Recently, I became a subscriber for Entertainment Weekly and as any good marketer should do, they asked for my email address when I created an online subscriber profile.

This was several weeks ago, but the other day I got the email that you see here: a simple informative piece explaining how I get the opportunity to see advance screenings as a subscriber. Great! But that’s also where things got a bit, well, classic?

If you’ll notice the movie poster used in the email seen here, it’s Rush Hour 3. In the copy, Rush Hour 3, Shrek The Third and Dreamgirls are referenced as those films that subscribers got to see before they were released to the masses.

As I write this, it’s March 2010. Rush Hour 3 came out in August 2007. Shrek The Third? May 2007. Dreamgirls was released in December 2006! I don’t know about you, but I can name a few movies that have been released since 2007.

Essentially, this is an abandoned autoresponder/trigger- something set up years ago but has been left on the side of the road like an old car.

So now I’m wondering if this program still exists. Are they even aware these are going out and if so, are they totally fine with dated references in their emails? I would assume they wouldn’t be, but I’m not sure. (I can’t wait to have the inside track on Star Trek, which came out a year or so ago.)

Think about your autoresponders and triggers. Do they have time-sensitive information in there? If so, how often do you update that information and what’s your system of checks and balances to ensure you don’t forget?

Josh Nason is the Inbound Marketing Director for SendLabs, a New England-based email marketing software company with great customers across the street and around the globe. Follow him at @joshnason and @sendlabs.

Quick Summary:

1. It’s not my birthday.
2. I’m a Pats fan. I hate the Giants.
3. Who’s running the NFL email marketing program?

I have to assume one thing:  they’re trying to drive sales? They’re short on cash? Why else would the NFL be sending me a Happy Birthday message on Tuesday when mine is on Thursday?

Maybe this works anyway.

I can hear their staff now: Ah, who cares? We’ll be close enough and heck, stats show people buy from these “apparent” misfires!

Maybe their platform fired too early or the time on their server is off two days. Ha!

What do you think?

(P.S. Don’t forget, it’s my birthday Thursday. I’m just sayin’.)

(P.S.S Dear NFL – I live close to Boston. I hate the Giants. Another misfire?)

Brett Houle is Co-Founder/CEO of SendLabs, a New England-based email marketing software company with great customers across the street and around the globe. Follow him up at Twitter: @heybrett and @sendlabs.

I get bummed out when I see how much time and effort email marketers put into their creative, but not enough time into strategy or how the technology available to them can really take their email marketing efforts to the next level. The main reason? The tools are within everyone’s reach and are so simple to implement.

So here’s my short list of things I want you to explore asap and then do…if you are not already.

1. Split Testing
   This one is a no-brainer. Can you imagine giving the newspaper or a book author the ability to test which headline would be most successful before they go to print? With email marketing technology and split testing, it’s a breeze. Which subject line will create higher open rates or clicks? Which creative will motivate more people to take action? Which offer or call-to-action will generate more conversion? With split-testing, any reputable email platform will allow you stage a few options, hit send and let the system pick the winner based on the criteria you choose (opens and click-thru’s) and then delivers the remainder of your campaign to the winner.We’ve seen open rates at 20% spike to 45% and click-thru rates jump from 4% to over 10%, just by trying two different subject lines.

   Benefit? Find out quickly what works and get a better response rate.

2. List Segmenting
   OK – another no brainer: stop batch and blasting. Stop uploading a hundred lists to your account. Define your data (in your CRM, etc.), map out what fields of data you want associated with each subscriber (first, last, company, contact type, etc.) and import into a single list. Then create a list segment by simply identifying a search criteria – i.e. give me a list of everyone in zip code 03102, who came to the event. Even better, do it based off of customer or prospect type and create segments based on past interactions or behavior. The options to narrowly segment and send relevant content to that segment is unlike any other marketing vehicle in the world.

   Benefit? Cleaner management of data, more targeted mailings, greater response rates.

3. Triggered Mailings/Auto-responders
   You guessed it…another no-brainer. Put your outbound communications on auto-pilot. Have a web opt-in form? Set up a series of email “drips” that your email platform can deploy over a timed sequence. Maybe it’s like this: Someone visits your web site and requests a white paper or a trial of your software or perhaps they made a purchase. Connect that information to your platform and stage mailings to “auto” deploy based on the criteria you set. You could have a two week window of every other day communications based on who subscribed, what their profile is, what their behavior has been with you, etc. And again, any good platform worth their salt will provide all of the real-time stats on your triggered mailings as well.

   Benefit? Let technology go to work for you and keep the right (timed) communication in front of your audience. Multiple touches and BAM! They take action!

4. Personalization
   This is email marketing 101, but do it in an intelligent fashion. Try something different. Get creative with the data you know about your subscribers. Why not personalize an email with some details you know that wouldn’t be what you’d typically store in an email database. Here’s one, “Hi Brett – we feel horrible. Your birthday was yesterday and we were late.” How clever. Now I may know intuitively you automated this somehow, but you cleverly spun it to sound human (we made an error!). Have a purchase history on your customers stored somewhere? Why not use that to merge the last product purchased or the last interaction with you. And finally, personalization should be geared around profiles. What type of actual content does a slice or segment of your audience prefer? Or are you sending one-size-fits-all content?

   Benefit? Email is all about relevancy. You must know who your prospects and customers are, no? Why not demonstrate that? You’ll keep them engaged MUCH longer.

5. Social Follow & Social Sharing
   At this point, if you are not working your email marketing and social networking together, you’re probably living under a rock. You have to go where the eyeballs are and email/social is a powerful one-two punch. If you have a Twitter feed or a Facebook fan page like us, you need icons in your emails to not only prompt your customers to follow you, but also to share the content inside your emails with their networks. Forward to a friend is still a standard and many subscribers will use this, but the NEW forward is really the share feature. It allows folks to connect this with their personal and professional networks quickly and easily and may easily garner you some new subscribers.

   Benefit? Everyone knows hundreds, sometimes thousands of people you or I don’t. Why not tap that? Let them remarket on your behalf.

So there you have it. These things are within your grasp today, and as always, the SendLabs email marketing platform lets you set these things up quite easily. If you need help setting any of these things up in your account, as always, you can reach out to us at anytime.

Brett Houle is Co-Founder/CEO of SendLabs, a New England-based email marketing software company with great customers across the street and around the globe. Follow him up at Twitter: @heybrett and @sendlabs.