For years, home furnishings retailer Bombay Co. promoted only its web site in e-mailed marketing promotions--until it found out that e-mail marketing campaigns produced 10 times as many sales in stores as online. “We’re barcoding all our e-mails now so we can track the impact of e-mail campaigns across all sales channels,” Matt Corey, vice president of e-commerce and marketing, tells Internet Retailer.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 4:47 PM  |  Permalink

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a new international anti-spam campaign this week by sending "tens of thousands" of letters to businesses and organizations urging them to close open relays and proxies on their servers.

Known as "Operation Secure Your Server," the effort involves more than 35 agencies in 26 countries.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 4:45 PM  |  Permalink

Bringing together some of the brightest minds in the legal industry at the Spam & The Law conference resulted in more questions than answers. The good news is the questions themselves are a bellwether of industry reaction to the new law and how law makers will influence the next phase of e-mail marketing.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 4:44 PM  |  Permalink

Demented fitzroy coercible assai renoir laterite amort liven nicodemus zinc brown.

There. Now this message should get through to all our e-newsletter subscribers.

If you've been following the spam war, word combinations like the one above should look familiar. Some call it "word salad," others "poetry spam." Whatever you call it, it's one trick spammers adopted to bust through increasingly effective filters.

Ironically, the Federal CAN-SPAM Act is also triggering evasive spammer maneuvers as of late. Spammers try to appear legitimate (or at least in compliance) without actually being so.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 4:43 PM  |  Permalink

At the start of this year, the CAN-SPAM Act went into effect. Some aspects of the law are well-defined; others, such as using "ADV" or another label in commercial mail subject lines, are not yet fully outlined. Then, there are real grey areas, such as whether you must include your or the list owner's brand when sending a commercial message to a third-party list.

Here's a quick reference version of a report I put together for myself and my clients based on my reading of the law.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:10 PM  |  Permalink

Californians will have less protection against spammers under a new federal antispam law that recently superceded a stricter state law, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Thursday.

California's law was set to go into effect Jan. 1 but was pre-empted by the newly enacted federal Can-Spam Act, short for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act. The state law would have given citizens the right to bring private action against junk e-mailers. It was also one of the country's first opt-in laws, giving people protection from unsolicited e-mail by requiring marketers to gain permissions before sending commercial e-mail. That provision is moot with the federal law.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:08 PM  |  Permalink

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday proposed a mandatory tag for commercial e-mail that contains pornographic material--a stipulation of the new federal antispam law enacted this month.

The FTC, which is charged with enforcing the Can-Spam Act, short for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing, proposed a rule that would require senders of adult-related e-mail to include the phrase, "Sexually-Explicit-Content:" in messages. That way, recipients would be able to recognize and easily filter such e-mail before viewing it, according to the FTC and backers of the law.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:07 PM  |  Permalink

Thinking about a sweepstakes to generate a bigger e-mail list? Wonder if it's worth upping the stakes by going from an instant-win to a daily instant-win campaign?

If United Air Lines' (UAL's) experience is any indicator, the idea is definitely worth considering. (It's been true with our work for a leading toy company, too.)
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 9:17 PM  |  Permalink

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Friday predicted the death of spam in two years and said his company is working on a new software that would make it impractical and uneconomical for marketers to send the mass e-mails that annoy so many e-mail users.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 3:23 PM  |  Permalink

America Online is testing an antispam filter intended to accurately trace the origin of e-mail messages, a move that could bring new accountability to the Net if it proves reliable.

The online unit of media giant Time Warner last week implemented SPF, or Sender Permitted From, an emerging authentication protocol for preventing e-mail forgeries, or spoofing. The trial involves the company's 33 million subscribers worldwide and is the first large-scale test for the protocol, which standards groups are considering along with various other e-mail verification proposals.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 3:21 PM  |  Permalink

Prevailing wisdom among nearly all direct marketers who write e-mail copy is each e-mail message should be aimed at a single person. It should be designed to motivate that person to action, and nothing more. I challenge the validity of that practice. Frankly, e-mail can do much more.

First, a little background. As you know, e-mail is a unique medium for numerous reasons. Like me, I'm sure you've forwarded e-mail messages to friends, family, and business associates when they contained something of value. I'm not talking about jokes or cartoons, but important information.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 1:06 PM  |  Permalink

Spam filters work pretty well - at least some of them - but any filter that usefully catches spam will also, eventually, throw out an important email. Wired notes that people now have to exercise much greater care in what they include in their emails in order to prevent their memos from being hoovered by middleware.

Do not use profanity. Be very careful when discussing financial or business affairs. Avoid any mention of your private parts. Do not offer any guarantees, or refer to checks that may or may not be in the mail. Refrain from describing anything or anybody as "free." Abstain from the exuberant use of punctuation marks. Shun simple salutations like "Hello," and opt instead to craft a detailed, personalized subject line. Oh, and don't ever use the word opt, particularly in conjunction with the words "in" or "out."

Which brings up the prospect that email may become less of a formal business medium. When employees absolutely must get something communicated, email is fast losing luster.
Wired: Spam Filters Grab Good With Bad Posted by: DTB at 10:32 PM  |  Permalink

What eMailers Need to Know

Yes, there's a brand new white list at AOL, and if you're on it, your email will be delivered to 9.0 users without that pesky extra layer of filtering. Plus, your HTML and hotlinks will work even if recipients haven't yet buddy-listed you.

We're psyched to be the first news-source to reveal that this whitelist has launched - and how you can get on it:
(Open access until 1/24) Posted by: DTB at 12:38 PM  |  Permalink

This story is a must-read, if you've ever considered a viral campaign, or sent prospects an e-card.

Over the past six weeks, more than 12,000,000 visitors have played with a holiday e-card. Learn how the card turned visitors looking for fun into roughly $2,000,000 worth of business leads.

This new Case Study includes samples and useful data, such as week-by-week traffic figures so you can see the viral traffic bell-curve:
(Open access until 1/23) Posted by: DTB at 12:36 PM  |  Permalink

No predictions. No resolutions. Just old-fashioned, practical advice on how to optimize e-mail communications in the new year. 2004 marks what I have previously mentioned as the beginning of the "e-mail renaissance." The new year also marks the official start of the nation's first federal anti-spam law, known as CAN-SPAM (S. 877).
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:16 PM  |  Permalink

This week, we talked to business-to-business (B2B) marketing expert Ruth Stevens to find out what e-mail trends she's seeing in her work with clients -- and what tips she can pass on.

Stevens, who was named "one of the 100 most influential people in B-to-B marketing" by Crain's BtoB magazine, generously offered three key observations: the sender line gets e-mail opened; use referral marketing; and e-mail is a personal medium.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 10:10 PM  |  Permalink

We finally have a national law to replace a patchwork quilt of state legislations that attempted to deal with spam. Regardless of whether you feel CAN-SPAM isn't strong enough or relieved it's replaced that onerous California law, it is law now. You have to deal with it. I'm sure most of you know what's in it, so I'll focus on how to deal with its key points.
Read Article >>: Posted by: DTB at 2:00 PM  |  Permalink

Make-A-Flake complemented Jockey.com's direct mail holiday campaign, with its focus on comfortable holiday traditions. Site visitors could create their own virtual paper snowflakes and save them to an online gallery, the same way arcade gamers can post their high scores for other players to see.

The snowflakes could also be shared via e-mail, a function that introduced a viral component to the program. Viral marketing has long been coveted for its ability to increase visibility and boost interaction with online contests and promotions. The Make-a-Flake program was no exception.

Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 11:12 AM  |  Permalink

Email was the clear leader among retailers for getting their promotions in front of shoppers, with 86 percent citing their own email promotions as one of their most successful marketing vehicles. Shoppers are clearly reading their messages, as 38 percent of merchants stated their email open rates had increased significantly or somewhat from last year.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:29 PM  |  Permalink

Online retailers end the holiday shopping season with a smile

A BizRate.com study sponsored by Shop.org showed that 59 percent of online retailers reported at least a 25 percent revenue rise, while 30 percent of them saw an increase in revenues exceeding 50 percent. Five out of six used email promotions, and found that they were the most effective means for kick-starting sales. When given a list of 22 different marketing vehicles, retailers picked first email, then search engine marketing and affiliate marketing as the next most efficient tactics."
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:24 PM  |  Permalink

I recently lunched with a friend who is preparing to launch his first newsletter campaign. He had some questions about how to build a subscriber base. As we spoke, I realized many of you might have the same questions. In response, some insights on growing a newsletter subscription list.

The first thing I told my friend (and he wasn't thrilled to hear it) was one of the most important lessons in building a subscriber base: Unless you've got a major brand and a big budget to spend on this initiative, you must have patience. In e-newsletter publishing, patience is a virtue few of us nurture. But a good subscriber list doesn't happen overnight. You can build a list quickly, but not a quality one.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:20 PM  |  Permalink

Computer users hoping that a new federal law would help cut the spam flowing to their in-boxes so far have been disappointed.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 8:16 PM  |  Permalink

In the first of its kind “Quarterly Delivery Report” from emailLabs, the e-mail marketing software and services company reports that Tuesday was the most popular day for its clients to send e-mail marketing messages in Q3 2003.

Over 25% of its clients sent out e-mail marketing on a Tuesday. Wednesday, however, was e-mail marketers' best day for opens and click-throughs. emailLabs notes that 22.8% of its clients’ e-mails were opened on Wednesday in Q3. Wednesday kept its spot as the most popular open day from Q1 to Q3, falling slightly to 22% of all e-mails in Q2.
Open Access for Short Time >> Posted by: DTB at 2:03 PM  |  Permalink

Digital Impact, a provider of online direct marketing solutions, announced the results of a nationwide poll measuring consumer attitudes and responses to legitimate email marketing and spam. The survey found that though consumers are frustrated by the increasing amount of spam invading their inboxes.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 2:00 PM  |  Permalink

As the year draws to a close, it's a good time to review your best performing e-mail messages and see what key gleanings you can apply going forward.
Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 1:59 PM  |  Permalink

I swear this is not a prediction column! The two themes that stand out most from the new CAN-SPAM law are federal authorities will crack down hard on e-mail fraud and e-mailers must honor unsubscribe requests. The fraudulent areas are well defined by the media and in the law. It's the unsubscribe part that will keep e-mailers on their toes this year.Read Article >> Posted by: DTB at 1:57 PM  |  Permalink