« REPLY TO ALL: What Are the Best Practices for Initial Emails After Sign Up? | Main | MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Lauren Skena, E-Marketing Manager of the National Geographic Society »

A Checklist for Email Execution

We've all been rambling on lately about the future of email—what does it mean, how will it look, etc. Those are all phenomenal topics to discuss in boardrooms and at a bar, but there are just times when you need to talk about how to best deal with the realities of the here and now. What happens when you have to execute an email?

One of my friends recently had to oversee the execution of an email for the first time. He asked a lot of questions about what he needed to watch out for. After I threw a barrage of answers at him, he stopped and said, “OK, before I strangle you, which of these do I actually need to care about?” Out of those questions, we came up with the following checklist of the must-haves for an email deployment:

1. An opt-in list. Wherever you have your list stored, make sure you have access to the original source of permission.

2. The “from” name you want to use.

3. The “reply to” email address that someone will check (or, if you are a company that cannot check these messages for security reasons—ex. pharmacy companies—a strong disclaimer that replies will not be read).

4. A really good subject line—not something catchy, but something that creates trust and interest in opening the email.

5. Links that work inside the content even if images are blocked. Yes, yes, you need to worry about the content, the layout and the coding, but as an absolute must-have, make sure the links work.

6. An opt-out link with a mailing address.

7. A strong reporting system on the backend to track bounces, opens and clicks.

You wouldn't believe how many of us out there still allow emails to go out without one or more of these items. Sometimes the basics are just really good to revisit.

—Jeanniey Mullen

Posted on August 7, 2007 8:39 AM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.emailexperience.org/bins/mt/mt-tb.cgi/69

Comments (2)

Mark Brownlow:

Absolutely. For "sometimes", read "always"? I worry that all the (legitimate) high level discussion of late might serve to confuse people outside the industry core even more. Especially since most are still trying to grasp these basics. So a great post and reminder!

Posted by Mark Brownlow | August 7, 2007 10:58 AM

Posted on August 7, 2007 10:58

Tami Grasseler:

"...Which ones do [you] actually need to care about?" All of them, really.

Reason: The whole is only as good as the sum of its parts.

The interesting thing about having a successful/legitimate email process (aside from just about *everything*) is that [just about] anyone/company can do it (this is for all those who are overwhelmed with the challenge) - it's just a matter of the following necessities:

- Establish a flexible, "breathing” email process and keeping it in place. Why "flexible/breathing"? Because what works (opens, deliverability, etc.) and what are "standards" today can change - without notice. (What ... you didn't get that memo?")

- Understand the negative impact of an ill-executed email campaign or a lack of an email process; i.e., “don’t let this happen to you”.

- Stay "plugged in". Get involved (think EEC). Keep in touch with the reputable resources available on emarketing and emailing.

There are so many other important things. 'Hoping that others will chime in.

Posted by Tami Grasseler | August 23, 2007 3:20 PM

Posted on August 23, 2007 15:20

feed sign-up

Subscribe via RSS or email.

newsletter sign-up

After subscribing to this blog feed, also sign up for the Email Experience Council's weekly newsletter, which contains information on the latest email marketing initiatives, research, news and events.

Become a Sponsor of the Email Experience Council

search this blog

July 2008

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

the voices of email

The Email Experience Council's membership includes many of the brightest and most committed email marketing experts. We're pleased to have some of them share their insights here on these pages. Our blog contributors include:

Elie Ashery is the president and CEO of Gold Lasso, and is responsible for the company’s vision and strategy execution. Before joining Gold Lasso, he co-founded Newsletters.com in 1997, selling it to The Tribune Cos. in 2000. He then worked for IncenSoft, focusing on email marketing while there. Read more.

Amy Bills is the senior manager of field marketing at lead optimization company Bulldog Solutions. She is responsible for lead generation and the go-to-market execution of Bulldog's new products and initiatives. Amy was previously the editorial team leader of Freescale Semiconductor’s internal creative agency and a senior editor at Hoover’s Online. Read more.

Nicholas Einstein is director of strategic and analytic services at Datran Media. Specializing in email and CRM strategy, he helps some of America’s top brands leverage online channels to communicate more effectively with their customers and prospects.

Lisa Harmon is a principal at Smith-Harmon, a creative services consultancy dedicated to email marketing strategy and production. She works with marketers to increase clickthrough, maximize revenue, and infuse delight into their email creative. Lisa is also the blogger behind edm.smith-harmon.com, an ongoing commentary on the best (and worst!) in email marketing creative. Read more.

Chip House is ExactTarget's VP of marketing services, leading the teams responsible for client success. He was named to BtoB Magazine’s 2005 “Who’s Who in B-To-B,” for being a vocal proponent of legitimate commercial email and an active lobbyist regarding spam and privacy issues. Read more.

Spencer Kollas is the director of delivery services at StrongMail, helping maximize customers’ email deliverability rates. He was previously director of deliverability services for Premiere Global Services. Spencer is an active member in the Email Sender & Provider Coalition, Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group, the Anti-Phishing Work Group and, of course, the eec. Read more.

Stephanie Miller is VP of strategic services for Return Path, the leading email performance company. She works with marketers to earn a higher ROI and response from their acquisition and retention email programs—developing content, contact and segmentation strategies, along with testing, measurement and production programs. Read more.

Erick Mott is the director of marketing and corporate communications for Habeas, the leader in email reputation management services. He has a rich background in marketing and communications strategy and execution for such companies as Nokia, MarkMonitor, GlobalFluency, Cisco Systems, Creator Connection, Sun Microsystems, Philips NV, Elm Products and CBS Television. Read more.

Jeanniey Mullen is the Email Experiene Council's founder and the global EVP and CMO of global online publishing company Zinio. She is a thought leader and visionary in the email and digital marketing field. A columnist for ClickZ, she has published numerous papers and is a frequent speaker. Read more.

Charles Stiles is the VP of worldwide business development at Goodmail Systems. In his role, Charles is focused on helping generate a better understanding of the email environment and potential solutions for a better consumer experience. He currently serves as the chairman for the Messaging Anti-Abuse Work Group. Read more.

Jeremy Swift is director of client relations for email service provider BlueHornet. He helped form BlueHornet’s founding team in 2000 and has been responsible for client services and marketing strategy since the company’s inception. Jeremy is known for his ability to articulate technical information in ways that clearly resonate with today’s online marketer.

DJ Waldow is an account manager at Bronto Software. He works with Bronto’s largest clients to help them achieve and surpass their marketing goals. An active member of the email marketing community, DJ posts regularly on the Email Marketer’s Club, publishes a bi-weekly email marketing best practices newsletter, and films BrontoFire.

Chad White is the Email Experience Council’s director of retail insights and editor-at-large. He founded and is the author of the Retail Email Blog, a blog dedicated to tracking the email marketing practices of the largest online retailers. Chad regularly writes major research reports on email marketing and is an Email Insider columnist for MediaPost. Read more.