the filter
bubble in terms of the tendency arising from
continuous search engines customization, trying to
obtain information tailored towards our beliefs and
reinforcing a vision of the world that we already
believe in.
From this point of view, an excellent way to obtain
additional information and avoid the filter bubble is
to propose a survey or introduce options to be
selected during the newsletter registration process.
For example, what kind of music or books do you
like? What things are you particularly keen on? And
so on. In this way, it will be the people themselves
who define their own profiles.

Geographical range.
If you sell products that are associated with a
geographical area, or events that occur within a
specific area e.g. concert tickets, segmenting based
on geographic location is a winning solution.

Quality and fidelity.

A careful analysis of your customer management
software will quickly come up with the best
customers. And as everyone knows, whoever has
purchased a lot always appreciates a small gift or an
exclusive promotional offer...
However, the quality of a customer is not only
measured in terms of how much they spend.
Rewarding customer loyalty is crucial, even if they
make small purchases.
Another segment that could easily be picked out and
rewarded is the most loyal users over time. This is
the perfect way to demonstrate that they're
important to you.
Be forward thinking!
Not every sub-categorization of the database is
suitable for every type of business. In short, you have
to patiently play around with your own... And
remembering that you're likely to make some
mistakes along the way. The art of segmentation can
be done in many different ways, and you yourselves
can just as easily come up with other new ones.
Think beyond the standard patterns and being
flexible is one of the fundamental rules necessary to
structure truly effective campaigns. There is no such
thing as "one segmentation fits all" or a type of
universal targeting. The only way forward is to
proceed by trial and error, testing each small step.
In short, it is possible (and worthwhile) to improve
together with your customers, listening with patience
and humility to their needs and acting on it. They'll
really appreciate it.
3. Email appending: a controversial practice

Email appending is the one-to-one process of

matching customer information with their email
address. Let's assume you've already got a list of
names of people you know, but not their email
addresses. Appending is all about finding the missing
pieces and inserting them into your database.

It is not entirely clear whether this is considered part

of the best practices of email marketing or not. Some
experts, like Eric Groves discourage it. Others, like
Simm Jenkins, think just the opposite - provided you
follow a few precautions.

Firstly, email appending should never be carried out

using random lists of names or lists collected willy-
nilly. Very often, the people whose emails we've got
simply don't want us to have them. Embarking on
such a strategy goes against the fundamental opt-in
rule - only mail-out your newsletter to whoever's
clearly given their consent.

That said, there are ad hoc services that offer ways of

appending by means of a database. Hughes and
Sweeters recommend in Successful Email Marketing
Strategies, to use Fresh Address. Another service is
iAppend. These platforms first send an invitation to
an email address they want to do the appending
with. If the invitation is accepted, you receive the
corresponding account.

This does not mean that the account should be

inserted immediately into the address book. It's
necessary to repeat the procedure to ensure you get
the opt-in permission.

In any case, from where we stand, email appending

appears to be quite an aggressive practice that lacks
transparency. There are several other ways to bolster
your database. Why take risks? It's better to rely on
secure and proven strategies.
4. Remarketing: abandoned shopping carts

Remarketing is a "second stimulus " given to a user

who previously showed some interest in a product,
but failed to take any action or purchase anything.

It's typical of many e-commerce shoppers to fill their

cart with items but exit before purchasing anything.
The advantage of shopping online, after all, is the fact
that people are able to go crazy filling up their virtual
cart but then put their purchase off for a later date.

The reasons for such behavior vary. Maybe the

shopper doesn't have his credit card handy, or needs
to dash off or more simply, prefers to wait and thus
uses the cart to save the wish list items. And it is
highly likely that users want to window shop around
and look for the best deals.

At the end of the day, it leads to guaranteed losses in

revenues. This phenomenon is far more common
than perhaps one might imagine.
So what can be done about it?
Easy: send off a profiled email to awaken this
"sleeping cart".
The idea is simple. Send an automated follow-up
email every time users abandon their purchase, to
remind them of what they're missing out on. Using
several important tips, like the good old ones
recommended by Sherry Chiger on ChiefMarketer:

Never send the message too soon, but don't leave it

too late either. A good rule of thumb is between 48
and 72 hours after the shopping cart was abandoned.
Sending it too early may give users that unpleasant
'big brother' feeling, but leaving it for more than
three days runs the risk the user may forget about
you or go elsewhere.

The winning strategy is to use a customer services

orientated approach. The less commercial your email
comes across the better. Instead of a "Hey, why didn't
you finalize your purchase?", offer assistance with a
"Were there any problems at the checkout? Can we
give you a hand to complete the process?"

Insert a link to the abandoned shopping cart. This is

important, as it enable shoppers to immediately get
their hands on the items they left behind. You can
also insert images of other similar products to
encourage cross-selling.
Create a sense of urgency during the purchasing
phase – but don't go overboard, of course! It is
enough to state that their basket will be deleted
within a few days. Our suggestion is that perhaps this
is too much and it may make customers feel they are
being pressured and their sense of freedom
threatened – which is essential in e-commerce for
one to feel free to come and go as she pleases.

It's not vital to include incentives or discounts, in

return for making a purchase. But if you do, be
careful not to give the impression that it is better to
abandon ones cart in order to be tempted with a
discount. Customers will see through this little trick!

Quantity or quality? Sure you can send more than

one follow-up email, but make sure never to harass
users unnecessarily.

We are also compelled to mention another point

about sending emails of this nature. Carefully
segment the users in question and focus on those
shoppers whose abandoned carts have a certain
dollar value: these people are more likely to be
better targets for a follow-up operation - instead of
someone who only selected one or two products.
5. How to find out the inactive users

Keeping your lists healthy does not just mean

deleting incorrect or duplicate addresses, but more
importantly re-awaken users who haven't carried out
any actions on your newsletter for some time -
haven't clicked the call to action, or even bothered to
open the email.

But more precisely, what do we mean by inactive

users? When and in what way can we consider one
of our subscribers "dormant" and therefore worthy
of some type of direct action to rekindle their
interest?

The first point one must consider is that the inactivity

rate depends largely on your email delivery strategy.
Meaning, the number and frequency of newsletters
mailed-out to the selected segment or the entire
database.

The second important consideration is that there are

different degrees of inactivity – all the nuances
requiring different solutions that must be decided
case by case.
Therefore, it's impossible to come up with universal
guidelines. The best solution is to follow a typical
case and develop general considerations that can be
adapted - with a pinch of common sense - to almost
every situation.

We'll take for example a fairly standard mail-out

strategy: two DEMs per week. What are the possible
inactivity scenarios? Let's look at a few of them:

1. No clicks after 30 days.

It is very important to distinguish between a click-
through and just opening an email. If your emails
continue to be opened but there are no clicks on the
call to action, it probably means the user is
temporarily not interested in the offer. In other
words, you still have to monitor this portion of users,
but there's no need to panic.

2. No emails opened after 30 days.

If the number of users who fail to open the
newsletter is very high, then the cause is probably
endemic and steps need to be taken to review the
quality of your subject lines and offers. If the
segment is limited, the best solution is to tailor make
an offer to "wake them up".
3. No activity after two months.
If there isn't any kind of reaction after all these
emails, then the user can be pretty much considered
inactive. Even in this case, the best solution is the
dedicated offer, personalizing the approach as much
as possible. If the inactive numbers are relatively
small, this is easy enough to do. To get to the root of
the problem rather than merely treating its
symptoms, it is necessary to look into the causes of
this behavior and accordingly develop suitable
strategies.

4. No activity after six months / a year.

Here users are very deep sleepers, and there are a
number of different reasons: a complete lack of
interest in our services to an un-notified change of
email address - few give it much thought! A quick call
- if you have the customer's number - or sending a
strictly personal email are the best ways to solve the
problem. And if the user really wants to opt-out, our
advice is always the same: make the procedure as
rapid as possible. If you can avoid sending another
useless message, it is better for you and the person.
Of course, these are just some possible scenarios
used as a guideline, but you will find that your
reactivation recipes may vary.
What's important to remember is that the analysis of
your databases should be carried out as accurately
as possible.

For example, a loyal user with a certain purchasing

track record should certainly be considered in a
different way from a recently registered user: if the
first has been inactive for some time, it is worth
personally writing and trying to find out whether the
already virtuous relationship has broken down - and
if so, how to go about fixing it.

In short, the art of managing customer relationships

and finding the best solution for each individual
segment is very delicate and requires a lot of effort -
and also many failed attempts.
If the ideal of "an ad-hoc email for each user" is just
an ideal, then this shouldn't stop us from keeping in
mind the need to profile in the best possible way
both our active and "reactive" campaigns.
6. Other remarketing ideas

In addition to the ad hoc emails aimed at those

abandoned carts and 're-kindling' inactive users'
interests, there are other ways to give users a second
chance when it comes to emailing. Here are a few
tips to get your new remarketing strategies started.

Widen the scope of your follow-ups so as to include

people who have abandoned the registration form. It
could be a good idea to prepare a tailor made
message for those users that only filled in half of it -
especially for forms that ask for a lot of information.

Create cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

Remarketing isn't only about recovering potential
clients - it also helps to further boost customer trust.
Mail-out tailor made promotions to propose
alternative or additional purchases. Not only that,
you can segment your remarketing depending on the
target audience.

Consider integrating with other tools. As part of a

complete mix, you can also think of integrating
emails with social support tools, or a phone call - for
elderly users it might be a good idea.
And on a final note, always pay special attention to
privacy and sending out too much information.
Remarketing emailing is a very powerful tool, but
bombarding users with too many messages or worse
sending them to people that have already opted-out,
means ruining ones chances with ones own handy
work.
7. How to respond to an email

Of the many vices linked with the way we do

business and our work culture, one of the worst is to
be indifferent when it comes to email
communications. The likes of "I'll reply when I've got
time and if I feel like it" or worse "not even
bothering".

The typical excuse being "I've got too much on my

plate to dedicate time to this too." Answering emails
takes time, as everyone knows. But it's a
fundamental aspect of your profession. If you've
made the choice to be contactable - which is crucial
in today's business world - then you've got to give
some type of feedback to whoever asks for it.

This not only affects the way we communicate with

individuals, but also managing mass email
responses. As the basics say, if you have mailed-out a
newsletter from an address that you can reply to (as
you should), then it is your responsibility to answer
every message you get.
This is of course fundamental in the case of urgent
matters - such as asking to be removed from your
database, or the notification of a serious problem.
But also when it comes down to simple forms of
criticism, compliments or general inquiries, at least a
single line response is always necessary. It also helps
reinforce your brand reputation, and demonstrates
that you have a high standard of business ethics:
benefiting your email marketer professional
reputation.

That said: how to respond to an email? The question

seems a bit silly, but judging by the large number of
messages left unanswered, or responses that don't
make any sense, it seems to warrant a re-take of the
situation. Here are five short simple tips.

Be quick about it.

This basic rule is fairly inflexible: always respond
within 24-48h. Of course it also depends on the type
of email. If you're responsible for customer service
and it comes from a very angry user, it's necessary to
reply immediately. If it's a general inquiry, it could be
put off for a while - but don't forget about it! An
important skill to learn, in order to best manage
emails, is the ability to set the right priorities.
However, don't forget that the longer you wait, the
more risk you run of creating a nagging feeling of
neglect. A rapid response is always appreciated.
Be clear and informative.
The worst thing that can happen to someone who is
seeking some information is to get an email back that
fails to offer any response, or resolves the wrong
problem. Double check the message you receive so
as to clearly understand what they're asking, take a
moment to think it over and then get straight to the
point. If you are asked about a particular point, your
response should be focused on answering it and
stop. Of course, try to avoid skimping on any relevant
details, if you have got the time. But never get side
tracked. And this brings us to our next point:

Keep it brief, but not overly so.

Long-winded responses should always be avoided:
it's a waste of your precious time not to mention the
users', and it undermines the value of the response
i.e. being informative. Brevity - the capacity to clearly
express oneself in the shortest possible space - isn't
easy any way you try it, and so it also requires a bit of
practice when it comes to emailing. But, even more
importantly, don't get worked up over the "a few
lines" issue. If a problem requires a bit more space to
clear the hurdle, it's totally fine (provided you solve
it, of course).
Offer other possibilities.
A good practice, whenever possible, is to include
other ways to get in contact: phone number, a social
network account etc. Of course, make sure you
respond to these channels!

Be courteous and precise.

It doesn't matter who gets in touch with you, unless
they immediately come across as being rude, they
deserve your utmost courtesy and attention. This
also includes the form of your response - so keep a
sharp eye on grammar and syntax.

And above all, make sure you always reply to your

mail. Thinking that email is only a one-way tool to
send a newsletter and that people will simply read it
or throw it away, is a serious mistake. Every time
users send you a message, they are sharing
information with you - regardless of what it might be.
Don't let that valuable piece of information slip
through your fingers. It might help you better
segment your future offers.
8. The perfect customer service

It's highly useful to add to this collection of email

marketing techniques some advice on how to offer
excellent customer service.

Customer service is one of several factors that play

the most critical role in the entire online buying
process. We can implement highly elaborate
marketing strategies, but without having switched on
people able to provide the right support in case of
problems, all that hard work goes out the window.

It's important to remember this department is

directly responsible for dealing with criticisms and
resolving problems. Customer service is often a
thankless task, requiring a lot of hard work, but it's
essential for every company: its quality is
synonymous with the value of one's brand - fairness,
transparency, openness, ability to manage issues.

So, here are six tips to make this service even more
effective and guarantee that your email campaign
doesn't get lost in the void of post sales
mismanagement - which could spoil a customer's
entire experience.
Availability.
It may sound corny, but it is often the starting point
that far too many overlook: the aim of customer
service is to support the customer, so when the
customer needs it, it must be there. No ifs or buts! It
must be available, at the time and method indicated.
Overly long waiting times to get through to someone
or even worse numbers that endlessly ring into the
abyss - as well as emails that never get answered - is
the worst possible calling card.

Patience and kindness, but never servility.

Anyone who's ever worked in customer service
knows how difficult it is to keep a cool head,
especially during particularly busy periods such as big
promotions, Christmas shopping etc. From this point
of view, mediated communication makes things even
more complicated, but you can - and should - smile
even by telephone, email and social networks.
Patience and kindness are the best weapons for
anyone dealing with an angry or disappointed
customer.
But beware: these qualities should never slip into
servility or the desire to please customers at any
cost. It is both counterproductive, since too many
people will play on your kindness - without hesitation
- demanding, for example "Give me another discount
or I'll speak badly of your brand", as well as simply
being unfair from a human point of view. Sometimes
it's not easy, but it's a point in which one must stand
firm on, so as not to create bad precedents. "We are
not in the service, but we offer a service" is the
motto that every customer care manager should
repeat - and be passed on to every subordinate in
the team.

Quick, concise and efficient answers every time.

When people turn to customer service it's because
they've got a problem. The first thing to do is to listen
carefully and accurately ascertain what is their
problem: then solve it without getting lost in endless
chatter. If the matter requires more time than
expected, immediately say so and say that you'll do
everything in your power to resolve it as quickly as
possible. When it comes to communicating by email,
the suggestions you have just read on how to
respond to an email, also apply here. Conciseness
and speed are always welcome, but being effective is
much more important: leaving customers without
any way of resolving their problems or coming up
with only half baked solutions is simply
unacceptable.
When you make a mistake, apologize!
A golden rule to stick to: if there's a glitch of any kind
and the system is to blame, the first thing to do is
admit it and calmly apologize. Trying to push the
blame onto the customer or conceal it with some
cheap tricks is the worst strategy possible. Honesty
always pays off, even in the worst case scenario: no
matter how angry the person you're dealing with is,
starting off with an apology will immediately cool her
down and help you resolve the problem in a calmer
and more productive way.

Acting instead of reacting.

While the marketing people talk about data mining
and analyzing the number of likes on Facebook,
those working in customer service interact directly
with customers: helping those who've made
purchases or who are truly interested in making
them. Thus, customer support is a goldmine for
anyone who's got the patience to listen: not only
does it allow you to get concrete information on the
status and quality of customer satisfaction, but you
can also anticipate possible problems and come up
with the best strategies. Instead of simply reacting to
issues, it's possible to take actions to prevent them -
or to make the purchasing process even simpler.
Multi-channel isn't just a word.
Finally, one last observation in terms of the evolving
relationship between clients and customer service in
light of the changes in the types of media. A multi-
channeled approach and the ability to interact in
more than one-way with companies is commonplace:
now it's normal to ask for information or clarification
via a tweet or a Facebook comment instead of a
phone call.
Yet, a lot of companies fail to even respond to people
asking questions directly on their social page. Clearly,
there is still much work to be done, and perhaps the
idea persists that "brand pages" on social platforms
are used only as a passive window display - this way
of thinking is a big mistake.
Without getting too bogged down, the main issue
remains the same: if you open up any type of
channel of conversation, you've got to keep it
monitored. If you haven't got the resources to do it
well, then maybe it's best not to bother. Being on
social networks "just because you should be there" is
nonsense, even more so when thinking about it from
a customer care perspective.
 3

DELIVERABILITY AND SPAM

1. Improve your IP Reputation

An email that gets sent is not necessarily an email

that is delivered. Getting this message across to
those who deal with newsletters and the world that
revolves around them is perhaps one of the hardest
things to do. Many people (alas, also many
marketers) truly believe that clicking "Send" is
enough to troublelessly drop the message in the
recipient's inbox.

But that's not the case. In fact, deliverability - the

ability of a message to reach the recipient's inbox - is
one of the most critical issues for every mass mail-
out. An email can in fact always run into recipients'
spam filters, while being perfectly legal and
authorized.

Deliverability depends on many factors: a subject line

that doesn't contain spam- risky words, a well-made
HTML structure, images that aren't too bulky, and so
on.
From a purely technical point of view, however, the
most important factor is the reputation of the IP that
sends the messages.
The Internet Protocol (IP) - is simply a number that
identifies a device connected to the Web. There are
several tools available to help you find out what your
IP number is, for example GetIP.
The best thing to do in order to verify the IP of an
email - whether received or sent - is to look at the
source code. If you want to check your own IP
address, just send an email to yourself. The address
will appear in the first lines of the header. As in this
example, highlighted in bold:

Return-Path: <info@sendblaster.com>
Delivered-To: test@sendblaster.com
Received: (qmail 28728 invoked from network); 3
Feb, 2014 11:10:54 -0000
Received: by simscan 1.4.0 ppid: 28724, pid:
28725, t: 3.1451s
scanners: none
Received: from tbjjbihbhdjj.turbo-smtp.net
(199.187.173.99)

In a few words, the reputation of an IP is its validity in

terms of sent emails, assigned spam notifications,
messages sent to nonexistent addresses, and so on.
If an IP isn't properly used, its reputation is adversely
affected and will be subject to restrictions and
controls by spam filters, and eventually winds up on
a blacklist - the list of protocols that are flagged as
unreliable. And your emails will get blocked.
It's therefore very important to monitor this value:
for example, controlling it via the tools offered by
SenderScore or SenderBase. And once the reputation
of an IP has been verified, there are also ways to
improve it:

Always reply to emails asking for feedback. In

addition to being a general good practice, it shows
that behind the sent messages there is a person and
not a spam factory.

Make sure you're not on any blacklist (and if so ask

to be removed). There are many blacklists: the major
ones can be found on SpamHaus and Dnsbl. A good
practice is, however, to do a cross test of one's own
IP address, e.g. with the help from MxToolBox.

Use a certified SMTP server. SMTP is the protocol

that controls the mailing-out of the emails: the
"postman" responsible for transporting messages
across the web. Common connections, however, use
SMTP servers that are constantly changing, and that
can also use IPs that have poor reputations. The
providers' filters of course negatively react to this. A
way to avoid this problem is to get a professional
SMTP service that is able to maximize the
deliverability. We highly recommend our partner
turboSMTP.
Always carry out a spam check.
Due to the aggressiveness of email filters - having
significantly reduced spam in the last two years -
even those newsletters that are fully authorized and
structured according to all of the sector's best
practices often get blocked.
Therefore, it is good practice to carry out tests in
order to pin point possible problems associated with
the wording of the text, image quality, and any other
factors that might affect the deliverability of your
newsletter.
A good mass email marketing service or software
should have an inbuilt spam checker, but it's also
possible to turn to external applications.
This series of accurate controls enables you to
minimize the risk of falling victim to filters and
correct any errors before the final mail-out.
2. Email authentication

A strange email notification arrives from the Post

Office or a bank - in which you mightn't even have a
bank account: obviously it's spam, but how do
spammers manage to pretend to be someone else so
well?

On one hand, it's very easy to create a false sender

identity - just enter a company name. Even if the
email address from which you are mailing-out from is
completely different: in fact, many clients and web
services display the name and not the email address.

On the other hand, there is still a high degree of

illiteracy when it comes to using email (and
sometimes the internet in general, alas): far too
many people are easily fooled, making even rather
simple tricks highly profitable.

To cope with such problems - and prevent your

newsletter from being mistaken for spam by super-
sceptical users - it's worth taking advantage of email
authentication. That is, the process that accurately
checks and guarantees the origin of your message
and the address matches the sender's name.
There are several ways to get authentication: the
main ones are Domain Keys, DKIM, SPF and
SenderID. The first two require a code that is
embedded in the email itself, while SenderID and SPF
upload a file to your server so that the recipient
email address makes a crosscheck.

Even though not every provider enables this, there

isn't a better method, for example Yahoo Mail and
Gmail do not support SenderID. In order to avoid any
problems, the best thing to do is to rely on an email
marketing service that performs authentication
according to all these standards.

Again, relying on a professional SMTP server like

turboSMTP is an excellent way to solve this issue
once for all, since it provides a full email
authentication by all standards – skyrocketing your
delivery rate.
3. Frying the bacon: spam 2.0

It's called bacon, but in reality it's spam. Well almost:

some call it spam 2.0, even if it has nothing to do
with the factories that produce unsolicited junk mail.

To be precise, bacon - or bacn - are all the

newsletters you willingly subscribe to (with opt-in or
double opt-in), but arrive in huge quantities and with
little or no content value, sometimes reaching the
critical point of over-whelming your inbox. Basically,
it all boils down to the good old-fashioned question
about relevance that many marketers tend to ignore,
and in whose clutches one ends up far too easily.

How many emails of little or no value will we

continue to get? Definitely a certain number. How
many communications truly target their audience
and are worthy of one's attention, and are not just
email blasts? Inevitably too few.
The solutions are the classic ones: users should be
brave and reduce the number of their subscriptions,
whilst marketers should aim at increasing
segmentation and relevance. However, the more
interesting question is why these solutions are rarely
adopted.
It appears that users fail to unsubscribe for several
reasons: the inability to find the appropriate link, or
the opt-out procedures are too long winded and
complex, or it's often easier to put it off for a later
date and just delete the mail... Of course, all these
excuses makes it much simpler for the creators of
bacon: the ridiculously low cost of sending mass
emails, lack of delisting and the temptation to get
immediate conversions encourage them to continue
with these superficial and non-target specific
strategies.

So it shouldn't be surprising that a high percentage

of the spam complaints is triggered by the very
DEMs and newsletters themselves mailed-out by
marketers. Pure and simple bacon.

Moreover, despite the various complaints related to

email overload, the number of newsletters mailed-
out continues to remain very high. And this is good
news because basically someone enjoys them.
Almost a third of all the messages we receive are
made up by newsletters, and the ROI from email
marketing is still the best in the digital sector - almost
twice as much as search, amongst others. It is pretty
natural that companies dot on it.
So, how does one avoid winding up in the bacon and
remain honest and relevant?
The answer is simple: simplify the procedure for opt-
out. Let's see how.
4. Streamlining the opt-out process
As we have seen, the excess number of messages
drives users to get rid of all the emails they deem
useless. Unfortunately, a popular approach is to
discard the unwanted mail in the junk box - labeling
it as spam so as "not to have to think of it any
further": the spam complaint method has become a
shortcut for getting rid of overly pushy or no longer
interesting offers.

A staggering number of users still do exactly that,

thereby fueling the number of "false positives" i.e.
messages actually requested but get branded as
spam. Technically speaking, this adversely effects the
mail server's reputation, and as a result worsens
deliverability.

This behavior is due mainly to certain bad practices

carried out by marketers who in a desperate attempt
to hold on to their customers - or simply due to
ignorance - make the opt-out process overly complex
or sometimes even impossible.

Every email should instead have a clear disclaimer

that permits users to opt-out in just one click: we are
not implicitly inviting users to leave, instead making
the relationship with them a whole lot clearer and
more transparent. Thereby, improving the virtuous
circle of communications.

Although it may seem a bit risky, don't be afraid to

make the opt-out process as quick and simple as
possible. The fact that one of your users wants to
opt-out is fully natural and is a normal part of any
list life cycle (as we shall see in the next chapter).
If you've got worthy content value, your users will
remain loyal. And if someone wants to leave all the
same, it's better to say goodbye in a "correct" way
rather than receiving unnecessary spam reports -
which will just cause a whole load of other problems.

That said, the general issue surrounding deliverability

remains urgent. The very point is that the
aggressiveness of spam filters very often block even
fully legitimate newsletters. In addition to this, many
marketers continue to believe in "indiscriminate
mass mail-outs" that lack any segmentation, are
overly careless and sent far too frequently.
5. Keep in mind the churn rate

What happens if a customer really opts-out from

your database? No problem.

The churn rate - the percentage of users who remove

themselves from the database - is a constantly
changing rate, for every x unsubscribing there will
always be y new registrations. Of course, if the
number of opt-outs increases vertically and
suddenly, it's necessary to figure out what's going on
and remedy the situation.

But pay attention: behind those opt-outs there may

be a reason that few marketers consider. Perhaps
users are still interested in our offers, but not via
email marketing. For example, a user may not wish
to clutter up the inbox. In other words, you must find
a way to tempt them by using other channels.
(This of course begins with an implicit assumption:
your business must have a proper marketing mix,
and not rely only on one single form of
communication).

The best and less intrusive way to "change channel"

is to include a suggestion at the end of the opt-out
procedure. On the unsubscribe landing page just
before the final click, two lines could be added
proposing other contact methods to keep them up
to date i.e. Facebook, Twitter account, your own
corporate blog, your Pinterest page...

You can even propose to users, if they want, to write

a message to explain the reasons why they want to
"jump ship" and possibly together choose an
alternative means of keeping in touch.
Without trying desperately to keep hold of them, as
they are obviously fed up, try to find out where and
how you went wrong.
6. A brief history of spam

Let's end with a short story: Alas, as we know too

well spam affects the vast majority of all of the
emails mailed-out and received around the world.
But how did it all start?
3rd May 1978, Gary Thuerk, a marketer at Digital
Equipment Corporation, needed to hastily promote
an event to present his company. And he didn't have
a lot of time to get it done.
So, he sent the following unsolicited promotional
message to about six hundred people via ARPANet:

WE INVITE YOU TO COME SEE THE 2020 AND HEAR ABOUT

THE FAMILY DECsystem-20
AT THE TWO PRODUCT PRESENTATIONS WE WILL BE GIVING
IN CALIFORNIA THIS
MONTH. THE LOCATIONS WILL BE:

TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1978 - 2 PM

HYATT HOUSE (NEAR THE AIRPORT L.A.)
LOS ANGELES, CA

THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1978 - 2 PM

DUNFEY'S ROYAL COACH
SAN MATEO, CA
(4 MILES SOUTH OF SF AIRPORT AT BAYSHORE, RT 101 AND
RT 92)
 A 2020 WILL BE THERE FOR YOU TO VIEW. ALSO TO OTHER
TERMINALS ON-LINE
DECsystem-20 SYSTEMS THROUGH THE ARPANET. IF YOU ARE
UNABLE TO ATTEND,
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THE NEAREST OFFICE DEC
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXCITING DECsystem-
20 FAMILY.

If you want to read the reactions of various recipients

of that fateful message, checkout Templetons, but
what we are more interested in is the fact that it was
Thuerk's email that started the spam ball rolling.

Before then, no one else had done anything like it -

also because it was explicitly prohibited from sending
unsolicited messages on ARPAnet.

Thuerk, however, didn't have enough time to

personally write to every single contact, and this
unmalicious act sparked off today's nightmare.

A beautiful piece by David Streitfeld appeared in The

Los Angeles Times a few years back that included a
mini-interview with Thuerk. Summing up his very
pristine actions, like a sort of mini-credo of the
spammer:
 The whole idea was tell as many people
as possible. Any other method — making
phone calls, writing real letters — would
have been much more expensive and
taken much more time.

Since then, it has meant endless trouble for

everyone. But how much money do spammers earn
from their activities?
Alexis Madrigal from the Atlantic asked the same
question, and found the answer in a paper written by
Microsoft's Justin Rao and Google's David Reiley:
about $200 million per year on average, with an
investment of 14 to 18 million.
We're not talking about huge sums of money, but
spam costs are so small that the net gains are
substantial: about 15 times their start up costs.
According to Rao and Reiley, it's enough that 1 out of
25,000 people is gullible enough to fall into the trap.

Initially it might seem that the game is profitable, but

it is not. Firstly, because the majority of the money
generated is nothing more than simple fraud (like
the fake bank accounts or the classic "Nigerian
scam"). And secondly, because the generic spam
activity - mailing-out an advertisement without
permission to any address found on the internet -
means ruining one's brand. (Not to mention
compromising deliverability, as discussed above).
Any revenue obtained in this way will always be
insufficient, and in any case entirely transitory: the
exact opposite of the long-term strategy that should
inspire every successful email marketing campaign.

Another interesting aspect is the negative externality

of spam, that is the indirect adverse effects of such
activities compared to its direct benefits, is very high:
"Spammers weigh heavily on society and get little in
return." In a nutshell, spam causes enormous
information pollution compared to the gains made.
Its externalities are even higher than those generated
by car theft.

It is obvious that such an impact on society is

unacceptable: the spam plague is much more painful
than one might originally think. Unfortunately, the
daily fight to counter it, as we have all seen, hasn't
produced any major winning results yet. (At the end
of 2011, IBM hypothesized that spam would be dead
within 5 years - as a result of improvements in the
analytical capabilities of computers. Probably it's too
optimistic, but hopefully there is some truth to it).
According to Rao and Reiley, in any case, the
spectrum of solutions ranges from a further
strengthening of filters to some form of government
intervention. In particular, they suggest nipping the
problem in the bud i.e. by increasing the cost of their
operations. In this way the profit from their activities
would be reduced, and consequently the volume of
junk mail sent out.
 4

LOOKING AHEAD
1. The "death of the email"

A lot has been written about the alleged death of the

email - and email marketing itself - as a result of
social networks.
On the contrary, searching and emailing are firmly up
there amongst the top uses of Internet.
For now email has resoundingly managed to
withstand the supposed "attacks" by the social
network phenomena. The likes of which include
Facebook Messages, aka the famous "Project Titan"
launched a year ago but turned out to be a real flash
in the pan.
Thus, talking about the "death of the email" is, in the
present state of things, totally premature and lacks
any concrete foundations: the requiem has been
sung far too many times, while email continues to
bury its undertakers.

What should be pointed out, however, is that new

instant messaging habits or the use of alternative
methods of communication will negatively affect its
future. Of course, social networks almost always
need an email account to work, but it will be used
more and more as a simple access key, limiting the
actual email transmission to a minimum.
Looking at the results in terms of age, there is
definitely a downward trend in the use of the email
amongst adolescents.
Guys and girls aged 12 to 19 are much more
interested into Whatsapp than in their email
accounts. They seem neither to be a specific target
for email marketing, nor users interested in this tool -
which they may consider for "old folks".

In fact, instant messaging and social networks enable

users to communicate in a much more exciting and
varied way, which includes games, link and photo
sharing, public message boards etc. From this point
of view, it takes a minimum of honesty and self-
criticism. If your goal is to sell products to teenagers,
a DEM campaign may not the be most appropriate
tool: you have to go and discover where they are
more active.

So, the interesting question is not whether emailing

is dead - the answer being no - but if it has any hope
of surviving, or better adapting, to new generations.

Even in this case we can say the answer is positive.

As you get older you tend to prefer this more formal
type of communication. Entering the workforce
would also naturally require one to adopt this
practice.

However, there is one last subtle point to consider.

Everybody based their opinion around the fact that

everything remains the same, when today's
teenagers become tomorrow's thirty-somethings,
social media will pass over to emailing and voila. It
isn't clear if emailing is destined to remain in any
case: it could evolve or perhaps even disappear all
together. How many prior technologies have met
with the same fate, after all?

The question becomes particularly pressing in terms

of commerce: in the face of increasingly packed
inboxes on one side, and new forms of
communication on the other, does email marketing
really have a future?

The report "Email Market, 2012-2016" by the

Radicati Group, issued in 2014, says that "email is
expected to grow to a $12 billion market by 2016 and
email traffic is estimated to grow to over 192 billion
emails sent per day by 2016".
Also, according to the "Email Marketing Industry
Census 2013" by Econsultancy/Adestra, "74% of
email marketers report having an "excellent" or
"good" ROI, compared to just 37% who do not test."

So the answer seems to be a good "yes": but.

A few years ago newsletters were more or less the
only direct and interactive marketing channel on the
web - excluding display and keyword advertising.
Today the possibilities of interaction made available
by social media has definitely revolutionized the
landscape and has made the path to conversions by
users more fragmented.
However, it doesn't mean one has to have certain
radical misgivings about email marketing strategy nor
a negative opinion about the other channels: on the
contrary, it should be carefully integrated into your
marketing mix.
And if the conversions come from other sources, it
does not matter: the important thing is that email
still has a powerful effect on customers.
Thus, for the moment marketers can stay calm and
think of something else: instead of complaining, they
should first take better care of their campaigns and
maximize the possibilities.
2. The evolution of email sharing

The viral rate of an email, in terms of classic email

marketing, has always been measured based on the
number of forwards.

Forwarding a friend is a clear signal the content or

offer was appreciated. For this very reason many
marketers recommend adding an ad-hoc button in
one's template, so as to encourage users to click
away, by making it easier and effortless to do.

But things are changing - at a rapid pace. The

statistics show that "forwarding" has dropped since
2009 whilst "social network sharing" has risen. The
positive impact is even greater when it comes to links
to companies' social communities.

It doesn't stop there. An interesting internal analysis

carried out two years ago by BuzzFeed - on all its
websites containing portals such as TMZ and the
Daily Mail, and thus highly statistically significant
number of users - revealed a large drop in traffic
from email clients like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail
and so on. As illustrated in this graph:
On the contrary, traffic originating from Google
searches and Facebook continues to increase.

This would appear to demonstrate a very simple and

unsurprising fact: the use of social networks has
grown - thanks also to the introduction of new
platforms such as Pinterest - and has gradually
started replacing other forms of communication, for
example work messages can now also be sent via
Facebook instead of email alone.

In addition, as we have already pointed out in the

previous chapter, there is an age factor at play, or at
least a certain type of audience: generally, emailing is
used by more mature users who tend to be a little
less familiar with social media tools. According to
BuzzFeed this explains the greater importance,
certain websites compared to others, give to the
"Email this" button. Bearing in mind that websites
such as BuzzFeed - full of viral and typical "social
network" articles - work on public sharing.

This, however, casts also an interesting light on

sharing in general. Sharing via email seems to be
something very different than a tweet or pasting
something on Pinterest's board. In the first case, the
recipients are selected and it usually involves just a
close circle of friends or colleagues. In short, the two
different modes are worlds apart: the first is
extremely private, the second a lot more open.

But, the idea that the two are somehow the same is
starting to take hold: it is faster and easier to tweet
content instead of sending it to a group of recipients
- as it's likely that the same people follow the sender
also on Twitter. (It is a fact that if the content is very
particular and can be understood only in the context
of a circle of friends it shouldn't be flaunted on social
networks with the same light heartedness, but here
you open up the debate about our public role on the
web).
In summary, the winning model seems to involve
again a closer integration between email marketing
and social media marketing, with the aim of enticing
users to spread the message to a larger radius, thus
fully exploiting the power of social media.

The product or information experienced therefore

goes beyond the limited space of the newsletter,
which in many ways begins to look more and more
like a stepping stone - not only to their own landing
page, but also to other types of sharing.
 CONCLUSION
Digital marketing and happiness

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of digital

marketing, is the concept of fairness and
transparency, when it comes to promoting a product
or service. This applies just as much to email, like any
other channel.

What exactly is a potential client looking for? To get

what he wants without being ripped off. So, what is a
loyal customer looking for? To remain faithful and to
be given preferential treatment. Sounds pretty basic,
but many marketers still fail to realize that it's exactly
this basic starting point that we must always begin
from.

The most important innovation lies in thinking about

marketing as a way to increase customer satisfaction
- and happiness - rather than a set of tricks designed
to get as much money out of them as possible.

And not only that, it'll also help increase your own
happiness and satisfaction. By doing things the right
way and fostering a sense of transparency and
trustworthiness, will help you earn a lot more. And
this isn't looking at it from a purely monetary point of
view: it'll make your work easier, you won't have to
worry about harsh criticisms for playing dirty, and
you'll be able to sleep serenely.

It's astonishing how many marketers, especially

those working in large companies, still believe ripping
off their users is the best way to make a profit.
All this is completely wrong, and even more so in the
open conversation world - where even the most
obscure bloggers can suddenly become Twitter
trendy. Imposing unfair contractual clauses, such as
the classic telephone or internet companies often do,
will simply fuel negative hype against oneself.

At the end of every year, it's standard practice to pull

together a number of marketing previsions for the
coming years. Unfortunately, they often are either
banal or ideas which fail to withstand the test of
time. But out of the ones pulled together by
Business2Community in December 2011, those of
Andrew Baird haven't dated one little bit: "The future
of marketing lies in engaging your customers (and
potential customers) to be truly interested in your
messages - and perceive them as useful, not simply
as marketing."
So, that old piece of advice to put yourself in the
user's shoes, but looked at from a different angle:
stop thinking just in terms of statistics, marketing
forecasts and manuals, and start thinking in terms of
usefulness. Offer people something interesting and
treat them as human beings, is all you need to do to
get your business ahead.