Marketers who rely on e-mail are getting zapped by aggressive new spam filters. To circumvent them, some companies are going retro, others super techno.
Read Article> Posted by: DTB at 10:09 PM  |  Permalink

(PDF: 2017KB)Email is a top method for consumers to find out about new products and services. Learn how to implement best practices for email marketing. Posted by: DTB at 3:07 PM  |  Permalink

MDaemon: Complete mail server with emphasis on anti-spam and security features

Mail, mail, we all love mail. E-mail, especially -- when it's not spam, that is. What isn't always so enjoyable is running mail servers, which is not only complex and esoteric to configure but also a big responsibility.

Read Article> Posted by: DTB at 5:11 PM  |  Permalink

Once upon a time, e-mail messages flowed freely through cyberspace and the congenial smell of e-mails was everywhere.

I remember racing to my inbox each day with a wild anticipation that I was about to be informed of new and enlightening events, along with notes from friends.

Read Article>: Posted by: DTB at 5:09 PM  |  Permalink

When recipients subscribe to your list, your welcome message is the first communication they receive. Here are some quick tips about what your welcome message should include:
- Brief introduction and description of the newsletter
- Clear, easy unsubscribe instructions
- Expectations: Day and Time, if set and frequency email will be mailed
- Preferences: Instructions on how the subscriber can change their own preferences
- Links to previous newsletters or to an archived web page
Posted by: DTB at 5:03 PM  |  Permalink

I admit it. I'm a fanatic for metrics. Statistics -- love them. Quantitative data -- can't live without it. Benchmarks -- be still my heart. Especially when you're talking about optimizing your e-mail marketing efforts, quantitative measures are the only game in town.

So how can you determine if your open/click-through/growth/other rate is good, bad, or ugly? Read on and I'll relate recent industry figures for common metrics; creative ways to determine the success or failure of your campaigns; and great sources for e-mail marketing statistics.

Full Story> Posted by: DTB at 10:09 AM  |  Permalink

Several years ago when I was writing for Red Herring magazine, I made a mistake. The San Francisco Chronicle had run an opinion column that bemoaned what a nuisance spam had become and elevated it to a level that, I felt at the time, far exceeded the seriousness of the problem.

Full Story> Posted by: DTB at 10:08 AM  |  Permalink

Personnel Decisions International, a human resources consulting firm, sought an innovative way to market a new Web-based product that measures change on the job. The firm decided a free Webinar was the ideal vehicle — and e-mail seemed the best channel to attract Webinar viewers.

Full Story> Posted by: DTB at 10:07 AM  |  Permalink

What does a list cost? In the e-mail arena, way too much, list marketers and mailers are grousing.

And it's not because the base list price has changed all that much recently. It's because of transmission fees and add-ons that can jack up the total price of an e-mail file to twice that minimum. For a business-to-business list, which generally starts at around $300 base, all those add-ons can tally up to a grand total of $500 or more to send out 1,000 e-mail addresses.

Full Story> Posted by: DTB at 10:07 AM  |  Permalink

E-mail marketers have seen increases in open and click-through rates for their messages, according to a new study.
Message open rates rose from 36.4% in fourth quarter 2002 to 39.2% in first quarter 2003, and click-through rates were up to 8.9% from 8% during the same period, according to the DoubleClick Q1 2003 Email Trend Report.

Full Story> Posted by: DTB at 10:06 AM  |  Permalink

With challenge/response, senders must prove they're human before their messages get through.

As if e-mail marketers didn't have enough headaches, during the past few weeks two separate companies introduced spam-blocking e-mail services that use a system known as challenge/response. It's a system well worth monitoring, as it appears destined to grow in popularity.

Full Story> Posted by: DTB at 10:05 AM  |  Permalink

What's on e-mail marketers' minds? I received numerous messages from readers interested in growing their in-house e-mail lists. Several esteemed ClickZ colleagues have covered this topic before, but it's well worth discussing again. Plenty of you are looking for ideas.

Full Story> Posted by: DTB at 10:04 AM  |  Permalink

E-mail marketers enjoyed higher open and click-through rates in the first quarter, according to DoubleClick (Quote, Company Info), despite the threat of the spam deluge drowning out their messages.

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Posted by: DTB at 10:03 AM  |  Permalink

Increasingly we're hearing horror stories about honest marketers
who've tried renting lists they were assured were "guaranteed to
be opt-in" only to find themselves the victim of either a s*pam-
list in disguise, or a list so badly targeted or old that their
response rates are nil.

Read Story> Posted by: DTB at 9:59 AM  |  Permalink