theinvertedgaze.com

Dear [Insert First Name Here]: Make Email Marketing Personalization Work for You

When you receive an email with your first name in the subject line, do you: a) Appreciate the sender’s effort.  After all, they took that extra step to have the email speak directly to you. b) Roll your eyes and think, “Does the sender really think I’m falling for that?  I mean, I know they [...] Read more »

K.C. Company Saves America With First Email Campaign

The second most rewarding thing about working in Client Services at Blue Sky Factory is helping a client hone their strategy to identify a fun, big idea and then finding interesting ways to communicate that idea across email and social media. Personally, I think it’s just a little more fun to watch a client have [...] Read more »

Are You Using Every Opportunity To Collect Email Addresses?

It is no secret that I love Southwest Airlines (SWA). I wrote about them on Social Butterfly Guy (my personal blog) and we’ve highlighted them on this blog, List Growth The Right Way. Whether or not you are personally a fan, I think it would be hard to argue that Southwest Airlines understands marketing. From [...] Read more »

How to use social media to boost email marketing open rate

Here’s an easy  idea to boost your email marketing open rate. It’s long been known that subject line has a major influence over open rate. Much like the packaging of an envelope, subject lines can intrigue or repel subscribers from reading. To help email marketers, email service providers have been offering comprehensive testing suites (Blue [...] Read more »

Buying an Email List vs. List Rental

On Tuesday, I wrote the shortest blog post ever. It was a one-word post answering the title question, When Is It Okay To Buy An Email List? The answer: Never. Wow. It was certainly a fun post to write (and took about 2 minutes); however, the buzz it generated was incredible. I shared the post [...] Read more »

When Is It Okay To Buy An Email List?

Never. DJ Waldow Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory Read more »

5 Least Read Blog Posts in June

I already know what you are thinking. Why would I call out the 5 least read blog posts in June? Don’t most folks highlight the best of the best? Here’s the logic: If we were to share the top 5 most read, it’s highly likely that you’ve already seen them, right? That’s why they are [...] Read more »

Two Snaps for Snapfish’s Email to Social Campaign

Why do most people “like” (or become a fan of) companies and brands on Facebook?  Is it for discounts and coupons?  Is it to help identify your likes and dislikes to your friends?  Is it to connect with other people who share the same interests as you?  Or is it simply because you have nothing [...] Read more »

Why Double Opt-In is a Terrible Idea

Yes. You read that title correctly. Let me repeat: Double Opt-In is a Terrible Idea. One of the email marketing “best practice” topics that gets debated the most often is around opt-in. Let’s agree first that an opt-out strategy is off the table. (more details in this April 2010 post about Harvard Business Review). There [...] Read more »

How to increase your email marketing reach by 288%

How to increase your email marketing reach by 288% Ask any Internet marketing expert what makes an email marketing campaign more likely to be successful, and you’re liable to hear a common refrain: valuable content. Content is king. Send relevant email to people who asked for it. While all these answers are true, they’re incomplete. [...] Read more »