Many of us on the agency, consulting, and vendor sides of the email industry have been in the business for a decade or more. And if you’re like me, there are times when you think to yourself, “If I see one more article or sit through one more conference session on...

Is this going to be another blog post about AI? To be blunt, yes, it is. But it is a blog with a difference. There has been tremendous excitement, interest and fascination with the possibilities of using generative AI tools like chat GPT, Bard, and so on. But what does this...

When I brainstorm topics for an upcoming OI article, sometimes I focus on bigger trends in the industry (AI!) or areas where I can speak with some authority (email compliance). But I also like to think about topics and conversations that have come up on our Thursday OI-members-only Live Zoom calls,...

You can’t change people. You can only change how you react to them. That is something we say a lot in our household. It’s a hard-won pearl of wisdom from years of working with therapists so my wife and I can be better parents to our autistic son, be better spouses...

Feeling burnt out? You’re not alone. I’m going to let you in on a not-so-secret secret: email marketing burnout is a real thing. I’ve personally experienced it, without actively recognizing it, and learned the hard way how to keep myself physically and mentally healthy in order to maintain my drive for...

Marketers build Customer Journey Maps (CJMs) to see how customers behave from the moment they first need the product till they finally buy it. But what if your product can solve the problems your potential clients haven’t thought of yet? Why customer needs are essential for building a CJM I think...

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has been a regular feature here on Only Influencers, from conversations on the email lists and in our regular Thursday members-only calls to blog posts like this one. People like Chad S. White of Oracle Marketing Consulting, Dr. Matthew Dunn of Campaign Genius, and countless others have...

Introduction As email marketers we think of ourselves as a data driven decision makers. We have stats coming at us from all angles such as open and click rates, transactional data like average order values and customer data such as time since last shopped. Yet the phrase “lies, damned lies, and...

We’ve noted an increase interest in Gifs recently, presumable because they are now supported by virtually all email clients and even (gasp!) Outlook. Animated GIFS are known to increase reader attention and help to improve the email experience as well as support key messaging. These short meme-like animations can quickly catch...

Email has always been more than just "hitting send." With the constant evolution of digital communication, career opportunities in the world of email have expanded exponentially. If you're considering stepping into this realm or are just curious about what it entails, here's a comprehensive look at the roles, settings, and keys...

When a new subscriber adds themselves to your company’s email list, what events and records are triggered? That signup process seems like such a little, commonplace thing — a few lines of text, a few fields, another record or two somewhere — that it tends to be set up once and...

Let's take a moment to consider a universal truth in our digital age: we're all trying to be heard. In a world flooded with content, messages, and countless brands fighting for attention, standing out can feel like a monumental task. Think about it. Social media gives us a vibrant, dynamic platform...

The long tail isn't just for sales and SEO anymore! That's probably what you think about when someone mentions "long tail" strategy. It began with author Chris Anderson, who wrote The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More in 2004 about the profit potential in selling...

Clarity At Last As many of you will know, Google's recent announcement about their impending 2-year account inactivity policy change has me revisiting an ongoing beef of mine. Namely, why you should email inactives and how long you can safely do so before they become Spam Traps. The answer to that...

In the world of marketing, understanding customer behaviour is crucial for developing effective strategies that lead to higher customer engagement and improved business performance. One powerful model that aids in achieving this is the RFM model. RFM stands for Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value, and it is widely used to segment...

Five years since its announcement and four years post-launch, we review AMP for Email technology to evaluate its advantages and disadvantages. What is AMP for Email? AMP for Email is a technology from Google that enables dynamic content in emails. In essence, it makes emails functionally similar to web pages. Actions...

Adding a touch of humour and playfulness to even serious topics or products can significantly enhance your email campaigns. In this blog we'll delve into the psychology behind joyous content and explore how it can elevate your email marketing game. I’ll provide examples and practical tips to strike the right balance...

What determines your deliverability performance? I’ve seen a bunch of different images trying to explain this visually, each with their own pillars or cornerstones. None of them are wrong, but they can get too into the weeds. I argue that what determines your deliverability can be simplified and anchored into one...

ESPs have been continuously evolving since they were first commercially introduced in the late 1990’s. And the evolution of the platform followed a similar pattern that continues to this day. A third party would determine that there was a feature or a function lacking in the existing ESPs and solve that...

What's DMARC got to do with deliverability?  You might have come across DMARC, which stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance. It is an email protocol that many people are familiar with or even utilize. It presents a classic scenario of the "egg and chicken" situation. The recommended approach is...