According to a 2007 Forrester Research study, 35% of subscribers open an email because of what’s in the subject line.

Although the data is three years old the message is more relevant than ever. Why?

I see many email marketers allocating significant resources to body copy, then in their haste to make deadlines, drop in a quickly conceived subject line.

What to do?  In my opinion, testing is the best way to determine what works.  Split test two or more offers. Wait a day. View the results. Act accordingly.  Looking for a resource on what are the areas you should work to improve?  Here’s a great article from Email Marketing Reports that outlines some excellent tips to ensure success.  And for good measure, here is a blog post from Entrepreneur.com that also outlines it well.

Neil Berman | President & CEO

As a fan of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, I believe it’s important to make time for those things that are important and not urgent. To me, that means trying to stay on top of industry news and keeping track of a variety of opinions in this rapidly changing industry we call Information Technology. One unlikely source of great information and insight is a publication I receive every month called CIO Magazine. Why “unlikely”? Those in my position can attest to the fact that there is a magical mailing list somewhere in the world – as soon as you get into IT management, your name goes on the list. Once you’re on the list, look out – the magazines are going to start showing up quickly! As I sort through my stack every week, a lot of magazines go straight to the recycle bin. However, this one usually has some great sources and is well written – and that’s what makes a good read (in my opinion).

This month, there was a short article on a recent Forrester report. Elizabeth Montalbano wrote a great summary and provided some insight in her article called Forrester: Social Networking Grows Up. Some shocking statistics jumped out at me:

• More than half of adults between 35-44 are members of social networking sites

• 75% of adults older than 55 use “social tools” more than once a month

Those numbers are significant. With those numbers in mind, how could you not focus part of your Unified Marketing Plan towards Social Networking?

Recently, Chris Broshears wrote a great blog entry on Social Networking and Email. He talked about Delivra’s philosophy on integration with Social Networking (and just how critical it is). We know that you’re trying to do more with less, and that expanding your current marketing efforts into this space by yourself might not be easy. That’s why we spent a lot of time trying to make this integration as easy for you as possible – allowing you to remain focused on your core business! Check out how we’ve integrated with social networking. We think you’ll find it easy to pick up and tap into this important communication channel!

Chris Nelson | IT & Security