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As 2006 closes, in what we hope is a blur of ecommerce activity for your company, we thank you for subscribing to the Intevation Report and welcoming our collection of articles, tips, and advice into your inbox once a month.
This month, we have converted our regular optimization column into the Intevation Report Top 10, featuring our readers’ favorite articles from 2006. We have provided a short summary for each of the top five articles of the year and links to the full stories in our Resource Center, followed by article titles and links to the other five. If you are a recent subscriber, this list gives you a quick reference to any key content you might have missed before signing up.
As you could guess, practical advice on how-to topics such as subject lines and HTML design reigns supreme with Intevation readers. However, other readers also were interested in broader-based issues that challenge email marketers and publishers to beware of email channel brand killers, consider the metrics that really matter, and understand why permission is not just an option but a necessary fact of valued and responsible email communications. One of our most popular articles is a perennial favorite from 2004: former Intevation Report Editor Loren McDonald's "28 Ways to Build Permission-based Lists."
We'll return to our regular programming in January 2007 with a full slate of tips, advice and news.
The Intevation Report Top 10 Articles of 2006
1. Subject Lines: 15 Rules to Write Them Right
By Loren McDonald
Any article tackling subject lines is popular with Intevation readers. This one is outstanding because it hammers home the blunt truth that you have only 50 characters in that subject line to tell your story or compel a reader to open the message. These 15 rules for writing effective subject lines will help you use those 50 characters to their best advantage. Review them before you send your next email campaign.
2. 20 HTML Email Tips: Ignore at Your Own Risk
By Loren McDonald
HTML design for email is a trickier prospect than HTML for the Web. Your message must display correctly across dozens of clients and platforms, each with its own quirks and rendering issues. When HTML goes bad, your messages will be unreadable, not function correctly or trigger email blocks or filters. This list of 20 best practices addresses critical issues in coding and design in format, functionality and usability and explains then in plain language. Make sure your email designer knows them too.
3. The 5 Biggest Email Brand-Killers
By Stefan Pollard
Email is a world-class brand-builder, but it can turn into a brand-killer if you treat it like any other marketing channel. Much of email's brand-killing ability results if you deliberately or accidentally abuse your unique relationship with your email readers or customers. This article outlines the top 5 ways email can turn into a brand-killer and how to avoid them.
4. Beyond Open Rates: Metrics that Matter
By Loren McDonald
The reality of email marketing: so many metrics, so few clues about which ones really matter. If the open rate is down but conversions are up, should you stress or celebrate? This article explains why you should focus instead on goals and list quality and how to use the numbers to measure your progress toward meeting them.
5. Permission Email Marketing: 'Permission' is Not Optional
By Loren McDonald
Permission email marketing has been standard operating procedure at EmailLabs for so long that we occasionally forget not all email marketers are either on board with the concept or even understand what it's about. Loren learned that the hard way at an online-marketing conference, when he and some participants argued about the real need to get permission. This article presents Loren's excellent defense of the permission principle.
To round out the Intevation Report Top 10, find these articles in our Resource Center:
6. Email Marketing Strategies: Email 'Must-Does' for 2006
7. 28 Ways to Build Permission-Based Email Lists
8. Designing Emails for the Preview Pane and Disabled Images
9. Why Do My Open Rates Continue to Decline?
10. The Ten Most-Ignored Best Practices
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