Top 5 Things You Should Focus on in 2013

Top 5 Things You Should Focus on in 2013

1. Data: At the soul of every email marketers plan should be the data you have about your subscribers. Who they are, what are their likes/dislikes, and how they interact with not only your company but also your industry.

2. "Other" Email: Are there other departments or branches of your company that send bulk email? If so, are those emails branded and maximized to their full potential? Do a little digging and be sure you have a handle on everything that your brand sends out.

3. Automation: Do you currently have automated email campaigns in place? If not, maybe try starting with a birthday, or anniversary of sign up campaign. Have fun with these and ease some of the burden of constantly composing manual mailings.

4. Testing: There are always new things to try out in our ever developing space of email. Run a series of A/B tests to see how some of the latest tricks might work or not work for your subscribers. Characters in subject lines, mobile dedicated versions, animated gif's, etc. all make for great tests.

5. Optimization: How do your emails look across email clients? What about mobile? There are many rendering tools available out there to make proofing and tweaking your designs easier. Make sure you always take a look as a subscriber would, at least in your lists top 3/4 ESP's.

Email Marketing and your Customer Lifecycle

As an active digital consumer myself I receive a lot of email. Most of the time in my limited personal time, I find myself browsing through at a rapid pace looking for those few emails that are exactly for me and not whatever group the sending company placed me into.

It makes me wonder how prevalent is behavioral marketing or life cycle mapping in most email marketers tool chests today? Because even as much as I have read about it in the email community for years, it still seems that its not yet the commonplace.

Take this diagram for example, published by Strongmail all the way back in early 2011:

 How much are you as an email marketer tailoring your knowledge and products to the needs and life cycles of your consumers? If you are not doing it now, in what ways could you grow your programs to listen more and offer things only when its right for that customer? Email is personal- so why don't we all market like it is?

The future of digital is all about 1:1. We live in an on-demand society. Are you adapting and advancing or simply growing stale? The choice is up to you.

What's the value of email in your marketing mix?

That's the golden question every company wants to know! Is email dead? What's your true channel ROI? How does email compare to social in terms of size and effectiveness?

Take a look at this awesome infographic from SmarterTools:

16 Things People Really Hate About Your Email Marketing

Over on the Hubspot blog, Cory Eridon talks about these "16 Things People Really Hate About Your Email Marketing":

1. Emailing People Who Didn't Opt In
2. Making Unsubscribing Difficult  
3. Not Honoring Unsubscribes
4. Writing a Vague Subject Line  
5. Not Indicating How We Know Each Other  
6. Speaking With Forced Sincerity 
7. Providing Irrelevant Content  
8. Bombarding Recipients With Email  
9. Sending Emails Once in a Blue Moon
10. Including Broken Dynamic Content  
11. Not Including a Call-to-Action
12. Sending Emails That Aren't Mobile Optimized
13. You're Overdesigning Your Emails
14. Not Optimized for Plain Text and HTML
15. You're Not Proofing Your Email Before Sending  
16. Not Providing a Real Address to Reply To

Read the full article here (it contains a ton of examples of what not to do!)

Animated GIF's in Gmail: Love it or hate it?

Recently, I have been seeing more and more retailers utilizing animated gif's in their emails to add a fun or intriguing addition to their creative.

As an avid user of Gmail, I think it's pretty cool. I wonder though how many other email clients allow it to rotate? It certainly seems worthwhile if your list is predominately Gmail users.

Here are some recent examples I've seen:

Clinique: Summertime Rotating Hammock: click here
American Eagle: Front/Back Rotating Models: click here
Piperlime: Rotating Free Shipping Call Out: click here

Have any of you tried this yet? Please comment below with your thoughts and results!

Happy Emailing-

Stephanie

Spam collection inboxes

As I logged into my Yahoo email that I've had since, cough, 1997, I was overwhelmed to see 4700 new messages.

It got me thinking, I wonder how many people have more than one email account? One for personal, one for spam, and one for work?

As an email marketer, I spend tons of time and money trying to deliver successful, dynamic email. But what if my lists are full of spam inboxes? How would I know and what could I do about it?

I think the answer lies in list hygiene. Know your audience engagement and baseline metrics, and if they stink, re-engage them. Drop the dead subscribers and move forward delivering craveable content to an active list.

To often people focus on quantity. Email is about quality. Quality in what you send, who you send to, and quality in yourself as a sender.

How to Think and Act like a Strategist

This morning, I would like to share something that came from one of the leadership blogs I follow, "Leadership in Action". This post really resonated with me and fortified my instincts for this type of thinking...

Think And Act Like A Strategist
Brought to you by The Center for Management and Organizational Effectiveness

"Today, many of us face incredible pressures to deliver immediate results, to do more with less, and to manage an ever-increasing workload.  The pace and urgency of daily demands can make it difficult to look even one step ahead.  Successful leaders are different; they learn to look ahead and not just think about today, but also tomorrow.  Thinking and acting like a strategist is nothing more than the capacity to anticipate, and the discipline to evaluate, prepare, and position yourself for the future.

As humans, we have the capacity to think broadly, if we choose.  Being a strategist means having the courage to think deliberately and deeply about what you want to create and achieve.  Strategic thinking is about creativity, intuition and planning to help you reach your business and personal goals.  In essence, strategic people think and act before they are forced to take up a reactive position.  We must realize that everyone is the leader of his or her own job, projects, assignments, and customers.  Effective leadership means being prepared for what happens in the future, as well as being responsible for what happens today.

The problem we face in becoming more strategic in our thinking and planning is our tendency to be addicted to “short term” thinking and the routine activity trap.  As a consequence, we continue to do what we’ve always done, though changing conditions may make old solutions irrelevant to today’s problems.  We simply overlook options or opportunities to see our situation from a strategic perspective.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to pay attention to the daily operational issues.  We are frequently rewarded for it and job security often depends upon it.  But, we must learn to look to the horizon and identify the signals that indicate coming changes in our own area of responsibility that will lead to effective solutions and impact tomorrow’s success.  You have to shift gears and focus your mind with discipline and skill so you satisfy both the tactical and strategic demands of your job.  When you develop the discipline to set aside the urgencies of the day and concentrate on the horizon, you create enormous advantages for yourself and the business.

Your contribution will increase if you master the principles and skills of personal strategic thinking.  You will have to develop patience and balance operational issues as you give your mind a chance to think, reflect, and contemplate.  You will have to resist constant pressure for instant results, quick fixes, and fast solutions to every challenge or dilemma.  In short, you will have to be courageous and bold as you try to bring more balance and a strategic perspective into your life.

You can be more successful strategist if you think ahead, determine what it will take to make a difference, and make a greater contribution.  When you adopt an innovative and proactive mindset, you will be more prepared for the tough decisions, realities, and opportunities that come your way."

http://www.cmoe.com/blog/think-and-act-like-a-strategist.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cmoe+%28Leadership+In+Action%29

Permissions Based Marketing

If you are familiar with my philosophies, you will know that one of my core foundations for the email strategies I teach are what's called: "Permissions Based Marketing". Here is the link to the Wikipedia page in case you aren't familiar.

This morning I saw a rare post from one of my favorite blogs on the internet, "The Responsible Marketing Blog" regarding the recent changes to users privacy permissions on Linkedin. Click here to read his take.

It really got me thinking. I wonder how many companies and people in them, make these kinds of decisions to take liberal action with peoples info every day?

In what ways do they justify this? In my experience, people who are making these decisions usually don't think about the entire picture. In terms of email, I see it often that they think about their own policies and usually CAN SPAM. But what about the recipient? They are all to often forgotten in the decision to send them mail they didn't directly ask for.

Because in the US, we live in an opt-out world. But the reality is that the recipient is the one who ultimately decides to delete or mark as spam, and guess what, if they do that often enough then their ESP takes notice and your digital reputation and future deliverability is damaged.

What's the moral of this story??? ALWAYS ask permission from your subscribers. Be forthright, clear, and honest in your intentions. Always use opt-in procedures for both your internal and external emails.

Permissions Based Email Mantras:
For those of you who can appreciate some solid mantras, here is my list (which hangs on my wall to remind me daily):

·        “Teach me today, sell me when I am ready.”

·        “People only care about their problems not your product.”

·        “People won’t remember what you say, but they will remember how you make them feel. Move, touch, inspire.”

·        “Practice storytelling- speak your brand truth. Give voice to your brand enthusiasts.”

·        “Consider how you handle yourself when the sale is not imminent- this is speaks volumes about your brand.”

·        “Show them what you will be sending and how often to set the expectations and BUILD TRUST.”

·        “Give guidance, share info, and always remain positive.”

·        “Provide access to plenty of relevant info- make them into educated buyers.”

·        “Focus on being interested, instead of interesting.”

·        “Tell me what you can’t do, and I will believe you when you tell me what you can do.”

·        “Do less and ship.” –seth godin

 

6 Stages to Getting the Click

Do you repeat yourself in your personal email copy? Probably not, so why would you repeat yourself in your marketing copy? What does it take to get someone to engage and click on your offer?

The truth is:
Recipients look at your message and make decisions to engage in a very linear way...follow their decision path and ensure you aren't giving away valuable real estate...

The 6 Stages of Getting the Click

Stage 1 = The From line
Recipients look at your from name and email 1st/before any other metric and make a decision to read on/delete based on this initial info.

Stage 2 = The Subject line
Recipients look at your subject line and depending on what they can see (< 45 char = baseline; < 16 char for mobile) and how relevant the topic is- make a decision to read more/delete. DO not repeat your name here- you are wasting valuable real estate. Instead- front load your subject line with the attractive part...make sure they see it.

Stage 3 = The Preview Pane
After glancing at your from and subject line, recipients next look at your message in their preview window. (sometimes the same as stage 4/above the fold) and make the decision to read on or delete. It's important to understand how your email renders with images turned off- because industry standards say 50% will not see those images and only 11% will scroll down out of this preview area. Don' repeat your name or subject line info in the snippet text or H1 area...make it a continuation of your message.

Stage 4 = Above the Fold
Some recipients will see the whole above the fold area as their preview window, like Outlook for example. But there are ESP's who only show the top left of a message as the standard preview, like AOL, and for those recipients they will need to expand your message to see this above the fold area. Always design as though the preview area was the 300x300 section in the top left of your message- its the only for sure method for designing for a preview area.

Stage 5 = The Complete Email
As this linear decision wraps up, some recipients will be satisfied enough with a text call to action and might have clicked already, but for those that really want the whole picture they will open the email to view the whole message. This still doesn't guarantee that they will have their images turned on, but if you have been sending responsibly through the same email for a while, you have a much better chance of being delivered with images on.

Stage 6 = Your CTA / Clickable Link
Finally- the last step is a recipient being so interested in what you are driving them to do that they click on your CTA. What's a reputable click through rate? Depends on your product/offer/list, etc but a good guess for a high dollar purchased good/service is 2-5% with the excellent range in the 5-10%.

Re-Engagement Plan Case Study

A while back, I wrote a post about connecting with your subscribers:
http://runspammers.blogspot.com/2011/10/email-list-hygiene.html

Today, I wanted to SHOW you a real life example of one of the many re-engagement plans I have run for the clients at my company.

The Problem:

• We had a total list size of 94,000 opted in subscribers.
• 53% (50,100) of this list was subscribers who:
• had been in the CRM for more than a year
• and had never clicked/forwarded/opened anything
• 62% of these addresses were submitted more than 3 years ago
• This is the list we used.

 The Risk:

• Continuing to send to these addresses could easily result in:
• Hitting of spam traps and /or honeypots
• Sending to "dead" people (every year 0.7% of subscribers DIE)
• Sending to people who have left their emails (20-33% of addresses churn each year)
• High complaints / unsubscribes
• Damages to our sender reputation
• Email blocked/deleted by ESP
• Email filtered to junk by ESP
• Decrease in opens / clicks
• Decrease in ROI

The Plan:

• 4 weeks out we met with the client to plan the dates and content.
• We crafted 3 emails:

Email #1: sent 1 week after our initial client meeting













 Email #2: Sent 2 weeks after our initial client meeting

Email #3: Sent 3 weeks after our initial client meeting

Each message gave the subscriber a clear way to opt in or out and the benefits of continuing to hear from us. Those who clicked on the opt in link were send to a thank you page on the website and those who clicked opt out were removed instantly by our ESP. For those who didn't click on anything, they received all 3 emails.   

One week after the last email was sent, we pulled all the remaining inactive subscribers and reimported them as held/supressed list members.

The Results:

• 220 (0.4%) subscribers clicked to opt back in
• 2,576 (5.1%) subscribers clicked to opt out
• 42,522 (84.9%) didn't click on anything
• 2.1% Average open rates

90 Days After:

We have seen the metrics for this list continue to improve, post re-engagement:

• 13% improvement in received rates
• 48% improvement in open rates
• 58% improvement in click through ratios
• 98% lower soft bounces
• 46% lower hard bounces
• 72% improvement in forwards
• 81% fewer unsubscribes
• 52% less spam complaints

Segmentation & Personalization

How much email do you send?
How relevant are your messages?
How do you compare to other senders out there?

Let's take Groupon for instance: 
Their list has roughly 115MM subscribers and they send around 5 billion emails a month.

Q: How do they ensure their subscribers care about all those messages?
A: Through highly personalized content driven by behavioral segmentation and extreme personalization.

Here are some tips:

• Respect subscriber permissions and ASK them what content they want and how they want to receive it.
• Segment at the user level - use a subscriber maintained profile center to drive your data.
• Take a look at all the data you have and design new ways to automate and serve offers based on that.
• Ask your self what more can we do to personalize the consumers interactions with us- throughout their lifetime. 
• Remember that these campaigns take time- but in the long run technology saves time!
• Consider tracking cookies on your website to gather more data on your customers - but be clear and ask for permission.
• Start small, there are 3 levels of segmenting:
• Good = "Explicit segmenting": ie. basic data like gender, demographics, etc.
• Better = "Implicit segmenting" ie: more detailed info like preferences for content, frequency
• Best = "Single Interaction": ie. Behavioral or self reported user specific data.

Remember-
Personalization builds/enhances relevancy and that results in better email performance!

Test. Optimize. Grow

Did you know that 61% of Email Marketers do not test?

For me as a Strategist, that was a shocking statistic. As much as I preach best practices in email marketing, they are only a start. The old adage is true- what works for one might not work for another. The only way to really know is to test!



Sources say that you should dictate 5-10% of your resources to testing.


Here are some tips:

• Plan your tests way ahead of time
• Start small- consider only using 10-20% of your list for the test and send the winning creative to the rest of the list 2 days later.
• If you have sparks of ideas for tests post them on a wall- make them hard to ignore.
• Try testing your

• Subject lines
• Layouts
• Images
• Content pieces
• Various Landing Pages
• Varying frequencies
• Time/Day to send
•  Segments/List demographics

Email Marketing for Mobile / Smartphones

Smartphone Usage is GROWING:

38% of the US population owns a smartphone (Neilson 5/11)
55% of phones purchased are smartphones (Neilson 5/11)
Email is the #1 most used feature on any smartphone

Despite this amazing opportunity for marketers, it's also a tough one- because it's a moving target!

• Technology is constantly evolving
• Users are "checking in" around the clock
• Viewing screens are smaller than the standard email size
• Content is much easier to share with smartphones
• Users are even more connected to friends and family and more likely to share stories, etc.

Despite all this growth and evolution-

Only 42% of marketers are designing for mobile

Here are some tips for designing for mobile:

• Consider making your CTA link to a mobile optimized landing page or website
• Measure the size of your mobile audience by:
• sending a dedicated email 
• using a preference page
• looking at website analytics
• commonly it's 20% of your list
• Design for a max of 320px wide
• Minimum 14pt, web friendly font
• Use ample space around links for "fat finger syndrome"
• Prioritize/limit your tracking URL's
• Use brief copy points
• Consider the flow of info: Starting at the From line, Subject line, Head text, Above the fold, and Preview pane.
• Keep the message size under 20kb
• Add a "view on a mobile device" link at the top
• Add a "view our mobile website" link
• Make sure you preview and test rendering

Ways to use Social in Email

Presented at EEC11 by:
Matt Caldwell, Sr. Creative Director, Yesmail
http://emailexperience.org/research-store/research/email-evolution-conference-2011/eec11-how-social-and-mobile-are-changing-email-design

How to use email with a social audience

Only 31% of marketers use email to drive their social campaigns

75% of social users would rather communicate through email

49% of twitter users have bought something from an email

What's this mean for marketers?
That social users are very engaged list members!

But how can you do it well?

The "like" on Facebook is considered a low engagement and low risk option for subscribers to promote your brand with little work on their behalf. ENCOURAGE "likes" by:

• Offering a "Like Us on Facebook" link in all of your email campaigns
• Place a interest form on your Facebook page and give fans a way to subscribe

Social is a soft sell!!

• Just being there, front of mind, and providing useful interaction is what its all about. 
• Social let's you LISTEN. Hear your fans and what they are talking about- take their pulse. Hear what motivates and inspires them- and make sure your product is presented in a way that will appeal to their needs.
  
• Social is the new engagement platform- talk to your fans, listen to their pain points, their language, and the content they share. Develop "crave"able content that's useful and relevant to them. EARN their trust and when they are ready- they will buy.
• Drop the "marketing" speak- talk like a human! Be clear and upfront about who you are and what you are trying to accomplish. Social/Mobile users have a super short attention span- so make your 2 seconds COUNT.

Have you tried including the "SWYN" Share with your network links in your emails? These are the social equivalent to the "forward to a friend".
Did you know that if someone "shares" your email on Twitter that the subject line is the default tweet text? That means you only have 140 characters to make an impact. 

And finally- BE CONSISTENT
Maintain your brand voice and offer your fans content that they might expect to receive from you

Listen - Learn - Measure - Evolve.

The Maturity Phase: How to Optimize Established Email Campaigns

So your list has been around awhile and you feel like you have reached a plateau in your email marketing efforts?  It was bound to happen sometime, so here's a few tips on to make what you already have- BETTER! :)

What other things can you do to optimize your email campaigns?

1. Measure in more detail: 
1. Clicks: Click to sale, Click to submission, etc.
2. Opens: Opens to Clicks, Opens by subject line, Opens by sending IP, etc. 
3. Delivery Rates: Trends over time, Sent to Received, Sending day/time, by Segment
4. Conversion Rates: by CTA, by Landing page, etc.
   
2. Take a look at your method of obtaining new subscribers- is it the best it can be? Could you:
1. Add a profile center
2. Show examples of your mailings
3. Add in the promise of content or timing
4. Are you single or double opt in?
5. What is your rate of LP or website abandonment?
   
3. How are you measuring your email campaigns ROI? It helps to have a method! Even though, when surveyed only 41% of Marketers had a formula. Customize the meaning to your business model.
   
4. What is your subscriber value? What is the monetary value of an address on your list? Take a look at how you would calculate that and really dig down into it. Re-Engagement plans become an attractive option once you really look into this. Consider the average age of the subscriber * the average profit = subscriber life time value.

Those are some pretty standard ways of going above and beyond what you are already doing- but what if there was a step further you could take? I would like to repurpose some fabulous content I came across from the Content Marketing Institute:

Tips for using automated email campaigns well

Think of your automated email campaigns as the "automatic sprinklers" of your database.

It's all about Timing and Relevancy:
Set the timers for when your audience is thirsty for a message and you will maintain your engagement / healthiness of list.

Most popular auto campaigns?

1. Welcome campaigns
2. Thank you campaigns 
3. Transactional campaigns
4. Post purchase campaigns
5. Upsell campaigns
6. Activation campaigns
7. Data triggered campaigns

But how do we go about setting up an auto campaign?

• You must define what the ROI is for your current emails. See which ones carry the most weight and ROI and automate those. 
• Plan for the messages: who/what/when/where/why. Jump in with clear intentions and it will be clearer to your audience. Only ask for information that you plan on using. 
• Coordinate with your sales team. Leverage teamwork and facilitate buy in early in the creation process- this will lead to better results post drop. Don't forget to say thank you and celebrate your team. 
• Re-purpose content- see where there are opportunities for inserting personal stories in your customer lifecycle. Look across departments for human stories people can really relate to. Paint your brand feel.

At a loss for words? Ideas for successful email content

Examples of Popular Email Campaign Topics

Many examples below, hopefully there are some you may not already be doing and they will spark your creative spirit!
Good luck!

Campaigns for new Leads/Customers
(early in their life cycle):

Education Campaigns

• Address common questions and concerns your subscribers may have
• Make sure you are monitoring and measuring your metrics
• Add testimonials and real person stories- people remember how you make them feel
•  Build your brand to be crystal clear in the eyes of your buyer- no grey areas
• Consider that you are not always speaking directly to the consumer of your product- it may be a messenger.

Entertainment Campaigns

• Connect and share a series of funny or emotional stories
• Could be about your: brand, an employee, a customer, a supplier, your culture, your industry, or your community. 

Life Transition Campaigns

• These campaigns are totally reliant on how much data you have on your customers- don't have much? do a 1/2 question survey but don't forget to reward! 
• For B2C- Birth, 1st home, retirement, starting/completing school
• For B2B- Product use tutorials, installation tips, activation, details around the processes or procedures your customers go through to use your product.

Campaigns for Leads Nurturing (mid life cycle)

• Welcome and thank you for signing up
• Populate the source they came from if possible
• Offer bullet points outlining the value they will receive from signing up
• Might want to ask for additional data/survey
• Make sure to include a white list request
• Content that is timely and relevant, and keeps them engaged until its time to buy
• Tip: It's a good idea to use roughly 25% of your lead gen spend on lead nurturing campaigns!
• Choose your tone and stick with it: educational, friend, brief, or personal
• Once the lead is entered into your system, take a look at the road map to the sale
• Your campaign content should meet the stages on the path to purchase
• Consider giving these leads special offers to engage them, such as:
• "Be the first to see/hear..."
• "Limited time only" offers
• eCoupons
• Special "members only" benefits
• Referral offers

Campaigns for After the Sale (end life cycle)

• Continue the conversation and build on the trust earned in the sale
• Inform them on details of their purchase that might be relevant or useful or details of delivery
• Automate common sales/support topics or questions
• Make sure to offer targeted subsequent offers or return customer deals
• Continue the communication with: Birthday offers, Anniversaries, etc.
• Send pre-event details for future offers
• Send post-event details or updates with whitepapers/reports, etc. 

Where to place email in your sales pipeline

It's all about using the correct: 
Placement / Planning / Metrics

Ask yourself, why are we sending these emails?
Is it for a sale?
To nurture the lead?
To drive website traffic?
To raise/maintain brand awareness?

You must quantify your ROI on your email campaigns! Find where you can get the biggest bang for your buck and then AUTOMATE. Take a careful look at your customer life cycle:

Attract
Acquire
Service
Retain
Refer

Consider reviewing / revising your life cycle emails and make sure you are doing the following:

• Keep it relevant + interesting for your subscribers: "teach me, don't sell me"
• Don't talk about your company through a megaphone- subscribers only care about their problems not yours!
• Consider how you handle yourself when the sale is not imminent- this is speaks volumes about your brand.
• Give guidance, share info, and always remain positive
• Make sure your thank you emails provide:
• Links to past content
• webinars
• video links
• Provide the shoppers / "kicking the tires" leads with access to plenty of relevant info- make them into educated buyers.
• Always offer links to unsubscribe or view your privacy policies
• Ask the lead to whitelist your sending address
• Show them what you will be sending and how often to set the expectations and BUILD TRUST
• Consider building a welcome campaign instead of just a single email (ex. 4 part series over 5 weeks)

Email Design Tips for Small Business Marketers

---

Brought to you by The Exact Target Blog Posted: 02 Aug 2011 07:30 AM PDT You've got your subscriber list and communication strategy, but before you start creating your emails consider these tips for designing a more effective campaign: 1.       Create Brand Synergy. Utilize your current brand elements to create a cohesive online brand experience. 2.      Watch your Image and Text ratio. Images may look aesthetically pleasing, but too many divert attention from your message and may cause your email to be too large for and blocked from some email clients. Images should balance and complement your text content. 3.      Use Tables. For consistent display and better control of your email layout, use tables when writing your HTML and when formatting your content within ExactTarget's Content Editor. Check out these resources on Coding HTML for email vs. web. 4.      Edit Images. Use photo editing programs to edit images to proper size and save the edited images in your portfolio. For best rendering results use JPEG or GIF file types. 5.      Use Plain Text and Web-Safe Fonts. Text from websites or word processors include formatting that cause rendering issues when pasted into your email. Copy your text into a Plain Text Editor such as Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac) and format your text using web-safe fonts. 6.      Have a Clear Message. Use a Call-to-Action to encourage a response from your subscribers. 7.      Optimize Your Content. Adding background colors to images and including styled "alt" tags will allow your subscribers to experience your content when images are blocked.  8.      Design for the Subscriber Experience. Organize your content according to the six stages of the email experience. 9.      Be CAN-SPAM Compliant. Become familiar with commercial email regulations and what your email needs to include. 10.  Test. Errors can reduce your message's effectiveness and your brand's credibility. Here's a testing checklist. BONUS TIP: Get Social. Integrate social media into your email design. For more interactive marketing tips and advice, read our past blogs or follow @ETDesign on Twitter! Amanda Parks Associate Designer, Small Business ExactTarget Campaign Solutions Team