Today, Heidi takes a look Down Under at an integrated campaign that could not have taken place in the United States. It used Cuban cigars to sell soft...
View articleThe true potential of email marketing lies in targeting specific products and services to your existing customer base -- consumers who already know yo...
View articleLast time, Heidi asked for readers’ opinions about an email marketing message -- and about 70 or so of you responded. Now she shares a few of the resp...
View articleThe Grinch may have captured the minds of holiday shoppers and marketers last year, but this holiday season holds great promise for those smart compan...
View articleUsually, it’s Heidi who has her hands full happily heaping words onto a page, but she’s now asking you to join her in critiquing a "campaign." So it’s...
View articleSure, growing your business is good. More customers, more revenue -- everybody’s happy, right? But you know it’s rarely a smooth growth curve. Along w...
View articleWine and song may naturally go together, but Geerlings & Wade has to do a complicated song-and-dance routine to avoid being tripped up by state li...
View articleThere is definitely something to learn from the prevailing attitudes of the opt-in as well as unsolicited bulk-mail community. Even the best email mar...
View articleMost start-ups have at least one thing in common -- the need to acquire new customers. Can you, like zipRealty.com, add more than a thousand registere...
View articleJewelry retailer ICE.com is an old pro at email marketing. It had built up a database of more than 700,000 names and was sending out thousands of mess...
View articleIf you have ever brought up a child, you know that a seven-year-old is not terribly experienced in the ways of the world. So let's not be too hard on ...
View articleHeidi has been a tireless chronicler of email marketing as it's practiced by companies large and small. Today she's stepping back from the front lines...
View articleRemember Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs from psychology class? Now there's the Curmudgeon's Hierarchy of Net Needs. Think of it as a way to shape your em...
View articleAn email campaign that generated a 20 percent click-through rate and saw fewer than 0.5 of recipients unsubscribe. Fantasy? No. Awesome? Totally. Read...
View article"Information wants to be free." Last time the Curmudgeon checked, information hadn't actually voiced this preference. But never mind that. Sometimes t...
View articleYou've got scads of names in your database. Multiple newsletters that promote your brand and products. Proven success in sending out offers to your ma...
View articleDivert it, filter it, quarantine it, duck it. Still spam gets through. How to can it? Maybe it's time to charge for it. Read More...
View articleFor every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It's a basic principle of physics. Here's another fundamental truth: For every email prospe...
View articleSo you've gotten site visitors to register. But what use is a good opt-in list if these visitors don't return regularly? To address just this issue, P...
View articleSo you lost your dot-com job. What to do now? Well, once you get tired of wringing your hands and the baristas won't float you any more half-caf caram...
View articleHeidi's inbox was filled to overflowing this past week. Why did so many write in? To weigh in on a topic of central concern to email marketers: what e...
View articleIf you're in the IT business, you know what the market slowdown has meant: Cool technologies are just sitting around collecting dust. But there are cu...
View articleHTML email, we know, gives a better response than text email. But we also know that not all email clients are built alike. Do you know how well your a...
View articleCustomer service is not just a cost of doing business. It should set your business apart. Listen to your customers, record their interactions, and mak...
View articleHere's one way to create a powerful email marketing program: Consolidate your databases and tie your referral program into that database. It's cost ef...
View articleTaking a cue from reality television, the curmudgeon sweeps some reality into email marketing by pointing to the issues that are fast becoming best pr...
View articleIf you're like a lot of other email marketers, you send out HTML messages. You labor over the offer, the content, the graphics, the format... but have...
View article