It has always amazed me that, despite the vast amount of information available on the subject, email professionals and marketing experts alike still have many questions around deliverability. Moreover, many misconceptions have been floating around the topic of deliverability for years, without the record ever being set straight. In response to these observations, I am dedicating this post to discussing and (hopefully) clearing up a few of the most common deliverability myths I’ve come across throughout my career.

Myth #1

“Deliverability is all about who you know, if you have the right contacts at the right ISPs, you can get all of your clients mail through to the inbox” — FALSE

This is a very common misconception in the industry and one that I have encountered many times. “Don’t you have someone you can call to take care of this?” “Isn’t there a special friend over at ISP XX that can help you out with these issues, I thought you had relationships with all of the ISPs?”

While it is true that many ESPs have built relationships with various folks at different ISPs, most ISPs have replaced the staff they employ to handle email filtering with automated systems. As a result of these automated filtering systems, there is less overhead, adjustments are made more quickly based on the type of spam attacks they are seeing and all senders are treated more equally.

Myth #2

“I can’t use certain words in my emails, especially not in my subject lines” — FALSE

While this may have been true 5-7 years ago, most ISPs filtering systems now rely more on overall sender reputation than the content or wording. Sure, if you consistently use certain words in your subject lines that your users don’t find engaging it could have a detrimental effect on your delivery, but that is less of an issue with the filtering systems picking up on specific words used and more about the relevancy of your messages.

Myth #3

Deliverability is a black art that only a couple of people really understand, and those people want to keep it that way – FALSE

From my experience, I have found that most people that work in the deliverability field are more than happy to share information and educate anyone that will listen. I, myself, as well as a number of my colleagues, have said in the past that if we were able to teach our clients all of the knowledge we have, we would be more than happy to work ourselves out of a job—we just don’t see that happening any time soon.

If you take the time to listen and learn from experts, you will find that deliverability is a far less convoluted and esoteric subject than many are led to believe. As I have explained in previous posts, marketers seeing inbox delivery issues need to first and foremost understand that deliverability (on a high-level) is made up of 4 components, and then proceed to figure out which one of these four areas need to be adjusted.

1. Complaint rates
2. Unknown Users
3. Spamtraps
4. User Engagement

Myth #4

Deliverability folks are always working for the “other team” – FALSE

This one takes the cake, and I say this metaphorically because, as a person working in the field of deliverability, this situation rarely ever pans out as a happy win-win — As they say, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. For example, when I am talking with ISPs or anti-spam organizations, they seem to have an initial belief that any information they share with me will be used to get around their systems and allow the marketers to send more spam. On the other hand, when I am speaking with marketers, they often feel as though I don’t understand what they are trying to accomplish because I am just “bowing down to the ISPs.”

Neither perception is correct. As a deliverability-focused person, it is my job to be a liaison between the two entities, ISPs and marketers. It is my responsibility to help each side understand what the other is doing, while also consulting the marketers on best practices and helping them obtain the right delivery method based on their business model and goals.

While these are just a few common myths within the deliverability world, I believe it is important for all parties involved to both realize and accept that not all initial conceptions (especially those I have discussed in this post) are as concrete as they may seem. From the marketers and deliverability experts, to the ISPs and ESPs, we all have a role in keeping email a viable marketing channel and it is important that misapprehensions are continuously exposed and dispelled to enable better cooperation and inevitably smoother deliverability.

Until next time—good luck and good sending.

We kicked off the Mediapost Email Insider Summit, of which I was proud to serve on the programming committee, with me and a panel of super smart email marketers talking about the top challenges in email marketing today. We promised a bucket of “ideas to steal” for all attendees.

After a lively prep session, the panelists developed a list of the top challenges they face, and which we discussed in the panel. Perhaps you will see some of the things you struggle with, as well:

Engagement: How to surprise and delight your subscribers
Customer Centricity: Balancing internal demands with the interests of your subscribers.
Data Governance: Using data responsibly
Moving toward Real Time Email Messaging
Subscriber Driven Metrics: Winning the long vs. short term ROI argument
Aesthetics Preferences: Testing change to the factors that drive response.
Building Loyalty: Breaking through the inbox and social clutter. Consistently.
Data-driven Automation: Increasing efficiency through the smart use of technology.
Listening and Ideation: Giving subscribers a voice in the program and the offer/content strategy.
Inspiring the Team: Earning recognition for the email team as the email experts.
Seat at the Table: Moving from “cash cow” to “strategic weapon” – and getting resourced for it.

The conversation offered many ideas to steal, the total of which we’ll let you gather yourself by watching the video from GetResponse. For those with less time, here are a few highlights.

Alison Aguiar, Senior Manager, Email Operations, Barnes & Noble

Send a note to loyalty program customers who have not redeemed their benefits, either a coupon or some earned reward. Sometimes a simple, ”Thank you” is very powerful, especially if you can do it cross channel. For example, have a thank you email waiting for me when I get home from the local store.
We increased email frequency during holiday 2012 which really moved the needle on sales but I knew that we had to scale back post-holiday. Customers expect a big push on email in December, but they don’t expect companies to keep up the volume afterwards. Don’t wear out your welcome.
Personalization within emails – this used to be considered a little creepy in a big brother way, but many customers have come to expect you to know what they buy and to suggest what else they may like to buy.

Alan Clifford, VP, Email Marketing & Merchandising, Living Social

We “steal” a lot… testing exactly what your competitor is doing is cheap and it gives you the opportunity to do it better.
Commit your team to be real partners with business units. It will build more trust.
Usually the ugliest email wins. Test and target.
In most cases, data can’t help you prove or disprove your strategy unless you are willing to wait for 6 months+. We frame the question internally as a risk vs. reward scenario and get the business units to sign-up for the risk in conjunction with us.

Drew Price, Director of Email, IGN/Ziff Davis

Email has power. The Center for Media Studies new study shows 56% of customers are influenced by email coupons and offers. Thus, our department has the ability to make things happen that other channels cannot – we can drive value. If we can test an offer and prove that it works, it empowers the team to do more.
You can create more ‘delight’ for subscribers by doing fan-service campaigns outside of the normal peaks. They may expect a “prize” at the holidays, but not on a random Tuesday.
We match our newsletter style to the essence of our product: Love of gaming. We recently began gamifying our newsletter.
Tangible rewards work well. At the end of last year, we rewarded subscribers with achievement badges for their time on file and engagement (site visits, email opens, etc.). We sent them stats along with an actual virtual badge – and a coupon code for our retail store.
Low-level creative optimizations are very important. I think this needs to be a part of everything you do week-to-week and not just an occasional test that then becomes the Bible. Make sure you do it at least on the messages that have the highest risk/reward.

Katherine Youngblood, Senior Manager, Email Marketing, Intercontinental Hotel Group

Enabling post-stay reviews through PURLs distributed through email. Technically challenging, but very successful.
Be diligent about not letting others steal the revenue from the email channel. Use vanity urls, track links appropriately and stay active in the attribution conversation.
Take the “human” out of the communication and let the technology deploy the email based on a triggered behavior or status level.
We show subscribers and members the value of accumulating their rewards by making it easy for our members to know their status and to use the points.

Many thanks to the panelists for sharing so generously these success stories and the challenges they face every day. Thanks also to Mediapost for including me and for putting on another really great show!

Tip #1 – Making your landing page easily say what you want your viewer to do

Having a very clear “call to action” is the best way to utilize a landing page that is linked to your email marketing campaign. When a person lands on a web page you want to give them a way that they can take an action to either sign up, buy now, call today or whatever action you would like them to take. By having an aim for that landing page you can increase your conversions and truly get an ROI from your email marketing efforts.

Tip #2– Keeping it simple

It is hard to not say everything about every single product that you may have to offer or the details of your full line of services. You don’t want to overload your viewers with too much. By keeping it simple and clean you can get a direct message across and will have a much better chance of getting a conversion or call over trying to overload them with as much information as possible.

Tip #3 – Does the link in the email relate to the content of the landing page?

Let’s say you are advertising a blue sweater in your email campaign. Create the link that will land them right on the page where they can buy it on the spot. Many beginners to email marketing will just link the customer to the homepage of their website which is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Keep it simple and give the customer what they want, don’t send them on a search to find the product they clicked on in the first place!

Tip #4 – Use a checklist to double check your campaigns

Have you ever made a mistake in an email or article? Who in the heck hasn’t! By creating a simple checklist for yourself you can quickly go over the major pieces where it is easy to make a mistake and ensure that your bases are covered.

Things to check:
· Am I sending this to the right list?
· Have I spell checked it?
· Do all my links work?
· Do they link to the correct pages?
· Are the images clickable?

Just by checking over these pieces you can save yourself some quick embarrassment.

By creating landing pages that make it easy on your customers and give them a clear direction you can create a great return from your marketing efforts.

Crafting email subject lines can be a trying experience. You’ve tested like crazy, and you’ve made sure to personalize your emails, but you’re still not getting the open rates that you were hoping for.

The truth is that your email marketing campaigns live and die by the quality of the subject line. Some loyal customers will open anything that you send, but the rest you might lose by the second word.

So how do you get more eyeballs on your emails? Let’s go over a few quick tips that should get you more clicks!
Put the offer/information up front

The further back in the subject line your offer is, the less chance it has of being read. Position is everything and subject lines on mobile devices get cut even shorter than their desktop counterparts.

So if you’re offering free shipping on your product for a week, make sure that that the words “free shipping” appear early in the subject line. Promo codes can wait for the body of your email.
Keep your subject line short

You probably know this one already. Nobody is going to read a brilliant 20 word-long subject line where you rhyme and make an allusion to a popular piece of fiction.

What will they read? Short 8-10 word lines that give them the information they need to know.

Give it a sense of urgency

Along with the offer, you want to make sure that your customers know that this deal isn’t going to last forever. Nothing spurs people to action like the thought of missing something. Time restraints make people take action right now instead of getting to it later.

Having a longer sale? Advertising a month or week-long sale might not sound as urgent, but your follow up emails certainly will!

Make it personal

You need to dig deeper into your customer data to determine the different kinds of email subscribers that you have. Then break down your email marketing into those different groups.

If you sell social media marketing solutions to clients, the needs of a small business are going to be different than those of a large brand. So tailor your subject lines to those particular individuals. Small business owners would be delighted to read “Let us handle your social media while you focus on your business” while large brands would be more interested in “Our software lets you monitor and reply to your fans in no time!”
Triple check your spelling and grammar

Easiest way to ensure your potential customers don’t open your email? By misspelling words or using incorrect grammar. Your and you’re can be easy to switch when you’re working quickly. We’ve all used the wrong they’re, their, or there.

But when clients read the wrong word or the wrong spelling, that looks like you don’t have the time or interest to check the work you present to the world. And if you’re not going to take an interest in your own company, why would your email recipients?

Bonus tip: Be clever

Asking a clever question, adding a graphic, or mirroring presidential email marketing campaigns can have varying degrees of success. But the need to be clever should never overshadow any of these other tips.

Consumers are getting savvier about their emails and want to clean out their inbox as quickly as possible. Make sure you test your emails, but a short, to-the-point subject line can outshine even the cleverest questions.

Which would you click: “Free shipping on all apparel– this weekend only!” or “Don’t you fancy a new sweater?”

Despite all the hoopla that surrounded the new social site when it was first released, many businesses are ignoring Google Plus completely in exchange for increased focus on sites like Facebook and Twitter. While 72 of the world’s largest 100 brands have a Google Plus page, nearly 40 percent of them haven’t posted any content on the site. But when you consider that Google Plus is the brainchild of the world’s most powerful search engine, is it really the brightest strategy to ignore Google Plus for business?

Even though it might not be a major traffic driver like Pinterest or other social sites, Google Plus has some incredible benefits.
The Benefits of Google Plus for Business
Momentum

The Business Insider recently reported that growth for Google Plus has suddenly spiked. In fact, the boom is so noticeable that Google Plus is on track to overtake Twitter as the world’s 2nd largest social media site, assuming that the momentum doesn’t slow.

Up 33 percent with 359 million users, more people visit Google Plus on a regular basis than live in the United States. If there’s anything that marketing’s taught us, it’s that you always want to be ahead of the curve – and right now the curve is favoring Google Plus for business.
Growth

Aside from increased traffic, Mashable reports that Google Plus is also seeing an increase of time spent on the site. Users are now spending twice as much time on Google Plus than they did in February and the trend doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon.

As more and more people spend time on the site, the more powerful traffic driver this platform will become.
Authorship

Having a Google Plus account allows you to claim authorship of your original content. This keeps your unique and original content valuable and accredited to you, even if content thieves scrape your work.

Furthermore, the implementation of Google Plus means that links and referrals will be weighted based on who they come from instead of where they’re posted. Authorship gives you credibility and power.
Search Engine Recognition

It goes without saying that a strong Google Plus presence directly correlates to stronger search engine recognition. While it can’t replace solid SEO strategy, why not enhance your efforts?
Flexibility

Whether you want to host Google Hangouts or filter posts for your Circles, Google Plus provides flexibility options that many of the other platforms don’t. By taking advantage of these features, you’re making your brand’s online presence unique from everyone else’s.

To make your Google Plus page even more effective, be sure to incorporate profile links. Unlike other social platforms, you can link to other sites throughout your Google Plus profile, thereby strengthening your overall sales funnel. As more people engage with you by sharing and giving you posts a +1, your profile links will suddenly become powerful tools.

Be sure to optimize your Google Plus title tags for search engine results. Having a highly optimized Google Plus page is much easier to rank than a standalone website. Add a picture to your profile and an author picture for content that you will claim through “Authorship.”

Posts with pictures are clicked on up to 5 percent more than posts without. Once you’ve optimized your Google Plus presence, you can enjoy Google’s bias in quickly indexing posts that have received a+1.

As email marketing consultants, we try to keep up with industry news, but occasionally the emails, blogs and newsletters pile up. Then we tend tackle that pile all at once rather than one article or post at a time. We don’t mind it, really, because it sometimes allows us to spot trends where we otherwise wouldn’t.

And today’s trend that emerged as we tackled the pileup of email marketing news and insights? Content matters.

Between reading one pundit’s prediction that information-rich email newsletters are coming back, finding more statistics about the importance of From and Subject lines to overcome Spam, and stumbling across an ebook encouraging B2B marketers to use storytelling, today’s most noticeable trend is most definitely that content matters.

Design and imagery have their place
With all the sophisticated email marketing tools we have now, it’s easy to get caught up in email design…and it’s pretty easy to have an email design fail, what with the variety of email clients and mobile devices, not to mention the prevalence of marketers still using image-only emails.

It’s easy to get caught up in imagery too, especially given the popularity of Pinterest and the plethora of pictures that are shared on Facebook. As consumers, we find B2C emails in our inboxes often don’t make sense unless we enable images.

Pictures have their place in email marketing to be sure. But after watching email designs go so far from text to imagery, perhaps we’re seeing the pendulum swing back the other way, towards content.

The four kinds of content in your email
When we say content matters, we are talking about more than what your email marketing messages say. There’s more content than that in your emails, and this isn’t the kind of content you can “fix” with email marketing tools. These take time and testing to get right.

To consider the place (and value) of content in email marketing, let’s break this down into the kinds of content that make up an email:

The From line
The Subject line
The preview pane
The body text

The From line
Yes, the From line. We are considering that content because it is. If you think the From line really doesn’t matter, consider this email marketing stat: 43% of people that receive email will report messages as spam based solely on the From line.

Our take on that? You might want to give the From line some thought, or a lot of thought, and definitely test to see which From line works the best for you.

The Subject line
And now for the next little snippet you might not think of as content: the Subject line.

As with the From line, research shows the Subject line is a critical piece of content, both for keeping you from the Spam folder and for getting those emails opened. Check out these two statistics for proof:

69% of email recipients report email as Spam based solely on the Subject line
35% of email recipients open email based only on the Subject line

And remember, when it comes to Subject line best practices, you only truly know what works when you test to find out what works for you. You’ll find all kinds of tried-and-true Subject line advice out there, but it won’t necessarily apply to your business, your email marketing program or your audience. So test to be sure.

(See three more reasons why Subject lines matter.)

The Preview Pane“Again with the snippets,” you’re probably thinking. You might even be wondering how this too is content. Ah, but it is. It’s words that have to keep your recipient moving in the direction of actually opening your email. You started with your From line, then got them to your Subject line and now they’re at your Preview Pane. Will that content entice them to open your email?

Greg Zakowizc of Bronto argues we should consider doing away with headers in emails so we can get recipients to the content faster. When you remove the header (usually a graphic or image), you can get straight to the message (a.k.a. content). See his before and after photos here. And see if you don’t agree that the “after” versions with the content front and center are much more effective.

The body text
OK, finally then we get to the heart of the email, but only if we’ve won people over with the first three snippets of content: the From line, Subject line and Preview Pane.

Going into details about how to write compelling email marketing copy are beyond the space limitations of this post. And that’s not our message anyway. Our message is: Content matters, so pay attention to it. Even if you’re doing B2B email marketing, your email content should be engaging and interesting.

In fact, in the ebook The B2B Marketer’s Ultimate Guide to Storytelling, you’ll find this convincing quote about the importance of interesting content:

In his book “Tell to Win”, Peter Guber argues that humans simply aren’t moved to action by “data dumps” and wordy PowerPoint slides, rather by emotion, hence we need to tell stories.

How’s your email marketing content? Is it engaging and enjoyable to read? Does your content reflect real effort on your part? Does it read like content matters?

How do your four types of content stack up?
Are you seeing what we’re seeing? The return of content as significant in email marketing? If so, are you reviewing what your team is doing with that content, moving beyond relying on email marketing tools and really trying and testing to find the best content? Take a look at the four content pieces described above and make sure each piece is working its hardest for you and your ROI.

Because content matters…and so does your bottom line.

Nowadays, email marketing is one of the most used online marketing techniques. A successful email campaign can be described as the receivers of your e-mail are waiting to get your emails on a regular basis and when they receive your emails, they will go through it and take action on what you said in your emails.

Let’s have a look at some of the best practices for the effectiveness of your campaign below.

1. Refrain from sending e-mails during holidays: Timing of your e-mail is very essential in any advertising campaign. People hardly check their emails during holidays and when they come back there will be a stack of e-mails cluttering their in-box. In a hurry to clean their in-box people usually delete insignificant messages particularly marketing mails. So, always be aware of your e-mail timing.

2. Use clear call to action: The greatest thing with email marketing is instant reply. With a nice offer and a clear call to action, you can anticipate people to reply to your emails. If call to action is not very useful the feedback will be low. Use a clean and justifiable outline. Insert only single call to action link. Do not mystify people with too many links and banner ads.

3. Create an interesting subject line: Subject line is very significant in any marketing campaign, particularly e-mail marketing. It verifies the click through rate for your campaign. What if readers find your subject line dull or boring? What if they experience your subject line like a spam? These are problems you have to resolve. So try to create an effective subject line. With an evident subject line you can anticipate people to read your e-mail messages- mean it will enhance your click through rate.

4. Address your subscriber by his or her name: Addressing your email subscriber by name is very necessary in an email campaign. As auto-responder can personalize your e-mail to add the name of your subscriber in every message you deliver, why not take this chance to address your reader with their name. They will experience as if you are talking to them in a straight line, even though you know that it is all planned in your auto-responder.

5. Use a right blend for content and promotion: If you opt-into an e-mail newsletter that provides you with useful information for free, you would be expecting that the sender will send some free information about the topic you have requested for. The best email campaign always has a right blend of content and promotion. With content, you are making trust with your subscribers and readers so that they are more likely to see your promotions.

6. Always give an alternative to unsubscribe: There is no such marketer who wants any deletion from his mailing list. But as a code of ethical values, as a standard of respecting your subscriber you should give a choice to opt-out or unsubscribe from your promotional e-mails.

Obviously there are many other best practices to create email campaign. Six criteria above are well enough to initiate marketing of your products or services. Just think that your customers are actual people and you want to take care of them. After that, you will work out more on how to communicate with your customers from time to time.

Imagine for a moment that you are scanning your inbox one Friday afternoon and you see an email with the following subject line: Open this email for FREE BEER! You are a beer drinker (and it’s Friday afternoon) so you immediately stop what you are doing, tune out everything else in the world around you, and open the email.

As the images of the email begin to load, you can practically taste the beer. You close your eyes and envision a nice Hefeweizen, but let’s be honest, any free beer will do.

Your excitement quickly fades and turns to anger and you realize you’ve been duped! There is no free beer … even though you did as the subject line instructed. Nope. Instead, it’s an advertisement for an upcoming conference – one you have absolutely zero interest in attending.

While the above scenario is 100% made up (though I personally do like a good Hefeweizen), it’s not all that far from the truth when it comes to email marketing and subject lines. There is a fine line between creating an email subject line that is creative versus one that is deceptive. While both can lead to a subscriber opening your message, the later not only is likely to create resentment, it’s also illegal.

According to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (PDF), the United States law that governs commercial email:

“It is unlawful for any person to initiate the transmission to a protected computer of a commercial electronic mail message if such person has actual knowledge, or knowledge fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances, that a subject heading of the message would be likely to mislead a recipient… regarding the contents or subject matter of the message…”

If you are anything like me, you are not interested in being fined or going to jail.

So, how do you write creative subject lines that will lead to more opens, more buzz, and – ultimately – more clicks and conversions?

A few suggestions:

Earn the trust of your subscribers FIRST.
I cannot understate this very important point. Too often we try to get “cute” with our subject lines before our readers really know and trust us. Take the time to build and nurture the relationship first, then test getting creative.

Test creative vs. “dull and boring.”
Building on the first suggestion, be sure you properly test your subject lines. If you’ve been sending the same type of subject line for years, be careful to not suddenly do an about face. This may actually turn off a large chunk of your audience. Instead, test these new, creative subject lines to a smaller portion of your email list and see how they respond.

Pique interest in the subject line and create wow in the body.
A compelling subject line can be the difference between someone opening your email or ignoring it (or deleting or marketing as spam). And after all, if there is no open, it’s quite difficult – if not impossible – to read the email, click a link, and/or take an action. However, once someone has opened your email, if you don’t “wow” him or her with the content – answer a question, include a great offer, elicit a smile or laugh – the great subject line becomes meaningless.

What examples do you have of creative email subject lines? Which ones were so compelling you just had to open?

Note: I wrote a similar article – with a slightly different spin – for MarketingProfs. You can read it here.

The evolution in mobile and social, among other factors, is continually changing how we connect with each other. These forces have dramatically changed the rules of email marketing and opened up a wealth of opportunities for digital marketers.

I’ve narrowed it down to six trends that will determine the future of email practices; they are:

1. Multi-device world – Today’s hyper-connected consumer uses multiple devices for online consumption. This means that marketers need to be more adaptable in how the message is delivered and received across channels. For instance, responsive design is now more important to ensure that content in emails render appropriately and offer consumers the best possible experience no matter what device the message is being consumed.

2. Email + social media – Often marketers aren’t sure how to create content that encourages sharing. We’ve found that incentives and discounts, events, product reviews, insider information, and good deals all attribute to higher levels of sharing among peer networks. In addition to social sharing, marketers can use social media to drive sign-ups to email opt-in lists.

3. Engagement-based delivery – Popular email providers, such as Yahoo! and Gmail, deliver emails into the “spam” folder if the recipient hasn’t engaged previously. This type of filtering limits deliverability. To ensure that emails are delivered and to increase open rates marketers need to increase relevancy.

4. Location-based marketing – Location-based marketing allows for incentives to be delivered at the right place and time. For example, by creating check-in programs, promoted via email, it presents the opportunity to cross-promote other goods and services based on where the subscriber is located. Location-based marketing is powerful because it enables marketers to engage customers in real time and deliver value when they’re most receptive.

5. Channel of one – Too many brands think of their “multichannel strategy” as a portfolio of individual strategies. There should be a seamless extension of the user experience from one channel into another. By doing this users will have a better experience and will be more likely to engage.

6. Smart content – Once marketers get a grasp on the trove of data they have access to, those who figure out how to use it to deliver more relevant and personalized content will reap the rewards. A clear distinction will be made in the industry from those who develop smart messages and those who do not. We’ll need to move well beyond tags to context-aware, rules-based smart content.

The proliferation of marketing channels, such as social and mobile, require a new marketing mind-set. Those that adapt to this mind-set will create more meaningful and profitable interactions.

Brennan Carlson is SVP of products and strategy at Lyris.

How does email stay relevant when it’s not a big screen? In a keynote to the Mediapost Email Insider Summit this morning, where I am honored to have served on the programming committee, Chris Miller, chief digital officer of DraftFCB said that the solution requires marketers to think Mobile First. “Mobile is the device that consumers go to first for their Internet use, and so how can marketers create experiences that are so great in the mobile space that email stays the #1 activity on devices?” he asked.

“I challenge you to make those experiences great – because if we as marketers don’t create strong experiences, then consumers will change their behavior and go to other channels. That will move the email channel to the bottom of the mix,” he says.

Putting mobile first means that the small screen drives the content and creative strategy. “Start with the UX and map out the content that will appeal and engage your consumers on the small screen,” Chris advises. It is easier to start with the small screen and be additive, then it is to start with a big content set and then delete. Chris says that once everyone internally has battled to get real estate on the big screen, then how are you going to say that you are taking something out or moving something lower?

“Better, start with the small screen and build,” Chris says. Email use on the PC is down, but email use on the mobile device is up – the number one activity cited by eMarketer. “We see for all our clients that people are accessing their online content on mobile devices. Everyone is up in terms of mobile usage,” he says.

The good news is that Chris cited tips for making mobile content breakthrough, and these are the same principles of good data driven marketing! (Whew!) He talked about the power of creating scarcity, vividness, immediate benefit (or pain), connectedness (e.g.: what people like me are doing); clear and simple calls to action, comparables (e.g.: demonstrate competitive position); goal-driven participation (e.g.: a pre-punched loyalty card).

What is different about Mobile, he says, is in the recognition that mobile is the connective tissue, it’s the one device that is always with us and is essential, Chris says. “Timing and context are inextricable for mobile. Make your content bite sized, relevant and disposable.” Technology is changing, but it’s really about the behavior.