There was a time when paid advertising was king for small businesses. But local TV spots, direct mail, and prominent billboards are now considered costly and difficult to track. Now, traditional advertising has been usurped by email marketing. Its impressive return on investment (ROI) and its ability to amplify other marketing initiatives make it the best channel for businesses at any stage of their growth – including SMBs. Email marketing is easy to implement and deploy, even for beginners. Today, we will walk through the essential tips and strategies every small business marketer should kno ..read more

When it comes to protecting our planet, every step toward cleaner practices – small and big – counts. So, what if we told you that emailing, as clean and green as it seems, actually has a carbon footprint? We recently wrote about green marketing and the environmental impact our marketing activities have. But what about email specifically? What does the carbon footprint of email look like, and is there any way to reduce it? World Environment Day is just around the corner, and there’s no better time to do an eco-conscious deep dive into the world of email. Let’s explore what contributes to emai ..read more

Help your heroes find their way What can Star Wars, Harry Potter, and countless other stories tell us about customer communication strategies? As it turns out, many of your favorite stories hold powerful secrets that can help you connect with your target audience. In a world full of digital distractions, the brands that are able to effectively move people along a cohesive customer journey stand the best chance of earning attention, sales, and loyalty. But first… you’ve got to get your story straight. The customer is the hero. So, what kind of role do brands play along the way? In this new eboo ..read more

Have you ever noticed that the way your email campaign looks after you hit send doesn’t quite match what you expected to find? Did you ever see an email display one way in Gmail and another way in Apple Mail or Outlook? Usually, you can blame those types of problems on a lack of email standards. Different mailbox providers have their own ways of rendering HTML and CSS. They also have different levels of support for things like web fonts, interactive elements, and dark mode emails. Those inconsistencies account for some of the biggest email marketing headaches. If your campaign doesn’t render ..read more

Ahh, dads – they’re a species of their own, aren’t they? With their eccentric habits and top-notch “jokes”. Father’s Day is just around the corner, but it’s not all fun and games. Some wickedly talented marketers are throwing out impressive email campaigns at this time of year. For us email marketers, Father’s Day is a golden opportunity to dip into this once-in-a-year tradition where the US spent $20B in 2021 alone. And the competition is fierce.  So it’s time to dissect some of the best Father’s Day campaigns and use some bespoke strategies to win the attention of all the grown-up chil ..read more

We talk a lot about email on this blog, but today, we need to talk about something new and what it means for marketers. Something called conversational customer engagement. The methods customers use to interact with businesses are expanding – and it’s happening quickly. Conversational customer engagement is an evolutionary leap in the way people and organizations connect. So, what’s driving this shift? The short answer is social media and messaging apps. People expect a fast, friendly, seamless customer experience when communicating with and receiving communications from your brand. They also ..read more

More than ever, people seem to care an awful lot about protecting the privacy of their personal data. Does that mean the days of blindly checking the “Agree” box for terms and conditions are over? Will consumers start poring over the privacy policies of every website they do business with? Honestly, probably not. But prioritizing personal data protection is a trend that’s turned into a movement with no signs of slowing down. At the same time, consumers are expressing a desire for more personalized experiences from brands. And marketers are more than willing to use personal data to make that h ..read more

Another Earth Day has come and gone. But with the health and future of our planet in question, it feels much more serious in recent years. It’s no longer just a feel-good day where we pick up a piece of trash, hug a tree, and kids color pictures of a smiling planet. The crisis our world faces has quickly become very real and undeniable. You might feel helpless and stuck in a hopeless situation, but you want to do something. We get it. So, is there anything marketers like you can do to help? The answer is yes. And while you may have some preconceived ideas about green marketing and email’s imp ..read more

Deliverability. That’s what’s at the center of any successful email marketer’s focus. And that’s why you devote so much energy to keeping your contact list clean, not purchasing third-party data, and designing emails that are sure to land in your clients’ inboxes. But what do all these practices amount to? What’s it all for? The answer is simple: sender reputation. Table of Contents What is sender reputation? How does reputation impact your campaigns? How is sender reputation calculated? How to check your sender reputation SenderScore.org BarracudaCentral TrustedSource Talos Google Postmas ..read more

It’s a safe bet that you want to be more than just average. And it should go without saying that you’d rather be an email marketing success than a failure. Unfortunately, most email marketers seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle. We’re here to give you some advice on how to get unstuck and take your email strategy to the top of its game. According to survey results featured in our report Inbox Insights 2022, 72% of email marketers feel their efforts are only “somewhat successful.” This would suggest they’re keeping the lights on and taking care of business, but they aren’t blowing anyone ..read more