RFM is so effective in direct mail because it identifies the breakeven point of sending mail pieces. It tells you who not to send to.  Arthur Middleton Hughes, a pioneer in the direct marketing industry, has a blog post on the topic over at Silverpop.

Of course, he’s right. You shouldn’t apply RFM the same way you’d apply it for direct mail. What we have learned at Top Right is that RFM is applicable in triggered emails. R – recency – has long been understood as the most powerful indicator of a subsequent purchase – driving up lifetime value. We apply that learning from the direct marketing industry to drive our clients to use triggers to their most recent customers. Those work really, really well.

Did you hear that top retailers such as JC Penney and the Gap are shutting down their Facebook stores?  As one social media developer said, “I give so-called F-commerce an ‘F.’”

What does that mean for our clients and those like them? Well, it means that when it comes to emerging technologies such as Facebook, sometimes it makes sense to watch closely what the big guys try.  If it works, copy and improve. Our clients typically can do it better because they are smaller and more nimble.  If it fails, they learn and don’t repeat

Bloomberg covers the story here – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-17/f-commerce-trips-as-gap-to-penney-shut-facebook-stores-retail.html

Investors Business Daily here – http://news.investors.com/article/600351/201202071711/social-media-disappoints-as-ecommerce-driver.htm

I want to emphasize what he highlights as misperception 4: I need to have 100 percent delivery and deliverability rate 100 percent of the time. This misconception has as much to do with the email marketers as it does with ESP salespeople.  You will often hear ESP sales people positioning their solution as having higher guaranteed deliverability than the industry average (or some other made up metric).  The salespeople really ought to stop. They’re just confusing the market and sewing misinformation.

Yet, the “our delivery is better” message can be effective in at least getting a marketers ear. Whether its due to a lack of understanding or complete trust in their ESPs, most email marketers don’t know much about the inner workings of deliverability. In large part, they leave that to us, their trusted Email Marketing partners. They think, “hey, I am paying for deliverability.”

The marketers are correct. They are paying for deliverability. But, it’s not just some black box algoritm among the ISP, ESP, email format, email content, blah, blah, blah. As Rick highlights, it takes paying attention to good, clean lists of engaged subscribers.

Want to learn more? Head over to clickz.com and read Rick’s column.

The report highlights what our clients already know – with the economy on a slight reboud, online growth accelerated for a bunch of reasons. The most important are the increased use of the web and increased merchandising.

Highlighted in some of the coverage is that 21% of respondents expect to increase spending online and at discount stores.

On a personal level this completely gibes with our life. We live in the City and have a baby just about 10 months old. We buy most of what we need online. I don’t think he’s ever seen the inside of a grocery store (we get our food at the farmers market). I know he’s only been to Best Buy once – I just had to get some AV equipment for babyproofing). He’s never been to a big box nor department store. And, after this weekend he’ll likely never go to a club store with his mother. She’s swearing them off after a horrific experience at one this past Sunday morning.  When you get everything delivered at reasonable cost, why spend all your time driving around and shopping?

Now, if there was a way to teleport the products and get rid of all those darn boxes…

Here’s the gist: Most companies these days give you a welcome e-mail and then plop you right into a deal-based strategy that may employ the latest retargeting techniques, mobile elements, or other social features. Yet, it appears we have lost something that has become valued and expected by our consumers: the relationship building messages.

Jeanniey goes on to ask 5 questions that should help you determine whether you are doing an effective job cultivating relationships. Go to her article to read them E-mail: A Relationship Approach Is Expected.

If you have questions on how to actually implement the techniques that she recommends, contact us http://www.topright.com/request.html - 888-587-2432.

My take? Jeff has it about right. Marketers like to think they need to do segmented emails to be effective when triggered emails are often the most effective.

We see examples of this every day.

Our clients say they don’t have time. They gush about their efforts and returns on 6,000 followers on Facebook. Yet there is a list of 200,000 email addresses that is neglected…

Most merchants, in fact many of our existing clients, come to us thinking its all about purchase based segmentation. As Jeff Rice from Sherpa points out, that often is a bit more challenging than many marketers know.  What we try to get our clients to understand and implement first are TRIGGERS.  Getting your email marketing program to work in the background – sending emails daily to people who are prime for buying – is much more effective from a time, effort and ROI perspective. Your email program becomes more like your search marketing program. You set it, measure it and adjust.

We have work to do – educating our clients that this is the first step in effectively leveraging segmentation!

As any business person will tell you, the way to success is through the discovery of a niche or a previously unexploited market. Still, few business people, and even fewer musicians, would have believed that there was a market for the sound of the melodica. What next, they would have sniggered, a kazoo?

Pandora bio for Reggae legend Augustus Pablo

A melodica, for those of you who don’t know, is a “blow organ”. You blow through a tube into a keyboard. Playing the keys while blowing makes music. That is, if you are Augustus Pablo.

Augustus Pablo, for those of you who don’t know, is a reggae musician producer who played the melodica on many successful and hugely critically acclaimed dub albums in the 70s.

Not only did I find that quote entertaining, it relates really well to our clients – who I admire every day. Our clients are niche players – attacking ecommerce segments that many people would never think of. Surely, they aren’t considered sexy (some are actually really sexy). I love how they’ve grown businesses where no one else saw one.

I also relate to the quote because our niche is sometimes a melodica. But, not always. I am super excited to attend Inbox Love on February 25 in Mountain View. It will be great to attend a conference about the inbox in the heart of Silicon Valley. Thanks to 500 Startups for pulling it together.

At the event product leaders from the top internet companies will be on hand to share their thoughts on the futue of the inbox. Be on the lookout for a post on what we observed and learned.

As mentioned above, we are initially going to be spending a good amount of time researching Facebook’s Messages and Google’s Priority Inbox, but as new stories develop we will be bringing that news to you as well. We are scouring the web so you don’t have to, so be sure to check back regularly for new updates on what’s going on in your industries world.

Trending Topics: Top Right’s Weekly Article Roundup

Two months after it’s announcement, it seems even more users will be offered the opportunity to use Facebook Messages.

This article from the Personal Tech blog on the Fox News website attempts to explain why, despite it’s seemingly endless influence, Facebook may be on the way out (fair warning: it’s based on a good amount of personal opinion, not facts).

Google testing display ads in gmail.

Facebook deals launches page on site.

Facebook has also launched an automated spam blocker within their messages so that blocked activity would be directed “against the specific messages that seemed to be bothering users.”

After careful deliberation, the Top Right Blog has been (slowly) moving from MoveableType to WordPress over the past few weeks.

Though not exactly the seamless transition we were hoping for, we are now up, running, and very excited.

We have a lot to catch up on, trends to follow, and advice for the new year that we want to share, so check back here or follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook.

Happy new year from all of us at Top Right.

Cheers,

The Top Right Team

Unfortunately, I’ve been asked to introduce myself, and I fear that this means I’m making a misstep from the get-go; however, I’m hoping that you’ll forgive my breaking from apparent traditions by allowing me to avoid yet another consistent element to the “new-writer-intro-post”: an overly personal introduction.

For the same reasons you visit this blog are why I’m helping to write it: content.

We’re here to sift through the news, announcements and daily bombardment of email marketing advancements for the online retailer and help get the truly important elements to you.

What’s the next big step to e-marketing?

Is email still relevant and what are the best ways to use it?

Has another monkey been riding backwards on a pig…?!

Well, not that last part. There are other sites for that (which I’ll happily provide for you if you’d like).

So, as far as introductions go: my name is Chase Osthimer, a recent addition to the Top Right team and an avid writer and researcher who is very excited to be here today.

My goal on this blog is exactly what our goal is as a company: To make email marketing for the online retailer easier. I’ve met many of you at IRCE in Chicago and the Yahoo! Small Business Merchant Summit, and it’s been so easy to talk with you all i feel there’s no reason to be super formal: the tone of this blog will reflect that.

Thanks for checking in with us and I hope that the information you find here is as helpful to your business and your peace of mind as we do.