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Tag: Email

  • Email Syncing: What is it and Why You Need it

    Email Syncing: What is it and Why You Need it

    The world is in an era where technology is changing fast and affecting the way people communicate. The business sector is one of the industries that has been changed by technological advancements. Big amounts of data are generated daily from different sources, such as email communication. 

    To respond better to emails and enhance customer satisfaction, companies must sync their devices across the board. Enterprises use emails across different platforms, and syncing them on the business’s daily functioning improves accessibility and response time. Email syncing avails both current and historical email communications in a company. 

    What does email syncing mean?

    To sync means to back up data from multiple sources or devices and to avail it on multiple devices at the same time. The data can be in various forms, such as calendar events, emails, videos, or photos. When emails are synced, it is availed from different platforms or servers into a single platform. 

    Syncing helps streamline a company’s email processes. The top beneficiary of email syncing is the sales or marketing team because they can manage all incoming and outgoing emails from one place. It helps improve the team’s productivity and boosts sales in a company. 

    The syncing process combines different sets of tools, software, and systems that create a seamless marketing strategy. One of the main tools used in email syncing is the Salesforce plugin for Gmail integration. Revenue Grid automatically updates your Salesforce by capturing all activities from your Gmail inbox. Its auto-capture feature allows your marketing team to collect all information from the meetings, emails, and tasks and update them in the Salesforce records at the same time. 

    Why is email syncing in a company important?

    Email syncing provides an instant update of your inboxes in real-time. Bringing your emails into one place provides the marketing team with multiple benefits. 

    All communication can be viewed from one place

    It is harder to track communication when it is coming from different sources or devices. The sales/marketing team has to keep switching from one device or platform. It takes more time to check all emails and respond to each, which could lead to lost business opportunities. 

    Syncing brings all your communication to one place, making it easier to view different communications from clients. The sales team can easily respond to emails according to priority and customize responses according to customer needs. 

    It is easier to develop detailed email lists

    Building email lists is beneficial to marketing teams in different ways. It makes it easier for them to segment customers and create marketing content unique to each segment. This type of content can be newsletters, marketing videos, and product suggestions. The syncing tool integrates all emails from different channels into one platform. The marketing team saves time by making sure every important piece of information needed is in one place. The team enhances productivity which helps increase sales. 

    Sending automated emails

    Creating different content for each market segment and sending it to individual recipients takes more time. When the email lists are long, some of the customers may fail to receive their emails in time, or they may receive the wrong content. Automating email workflows ensures each recipient gets the right content at the right time. Email automation has several benefits for a company. 

    • The marketing team nurtures leads into customers, which increases sales.
    • Automation doesn’t need human intervention. All that the marketing team needs to do is to create the content and set up the lists according to recipients, time, and day. The system automatically sends the emails to the right recipients when needed. 
    • The marketing team can easily view email engagements. Some of the tools allow the marketing team to view who received emails and the action they took. That way, they can make product suggestions to the customer and increase sales opportunities.
    • Raises brand awareness. Email automation ensures a consistent marketing strategy. The company appears better organized to clients, which increases brand reputation. 

    Better return on investment

    The marketing team must generate a report on the performance of each marketing campaign. Syncing allows the team to see how each campaign performs, and they can use the information to improve marketing strategies for each market segment. Email syncing positively impacts a company’s return on investment. 

  • Keep Company Emails Safe from Phishing Attacks

    Keep Company Emails Safe from Phishing Attacks

    Email services are central to modern communication.  Ironically, 85% of emails today aren’t meant to foster communication at all.  Spam is rampant in inboxes all over the world.  While some spam is merely annoying, spam can also include real danger.  Phishing emails exist to steal personal information, and at least 3 billion phishing emails are sent every day.  While phishing emails can wear a variety of disguises, the intent is always the same: to snatch recipient’s information and use it against them.  Many phishing schemes are but the first step in a complicated cyber attack.

    By 2025, phishing attacks will cost the globe $10.5 trillion every year, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.  Cybercrime will be the 3rd largest global economy.  A criminal industry that large can choose anyone as its target, even large companies.  A recent ransomware cyber attack against Colonial Pipeline caused a nationwide gas panic in the United States.  Shipping company FedEx failed to protect consumer information in the wake of a ransomware attack against their company computers.  No one can afford to think cybercrime won’t reach their servers.

    If the largest corporations on the market can’t avoid cyberattacks, what hope do small businesses have?  Successful phishing schemes can be fatal to small companies.  It takes 2 to 6 weeks for small businesses to recover from ransomware.  Many cannot serve customers during that time.  Furthermore, customers must be notified of any data breach affecting them.  It’s understandable customers may choose not to continue shopping at a company incapable of keeping their information safe.  Between lost operating time and customer attrition, over 60% of small businesses close permanently in the 6 months following a phishing attack.

    So what can companies do to defend themselves?  The first step is to train their employees to spot phishing emails.  While regular training is not infallible, 85% of scams rely on human error to succeed.  A suspicious link not clicked is a crisis averted.  Next, companies should verify all invoices and payments.  Many attacks exist to harvest credentials, which leads to invoice fraud.  If a business can spot invoice fraud early, they can keep the crisis from growing severe.  Finally, a combination of human vigilance and email security programs should exist in every company.  43% of small businesses lack a cybersecurity plan at their own peril.  While humans alone can’t catch 100% of security discrepancies, 25% of phishing emails bypass default security.  Yet as cybercrimes grow more advanced, so too do the programs that fight against it.

    The best line of defense against phishing keeps dangerous emails out of human inboxes to begin with.  Advanced AI can stop 50% more attacks than regular security.  Some AI programs deploy inside the cloud and configure as an app would to fight phishing on all fronts.  Thanks to integration with other tools, AI email defense is a full scale operation designed to protect end users.  The best email security programs can keep the ratio of malicious emails as low as 5 to 100,000.  Effective phishing attacks defense begins with you.


    How Safe Are Your Emails From Phishing Attacks? [infographic]
    Courtesy of Avanan


  • Zoom Planning Big Moves Against Microsoft and Google

    Zoom Planning Big Moves Against Microsoft and Google

    Zoom has experienced meteoric growth as a result of the pandemic, but it isn’t resting on its laurels as it plans to take on Microsoft and Google.

    Prior to the pandemic, Zoom was primarily an enterprise service, but its popularity has broadened significantly. Now the platform is used, not only for business and enterprise, but for remote schooling, religious services and socialization.

    The company is planning to capitalize on its success, moving into areas traditionally dominated by Microsoft and Google. According to The Information, Zoom is planning to launch email and calendar services. This would the put the company in direction competition with Microsoft Outlook, as well as Google Workspace.

    Zoom is expected to make the email service available to some customers as soon as next year, although there is less information on the calendar service. The company has also been hiring for positions involving integration with third-party services, such as Dropbox and Asana.

    Should The Information’s sources be correct, this would represent a significant move for Zoom and would likely be a big win, especially if the company can offer a well-integrated, comprehensive experience.

  • Tips For Optimizing Your Email Marketing Strategies

    Tips For Optimizing Your Email Marketing Strategies

    Only 2.62% of recipients click links for “more information” in marketing emails; however, we will send a collective of 361 billion emails per day by 2024. More along, 90% of marketing professionals say email engagement is the number one metric that can help them measure content performance. Similarly, 87% of marketing professionals say email is one of their top free, and organic, channels for content distribution, and 81% say email newsletters are their most used form of content marketing. 

    Email newsletters can lend a great deal of help in client retention, communication, and revenue-building. Many newsletters provide readers with coupons, exclusive offers and products, as well as membership perks and discounts. As a result, experts have found shoppers to spend nearly 137% more with a business after receiving email offers. To the benefit of the brand, a $45 return is seen for every $1 spent on email marketing.

    In other words, the key to successful email marketing is getting your content seen and engaged with without getting flagged as spam. Luckily, this is achievable in various ways.

    One of the easiest things you can do to raise your email open rates is to replace any irrelevant text or uninteresting subject lines. When crafting an email, be personal. Feel free to use the recipient’s name or location as a conversation-builder. Continuing on, be brief. As a general rule of thumb, keep email subject lines under 10 words – and/or 60 characters. However, remember to keep your subject line friendly, as this personable method also increases email open rates. With this, be sure to use no more than 3 punctuation marks and 1 emoji.

    Of course, there are many methods to messaging targeted recipients. A/B comparison methods can assist as they allow for testing across various subject lines. With its results, you can learn which outreach variant your customers prefer.

    You can also categorize your contacts into interest groups and geolocation to ensure content is relevant to all receivers. Geolocations can be as specific as time zones or regions.

    On the other hand, you can increase your click-through rates using hacks just as easy. For example, change your hyperlink’s text, and avoid using “click here.” Remember: not many email recipients click for more. Instead, take the opportunity to embed multiple links to the same content, and create descriptive and concise link text when doing so. You can also use A/B style testing here to test out content blocks.

    When conducting outreach, one of the most important keys to remember is not getting marked as spam. Recipients rarely flag marketing emails as spam; but when they do, it’s because they’ve grown stale of the marketer’s content, their contact information has been purchased, they have been contacted without permission, or something else along these lines.

    As a human courtesy, ask customers to opt-in to receiving your emails before auto-blasting them with content. In fact, take the time to explain the benefits such as coupons or other exclusive offers when asking them to op-tin. Regardless of what you, never purchase email addresses. Similarly, never hide the unsubscribe link from your emails. It’s always important to keep emails and campaigns professional – so stick to any email frequency expectations you have set for your team.

    Overall, all marketers want consumers to engage with their content. The best way in doing so may be through email marketing. Do you know the best tactics for engaging with the public?

  • Latest Debt Collector Weapon: Unlimited Texting, Email and Instant Messaging

    Latest Debt Collector Weapon: Unlimited Texting, Email and Instant Messaging

    Individuals in debt should start preparing for a flood of unwanted texts, emails and social media messages from debt collectors.

    The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection has revised “Regulation F, which implements the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).” Unfortunately, the agency gave debt collectors exactly what they’ve been clamoring for for some time.

    According to the new rule, debt collectors will be able to send an unlimited number of emails, text messages and instant messages to debtors. To make matters worse, collectors are not required to get consent before flooding a debtor with messages. The only silver lining is that each message must contain a clear way to opt out.

    Needless to say, consumer advocacy groups are already denouncing the decision as falling short of protecting consumers, especially at a time when the pandemic has created economic strain on record a number of households.

    “Even though there are some wins in here, the bureau has really fallen short of protecting consumers,” said Yvette Garcia, litigation counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, according to CBS News.

    “This is a terrible time to create more burdens for people who have debts. This certainly does not make it easier for them to recover from the economic hit of the pandemic.”

    The new rule is expected to go into effect in 2021.

  • Notability Maker Releases Twobird Email Client

    Notability Maker Releases Twobird Email Client

    Ginger Labs, the makers of Notability, have released Twobird, a brand-new email client for iOS, macOS, Windows and Android.

    Notability is a well-known note-taking application for both iOS and macOS. The app receives generally good reviews and won Apple’s Editors’ Choice award. One of the reasons for Ginger Labs’ success is its focus on intuitive design, combined with powerful features.

    Now the company is taking that approach to email, with the release of Twobird. The app is designed for modern users, combining email with notes, reminders, lists and more. The app also helps streamline email, hiding things like signatures and formatting that can serve as more of a distraction than useful information.

    In what may be its most innovative addition, Twobird includes live collaboration.

    “Share a Twobird note and transform a shopping list into a party planner,” reads the app’s release notes. “Assign tasks, make edits, leave comments and discuss changes with everyone involved.

    “Shared notes are nested inside your email so you can see everyone’s ideas come together, in real time.”

    The app currently only works with Gmail-powered email, although the company plans on supporting more services in the future. Individuals concerned with privacy will appreciate Twobird’s emphasis on protecting privacy, including actively blocking pixel tracking. The company is also committed to never seeing or sharing users’ personal data.

    With the recent announcement that Newton Mail is back from the dead, and now Ginger Labs’ release of Twobird, this is an excellent time for email programs, and promises continued innovation within the market.

  • Newton Lives On As New Owners Take Over From Essential

    Newton Lives On As New Owners Take Over From Essential

    Popular email app Newton Mail has received another lease on life, thanks to new owners who are taking over for Andy Rubin’s failed startup Essential.

    Newton has had a tumultuous history in the email market, initially being released as CloudMagic in 2013 and rebranded as Newton Mail in 2016. The app, available for iOS, macOS, Windows, Android and Chrome OS, won rave reviews across the board. In spite of its success, the original developer announced the app would be shut down in September 2018.

    The app was ultimately acquired by Andy Rubin’s (of Google Android fame) Essential and subsequently resurrected, only to face the chopping block again as a result of Essential shutting down. In the original announcement, Newton Mail was scheduled to stop working after April 30, 2020.

    In a blog post, developer Maitrik Kataria outlines how he and business partner Justin Mitchell were able to work out terms with Essential to take over ownership of the app and continue developing it. The two were motivated by a deep love for the app and its innovative approach to email.

    Just as significant, the pair are acutely aware of Newton’s troubled past, and are determined to bring some much needed stability to the app’s future. In outlining their goals moving forward, the first step in their model involves creating a contingency plan, complete with open-sourcing the app, to ensure Newton never again faces extinction—regardless of what happens to the individuals or company currently tasked with its development.

    Kataria and Mitchell are also committed to improving privacy and security, bringing Newton into compliance with the EU’s GDPR, as well as adding features like PGP integration. The company is also offering a number of promotions to existing users, as well as those who had previously cancelled their subscriptions.

    The announcement is good news for Newton users, as well as the email market in general. For email to grow and evolve, it’s important for third-party developers to continue to push the envelope, rather than relying solely on Apple, Microsoft or Google’s built-in clients.

  • Mozilla Unveils Email Aliases With Firefox Private Relay

    Mozilla Unveils Email Aliases With Firefox Private Relay

    Mozilla has announced it is working on Private Relay, an email alias generating service designed to protect user privacy.

    As more websites and services require email addresses to sign up, customers are often inundated with mailing lists and spam. Even worse, many companies play fast and loose with security, jeopardizing people’s privacy by not protecting their personal information, such as their email address. Some individuals maintain multiple addresses, specifically for the purpose of using one or more for purchases, signups and mailing lists.

    Mozilla, a longtime leader in internet privacy, wants to make the whole process a little easier with their Private Relay, a Firefox add-on that will allow users to create an email alias with a single click. The add-on will work with online forms, using the alias in the email field, and then forwarding any email to the person’s real email address. If the alias begins to receive unwanted emails, it can be disabled or deleted.

    This is a welcome feature that will make web browsing and email a little more private and secure.

  • New AI-Powered Email Capabilities Released Into Salesforce Marketing Cloud

    New AI-Powered Email Capabilities Released Into Salesforce Marketing Cloud

    “We’re making email marketing even smarter with a set of new AI capabilities getting released into Salesforce Marketing Cloud,” says Salesforce VP Armita Peymandoust. “One of them is Einstein Engagement Frequency. The other one is Einstein Send Time Optimization. We also have Einstein Content Tagging out and available today to our customers. Email is definitely not dead. Even the Millennials say that.”

    Armita Peymandoust, VP Product Management, Analytics, and Einstein at Salesforce, discusses new AI-powered email features for Marketing Cloud announced by Salesforce at Connections 19:

    AI-Powered Email Capabilities Released Into Salesforce Marketing Cloud

    As we know email is still a really important channel. Over 64 percent of customers are still saying that they prefer email channels to all the others. What we’re doing is we’re making email marketing even smarter with a set of new AI capabilities getting released into Salesforce Marketing Cloud. One of them is Einstein Engagement Frequency. The other one is Einstein Send Time Optimization. We also have Einstein Content Tagging out and available today to our customers. Email is definitely not dead. Even the Millennials say that.

    Einstein Engagement Frequency

    With Einstein Engagement Frequency we’re trying to tell the marketer what’s the sweet range that they should keep on engaging with their customers. As marketers, we want to keep on engaging with our customers but we just don’t want to get to a point that we’re potentially annoying them. So we are telling them that this is the range that you should stay in.

    Einstein Send Time Optimization

    Now that the marketer knows what the frequency of engagement should be, with Einstein Send Time Optimization we’re also telling them what is the right time to send those messages. It’s really easy with a drag and drop of an activity into Journey Builder we make every message go out at the right time for the customers.

    Einstein Content Tagging

    Then with Einstein Content Tagging, we’re basically bringing image recognition the same set of AI capabilities that you’re familiar with for your customer based or consumer based products. This is where you upload photos and then they automatically get tagged. We are bringing that same technology to the hand of the marketer. Every image that’s getting uploaded into Content Builder gets automatically tagged so they can find it later and use it when they’re building their messages.

    Transactional Messaging

    We’re also releasing Transactional API’s for Emails and SMS. There are different types of emails out there. There’s the commercial one and there’s the transactional one. It allows the marketer to bring both of those two in an inter-marketing cloud and take advantage of Marketing Cloud to send those emails to have the same voice, the same brand voice, and also be able to see how those are performing all in one place.

    Indiana Pacers Improved Customer Engagements By 20 Percent

    These features are all relatively new. So we have pilot customers that have been taking advantage of them. We have one retailer that talked about Einstein Engagement Frequency. They had a hunch that they were over messaging customers but they couldn’t really put their finger on it. With Einstein Engagement Frequency we could show them visually exactly where they’re over engaging with their customers and let them take action on it. The platform automatically created lists so that they would not send messages to the ones that are getting too many email messages.

    We’ve had a set of AI features in Marketing Cloud, specifically Einstein Engagement Scores, was one that the NBA’s Indiana Pacers is taking advantage of, to increase the engagement rate that they’re having with their fans. They got a 20 percent increase in engagements with their fans using that.

    Customer Engagement Getting Even More Granular

    We have a jam-packed roadmap for the next of the rest of the year as well. One of the things that I’m really excited about is Content Selection that’s coming out. Content Selection lets each of those messages that we’re creating be dynamically optimized for every customer that’s receiving them. Think of your email as a template that has different aspects or different selections in it that gets automatically replaced with what your customer cares about most and also what they have engaged with most and historically. It’s very engaging for every one of your customers.

    The other one that I’m interested in (that is coming later) is bringing natural language processing to understanding your subject lines. What types of subject lines are resonating? Why is it that they’re resonating with your customers? It will give you an insight on them first and then also give you recommendations on how to improve your subject lines.

    https://youtu.be/oaH_OrquEcE
    New AI-Powered Email Capabilities Released Into Salesforce Marketing Cloud
  • Microsoft’s New Outlook Sports Smarter Features and Customization Options

    Microsoft’s New Outlook Sports Smarter Features and Customization Options

    On Tuesday, Microsoft launched its new Outlook.com beta, which sports a new design and comes packed with new features users might find useful. For instance, the search interface has been relocated, email attachments can be previewed and the new inbox comes with a ton of smart features designed to give users an easier way to tag useful information with their emails.

    The redesigned Outlook.com may be activated by clicking on the “try the beta” toggle. Since the new features of the beta—which are still being tested and may be improved on—might take some getting used to, Outlook users can simply revert back to the old format by clicking on the toggle again.

    One of the more noticeable changes brought by the beta is the placement of the search interface, which is now located at the top portion of the inbox rather than the side. But the search interface’s change is more than mere aesthetics as email and people are now included in its search results.

    Another interesting change in the Outlook beta is the conversations view. Files and photos in the conversations may now be previewed which makes it easier to take a quick peek into email contents while browsing through ones’ emails.

    In addition, the new Outlook beta allows for a greater degree of personalization with the new options found in the conversations view, according to Tech Crunch. For instance, users can pin at the sidebar shortcuts to important emails. In addition, the inclusion of emojis and GIFs inside the new Outlook beta makes it easier to add some personal touch to one’s emails to close friends.

    The new beta version also introduced a smart new feature called Quick Suggestion. Placing tags on emails regarding restaurant location, flight details, and even sports teams’ schedules is now a breeze with the new feature in place.

    Of course, the purpose of the Outlook.com beta is to gauge customer reception and gain important feedback on the new changes. Things could still change for the better as the Outlook team announced that “based on your feedback we’ll iterate, improve, refine, or discard them.”

    Want to try the beta version of Outlook right now? Follow the link below:

    https://outlook.live.com/mail/#/inbox

    [Featured Image by Outlook]

  • How to Supercharge Your Prospecting Emails

    How to Supercharge Your Prospecting Emails

    I ran across a YouTube video by sales guru Marc Wayshak offering key tips for writing effective prospecting emails that decision makers want to open, read and respond to. The problem is most prospecting emails fail to engage the recipient because they are never opened.

    How to Get Your Recipient to Open Your Email

    The first key to successful engagement is to get the target to open the email and this starts with the subject line. Wayshak suggest using non-promotional subject lines. “Most people are actually checking their emails using their phones, so think about what’s actually showing up on that phone,” he says. “Who’s it from, the subject line and then the first couple of words in the email body.”

    He says to use non-salesy language, personalize the company name and to keep it short. In my experience, if a prospect feels it is simply a cut-n-paste, they will ignore, delete or click spam. Think of the subject line and first few words in an email as you knocking on their door. The recipient is looking through the email key hole and assessing whether you’re worth listening to.

    Personalization is Key

    When anyone receives an email the first thing they assess is whether the email is bulk or personal. This is a key theme of Wayshak’s in all of his tips for increasing email engagement.

    “If a prospect thinks that what you have just sent out is a copy and pasted email that’s going to really everyone, it’s going to be deleted immediately,” says Wayshak. “It’s time to make those emails hyper specific to their exact world. We want to show that we’ve done our homework, that we know about the organization and that we know about them and maybe some of the challenges that they could be facing.”

    Keep Prospecting Emails Short

    The goal is to get the recipient to respond, not tell them every benefit or feature of your service or product. Wayshak believes that keeping it short is imperative to obtaining engagement. “We have at the most 20 seconds for the entire email before prospect is going to delete even the most engaging email,” he says. “So that means 3-5 sentences and then we’re done.”

    Also keep in mind that keeping it too short can in itself seem promotional and not truly personal. It’s key to keep it personalized to the potential customers needs with the words in your prospecting emails similar to a short elevator pitch that feels real and solution focused for their specific business. With every prospect email, you should be trying to light a fire of interest that compels the reader to want more information.

    Offer a Value Propositon

    The only way to make a potential customer become a customer is to convince them that your product solves a problem. Knowing the company is key to correctly making this pitch. What are their problems and how does your product or service solve them? Wayshak suggests giving them specific feedback on their company.

    “I have a client who helps companies improve their YouTube channel,” noted Wayshak. “What he did recently is he went through some of his top prospects YouTube page and gave them specific feedback on different areas that they could improve on their YouTube channel. Immediately, he got lots of responses from people saying I want to meet with you.”

    He says that most salespeople are looking to take when they are writing emails, so instead give value. “That’s going to help you stand out from your competitors.”

    Don’t Forget the Hook!

    Your email is personalized, not too long and boring, is clearly written with an understanding of the prospects business and their problem and offers your product as the solution, but it’s still often not read. That’s because your forgot to add the hook!

    “Conclude those emails with a question that’s going to engage them,” says Wayshak. “The problem is that most emails end with something that sounds like this. Let me know if I can ever be helpful. That is a total waste of time and you are not going to get responses.”

    “Instead, engage like this. Do any of these challenges ring true to you? Or, where can I send that book to? Something that is specific and easy to answer that is likely to engage them in a very quick conversation.”

  • Email Marketing Only Becoming Bigger Priority For Marketers

    Email Marketing Only Becoming Bigger Priority For Marketers

    Email on Acid recently released the results of a survey of 3,550 professionals (including marketers and developers) from last fall, looking at development, design, and marketing trends and behavior in email marketing. Based on this, email marketing is going to stay a top priority for businesses this year.

    The company found that 71.8% are planning to spend more time on email production while 86.7% intend to increase email marketing budgets in 2016. Of those who identified as marketers, 91.2% of them are willing to spend more time on email marketing in the coming year.

    The survey found that 69.1% spend between one and five hours developing a typical email campaign and that 30.6% plan to spend an additional 20+ hours per month on their email marketing programs. 23.5% will send an average of over 30 emails per month this year.

    86.7% of all respondents intend to spend more money on email marketing this year. 60.2% expect to increase budget on technology and tools, while 38.4% expect to do do on list growth. 37.7% intend to increase dollars on development, and 32.5% expect to spend more on design.

    “Responsive design is becoming increasingly popular, with 56.9 percent of survey respondents reporting to use responsive templates,” says Email on Acid’s Tanya Wheeler-Berliner. “Hybrid fluid design is less popular, with 7.9 percent saying they use templates coded with this technique and 19.9 percent saying they use both responsive and hybrid fluid design. Only 15.2 percent report to use neither coding method.”

    53% expect to use dynamic content elements in their campaigns in 2016. 45.8% expect to use merge tags for personalization. 26.6% intend to use CSS navigation, while 22.5% will use HTML5 video and 20% will use carousel hero images.

    “The survey revealed that a third of marketers believe strategy development (33.3 percent) will have the biggest impact on their email marketing program in 2016,” writes Wheeler-Berliner. “Additionally, improving email content and providing contextually relevant email experiences were cited almost equally by about one-third of all respondents as marketers’ number one goal. Finally-not surprisingly-coding for email was identified as a perennial pain point of the production process. Tools that can fix code for you was rated the top idea that would help the email creation process (39.8 percent), followed by a more streamlined testing system (24.6 percent) and better project management tools geared for email (22.3 percent).”

    Email on Acid put out this infographic highlighting the survey’s findings.

    file-page1

    You can find the full report here.

    Images via iStock, Email on Acid

  • Google Adds New Features To Inbox

    Google announced the launch of three new experiences for its Inbox by Gmail product including streamlined events, “glanceable” newsletters, and saved links.

    For events, Inbox will now gather emails from a single event together and show you what has changed. When you tap on an event, you’ll see a comprehensive overview from one destination.

    The glanceable newsletters feature works similarly. You can preview the newsletters you read often, and click through to the article that interest you. After you’ve looked at the latest, newsletters will minimize.

    There’s a new Save to Inbox feature that lets you save links for later rather than sending yourself a bunch of emails. You can share the link on Android or iOS (like you would share to any other app).

    There’s also a new Chrome extension that you can use to share from he desktop. These links will appear when you check your email.

    Images via Google

  • Microsoft Outlook.com Premium Pricing Discovered

    Microsoft Outlook.com Premium Pricing Discovered

    In February, reports emerged that Microsoft was piloting a new Outlook.com Premium service, which gives subscribers personalized email addresses with custom domain accounts thanks to a partnership with GoDaddy.

    ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley first reported on the news after a tip about this support page about the service. She confirmed the service with the company, sharing the following quotes a from a spokesperson:

    “Outlook.com Premium is not an existing offering, it is an experiment that we are piloting. We’re always investigating new features based on the wants and needs of our users, and we have nothing more to share at this time.”

    “We are evaluating interest in custom domains for Outlook.com. At this time, we are testing with a limited number of users in the United States and will evaluate the experience over time. The previous program required the user to manage the process of purchasing a domain. We are evaluating the appeal of custom domains but with Microsoft managing the processes of procuring the domain.”

    While Microsoft has yet to make an announcement, a new page was discovered (via TechCrunch), which puts a price on the service.

    According to the page, Outlook.com Premium (still in pilot) will give you five personalized email addresses, an ad-free inbox, and more, free for a year. After the year is up, it costs $3.99 per month.

    On the linked support page, Microsoft says it has partnered with GoDaddy to supply the email domain names users choose to power their personalized email addresses. The domain names are therefore subject to availability and GoDaddy’s terms.

  • Google April Fools’ Joke ‘Gmail Mic Drop’ Goes Wrong

    Google April Fools’ Joke ‘Gmail Mic Drop’ Goes Wrong

    Every year, on this day, Google puts out a whole bunch of April Fools’ Day jokes. It’s a tradition, and is completely expected by much of the Internet. This year is no different except that one of the company’s jokes has already backfired.

    Google introduced the “Gmail Mic Drop” feature, which placed a new send button in Gmail when the user composed a message. Clicking this included in the email a GIF of a Minion dropping a mic.

    “Today, Gmail is making it easier to have the last word on any email with Mic Drop,” Google software engineer Victor-bogdan Anchidin wrote on the Gmail blog. “Simply reply to any email using the new ‘Send + Mic Drop’ button. Everyone will get your message, but that’s the last you’ll ever hear about it. Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won’t see it.”

    Unfortunately, it appeared in users’ accounts and people were clicking it inadvertently. Some claimed to have lost jobs and others shared concerns for potential job loss. Matthew Alba wrote in the Gmail Help Forum:

    SEND + MIC DROP!!?!?? So I’ve been going back with a potential employer all week and last night sent a critical follow up email and accidentally clicked “Send + Mic Drop” Not only am I mortified of the mistake, but this could potentially cost me my dream job. Who am Google may I speak to about this? This was a horrible, horrible idea with potentially irreparable damages for me. Please let me know what can be done. I’ll gladly show anyone the emails so you can see for yourself.

    Abdus Salam wrote:

    This mic drop is perhaps the most stupid thing you could possibly come up with. I have been interviewing with this company for 3 months now and mistakenly sent the email directly to guess who? The HR! Why would you do that? I so want this job; was due to start on Monday!

    Allan Pashby wrote:

    Thanks to Mic Drop I just lost my job. I am a writer and had a deadline to meet. I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her. I inadvertently sent the email using the “Mic Drop” send button.There were corrections that needed to be made on my articles and I never received her replies. My boss took offense to the Mic Drop animation and assumed that I didn’t reply to her because I thought her input was petty (hence the Mic Drop). I just woke up to a very angry voicemail from her which is how I found out about this “hilarious” prank.

    There are plenty of additional complaints here.

    It’s worth noting that any of these complaints could be made up, mini jokes as well, but Google has put a stop to the Mic Drop feature. In an update to its post, Google says, “Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. ? Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page.”

    Google does have some better April Fools’ announcements that are less likely to disrupt users’ jobs and businesses. These include a new “SnoopaVision” feature to let you watch 360-degree YouTube videos with Snoop Dogg…

    …and a new Google Cardboard Plastic headset:

    Have fun with the Internet today, folks.

    UPDATE: Check out Google’s parachute delivery joke video.

  • For ROI, Email Marketing Makes Big Leap Over Last Year

    For ROI, Email Marketing Makes Big Leap Over Last Year

    Salesforce released its 2016 State of Marketing Report, finding that marketers are seeing increased ROI with email, mobile, and social media marketing. The report is based on a survey of about 4,000 marketers from around the world.

    Of those who use email marketing, 80% agree it is core to their business. Nearly half of them say it’s directly linked to their business’ primary revenue source. That’s up 140% from last year’s report. 79% of marketers, according to this year’s, say email generates ROI, which is a 48% increase year-over-year.

    Salesforce Reports Email Data

    The report says that intelligent email is driving higher revenue.

    “As email personalization capabilities grow more sophisticated, the channel becomes even more integral for marketers to deliver a holistic customer journey,” it reads. “Eighty percent of marketers agree that email is core to their business.”

    “Predictive technology is breathing new life into established marketing channels such as email,” the report adds. “Top teams are 4.2x more likely than underperformers to leverage predictive intelligence or data science to create personalized emails.”

    Salesforce email data

    What’s interesting is the diversity in the types of campaigns found to be effective. Take a look:

    salesforce email data

    The high-performing marketers, Salesforce says, are 2.3x more likely to trigger personalized emails in real time based on events. The high performers in general take a “more sophisticated” approach to email, it says.

    sophisticated email marketing

    75% of marketers using social report that it’s generating ROI, which is a 166% increase from last year’s report. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is found to be the most effective social channel for high-performing teams. This is followed by Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and then Instagram. Considering that advertising on Instagram is in its early days, it’s likely it will gain significance if you ask me.

    In terms of mobile, adoption of location-based mobile tracking saw a 149% increase while mobile push notifications saw a 145% increase. Mobile text messaging adoption saw an 111% increase, and mobile app adoption saw a 98% increase. More importantly, 77% of those who use mobile as part of their marketing strategy say it actively generates ROI, up 147% from lat year’s report.

    The report found that 65% of high-performing marketers say they’ve adopted a customer journey strategy. 88% say such a strategy is critical to their marketing success.

    The study found that 58% of high-performing marketing teams strongly agree they’re implementing digital transformations across the company. This compares to just 8% of underperformers. 63% of the high-performers also say they’re excellent at creating personalized, omnichannel customer experiences across all business units. It’s just 2% for the underperformers.

    You can find the full 2016 State of Marketing Report here.

    All charts via Salesforce

  • Here’s How Google Is Improving Gmail Security

    Here’s How Google Is Improving Gmail Security

    Google has made security a priority with Gmail early this year. Last month, the company announced changes to keep users safe including a broken lock icon display on messages when a user receives a message from or is about to send one to a person whose email service doesn’t support TLS encryption.

    Also part of the February update was a question mark displayed on a sender’s profile/avatar if the user gets a message that can’t be authenticated.

    Earlier this month, Google introduced improve data loss prevention features for enterprise customers using Gmail. This included optical character recognition for better scanning of attachments and the addition of new predefined content detectors.

    Google also launched two new detection parameters to give its largest Work customers better control over DLP policies, minimize false positives, and “take action commensurate with the level of perceived risk.” There is a count parameter and a confidence parameter. The former lets customers set up different DLP policies based on whether a message contains individual or bulk PII. The latter lets customers tighten or loosen detection criteria for the most commonly used detectors.

    On Thursday, Google announced partnerships with Comcast, Microsoft, and Yahoo to submit a draft IETF specification for “SMTP Strict Transport Security.” As the company describes, this is a new proposed standard that enables companies to ensure mail is only delivered through encrypted channels, and furthermore that encryption failures are reported for analysis.

    Google is also extending its “Safe Browsing” feature, which is already enabled in several of its products, to give Gmail users warnings if they click links Google has identified as potentially dangerous. This is being applied when Gmail is used in different web browsers and email apps.

    warning

    Finally, Google is launching a new full-page warning about state-sponsored attacks and how to stay safe from them.

    new warning

    Google notes that a very small percentage of users will ever see these (mainly activists, journalists, policy-makers, etc.), but those who do may see them instead of the existing warnings or in addition to them.

    Images via Google

  • Yahoo Mail Gets Enhanced Link Previews

    Yahoo Mail Gets Enhanced Link Previews

    Yahoo Mail announced new enhanced link previews that a spokesperson for Yahoo says “transform the typical blue link into a visual, informative card that gives email recipients a snapshot of the content right in their email.”

    “With link previews, you can now play video and audio right in the email, and share the link directly to your social networks,” they said. “We’ve also improved the underlying technology to produce a richer preview with price, movie title, article author and more.”

    With the new previews, you can control the size and location to select where the preview fits best in the email (inline with text or at the bottom).

    Any link preview you receive in an email can be shared on Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter with the share button at the top of the preview image.

    Yahoo talks about the new previews in a blog post here.

    Last week, Yahoo announced that people can now sign up for a new Yahoo Mail account using an existing email address and without having to create a new Yahoo address.

    Images via Yahoo

  • Gmail Improves Data Loss Prevention Features For Enterprise Customers

    Back in December, Google announced the availability of Data Loss Prevention in Gmail for Google Apps Unlimited customers.

    This week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Google VP of Security & Privacy Engineering Gerhard Eschelbeck spoke, and announced new features for the DLP solution in Gmail.

    The first feature is optical character recognition (OCR) for better scanning of attachments.

    “Sensitive information can reside not just in text documents, but in scanned copies and images as well,” Google explains. “With the new OCR enhancement, DLP policies can now analyze common image types, and extract text for policy evaluation. Admins have the option to enable OCR in the Admin console at the organizational-unit (OU) level for both the Content compliance and Objectionable content rules.”

    Secondly, Google has added additional predefined content detectors.

    “Our Work customers span the globe, and we are committed to providing customers in all countries with plug-and-play DLP policies,” it says. “Towards this goal, we are pleased to announce the introduction of new detectors which cover personally identifiable information (PII) in several additional countries, and provide better coverage for HIPAA data as well.”

    The company also introduced two new detection parameters to give its largest Work customers better control over DLP policies, minimize false positives, and “take action commensurate with the level of perceived risk.” There is a count parameter and a confidence parameter. The former lets customers set up different DLP policies based on whether a message contains individual or bulk PII. The latter lets customers tighten or loosen detection criteria for the most commonly used detectors.

    Google has a data loss prevention whitepaper available here. You can also read this post, which looks at some of the company’s efforts throughout the past year. More comments from Eschelbeck here.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Dropbox’s Popular Mailbox App is Officially Dead

    Dropbox’s Popular Mailbox App is Officially Dead

    In December, Dropbox announced that it would shut down Carousel and Mailbox on March 31st and February 26 respectively. Well, that second date is here, and it’s officially time to bid Mailbox farewell.

    Many are sad to see it go, though Dropbox notes that some key features and ideas from both are being built into the main Dropbox app. The post in December said:

    In 2013, we acquired Mailbox because we believed in the way it was making mobile email better. In 2014, we launched Carousel to create a new way to experience and share photos. With both, we aspired to extend the simplicity of Dropbox to other parts of our users’ lives.

    Building new products is about learning as much as it’s about making. It’s also about tough choices. Over the past few months, we’ve increased our team’s focus on collaboration and simplifying the way people work together. In light of that, we’ve made the difficult decision to shut down Carousel and Mailbox.

    You can get all your Mailbox questions answered on this FAQ page.

    Image via Dropbox

  • Inbox By Gmail Improves Snooze Functionality

    Google announced an update to the Snooze feature of Inbox by Gmail, its smart email inbox offering.

    Now, the feature includes Later this week and This Weekend as options to let you save time and address things when they’re more convenient for you.

    You can also now set your preferred weekend days to receive emails like you can already set your preferred morning time.

    “This feature is especially useful for people living who live in places where the weekend spans different days of the week,” says Google software engineer Michael Landry.

    The new features are rolling out over the next week.

    Images via Google