Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing

Available as a PDF

"Despite news to the contrary — especially from the social media space — reports of the death of email are greatly exaggerated. In fact, as your inboxes most likely show, email is growing and becoming even more sophisticated." — from The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing

It's true. Email marketing is still going strong, and continues to be one of the most important factors in any marketing campaign.

From the first six months of 2010 to the first six months of 2011 alone, there was a nearly 21 percent increase in email volume! The average number of emails received per day in the first six months of 2010 was 472, and during the first six months of 2011, the daily average increased to 571.

Marketers are having success with their email campaigns and using it more and more. That being the case, your email marketing campaign needs all the attention it can get, and knowing what works and what doesn't is the best way to start.

That's where The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing comes in. The Guide is brought to you by the email marketing experts at DMIQ and their extensive research into one of the largest email campaign archives in the industry.

On top of latest trends, it features 19 best practice chapters from today's email marketing thought leaders.

You will learn how to create a relevant email program to nurture leads and drive sales, how to best use call-to-action visuals in your emails, and how to use social email to improve marketing effectiveness.

You’ll also learn:
• Email Marketing Trends in 2011
• Best Practices in Writing Subject Lines
• The Strategy (and Tricks) for Improving Open Rate and Response
• 6 Tests to Improve Email Program Results
• 5 Best Practices for the Gangbusting Email Campaign
• Best Practices for Improving Email Performance
• 6 Ways to Make Your Emails Mobile-Ready
• Email Branding — The 16 Most Effective Strategies • 11 Best Creative Practices for B-to-B Email Marketing
• The Keys to Developing a Successful E-newsletter
• How to Determine Your Customers’ Email Content Tolerance • How Email Marketers Can Optimize the Social Media Opportunity 
… Just to name a few!

This comprehensive report also offers three in-depth case studies, so you can see practical examples of how these methods worked for real-life businesses. The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing is an essential tool for any business that ever sends an email.

Introduction by Melissa Campanelli

EMAIL TRENDS
1 Chapter 1
Email Marketing Trends in 2011
by Gary Hennerberg and Ethan Boldt

3 Email Volume, by Month
4 Average Emails Received Daily
5 Top 10 Categories by Email Volume
6 Top 11-20 Categories by Email Volume
7 Top 10 Categories by Percentage of Repeat Email
8 Average Word Count, 2Q 2010 - 2Q 2011
9 Top 10 Categories by Highest Word Count
10 Bottom 10 Categories by Lowest Word Count
11 Top 10 Categories by Highest Repeat Email Word Count
12 Email Volume by Day of the Week
13 Repeat Email Volume, by Day of the Week
14 Percentage Change on Day of Delivery for Repeat Email
15 Percentage Emails Delivered by Time of Day
16 Repeat Email, Percentage Emails Delivered by Time of Day
17 Top 20 Categories with Pricing in Email Message
18 Top 20 Words and Symbols in Email Subject Lines
19 Percentage Change of Top 20 Words and Symbols in Subject Lines, Original Email vs. Repeat
20 Percentage Amounts Used in Email Subject Lines
21 Ranking of Direct Mail Power Words in Email Subject Lines

SUBJECT LINE COPYWRITING
24 Chapter 2
Best Practices in Writing Subject Lines
by Ivan Levison

29 Chapter 3
10 Ways to Woo the Customer with Email Subject Lines
by Heather Fletcher

EMAIL CAMPAIGN STRATEGY
35 Chapter 4
The Strategy (and Tricks) for Improving Open Rate and Response
by Gary Hennerberg

40 Chapter 5
6 Tests to Improve Email Program Results
by Devyani Sadh

44 Chapter 6
5 Best Practices for the Gangbusting Email Campaign
by Jonathan Chicquette

47 Chapter 7
The 5 New Rules of Email Direct Marketing
by Chris Chariton

EMAIL DESIGN
50 Chapter 8
Design Matters — Best Practices for Improving Email Performance
by Blaine Mathieu

60 Chapter 9
5 Ways to Optimize the Email Preview Pane
by Heather Fletcher

63 Chapter 10
How to Best Use Call-to-Action Visuals in Your Emails
by Melanie Attia

65 Chapter 11
6 Ways to Make Your Emails Mobile-Ready
by Regina Brady

BRANDING AND CRM
68 Chapter 12
Email Branding — The 16 Most Effective Strategies
by Britt Brouse

75 Chapter 13
Improve Customer Relationships and Profitability With the Right Email Content
by Debra Ellis

ADVANCED EMAIL PROGRAMMING
78 Chapter 14
Create a Relevant Email Program to Nurture Leads or Drive Sales
by Regina Brady

82 Chapter 15
11 Best Creative Practices for B-to-B Email Marketing
by Bob Bly

88 Chapter 16
The Keys to Developing a Successful E-newsletter
by Regina Brady

92 Chapter 17
How to Determine Your Customers’ Email Content Tolerance
by Julian S. Scott

EMERGING INTEGRATED MARKETS
95 Chapter 18
How Email Marketers Can Optimize the Social Media Opportunity
by Kara Trivunovic

99 Chapter 19
Use Social Email to Improve Marketing Effectiveness
by Susan Tull

101 Chapter 20
iPad2 is a Game Changer for Email Marketers
by Joel Book

EMAIL CASE STUDIES
103 Chapter 21
Hairdresser Sorbie Doubles Its Database
by Heather Fletcher

105 Chapter 22
Peruvian Connection Improves Its Targeting and ROI
by Hallie Mummert

108 Chapter 23
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Shift from Direct Mail to Email
by Heather Fletcher

The Research Division of the Target Marketing Group, Direct Marketing IQ (www.directmarketingiq.com) is the go-to resource for direct marketers.

Publishing books, special reports, case study stockpiles and how-to guides, it opens up a new world for those who seek more information, more ideas and more success stories in order to boost their own marketing efforts.

Direct Marketing IQ has unparalleled access to direct marketing data — including the world's most complete library of direct mail as well as a growing library of promotional emails across hundreds of categories — and proudly produces content from the most experienced editors and practitioners in the industry.