You’ve just spent the past year implementing a new e-commerce platform. You flip the switch and revenue is down twenty percent. You realize you are facing your worst nightmare. How do you wake up?
A Forrester report from early 2011 states that 49 percent of online retailers are planning to re-platform their e-commerce solution within the next two years. If a typical technology cycle lasts three years, and it takes two years to choose, implement, and fine-tune a suitable alternative to your current platform, it’s safe to say that companies are perpetually in a re-platforming mode.
If you have decided to do a re-platforming project, prepare not only for customizing the e-commerce platform to your needs, but also to measure the results of the new platform against the old one. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under analysis of variance, analytics, AOV, Conversion Rate, e-commerce replatforming, ecommerce replatforming metrics, email marketing campaign, Forrester report, PPC, revenue per visitor, traffic, traffic profile, traffic sources
As a follow up to our “Practical Guide to Email Marketing in 2012“ this post analyzes and explains recent revisions to Canadian rules about how people send commercial electronic messages to and within Canada. Additionally, we provide some information on how to protect yourself from hackers, phishers and spoofers.
The US is widely known in the email industry as having relatively lax email regulations. In late 2011, our neighbor to the north implemented a new set of regulations on those sending commercial email. These rules are now in full swing, so if you sell software online, and you like to promote your product through email, you need to take note of Bill C-28 from the Canadian Parliament.
Violating these rules while sending email to Canada, Canadians, computers located in Canada, or hockey players may result in considerable fines (up to $10 million per violation for corporations).
C-28, known as the “Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act”, or FISA if you’re into the whole brevity thing, went into effect in September 2011. The Canadian online protection law is very similar to CAN-SPAM so as an email marketing specialist, I felt it was important to highlight some differences in the two laws that will make you think twice before sending out your Monthly Mountie Digest. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under anti-spam legislation, Bill C-28, Can-SPAM, compliance, Email Marketing, express consent, filtering, FISA, implied consent, optimized email lists, primary purpose
The continued triumph of email over the past twelve months is forcing us to revisit our email marketing strategies for 2012. In this post, we highlight the top trends in email marketing and what they mean for your email program.
Email is Dead. Not!
Despite the hullabaloo last year about how Mark Zuckerberg supposedly declared the death of email (he never really did), setting up email campaigns is still one of the more mature strategies in online marketing. But as advancements in technology progress, we continue developing new ways to view email. More importantly, as online marketing trends come and go, email proves its staying power by being accessible at any time.
In a blog post called Three Mistakes To Avoid In Email Newsletters, we talked about the importance of relevancy; knowing how your subscribers are reading your emails is just as important as the content you provide. With the rise in popularity of iPads and sundry tablets, your emails must adapt to a format that didn’t exist a couple of years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under Email Marketing, HTML5, is email dead?, mobile email, Return Path
