eMedia Daily

In this vein, we have the “Zero Calorie Email” from David Baker. Current email marketing campaigns try to cram too many offers into just one message - and the reader either suffers from E.A.D.D. (Email Attention Deficit Disorder) or the kind of bloat that you experience after the second slice of pie after a helping or two of everything laid out on the buffet.

So, how do you recover? David offers the following suggestions:

• Newsletters aren’t focused on simply syndicating content; they’re a matching exercise.
• Content must be structured. Unstructured content confuses the marketer and consumer.
• Poor design and navigation translate to poor consumer perception.
• Success is measured through total reach, growth of base, historical trends in behavior, and survey response.
• Think in terms of a suggestion engine. That which historically pulls the most response garners the highest priority placement.
• Testing is a function of customer segments, NOT an afterthought you throw at your entire base.
• Newsletters advertising isn’t intrusive; it’s actually become commonplace in most cases, and deemed less intrusive than media on a site. In many cases, if we are designing new “content” programs, it’s a bit easier to design a testing plan, content plan and calendar that strives not just to serve the subscribers and create loyalty to the brand, but either proves or disproves our hypothesis. Ongoing programs are a bit harder to test. It’s risky to test new designs, content and layouts — and even harder to bite the bullet and exclude content.

In 2008, we should all cut a little of the fat from our email marketing campaigns, and give our customers some breathing room.

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