For Customer Intelligence Professionals

Marketing Dashboards Advance Strategic Thinking Across The Enterprise

by Julie M. Katz, November 20, 2009

Dashboards allow Customer Intelligence (CI) professionals to better influence marketing strategy and drive corporate activities beyond marketing. But many firms don't use them. Absent a culture of sharing, sufficient resources, and clean data, dashboard . . .

For Customer Intelligence Professionals

Case Study: The UK's Channel 4 Decodes Customer Engagement

How To Measure Engagement To Drive Business Results

by Julie M. Katz, November 20, 2009

Despite Forrester's four-part engagement definition, many Customer Intelligence professionals struggle to find the best way to measure engagement. When Channel 4 (C4), a media outlet in the UK, shifted its teen programming from TV to online, it needed . . .

For Customer Intelligence Professionals

Executive Q&A: Marketing Mix Modeling

A Guide For Customer Intelligence Professionals

by Julie M. Katz, September 23, 2009

The current economic climate is causing marketers to wake up to how their budgets are distributed and how effective their marketing programs are. Customer intelligence professionals control their companies' marketing data and can help them make sense . . .

For Customer Intelligence Professionals

Why Consumers Subscribe To Financial Services Emails

Understand How To Find New Email Subscribers And Keep Their Interest

by Julie M. Katz, June 24, 2009

Marketing emails from financial institutions have grown substantially. Despite this growth, consumers remain skeptical about financial services emails. To counter the skepticism, email marketers should increase the amount of information and control consumers . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Why Consumers Subscribe To Retail Emails

Understand How To Find New Email Subscribers And Keep Their Interest

by Julie M. Katz, May 13, 2009

Boom times are over for retailers, and email marketers need a way to retain the customers they have. Lucky for retailers, they have a deep history with email and robust lists. To meet current email subscriber needs, they'll need a stronger understanding . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Why Consumers Subscribe To CPG Emails

Understand How To Find New Email Subscribers And Keep Their Interest

by Julie M. Katz, May 13, 2009

Email is a great channel for consumer products manufacturers to spread the word about their products, especially to consumers motivated by family and cost-savings. CPG email subscribers are real fans of the brand, motivated by family, and extra cost-conscious . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Five Ways To Perk Up Your Email Program In 2009

by Julie M. Katz, February 18, 2009

Email has largely been successful as a solo enterprise for the past decade, but changing consumer behavior and expectations compel marketers to integrate email with other channels. Which channels are ripe for exploration? Email marketers can try out mobile, . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Your Email Marketing Road Map For 2009

Marketers Should Make The Most Of Available Tools And Services

by Julie M. Katz, February 17, 2009

Marketers haven't had much impetus to improve email strategy and execution until now. The floundering economy and rapidly changing consumer behavior force marketers to take advantage of tools their technology partners have offered for a while. Better . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Winning Email Subscribers In A Down Economy

by Julie M. Katz, December 24, 2008

Email is resilient in a challenging economy because of its cost-effectiveness, speed-to-market, and direct reach. But even as the value of email marketing increases, finding new email subscribers will increasingly plague email marketers unless they shift . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

What's Holding RSS Back?

Consumers Still Don't Understand This Really Simple Technology

by Julie M. Katz, October 20, 2008

Nearly half of interactive marketers use RSS, but consumer adoption has only reached 11%. Of the consumers who haven't adopted RSS, most don't understand how RSS is relevant to their lives and the way they seek information. If marketers expect to reach . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Benchmark Your Email Organization

Use Forrester's Email Marketing Review To Evaluate Your Approach To Email

by Julie M. Katz, October 7, 2008

Forrester surveyed 260 email marketers to better understand the challenges they face in their email organizations. We found that the business processes guiding most email organizations are less sophisticated than their years of experience would predict. . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Consumer Interests Drive Email Opens

Forrester's Email Opens Index Clarifies Marketer Priorities

by Julie M. Katz, September 15, 2008

Marketers strive to increase email open rates, but they're misguided as to what motivates consumers to open messages. Forrester's email opens index reveals that consumers' personal motivations exert more influence than the time of day a message is sent . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Who Uses Mobile Email?

by Julie M. Katz, July 23, 2008

Email subscribers read marketing messages on mobile devices. Fourteen percent of online mobile phone owners use their phones for email, and an additional 35% have email-enabled cell phones. Online mobile consumers represent the next generation of email . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

US Email Marketing Volume Forecast, 2008 To 2013

by Julie M. Katz, July 22, 2008

Email's low cost and high ROI continue to drive email marketing volumes upward. In the US, volumes will reach a high point of 838 billion marketing messages in 2013. We expect returns resulting from email campaigns to remain strong through 2009, but after . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Secret To Email Delivery

Hint: There Is No Secret, Really — Delivery Hinges On Best Practices

by Julie M. Katz, July 7, 2008

Ensuring that email messages make it to the inbox continues to be a critical challenge for email marketers, particularly as spam volumes increase and Internet service providers (ISPs) change their guidelines for which messages get delivered. Marketers . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

How To Measure The Value Of An Email Address

by Julie M. Katz, May 16, 2008

Few marketers calculate the value of their email subscribers because they think it's too difficult. But understanding the value that email subscribers bring can help justify acquisition costs and build stronger customer relationships. Forrester's three-step . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Break Free From Bad Email

Introducing Forrester's Four-Step Process To Intentional Email

by Julie M. Katz, April 16, 2008

Marketers are addicted to bad email habits like over-communicating to subscribers to boost short-term returns. They can clean up sloppy practices by practicing intentional email, a holistic email strategy aimed at increasing long-term return from email . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Please Don't Go!

Engage Email Subscribers At Risk Of Opting Out

by Julie M. Katz, March 10, 2008

Email marketers struggle with subscriber attrition and declining response rates. Forrester data shows that 70% of US online adults have opted out of at least one marketing email in the past six months. However, the consumers who are turning away from . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

How To Move Email Marketing Forward In 2008

by Julie M. Katz, February 22, 2008

Forrester recently surveyed email marketers and found little change in their priorities today compared with 2006. Their top challenges? Increase opens and clicks, grow lists, optimize delivery frequency, and integrate email with other applications. However, . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Datran Media Pushes A Different Model But Lacks The Basics

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2007

by Julie M. Katz, December 20, 2007

Datran Media seeks to help marketers create more revenue from their email programs, a vision that differs from those of the other vendors in this evaluation. The vendor's platform lacks the advanced functionality and abundant marketing services of other . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

e-Dialog Is A Boutique Solution For Email Excellence

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2007

by Julie M. Katz, December 20, 2007

Although a small, autonomous email service provider, e-Dialog helps email marketers focus on relevance with a proprietary methodology and practical features like drag-and-drop segment design and a workflow tool that shows marketers where they are in their . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Epsilon Hangs On In The Leader Category

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2007

by Julie M. Katz, December 20, 2007

Epsilon acquired two email service providers, Bigfoot Interactive and DoubleClick, in two years, but it has yet to fully merge the two or convert former DARTmail clients to its DREAM platform. Despite integration snags, Epsilon serves marketers with a . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers, Q4 2007

Responsys And e-Dialog Lead, With Epsilon And Yesmail Close Behind

by Julie M. Katz, December 20, 2007

The email market is a mature one. Vendors provide similar technologies, and all want to establish email as the pillar of a multichannel marketing program. Forrester evaluated eight leading email marketing service providers across 64 criteria and identified . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Steady Going For Acxiom Digital

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2007

by Julie M. Katz, December 20, 2007

Acxiom Digital, a division of customer and information solutions company Acxiom, offers email marketing along with other interactive marketing services like search and Web site personalization. The vendor focuses much attention on its deliverability capabilities . . .

For Interactive Marketing Professionals

Experian CheetahMail Is A Workhorse For Retailers

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2007

by Julie M. Katz, December 20, 2007

Although its platform has changed minimally since our last evaluation, Experian CheetahMail's email business has seen explosive growth from new customers and increased email volumes. The vendor helps marketers, especially in the retail industry, integrate . . .