OK, I confess: I’m way behind on getting these updates live on the site. Sorry, but that’s just how it goes. Regardless, here’s the next installment of my Optimization Summit 2010 recap.

As stacked as the lineup was as Optimization Summit, I was still contemplating my own attendance until I heard that Christopher S. Penn was going to be there. I think the story goes something like Blue Sky Factory originally planned on sending someone else, but then Chris got stuck with all the road trips shortly after coming on board with the company. I’m glad it worked out that way, cuz the minute I heard about it, I started looking for ways to get to OptSum.

Chris covers more ground per mile than pretty much anyone else you can hear in the space. To use his own words, he really knows how to “get the most juice out of each squeeze.” With that said, it seems like most people in this “space” seems to note one area of what Chris does time after time (including Jason Falls at OptSum): he knows how to take lots of seemingly unrelated ideas and technologies, mix them up, and make them somehow work together and make sense. On top of that, I had a chance to spend a few minutes chatting with Chris, and then swapping a few emails afterward. I must say, the guy walks his talk. He was extremely helpful with a few questions I had.

If you’re not familiar with Christopher S. Penn, it’s hard to make a case of having your hand on the pulse of today’s marketing landscape. Check his out personal site, his marketing podcast Marketing Over Coffee, and his “day job” work with Blue Sky Factory.

In true form, Chris shared his ideas on making the most of your email marketing. However, as I looked back through my notes, it seems like most points really resonate regardless of the channel. With that said, I think it may be best to simply list out the points and offer up my own reactions or additions. You can also find the entire deck at the Blue Sky Factory blog. In addition, he pointed us toward the free download of The Ultimate Guide to Email.

Tips on Better Email Marketing

• The ROI of email marketing is $43.62. According to the Direct Marketing Association, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you get $43.62 back. Christopher mentions that this figure assumes you don’t suck at email marketing. Of course, you have to go even further to find out what the return is for you. This is a great number to have in your back pocket to underscore the importance of email marketing done well, but it should in no way be something you base your own forecasting on. Be sure you get the ROI of your email marketing. Obviously there are so many variables that affect this number that using the industry average could be one of the worst things to do.
• “Customer Retention” is a horrible phrase. Christopher described how this phrase implies that customers are running away in droves, and our jobs is to play cowboy and somehow wrangle them in and lead them down the trail. Instead, how do we attract, convert and energize?
• Good email marketing = RTTV. To succeed with email, follow these simple principles: make it relevant, timely, targeted and valuable. My guess is that it’s the two Ts where we go astray most often.
• CAN-SPAM doesn’t matter. Chris brought up the great point that email service providers (ESPs) have much more stringent guidelines for a ‘proper email’ than does CAN-SPAM. Know the law (details here), but more importantly, get to know the ESPs.
• Add everyone to your list. Your database is everything. Chris mentioned how he adds people to his email list with whom he connects on LinkedIn and other sites. He just makes it clear in his profile. I’d never considered this before, but it makes sense.
• Take what you can get. The key to good email marketing is to provide valuable content. However, as Chris pointed out, there’s tons of free and valuable content already out there. Don’t feel like you’ve got to create it all yourself. Go find it and just share it. You’ll still be seen as the valuable part of the equation because you’re the one who brought it to the table.
• Highlight your unsubscribe button. Too many people think clicking the unsubscribe button is the worst thing that can happen when someone reads your email, so they hide it at the bottom. Actually, the worst thing that can happen is that someone clicks the “Spam” button in their email provider. If someone wants to unsubscribe, let them do it. Make it obvious. Why do you want them reading your newsletter anyway?
• Use your fan page to build your list. Chris gave the example of how he’s helped the Boston Martial Arts Center use their Facebook Fan Page to build their list. He said the results have been amazing. Check it out for yourself.
• Segment and optimize. I’m not even going to try to remember everything Chris brought up on this topic alone. But he did say that you should constantly be testing and segmenting and then building a landing page that corresponds specifically with each call to action from your email. So many of us know this, yet so few of us do it. It’s tedious and a discipline.

This workshop was jam-packed with so much great stuff. Be sure to watch it online and get into the details of it. I plan to watch it again; I know I missed a ton of it the first time around.

Thanks so much to Chris. It was a true pleasure to meet him, and his valuable insights still over-delivered, even though my expectation were already high.

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