15 Questions with Our Email Art Director Andrea “Dr. Dre” Campbell

15 Questions with Our Email Art Director Andrea “Dr. Dre” Campbell

by Andrew KordekNo Comments
Tell us about your background and what made you decide to come to Trendline back in 2014? I was lucky enough to be among the first wave of graphic designers who also knew front-end code, so straight out of college I had the opportunity to work both in some great agencies, as well as in-house at a few major retailers as they developed their first email programs. After 7 years in email, I moved into web apps and quickly found that wasn’t for me. Once I learned about Trendline, I knew immediately I wanted to come home to email. I loved the idea of an agency that focused purely on email. I was wooed by Trendline’s culture and by speaking with the leadership team. I love feeling like I’m a part of a unique group of folks who have a true passion and deep knowledge of such a specialty medium. What is the hardest part of being an Art Director? I’d say it’s...
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Deep Thoughts on Email Marketing — April 2016 Edition

Deep Thoughts on Email Marketing — April 2016 Edition

by Andrew KordekNo Comments
Continuing the monthly tradition of providing you deep thoughts that will perhaps spawn a little laughter or a little chatter amongst the email brethren. 1. If email has one of the highest ROIs in marketing, why is it one of the most understaffed and underfunded departments? 2. Why do we let people who never have and never will log in to the ESP influence and/or make the decision to select a new one? 3. If Santa were an email marketer, would you opt out of his emails? 4. It should be called a “tap rate” on mobile and a “click rate” on desktop. 5. What if the worst looking email happens to be the best performing email? Enjoy....
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Why Choosing Functionality Over Beauty in Emails Gets You More Clicks

Why Choosing Functionality Over Beauty in Emails Gets You More Clicks

by Andrew KordekNo Comments
It was about 15 years ago that my wife and I received a beautiful Waterford crystal vase as a gift.  The exquisite detail and sheer elegance of the vase is utterly amazing, as any Waterford piece normally is.  We take it out as often as we buy flowers or receive them when we host guests.  However, there is one problem: the vase does not hold 12 flowers very well.  In fact, we often take two or three flowers out and put them into another vase simply because it’s a pain and makes things look awkward if we try and cram them in.  While beautiful, the vase lacks functionality, and it’s a shame since we really love the piece. People are obsessed with beautiful things.  We imagine beautiful houses, shoes, cars, jewelry, and we tend to put beautiful people on a pedestal simply because they look great.  That obsession can be found everywhere, and in fact it spills over into email. I have...
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3 Simple Tips to Grow Your Email List

3 Simple Tips to Grow Your Email List

by Chris Arrendale Comment Closed
While typically we discuss topics such as email content and email deliverability, we are going to shift our focus and talk about a few simple ways you can increase your email subscribers. After all, you have great content to share, and it only makes sense that you try to reach as many people as possible. Prominent Opt-in Form Be sure to place your opt-in form in a highly visible location, or in multiple locations on your website. Traditionally, an opt-in form on the home page of your website works well and if you have a blog page on your website, then an opt-in form should be added there too. From a design standpoint, make sure your opt-in form stands out and is attractive to visitors. Provide a Compelling Reason Speaking of being attractive to visitors, the “What’s in it for me?” should be crystal clear. If visitors can see the value proposition of signing up for your email, they will be much more likely...
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Email Conversions Are Ruled by a Traditional Experience

Email Conversions Are Ruled by a Traditional Experience

by Andrew KordekNo Comments
Moveable Ink (MI) recently released their 2015 US Consumer Device Preference Report, and there are some interesting insights that all email marketers should pay attention to.  The basis for this report centers on data MI collected from 6.03 billion emails throughout 2015. Highlight 1 – When It Comes to Opens, Mobile Devices Rule This is a “duh” when you think about it.  You can’t breathe without hearing that mobile owns initial engagement with email, but just wait. The report indicates that mobile opens were up by 2% over 2014 with smartphones accounting for 52% and tablets for 16%.  This means that people are opening email on smartphones, but I wonder if they are still triaging and then going back later to take action.  Desktop accounted for 32% of opens, so it’s not all about mobile, as you will see below.  We have to remember that phones are getting bigger, so the statistic of people reading more on their smartphone follows logically. ...
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