Although I started it over a month ago, I finally got around to finishing Simms Jenkins’ The Truth About Email Marketing earlier this afternoon. As far as nitty-gritty topics go, this is about a nichey as you can get but Jenkins kindly divided his thoughts into 49 different points (I think there are actually only about 40 here if you consider some of the overlap but I wasn’t hired as the editor of this text) to make it easy to pick up and return to as time allows. If you can get past the first few points which really seem to be selling his services (or that of any email agency), I found some great content inside.
Jenkins spends a great deal of time on U.S. CAN-SPAM legislation, noting that at the time he published the book some 81% of marketers were unaware of the guidelines (did you know you can be charged $250 per email spam?), and repeatedly reminds readers to visit (and also direct their subscribers) to review the latest details on the FTC site. Since publication, the FTC has also launched this consumer facing site filled with good tips for senders and receivers.
He provides a “Best Practices for B2B email marketing” List in point #46 that starts with some obvious ones like know your audience but moves on to how to prepare for Mobile readers. If you can’t find time to read the whole book, just read this point while you’re standing in Barnes & Noble.
In closing he takes the time to put things into perspective citing the results of 2008 E-Consultancy and Adestra Report showing that businesses were using email 52% of the time for retention and just 26% of the time for acquisition, an important point to note when planning your media mix.