I have been thinking a lot lately of what the implication is for an organization once the button is pushed and the email is sent.  When I was client side for many years, I would often go about my day, blasting out emails quickly since I had the process and methodology down in order to do so.  One of the things that would cross my mind every once in awhile was the person on the other end of the email.  I would think about someone slogging through their inbox and poof..an email that we just sent landed and they read it.  Some would think that what we sent was awesome and wanted to click to learn more or buy while others would curse our name and do the unthinkable….  For others, it would never be read, junked or just plain discarded when seeing the name. I use to take people who complained about getting email from us personally, since I felt a deep sense of ownership in the program and I would go the extra mile trying to help the person on the other end with solving whatever issue they had.

True story: I remember one day I sent an email out to The Netherlands promoting an event that we were having and a man responded back with such furious anger calling me and my company every name in the book.  He took it to a personal level and really let me have it for disturbing him in the inbox and threatened all kinds of stuff against me and my company.  To be clear, the email was sent to people who had opted in to receive email and if I remember it was a pretty well segmented email, but for some reason it didn’t matter to him.  All he wanted to do was unleash his fury against someone. I ended up responding to him in a courteous and professional matter indicating that I understood where he was coming and told him that I personally removed him from the database so he would not receive another email from us again.  A few hours later, to my surprise I received and email back from him saying that he didn’t want to be removed, he just wanted to see if someone was listening and that he responded the way he did because he found out that his wife wanted to divorce him and he was mad.

I think as email marketers we need to understand that sometimes what we send interrupts people’s days and that after we push the button to 5,000 or 5,000,000 that there are real people with real problems at the other end and no matter how segmented or beautiful our email looks or how great the offer is people will be people.  What we need to do as professionals is respect that and ensure that we convince people in organizations that those email address’ are not just revenue numbers or segments…they are real people who deserve the absolute best in an email because we care about our brand integrity and our program.

The real implication of an email send begins with you, but ends in the inbox of a real human.  Make it count.

Looking at the promotional emails that have been sent to me, it appears that they have fallen into the daily deals rock’em/sock’em rut with promotion after promotion.  Now..don’t get me wrong, everyone likes a good deal, but to me the joy of owning a pet is also emotional.  Subscribers want to feel emotionally connected to their brand and this is where Doggyloot misses the mark.  They have great deals, but the email program needs to also have that humanized element to it.  I speak around the world about optimizing email programs and it always goes back to relevancy on the marketers side, but the feeling that the company cares about them and their needs from the consumer/subscriber side.

The Facebook page for Doggyloot is filled with interesting content and stories that seemingly are begging to be put in email and have a story told around them.  When you combine the human/emotional side to owning a pet and then cross sell and up-sell me to your products, it would go a long way towards showing me the subscriber your human/caring side.

I can’t give too much away of my secret sauce around the humanization of an email program (as that is really reserved for my paying clients), but I can tell you this: The future of email and its long term success for any organization is going to be trying to figure out ways the brand will be able to humanize and allow subscribers to believe that they are more than just trying to give them a good deal.  Social media has taught us this and customers are wanting it.  The trick is balance and a solid messaging strategy around how you want you want to be perceived in the inbox and around the social sphere.

Below is a recent email and a screen grab of Doggyloot’s FB page.  I welcome your feedback.

Throughout the event, we both will be tweeting and possibly blogging about the great learning’s and takeaways that we see as critical to successful email programs.  I have been to EIS several times, but only in Utah, so I am excited to change the scenery.

See you on the other side.

I had the distinct pleasure and honor of contributing to a new white paper that I would love for you to read and comment on.  It comes from our  friends and colleagues over at Silverpop and its called: The Best Marketing Advice I Ever Received, and the Best I Ever Gave: 5 Experts Share Their Wisdom.

This white paper is packed with nuggets from some of the smartest people in the industry such as Scott Monty, Peter Shankman and Brent DuMars so as you imagine I am incredibly grateful to the Silverpop folks for including my contribution with some of these fine folks.  Some of the advice is stuff that you already know, but its a great refresher for all of us in this crazy industry.

Thanks again Silverpop and I will catch you on the other side.

You can down load the white paper here.

My theory is that a large portion of organizations fear the unsubscribe. They fear the number, the process and the permanent nature of the act.  With this mind, my theory is that most unsubscribe experiences suck, but I honestly believe that they don’t have too.  In fact, I am willing to say that the unsubscribe experience at all brands should be a great one.  I say this because in some cases, it might be the last experience that people have with your brand and why let it be a sucky one.  So go ahead…take a look at your unsubscribe experience and ask yourselves if you are proud of it and whether or not you would be willing to show it to someone who is special to you.

My advice to all digital marketers and consultants out there is to make the act of unsubscribing a great one.  Make it funny, make it sincere but most of all make it memorable.

In case you aren’t familiar with Operation, it’s a children’s game that is won by the player with the steadiest hand. Using tweezers, they need to reach into places on the board and remove items without touching the walls. If they do touch the walls, the board buzzes and the red light goes off.

How does this relate to email you ask?

A mouse gives you the ability to have steady handed precision. You can easily navigate a cluster of links and click the link you are interested in. You have total and utter confidence that you will not fail and click the wrong item. Now think about a finger tip or thumb. Not so simple.

Now take a look at your email templates and email designs. Do they pass the Operation test?

Are their tight clusters of links?

Are your preheader links stacked on top of each other like this:

The crazy thing about the cluster above: the 2 links have drastically different consequences. One moves you closer to conversion, the other might automatically remove you from the list. Insane!

If I asked you to tap either of those links with your finger, knowing you would get an electric jolt if you touched the other one, would you feel confident in that? Me neither.

Sometime in the very near future, more of your emails will be opened on mobile devices more than on the web. It’s happening. I’m not asking you to redesign every email from scratch, not yet at least. I’m asking you to review your emails and give your links some breathing room so subscribers feel as confident touching a link as they do clicking with their mouse.

Follow @alexcwilliams

If you want to test out having users “Pin” content from your email on Pinterest, here is how to build the url that will sit behind the “Pin it” button:

We’ll create a Pin of my guitar as an example.  First, grab the url you would like the Pin to go when clicked:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Firebird/Gibson-USA/Firebird-V-20

Next you’ll need the url of the hosted image you would like Pinned:

http://www2.gibson.com/Images/Products/Electric-Guitars/Designer/Gibson-USA/Firebird-V/Gallery-Images/DSF10VSCH1-Finish-Shot-jpg.aspx

And Finally, you’ll need the description you want to go on your pin:

Gibson Firebird

And Viola! You have your link.

http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Firebird/Gibson-USA/Firebird-V-20&media=http://www2.gibson.com/Images/Products/Electric-Guitars/Designer/Gibson-USA/Firebird-V/Gallery-Images/DSF10VSCH1-Finish-Shot-jpg.aspx&description=Gibson Firebird

Here is the link in action. Pin me.

Happy Pinning!

Cheers Mate.

Watch this video on YouTube.

We asked him to take some video and tell us about his travels. Stay tuned for more dispatches from Andrew here at the Trendline blog.

Oy!

Watch this video on YouTube.

(If you have some travel tips, send him a tweet @andrewkordek)

I almost deleted a great email tonight…

The only reason I paused before deleting this email in Gmail was that I used to be in a band with a guy named Clark, the only Clark I’ve ever known (who was an amazing bass player). After opening the email I was greeted with this:

After opening, I was totally surprised to see this email from Invision, a web app I’ve been testing here at Trendline to gather feedback from clients on the emails we design for them (wink). I got hot and heavy with my trial for the first 10 days or so and for reasons other than apathy or malaise, I cooled off. I simply got busy with other things. The reason I bring this part is up is that it’s a very important part of the 30 day trial. It is a short and long lifecycle at the same time. 5 days of inactivity in “trial” time is a like a month in normal time.

This is a fantastic email. I’m not crazy about the “movement” copy, but the urgency, value, proof, and call-to-action are nailed creatively. The creative isn’t the problem, it’s the best part. The problem is that, if I was a gambling man, I would bet that very few people saw the creative and it is too little too late. Without a branded “From Name” and a subject line that clearly and urgently states that your trial is ending that gets an open, the creative is useless. Now, there is less than 48 hours until trial my ends, and the only logical next email is the buy now or goodbye email.

If you are a web-app start up or an established company – you can’t let the shot clock run down that far. The trial window has to be monitored and automated with engagement data on the application side, not on the calendar. Look at the login/activity data and model how many days of inactivity predict conversion failure. You have to get them back in the app before that happens.

So, in summary, onboard and educate them well (with a strong branded “from” and subject line pattern from the get-go), and don’t wait until the end of the trial to convert them. Use email to keep them engaged in the app throughout the trial period. If you do that, you’ll be happy at the end of every month.