The From Line
Sending, Managing & Monetizing Email
iPad passes Mac computer in sales. The tablet is the new frontier.
It’s official. Consumers are tablet crazy; so much so that they are choosing the mobile devices over computers. It’s that time again marketers, just when you’ve finally optimized for mobile…
A look into Apples record breaking year provides an impressive example of the tablets’ rapid rise in popularity. In 2011, the company sold over 156 million iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch), 55 million of which were iPads. To put this in perspective, in just one year combined sales of these mobile devices have exceeded the 122 million Mac computers ever sold. Since it was first available for pre-order in March of 2010, the sales trend of the iPad has blown all other Apple products out of the water (see figure below). CEO Tim Cook commented “This 55 is something no one would have guessed. Including us. To put it in context, it took us 22 years to sell 55 million Macs. It took us about 5 years to sell 22 million iPods, and it took us about 3 years to sell that many iPhones. And so, this thing is, as you said, it’s on a trajectory that’s off the charts.” There has been buzz for some time of the possible upcoming announcement of the iPad3, and today we have verification via Mashable that Apple has sent out invitations for an event on March 7th. The invitation states simply “We have something you really need to see. And touch” and according to Mashable is "superimposed on what is almost certainly an iPad". Knowing this, it is more crucial than ever for marketers to take to heart the magnitude of this trend. It has been rumored that the newest generation iPad will have a full operating system, providing the user with a full blown hand held computer, and conceivably further intensifying this trend. Yes, Apple is just one example, but I think it’s safe to say they are usually ahead of the trend. Assessing how we communicate via tablet will be paramount.
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Trend: Infographics - Helping Marketers Cut Through The Clutter
Marketing in the 21st century has become immensely complex due to channel fragmentation and an avalanche of data creation. On any given day, Internet users will create 1.5 billion pieces of content on Facebook, tweet 140 million times on Twitter and upload 2 million videos to YouTube. According to a joint study conducted by IDC and EMC, it is estimated that the general public will create 1.8 zettabytes of data in 2011, with that number expected to double within the next two years. To put 1.8 zettabytes into perspective, the number is equivalent to 200 billion high definition movies each 120 minutes long. These new data complexities are the result of convoluted digital relationships, advances in scientific discoveries and the speed of new media.
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With the exception of GoodMail's Certified Video service, LiveClicker is the only technology I have seen that allows marketers to easily bring full motion picture to email (excluding sound). I liked LiveClicker's technology so much that I decided to partner them. This partnership will allow Gold Lasso's clients easily leverage true video in email technology exchanging the simulated video control click-through image for something that's truly engaging.
The best thing about the technology is that video plays directly in the inbox and is compatible with most email clients.
You can read more about the partnership here.
If you're interested in learning more about how LiveClicker works with Gold Lasso's eLoop please contact your service or sales rep.
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When most people think of mashups and automation with regards to email marketing, the thought of data sharing and intertwined applications usually come to mind. However, these terms can easily apply to messages even though most email marketers rarely take advantage of such mashup technologies. In fact, a large portion of email marketing budgets and time are spent performing message assembly and managing content. Dynamic content features have helped to alleviate some of the complexities of message assembly but it falls short in bridging the gap between desperate content sources and precision timing for delivery. This is one of the reasons why SMS and Twitter have cannibalized some of email's footprint for mobile delivery of commercial messages.
The answer to help unwind some of the vagaries of message assembly is incorporating RSS feeds into email messages. This process is somewhat ironic since a few years ago RSS pundits were pronouncing the death of commercial email with the medium's popularity. Sad for them however, RSS never took off as they had hoped and marketers never took too much stock in the medium's ability to capture eyeballs. Yet RSS as a delivery medium on the wholesale side of email marketing provides much promise that has been overlooked.
Web Publishing to Email
Many email newsletters today are comprised of articles from a website with four or five line teasers and a link back to the actual article. With the simple incorporation of an RSS feed to a pre-defined template, an email marketer can save countless hours cutting, pasting and configuring text automating the majority of the message assembly process. The RSS feed not only includes text but can also include images as well as the "Read more..." link.
Web Publishing from Multiple Sources
For the email marketer that needs to work with multiple web sources the same thing can be done as with a single source. An example of this is the Smart Brief news updates provided by many trade associations that compile news and information from a number of sources. As valuable as this service is, it is simply a daily compilation of RSS feeds from different news sources delivered via email.
Automated Item Stock and Price Alerts
Some very large retailers who provide automated item stock and price alerts from their website have laboriously spent hundreds of programming hours to provide this service. Using a simple RSS to email feed, a small or mid-sized retailer can easily affordably provide an automated email updates to subscribers every time a hot item is in stock or there has been a price drop.
Redistributing Social Media and Web 2.0
In addition to RSS feeds from websites, you can include Twitter and other types of social media feeds with automated timed delivery as soon as the feeds are updated. This process helps to reach parts of your subscriber base that's not always in the social media loop. Aside from Twitter updates, you can also automate the inclusion of blog and feedback content using an RSS to email process widening their reach and saving you time during the message assembly process.
For all the great things RSS has to offer, its lack of market penetration and end user understandability prevents it from being relied on as a true marketing medium. However, from the examples above there's a big place for RSS in the email world and the technology can be vital component for automated content assembly. Just about all content management systems (CMS), blog software and social media accounts come with some sort of RSS or XML feed so half of your message automation battle is already won. Now you just need to get it into your email.
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When most people think of mashups and automation with regards to email marketing, the thought of data sharing and intertwined applications usually come to mind. However, these terms can easily apply to messages even though most email marketers rarely take advantage of such mashup technologies. In fact, a large portion of email marketing budgets and time are spent performing message assembly and managing content. Dynamic content features have helped to alleviate some of the complexities of message assembly but it falls short in bridging the gap between desperate content sources and precision timing for delivery. This is one of the reasons why SMS and Twitter have usurped email for mobile delivery of commercial messages.
The answer to help unwind some of the vagaries of message assembly is incorporating RSS feeds into email messages. This process is somewhat ironic since a few years ago RSS pundits were pronouncing the death of commercial email with the medium’s popularity. Sad for them however, RSS never took off as they had hoped and marketers never took too much stock in the medium’s ability to capture eyeballs. Yet RSS as a delivery medium on the wholesale side of email marketing provides much promise that has been overlooked over the years.
Web Publishing to Email
Many email newsletters today are comprised of articles from a website with four or five line teasers and a link back to the actual article. With the simple incorporation of an RSS feed to a pre-defined template, an email marketer can save countless hours cutting, pasting and configuring text automating the majority of the message assembly process. The RSS feed not only includes text but can also include images as well as the “Read more…” link.
Web Publishing from Multiple Sources
For the email marketer that needs to work with multiple web sources the same thing can be done as with a single source. An example of this is the Smart Brief news updates provided by many trade associations that compile news and information from a number of sources. As valuable as this service is, it is simply a daily compilation of RSS feeds from different news sources delivered via email.
Automated Item Stock and Price Alerts
Some very large retailers who provide automated item stock and price alerts from their website have laboriously spent hundreds of programming hours to provide this service. Using a simple RSS to email feed, a small or mid-sized retailer can easily and affordably provide an automated email update to subscribers every time a hot item is in stock or there has been a price drop.
Redistributing Social Media and Web 2.0
In addition to RSS feeds from websites, you can include Twitter and other types of social media feeds with automated timed delivery as soon as the feeds are updated. This process helps to reach parts of your subscriber base that’s not always in the social media loop. Aside from Twitter updates, you can also automate the inclusion of blog and feedback content using an RSS to email process widening their reach and saving you time during the message assembly process.
Gold Lasso now provides an RSS to email feature at no additional charge. Gold Lasso offers eLoop as an all inclusive system – meaning we never charge extra for advanced features that are developed by Gold Lasso programmers. If you would like to learn how to use this feature please contact your Account Manager for guidance and instructions.
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