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There are a few things in the small world of email marketing that I believe can be simply attributed to peer pressure. Just like back in our school days, most of our impressionable brains feel the need to keep up with the “cool” email marketers. The fact that you are reading this article tells me that you are at least interested on some level in learning more about and improving your own email program.

We all read trade magazines, blogs, attend webinars, and watch twitter feeds looking for those nuggets that could make all the difference in our ROI. All of the “experts” seem to talk about the same things over and over again in these different mediums. Why do the topics seem recycled? The reason is because these really are the keys to success and they do work.

I wanted to talk about one of those “we hear this all the time” topics and put a bit of a different spin on it. Let’s talk about A/B testing. Yes, testing again. Testing seems to be the staple of many best practices discussions. All of us senders know we should test our email. The problem lies in the fact that, for most of us, we have no idea of how to pull that off. I break it down like this: 10% test correctly, 30% attempt testing, 40% plan on testing, and the other 20% could care less. I think these statistics mirror most things in our lives. We have the overachievers, those among us who make the attempt, those who continually plan to start tomorrow, and those who don’t even want to discuss it.

Why can’t most of us actually get good results from our testing? The answer lies in the peer pressure we talked about earlier. All the cool kids are doing A/B testing, so we feel like we have to do the same thing. There is a big difference in doing real testing with a purpose in mind, and sending two different email campaigns. Testing is all about the results, not the actual tests. If you are not in position to capture data or understand why results were different, testing is a waste of your time. It’s time to give up your seat at the popular table.

So you’re ready to test…

Step one before beginning a testing program is to determine what element you want to test. It is very important not to change multiple elements in a single test; that makes it impossible to discern what drives your results. Let’s say you decide to test subject lines. The rest of the email needs to be the same to determine true differences in the test. I would also highly recommend you anticipate results before testing. You won’t always be right – and it’s sometimes exciting to be wrong – and this will help to predict what you are going to do with the results.

Test quantity is something we often see handled in a less than optimal way. If you have a campaign going to 100,000 recipients, the way to test is not to send 50,000 to one group and 50,000 to the other. The proper way to test is to send 5,000 to each test group; analyze the results and send the other 90,000 the highest performing copy. The value in testing is to optimize each and every campaign right now. It’s too often that I see people testing a campaign 50/50, and then doing nothing in the future with the results.

The last piece of advice I’d like to leave you with today is to think historically. Proper testing can give you the future play book for your email programs. Historical testing results can help develop new campaigns, understand what works for different segments, and generally sharpen your program. Don’t miss the opportunity to get a letter sweater, a date to the prom, a convertible, and just generally be one cool email marketers. Testing is where it’s at, Daddy-O!!!

- Kevin Senne, Premiere Global Services

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During the eec List Growth & Engagement Roundtable meeting this week, several DMA/eec members had a fascinating conversation about how to define consumer intent under CAN-SPAM as it relates to opt out for third party messages. The rules amended to CAN-SPAM which went into effect in July of 2008 say that there only needs to be one opt-out per message, and provides some guidance on the definition of the “sender” and “primary sender.”

“Listen” in with me….

Arend Henderson of Q Interactive, an online consumer site that has a very large email list rental business: It’s about the permission grant. If the message is from PublisherA, and the Friendly from is the publisher, along with the message header and footer – and significantly, the permission grant is with the publisher; but then the full message promotes AdvertiserB, then the opt out under CAN-SPAM should be from the sender and list owner, who is PublisherA.

Stephanie Miller (me) of Return Path, an email deliverability and performance company: The panel of privacy experts who spoke at the recent eec/DMA webinar with the FTC interpret the legislation that the opt out should be provided by the advertiser.

Arend: We interpret this as a protection of the consumer interest. We, the publisher, own the list, we own the relationship, and we care about those relationships. We believe that the opt out should be from the publisher, not the advertiser. It’s our job to send subscribers messages.

Kim Santos, Reader’s Digest: I feel the opposite. The opt-out has to be on the side of the advertiser. In list rental, where the advertiser is the sole focus of the message, that is what drives the unsubscribe request. If I’m a consumer, then I don’t want the AdvertiserB advertisement. The subscriber wants out of the AdvertiserB messages. If the opt out is only with PublisherA, then AdvertiserB could just go rent another list from another publisher. It’s a penalty for those subscribers who are on a lot of lists.

Arend: We feel strongly that the message is not from AdvertiserB. The permission grant is with us, the publisher.

Luke Glasner of Rodman Publishing: If you want to opt-out from AdvertiserB, you should be able to opt-out of those specific messages of the advertiser from PublisherA. The publisher like Rodman provides the opt out and we offer to manage the suppression file for advertisers who rent from us multiple times. Also for first time users we request suppression files - and we don’t charge extra for them. Personally, I don’t think list renters should charge to run a suppression file - since the person that benefits the most from reducing spam complaints is the list owner, even more so than the consumer of that email. It’s not about protecting consumers from AdvertiserB in other areas of the Internet. If I walk around and see an AdvertiserB billboard, does that violate the opt-out? Does my email opt-out mean that I won’t ever see an ad on the street or on TV or on a website?

Kim: No of course not, but there is so much transparency in email than in other channels. You can’t suppress ads in those other channels, but in email you can. I as a publisher and someone who cares about my subscribers have a responsibility to protect my consumer. So I make sure that if you don’t want to see AdvertiserB ads, you won’t see them from me, ever.

Luke: I can only be responsible for my email program, not actions of every person that engages in online advertising. I do feel we have a duty to respect our readers and to give them control over their inbox. It is up the subscriber to tell me how much they want to engage with me. And it is up to me to respect their wishes. I think that email is privilege granted to senders by their subscribes not a right. Based on my experience I think that most consumers would agree with that.

Kim: What about when there are two opt-outs? One each for the advertiser and for the publisher? We often see that, and sometimes offer it.

Arend: Consumers don’t think in our terms, they don’t know why there are two opt-outs. They don’t know who is “sender” under the law. This is why we never let the advertiser put AdvertiserB in the friendly from line. The messages come from Q Interactive, which is the brand you know and gave a permission grant to.

Luke: I will tell you what consumers do when they see two unsubscribe links. They go to the top of the message and click the Report Spam button. They won’t bother to figure it out. It’s not worth it to us as a list owner to work with advertisers who drive a lot of unsubscribe requests or complaints (when someone clicks the Report Spam button).

Arend: We agree. We do not work with those kinds of advertisers at all or at least for very long.

Luke: And the other side is true as well. Sometimes, the person who is sending this message and the sales person at the list owner have different agendas. If you are a buyer, be sure that the list owner can actually do what they promise.

Kim: We view this as a partnership. We want our advertisers to succeed. We had to put in an actual, official corporate marketing role so that we have an ombudsman around this area. That has helped to eliminate confusion.

Stephanie: How do you handle newsletters with multiple ads?

Kim: We treat these differently than full page email broadcasts. In this case, the opt-out is with Reader’s Digest, the sender.

Arend: We do the same thing.

Luke: We also follow the same for our newsletters. An email newsletter’s purpose is to provide (hopefully) engaging content to the reader. We support the newsletter financially by selling ad space so we can continue to provide our readers with newsletters.

- Stephanie Miller, Return Path

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As email marketers, it can be hard to gauge the frequency with which to send your email newsletters over the summer. You may be asking, “Is it even worth it to send messages at all over the summer because so many of my customers may be on vacation?” The short answer is yes, and here’s why.

A 2007 study from eMarketer posted on Emaillabs.com shows that even while on vacation, 77% of people ages 22-34 check their personal email, along with 64% of people 35-45, 58% of people 46-59, and 60% of people 60-70. For the 22-34 demographic, 39% still check their work email while on vacation, as compared to 50% of the 35-45 population and 40% of people 46-59.

What these statistics should show you is that even during the summer months or times when many people are on vacation, a large number of people in each demographic are still checking their emails. Not only should you feel comfortable sending out your messages over the summer, it’s also a solid business strategy to keep your brand as visible as possible to your customers during these months.

That being said, you should not overflow your subscribers’ inboxes during the summer or the holiday season (or really any other time) either. This same study found that nearly 50% of people who received excess amounts of email during their vacations simply deleted the emails. Many others reported the senders to their ISPs as spammers, or unsubscribed from their newsletters altogether. However, the study also found that over 40% said excess email did not affect their daily habits, but in the end it’s best not to be the sender that clogs email inboxes (Source: Fourth Annual Holiday Email Consumer Survey 2008, published by Return Path).

- Ryan Allis, CEO, iContact

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There is a consensus among email marketers that keeping uninterested subscribers on your email lists does more harm than good. Before your unengaged subscribers unsubscribe or – gulp! – report you as spam, take measures to reengage them and reinforce their positive relationship with your brand.

Here are a few ideas for keeping your subscriber base active and excited about your email:

• Run a relevant, engaging email program in the first place. The most important way to keep subscriber attention is, of course, to pay attention to your whole email program at each step. Maintain relevant content, design creatives that subscribers enjoy seeing, and refrain from overmailing.

• Send a “We Miss You” message with a special offer to inactive subscribers. When you know you have unengaged subscribers on your list, show them that you still care. One way to do this is with a “missing you” message, sweetened with a special offer. Smith-Harmon clients Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids added a dynamic “We’ve missed you!” banners to emails sent to inactive subscribers.

• Involve subscribers by inviting them to help support a cause. Strengthen subscriber relationships with your brand by encouraging them to help you support a cause. This shows subscribers that you care about more than just dollars and also fosters a sense of investment in your brand’s efforts. For example, Lucy has encouraged subscribers to help support the Breast Cancer Network of Strength, and PetSmart has invited subscribers to join them in helping homeless pets.

• Run contests or sweepstakes that encourage interaction with your brand. Everyone loves to win. If the reward is enticing enough and the process is simple enough, subscribers will jump at the chance to enter your brand’s contest or sweepstakes.

In a recent contest, The Cheesecake Factory asked for new flavor idea submissions from subscribers and then went a step further by letting other subscribers vote for the winner (I’m particularly pleased, since my pick won. Yum, Red Velvet).

Last winter, Urban Outfitters enticed subscribers to create a holiday wishlist by allowing them to enter a drawing to “win their wishlist.” Even the contest losers (such as myself) received an email with a discount offer to keep them shopping.

• Marketing a good or service your subscribers aren’t familiar with. By showing your subscribers something that they may not have known you carried, you may inspire them to revisit your site. For instance, The Container Store took Earth Day as an opportunity to reveal themselves as a vendor of environmentally-conscious storage options.

Hopefully your email program is so relevant and engaging that no subscriber would ever DREAM of hitting the unsubscribe button. But if you happen to be seeing a high number of inactive subscribers, give some of these ideas a try and see if you can recapture some attention.

Always Active & Engaged,
Lisa Harmon and Alex Madison, Smith-Harmon

–>Read other Make it Pop! posts.

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In last week’s eec/DMA webinar, Peder Magee, Esq., FTC Privacy and Theft attorney for the Bureau of Consumer Protection joined DMA’s VP of Government Affairs, Jerry Cerasale, and a panel of email privacy experts to discuss the latest thinking at the agency.

For now, that stance seems to suggest that the self regulation of the industry is working. Magee noted that some concepts “transcend the medium” when it comes to self regulation. “Transparency, prominent notice, use of personal data, and providing the ability to opt out easily” all are areas the FTC continues to watch.

Certification and feedback loop programs were noted by panelist Tom Bartel, CPO of Return Path, as an example of how the industry cooperates in order to make self regulation work. Especially for certification programs, “Email marketers put themselves forward voluntarily to be held to high standards,” Bartel says. “Including the things Peder listed about prominence. Once they are vouched for by the third party, the ISPs can make good decisions about what to do with email from those senders.

“Participation in these programs shows marketers are willing to go way past the law, and well past best practices,” Bartel states.

The FTC remains aggressive about prosecuting offenders under CAN-SPAM. Magee says, “CAN-SPAM and some of the filtering technologies have reduced the spam that consumers were getting a lot more of.” He notes that the agency also brings cases against phishing scams, often initiated through email. Webinar moderator and DMA VP of Government Affairs Jerry Cerasale noted, “The FTC is the most active regulatory body in this area. Opt-in laws in Europe have not resulted in as many cases as the FTC.”

Download the recording (free until this Thursday) and read the summary of the event.

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