Imagine going on a blind date. All you know about the person sitting across from you is their name, maybe what they do for a living, and that your cousin Susan thinks you might get along.  But before you have a chance to ask any questions or get to know them better, they give you a big smile and say, “It’s so nice to meet you. I’d love to show you around my apartment. When’s a good time for you to come by this week?”  How inappropriate! But not entirely unlike when a colleague sends you a link to a gated ebook, you give your contact info to download it, and then get a phone call from ..read more

When it comes to email marketing tips, there are a few things that we have all been told to do. From using specific CTAs to sending at certain times of the day, but does some of that conventional wisdom really make a difference? After extensive tests, see what we uncovered. When’s the best time to send an email? What kind of personalization actually drives engagement? Do people prefer designed or plain text messages?  Email marketers have strong opinions on these questions. And we spent the last few months A/B testing every send to separate fact from fiction on topics like timing, design ..read more

Migrating to a new email marketing platform (aka marketing automation) can be intimidating. But it doesn’t need to be. Consider first whether you even need to perform a full migration. Changing providers offers a unique opportunity to take a look at your current programs and lists and determine what’s working, and what’s not. You might not need a full migration. Once you are 100% confident in the need for a change, it’s crucial to make sure the migration process goes well. Use this article as your guide for a smooth transition for email marketing migration. Gather critical assets for email mar ..read more

Rising ROI expectations, increased inflation, and decreased consumer spending all add up to a CMO role that is quickly evolving.  “Surveys show CMOs are concerned about demonstrating ROI, with another significant challenge being the generation of leads,” says Jeff Day, SVP of Marketing at Act-On Software.  As CMOs create strategies to solve these challenges in the coming months, their role is also evolving. CMSWire surveyed 700+ marketers and found the future will require:  Increased cross-functional partnerships with sales More pressure to improve customer experience More robu ..read more

Getting started with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising—or any type of digital advertising—can be downright overwhelming. Advertising has its own special lingo and library of acronyms involved, and new tactics and technologies are constantly emerging. That’s why we created this glossary of digital advertising terms to help newcomers learn the lay of the land.  The following (relatively) jargon-free explanations of the most common digital advertising terms will help you navigate the world of online advertising. What is A/B Testing? A/B testing is a method used to determine which version of an ..read more

Pressure has been building around proving ROI. Sure, it’s always been there to some extent, but that pressure has recently increased, according to B2B marketers. And many say that while expectations for ROI are increasing, their budgets are not. Hardly seems fair, right? A recent survey found that: 41% of marketers report they’re feeling more pressure to achieve a high ROI. 27% say it’s getting overwhelming. 14% say that “it makes them want to pull their hair out.” An effective way to improve ROI is focusing on strategic changes in your nurture campaigns to build stronger pipeline. Want a fe ..read more

Marketers often ask about the best practices for email sender names (also known as the email display name or “from” name). In email marketing, sender name refers to the visible name the recipient sees in their inbox. With 1-to-1 email, the “from” name is obvious: it’s the author of the email! But when you’re sending on behalf of a brand, you have a lot more options for the email display name. The display name is different from the “From” address. Most email clients don’t display the address until the recipient opens the email. Some careful people will take the extra step to verify the “From” a ..read more

When you set up nurturing sequences, it’s far too easy for them to get lost and forgotten, with staff turnover and programs continuing to run on autopilot. Revisiting your email marketing automation workflow and automation should happen regularly. We’ve been running automated programs for many years here at Act-On, and eventually ended up with 37 different sequences running.  Now, that might seem like a lot (and it is!). But really, what caught our attention was the results. They weren’t terrible, but they weren’t fantastic either.   Average at best.  And we wanted bet ..read more

Migrating to a new marketing automation platform can be intimidating. But it doesn’t need to be. Consider first whether you even need to perform a full migration. Changing providers offers a unique opportunity to take a look at your current programs and lists and determine what’s working, and what’s not. You might not need a full migration. Once you are 100% confident in the need for a change, it’s crucial to make sure the migration process goes well. Use this article as your guide for a smooth transition for marketing automation migration. Gather critical assets for marketing automation migra ..read more

The cracks in your marketing automation platform may have been showing for some time. It’s difficult to use. Your team uses tricky workarounds to bypass processes that aren’t working. Or the solution includes so many features that getting the most basic tasks done is more complicated than it should be.  Sound familiar? Yep, it’s time to switch.  But switching can seem like a daunting task. And staying the course with your existing platform is tempting, isn’t it?  But you also know that the problems you’re struggling with won’t go away without action.    The good n ..read more