Don't Say the B-Word!

The Hunt
You don't have to talk to many marketers before you hear the word "blast" roll off the tongue - at which point my left eye starts to twitch, my leg starts to shake and expletives begin to fly from my mouth like a raunchy truck driver after too much coffee. Graphic? Yes. True? Pretty close. For those of you that have worked with me, clients, prospects and colleagues alike you know that it has been my personal mission to ban the word "blast" from the email industry forever (much like the hyphen in e-mail, which is gaining success as well). Call me an email snob, but if you are a legitimate marketer the word "blast" should never pass your lips unless you are using it to describe the fun networking event you attended last night. Nothing about your marketing efforts should convey that there is no forethought or planning to your marketing and "blast" does exactly that.

The Skunk
Clearly the skunk here is the awful, five-letter dirty word that has made its way in to the vocabulary of email marketers everywhere --- BLAST. A word that so inherently indicates that we are an industry that doesn't care where our messages land so long as we hit someone with an email address and at least one good eye. One colleague likened it to confetti cannons – blast the confetti cannon and you will be cleaning up the mess for months! It’s not too far from the truth really. Look at this industry, email marketers continue to exist today that believe this is the right approach. Call it what you want, "spray and pray," "batch and blast," it is the behavior that has caused so much consumer distrust in email marketing and years later, we are still cleaning up the mess. It is this same mentality that has caused your friends to call you a SPAMMER after you tell them what you do for a living.

The Resolution
Let’s keep "blast" in the past and move into a new, more intelligent era of email communication where we refer to our email communications as campaign launches or customer email distributions. As professional email marketers we are mindful about message content that contains email "dirty words or phrases" like "free" or "limited time offer." The same consideration needs to be given to how we as marketers refer to what we do on a daily basis. We need to "walk the walk" by removing the word "blast" from our daily vernacular starting now. This will also help educate those internal customers that have a stake in your email marketing as well as making it a little easier for sweet old aunt Margie to better understand what you do.

I LOVE NY...

The Hunt
When I sign-up for an email program I expect a few things based on the information that I provide to the marketer. If I am providing my address, personal preferences and the like, I assume that this information will be used to serve up email content that is more relevant than if I had only provided my email address. Savvy consumers today know that it is possible to really target the email you send, so if you are collecting personal information, you best be prepared to use it.

The Skunk
I recently enrolled in the American Express Entertainment Access email program available through my card membership. Although purists would say that Chicago is not New York when it comes to plethora of Broadway, Off-Broadway and other great shows and events, Chicago does a pretty darn good job of providing a full spectrum of rich events to choose from for your entertainment pleasure.

<<personal rant – I’ll keep it brief >> This is one of my pet peeves - when I register for emails that require me to further clarify personal preferences even after I've provided my selections especially when my location should have already been identified by previous information supplied.<</ personal rant>>

I've received a few of these entertainment emails over the last few weeks, all referencing the exciting events that are available for me to book with my Amex card. They were all based on events in the New York area. The two things that are troubling to me is that one; you already know that I live in the Chicago area and two; I have to search within the email to change my preferences so that I receive offers based in my local area. Although not a painful process, I find it a little odd (and time consuming based on the additional steps required) that they would make me scour through a message and take further actions to make the email more relevant to me. Email should be quick and painless and provide the information that is expected.


The Resolution
Knowing your customer means leveraging the data that you have on file; that you have previously asked for! In this case, my billing address reflects a Chicagoland zip code - what more do you need? If any additional selections are needed, these should be handled when I sign up for the communication, not after I realize that these events are not in my home city.

If you are managing user information across multiple databases for your email communications, ensure that these systems can reconcile before messages featuring conditional content are sent especially when content is driven by the data. Another, less integrated, stop-gap measure would be to include a user-friendly, easily identifiable action within the email communication to self report and self request geographically specific information.

Requiring your email recipient to click deeper within a communication to get more information about something that peeks their interest is great and is often a component for a successful message. Asking them to hunt for their relevant information can be extremely detrimental. If your call to action is not crystal clear, recipients will likely just move on…it's not like they don’t have another message (much like yours) awaiting them in their inbox.

This is not a TEST

The Hunt
One of the most critical components for a successful email is getting it out the door and in to your customer’s inbox in a quick and timely fashion. Last-minute sales, special offers or time sensitive deals don’t have a long shelf life. That old adage, "Haste Makes Waste" is often overlooked and your rush to get your next campaign launched could possibly leave your customers guessing on what exactly just landed in their inbox.

The Skunk
Virgin America's fresh looking website and emails are smart and cleverly written - heck, they don't even service my departure point here in the Windy City and I still add to their open and click through rate. As a somewhat recent addition to the domestic low-cost airline industry (August 2007), it didn't take long before I had subscribed to their email program.

I've been holding on to this email "goody" for a few weeks. Let's just say that I've created and launched my fair share of email communications over the years so when this one hit my inbox with the subject line TEST preceding the planned subject line content (note fancy arrow and highlight below), I couldn't help but cringe when I thought about the flurry of internal emails that must have been waiting in the sender's email the next day. The little skunk below is most likely a result moving too quickly and not having a proper quality assurance testing process in place. Once the email is out the door, little can be done after it lands in the inbox. Ouch.

The Resolution Even with the best testing and QA procedures, mistakes do happen. What I've found is that these types of mistakes are often a consequence of circumventing the process when time is short. Make time in the production and launch process to systematically review all parts of the message. Take note of the following nuggets before you click send.

• Create, implement and adhere to a QA process/form. Reduce the risk of email errors by using a check list to proof your email messages. Whether you are an email team of one or of many, a QA form helps with tired eyes and can be your backup when there is a time crunch.
  
  
• Use a second set of eyes. Enlist the person in your office that is always correcting your internal correspondence. You know the one; they hit REPLY ALL and corrected your quick note letting everyone know that there was birthday cake in the break room. Seriously, a second set of fresh eyes can help catch a multitude of email errors. Find a backup stickler.
  
  
• Launch to an internal seed list first. Even after a thorough proofing round, there is bound to be someone who picks up on something that was overlooked. When possible, launch to your internal seed list and schedule your email to your recipient list only after some time for feedback and perhaps some good hearted ribbing.
  
  
• Don't push it – too much. We could all use another hour or two added to the day check off a few more of those to-do items. Set appropriate expectations for not only yourself but for others that have a say in your email program. Pushing back an email launch an hour or so to ensure that everything is correct can cause less grief than explaining why TEST was in your live subject line.
  

Oh, one last thing. Use caution when adding TEST to you subject line.