As savvy marketers know, reaching a consumer’s inbox is a privilege, not a right.
Effectively targeting consumers through e-mail has become at once easier due to better targeting through technology, and harder due to deliverability issues such as spam, increasing reputation standards and overall inbox competition. Around every corner is a new issue the industry must grapple with – currently we are hearing about “bacn,” meaning the e-mail we have chosen to receive, but typically don’t read immediately, if at all. This is only a step away from spam, according to many marketers, yet even the definition of the latter is constantly evolving.
Effective e-mail campaigns are those that harness the power of the advancements in the medium as well as tapping into consumer insights, while maintaining the age-old tenets of effective direct marketing through any channel. Going the extra step and ensuring that e-mail efforts are integrated with all other marketing output across multiple channels is a sure way to really make an impact, and this subject, among many others, is addressed here.
In the following pages of this 2007 edition of the Essential Guide to E-mail Marketing, you will see a broad range of advice from industry experts, from such fundamental subjects as how to best organize your company’s e-mail output and getting the most from e-mail service providers, to putting the cherry on the cake through use of rich media.
