Nothing in email marketing is static, because ESP technology, inbox providers, and—most importantly—consumers are constantly changing. That change extends to the email newsletter, a mainstay of B2B marketing and a growing player in B2C marketing, too. To get a read on the latest newsletter trends, I spoke with our Creative Services and B2B teams here at Oracle Marketing Consulting about what they were doing when they overhauled our clients’ newsletters. Consider this your guide to the new best practices for email newsletters. Here are their top 9 recommendations… >> Read the entire post ..read more

Six years after being on the Marketing Book Podcast to discuss the 3rd edition of Email Marketing Rules, I rejoin host Douglas Burdett to talk about the new 4th edition. During our 1 hour and 17 minute conversation, we cover a wide range of topics, including: What’s new in the 4th edition of Email Marketing Rules What’s in each of the two volumes of the 4th edition What’s unique about the email channel What are the downsides of email marketing How most new marketing graduates have little to no email marketing knowledge How your gut will often led you wrong with email marketing Why buying list ..read more

Ready or not, we’re rapidly heading into a world where generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Dall-E, and others do more of marketers’ day-to-day work. That transition is not much in question. The only question is how well your organization makes that transition. To make that transition as smoothly as possible, we recommend taking a cautious and realistic approach toward the here-and-now of these technologies, while keeping an optimistic long-term view. That starts with having a solid understanding of how these technologies work, including what they’re capable of and what they’re not. Having that u ..read more

Nothing can destroy your email marketing performance quite like email deliverability problems. Whether it’s the slow slip of inbox placement due to diminishing engagement or the sudden collapse due to a blocklisting, it’s always devastating and usually a shock. But honestly, email deliverability problems are rarely a surprise if you know what to look out for, says Daniel Deneweth, Oracle Marketing Consulting’s Head of Email Deliverability Services. During his nearly two decades focused on email deliverability, he’s noticed a number of events that often precede problems… >> Read the entir ..read more

I join Jonathan Mast, the host of the 91 Days Success Podcast, to chat about how to use email marketing wisely, strategically, and productively. During the 50-minute podcast, we talk about: How I got my start in email marketing Why I wrote the 1st edition of Email Marketing Rules Why I’ve now released four editions of it and what’s new about the 4th edition Why email marketing is still important to businesses How email marketing’s high ROI leads many brands to settle for “good enough” results What metrics should marketers be using to measure success How email marketing can be used to build st ..read more

Anytime I see someone complain that email marketing is old and hasn’t changed in decades, it just confirms for me that they don’t know anything about email marketing. The truth is that the channel has changed dramatically. These changes are top of mind for me personally as I just marked the 10-year anniversary of releasing the 1st edition of Email Marketing Rules by releasing an updated and greatly expanded two-volume 4th edition. As I note in the Preface of the 4th edition, the last 10 years have seen many changes, including: CASL, GDPR, and CCPA have all gone into effect Email can be read o ..read more

Let me be blunt: We are so far away from generative AI writing personalized emails in any meaningful way. So very far. Yet, I keep hearing people suggest that generative AI will be writing highly personalized emails to individuals in the not-too-distant future. I don’t think this is a realistic expectation at any significant scale, with any degree of automation, and with a reliable expectation of increased performance—much less a positive return on investment. Let me explain why. >> Read the entire article on CMSWire.com The post Generative AI for Email Personalization: A Hallucination W ..read more

A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and social buzz you might have missed last month… Must-read articles, posts & reports When Cold Email Ices Your Marketing Program (Only Influencers) AI-Generated Content Is the New Floor (SparkToro) You Are Not a Parrot (New York Magazine) Guess Which Device Has Supplanted Computers As the Go-To For Email? (MediaPost) The Revenge of the Pop-Up (The Verge) Insightful & entertaining social posts One thing is for sure at this point, AI doesn’t even know where to start with email code — Alex Williams (@alexcwilliams) April 26, 2023 Noteworthy ..read more

Since Apple introduced it in 2021, Mail Privacy Protection has had a profound impact on how email marketers operate and many are still struggling with how to adapt. I join Validity’s Guy Hanson and Danielle Gallant on the Email After Hours podcast to discuss everything MPP. We tackle the following questions: How did MPP upend the status quo and who has been impacted most? What other email marketing challenges and opportunities lie ahead? What are some of the positives of MPP? Was Apple trying to solve a problem that most consumers didn’t know existed? How have marketers responded to MPP? What ..read more

I join Joi Brooks, the host of the Email & Coffee Podcast, to chat about email marketing strategy. During our conversation, we talk about… Email marketing education The biggest design tip to drive results Building interest and nurturing B2B leads Desiloing marketing and omnichannel customer behavior The critical zero stage of email interactions How to create great customers Focusing your email content on the HOW, not the WHAT How too many marketers settle for “good enough” results The need for a broad understanding of email marketing, even among specialists The evolution and expansion of ..read more