MindComet

A New Challenge for Email Marketers: Gmail’s Priority Inbox

Yesterday, Gmail announced their new Priority Inbox feature. It allows users to set their inboxes to automagically sort through their emails and appropriately label them as Priority, Starred and Everything Else. The search parameters call on keywords, replies and general behavior based on the user and sender relationship.

So what does this mean to email marketers? Well, truthfully, this has the potential to lead to lower-than-usual activity rates with Gmail subscribers. If you’re not relevant in the subscriber’s mind, you will more than likely be relegated into the Everything Else box.

Now, more than ever, email marketers need to focus on relevance.

Marketers need to look at their subscriber’s behaviors and reactions to their emails. If this is done, marketers will have a better understanding in predicting how to segment their lists for future sends and hopefully earn the right to the Priorty box. This, of course, needs to be front-of-mind along with making sure you’re whitelisted as well as keeping design and code standards to an optimum.

Peep this video from Gmail below which illustrates the brass tacks of Priority Inbox:

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Aug. 31, 2010

For the Impulsive and Non-Committed: Gmail “Undo Send” Quick Tips

If you’re not already aware, Gmail offers an “undo” option after you send an email. At first, you were only allowed 5 seconds to decide whether or not your email was up to snuff, but now the Gmail team has EXTENDED the undo time limit from 5 seconds and provides 10, 20 & 30 second options.

If you’re unsure of how to turn this on, first go to the Labs icon.

Find the “Undo Send” option and enable it.

Then once you’ve saved your changes, navigate to the Settings link and select your cancellation period.

Now, whenever you hastily write an email and send it without double checking to see if you’ve attached that time-sensitive document, you’ll have up to 30 seconds to cancel, fix your mistakes and send confidently.

Another reason why Gmail is really the only web email client you should be using. No other client comes close to the amount of options and customization offered by Gmail.

Thanks to Mashable for the inspiration.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Aug. 24, 2010

Email Opt-In Fail at Fresh Market

After a quick sandwich run to The Fresh Market, I noticed this little desk next to the door:

What’s wrong with the photo above? Does anything seem a little off to you?

At first glance, it seems like a fancy little desk to fill out a comment card or sign up for a shopping spree… then I saw the SIGN UP call to action. Similarly in email, “the real world” needs CALLS TO ACTION to guide the eyes of “users”, but I digress…

Since there was a keyboard on the desk with a tiny screen attached at the top, I figured it was a very clever way to sign up for an email newsletter before you left. Especially since underneath SIGN UP, it mentioned something about email newsletters. But as I sat down to plug in my email address, I realized the keyboard was there to be used as a way to collect your information if you’re APPLYING FOR A JOB. Major fail and a missed opportunity there.

Notice the little postcards in front of the SIGN UP poster? Yeah, you need a pen or pencil to jot your name and email down. Then they’re gathered up at the end of the day and MAILED to their database headquarters only to be MANUALLY ENTERED, which then I’m assuming the cards are thrown away or at least recycled. What a waste.

To add insult to injury, there was no pen at the desk. I had to ask a cashier to borrow hers in order to sign up. This was a FAIL in every respect of the word.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Aug. 16, 2010

Override Yahoo’s Dreaded Default Link Color

Have you noticed your emails showing up with defaulted dark blue links across your emails in Yahoo Mail? Are you as annoyed as me? Yes and yes? Good.

CampaignMonitor has recently revealed what’s happening and how to prevent it.

Basically, Yahoo is adding a CSS class called “.yshortcuts” to all links within your email which includes a default color of #366388. Bummer.

But there’s an easy fix for this and there are two ways you can go about implementing it.

Within your style tag, paste the following:

<style type=&quot;text/css&quot;>
   div { color: #CCCCCC }
   a { color: #456456 }
   .yshortcuts { color: #CCCCCC } /* Body text color */
   .yshortcuts a span { color: #456456 } /* Link text color */
</style>

Then for every link, use the class “yshortcuts” within a div tag.

You can also apply this fix inline like so:

<a href=“#“ style=“color:#456456; text-decoration:none;“><span style=“color:#456456;“>Link</span></a>

This is a little repetitive, but it’s a sure-fire way of preventing your links from turning up blue in Yahoo!.

Unfortunately this will not prevent Yahoo! from adding links to physical addresses and the like (called Yahoo! Shortcuts). It will only prevent the embedded links in your email from turning blue.

Also, this is only appearing in the new Yahoo! Mail, not Yahoo! Classic.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Aug. 11, 2010