Jen Capstraw

Articles by Jen All articles by Jen

• Guess What's Missing from Your Holiday Email Strategy? in Email Insider on 10/05/2015
  

  Think quick: What factor is most critical in achieving email opens? A perfectly penned subject line? Nope. A recognizable "from" name? 'Fraid not. There's only one way your email marketing can be opened - and that's if it's actually received by subscribers. So give yourself a big pat on the back if you came up with deliverability.

• What Coupon-Cutters And Email Marketers Have In Common  in Email Insider on 05/18/2015
  

  Financial freedom has been a hot topic on the blogosphere for years. A philosophy of frugality drives most: strict budgeting, limited luxuries, extreme couponing, DIY. "Freedom" sure sounds like a whole lot of work. And not much fun. But my favorite bloggers send a message of abundance: Don't waste your time penny-pinching - instead, focus on making more. Let your money make money so you have the time to maximize life enjoyment. Now, that's the kind of freedom I can appreciate -- and email marketing can be approached in the very same way.

• Why The Demise Of Gmail Grid View Is Good For Marketers in Email Insider on 05/04/2015
  

  Grid view... we hardly knew ye. Google quietly pulled the plug on Gmail grid view last month - a move which went largely unnoticed, since the image-centric interface for promotional messages never advanced beyond its initial field trial.

• What My 15-Year-Old Webmail Account Says About Today's Email Marketers in Email Insider Europe on 04/09/2015
  

  Recently my Yahoo account turned 15. It doesn't get much use these days - aside from the occasional seed list for a client project - but it is an epic archive of my life, my career, and to an extent, the evolution of email marketing. While I'm not going to share the dishy details of my personal correspondence through the years, I can relay a few email marketing insights that became evident while I perused my old account.

• What My 15-Year-Old Webmail Account Says About Today's Email Marketers in Email Insider on 02/12/2015
  

  This month my Yahoo account turns 15. It doesn't get much use these days - aside from the occasional seed list for a client project - but it is an epic archive of my life, my career, and to an extent, the evolution of email marketing. While I'm not going to share the dishy details of my personal correspondence through the years, I can relay a few email marketing insights that became evident while I perused my old account.

• What Apple's Holiday Home Run Means For Email Marketers in Email Insider on 01/15/2015
  

  Santa was very, very kind to Apple, according to a new report from Flurry Analytics. The iPhone manufacturer accounted for 51% of new device activations worldwide between Dec. 19 and 25th, with Samsung coming in a distant second at 18%. What does this mean for email marketers? Apple's move toward bigger screens and higher resolutions - along with the default Apple iPhone app's stronghold as the number-one email client - will ultimately influence change in email marketing's evolving best practices.

• What Apple's Holiday Home Run Means For Email Marketers in Email Insider Europe on 01/08/2015
  

  Santa was very, very kind to Apple, according to a new report from Flurry Analytics. The iPhone manufacturer accounted for 51% of new device activations worldwide between Dec. 19 and 25th, with Samsung coming in a distant second at 18%. What does this mean for email marketers? Apple's move toward bigger screens and higher resolutions - along with the default Apple iPhone app's stronghold as the number-one email client - will ultimately influence change in email marketing's evolving best practices.

• Then & Now: Mobile & Email Marketing Predictions in Email Insider Europe on 12/19/2014
  

  I love reading those articles that compare 20thcentury science fiction to our modern world. This week, I stumbled across a list of author Isaac Asimov's 1964 predictions for 2014. While we're still not colonizing the moon, Asimov was pretty spot-on in the majority of predictions, including his descriptions of some of today's mobile technology. Since it's that time of year when we marketers like to start opining our predictions for the coming year, I thought it would be a fun exercise to take a look back at the mobile predictions of the past - with a focus on their implications for email marketing - before offering up a few of my own for 2015. As it turns out, we marketers aren't always as good at predicting the future as Isaac Asimov.

• Geeks, Rejoice! The Email Renaissance Has Arrived in Email Insider on 11/06/2014
  

  Pop quiz, marketers! How do you feel about the new Inbox by Gmail? A) Annoyed. This is probably worse than Gmail tabs. B) Intrigued. What a fascinating opportunity. C) Confused. What's Inbox? If you answered B, you're in the right line of work.

• Then & Now: Mobile & Email Marketing Predictions in Email Insider on 10/09/2014
  

  I love reading those articles that compare 20thcentury science fiction to our modern world. This week, I stumbled across a list of author Isaac Asimov's 1964 predictions for 2014. While we're still not colonizing the moon, Asimov was pretty spot-on in the majority of predictions, including his descriptions of some of today's mobile technology. Since it's that time of year when we marketers like to start opining our predictions for the coming year, I thought it would be a fun exercise to take a look back at the mobile predictions of the past - with a focus on their implications for email marketing - before offering up a few of my own for 2015. As it turns out, we marketers aren't always as good at predicting the future as Isaac Asimov.

Comments by Jen All comments by Jen

• How Many Emails Should You Send A Month? by Jess Nelson (Email Marketing Daily on 02/08/2016)
  

  I know how much my clients love clear, definitive answers to questions like "How many emails should I be sending?" But a question like this is always much more complex than it seems. Thanks for pointing out the naivete of the study. The data is interesting, but incomplete, and the assumptions and findings are a bit simplistic.

• Is Your Mobile-First Strategy Putting Your Customers Last? by Jordan Cohen (Email Insider on 09/24/2012)
  

  I disagree with your definition of mobile first. Mobile first means prioritizing the mobile user experience (it's not a design technique), and I can't imagine any marketer advocates a disregard for desktop users (unless they know that audience is irrelevant to them). Responsive design is currently the best method for applying the mobile-first philosophy in conjunction with best practices to email. And while a little more than a third of email marketing in general is opening on mobile these days, that isn't necessarily the case for every audience. I've seen up to 63% of opens render on mobile on a single email deployment. Mobile-first is clearly a priority for us.

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