Further proof that email is essential

The following is from an article in the Charleston (S.C.) Business Journal:

In a May 2008 study of consumer attitudes conducted by the research firm Ipsos for Habeas Inc., 67% preferred e-mail as the primary method of personal and business communication. A majority (88%) said they would like organizations to give them more choice over the content and frequency of e-mails they receive, including ads, offers, articles, newsletters, white papers and other content.

This is exactly what I covered in the Email Marketing 101 presentation I gave last week to the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs Meet-up.  Knowing what your audiences wants - and how often they want it - is critical to your email program's success.

The article went on to give an example of how email can be effective when combined with other components of the marketing mix, such as a direct mail piece in this instance.

h/t: Douglas Karr

Look before hitting reply

Seth Godin blogged today about emails that explicitly say, "Do not reply to this email.  Here's his take.

Email is a unique medium in that it can be personalized and allows for instant feedback.  Seeing that note at the bottom is a pet peeve of mine.  I shared my address with them and indicated that I was open to their messages, I think the least they could do would be reciprocate and have an open line of communication!

For transactional emails, I can understand this. And, as Seth points out, larger companies may not be expected to sift through the one-off responses that emails could generate. 

But, for smaller companies, having a dedicated reply-to address for emails is imperative.  It's a step email newbies are likely to forget. But in doing so, they're missing an opportunity to have human-to-human interaction with their customers.  Ones that want to hear from them, no less!

Want to use email to drive site traffic?

I'll be speaking this Thursday, July 17, at the next Meet-up event for the Atlanta Web Entrepreneurs group.

Here are the details:

Event title: Using Email Marketing to Drive Traffic to your Website
Day: Thursday, July 17
Location: Georgia Tech ATDC, 75 5th Street, NW, Hodges Room, 3rd floor Atlanta, GA 30308
Time: 6: 45 p.m.

You can register for the event, by clicking here.  I'll be wearing my I Send Your Email hat and talking about what to keep in mind when thinking of launching an email marketing program.

I hope to see you there!

Palm doesn't want to get lost in the shuffle

I have received two emails in two days from Palm touting their Centro smartphone. With today's launch of the new iPhone, I guess Palm is trying to do its best to keep their product in the collective consciousness of telephone shoppers.

It's a nice idea, but I think it's a reach for Palm to think the Centro could be a replacement for an iPhone.

And today's message (at right) is pretty weak in my opinion. The call-to-action ("learn more") is buried and the font size touting the new color is awfully small. The new color feature is touted in the subject line - Palm(R) Centro(TM) smartphone now in Electric Blue on AT&T - but I think it should be written as prominently as the "Palm(R) Centro(TM) smartphone" headline above it.

OK, end of rant. But I will end by giving Palm credit for adding features to its phone and having a compelling reason to send today's blast. I just hope they set their expectations accordingly.

Well, now you know

I've been a member of Facebook for over a year. This morning I logged-in to Facebook and was confronted with this at the top of my home page: What gives? Why am I just not being asked that question? Makes me wonder how I been identified in others' feeds all this time...