Takeaways from DMA07

For most of this week, the Direct Marketing Association held its DMA07 Conference in Chicago. Here are just a few of the great insights and learnings from the event:

Preferences:
>>As subscribers, we’re not really pushed to update our preferences and evolve the relationship, said David Baker of Avenue A Razorfish.
>>Don’t password protect your subscription and preference centers, said Jeanniey Mullen of the Email Experience Council and OgilvyOne. “That’s the biggest complaint we get from consumers.” She recommends occasionally prompting subscribers to update their preferences.

Relevancy:
>>“Content is vital, but context is king,” said Kenneth Cole of Kenneth Cole Productions during his keynote address. The right product at the wrong time fails.
>>“Sixty percent of people in India can’t read or write, so text emails to them are totally wasted,” said Mullen. “But image email and emails with video work well.”
>>If people haven’t opened an email from you in 90 days, you’re losing that channel to communicate with that customer, said Stephanie Miller of Return Path. “In a way they become harder to reach than prospects.”

Mobile Devices:
>>“For consumers that have PCs, SMS has been phenomenal for reaching them,” said Ryan Deutsch of StrongMail. Direct marketing has become much more about choosing the right channel for the activity and audience.
>>“There’s still a lot to figure out about email on PCs,” said Jim Champlin of Allstate. There’s a long road yet to figure out email on mobile devices, so there’s no hurry there.

Sign-Up Practices:
>>The “View sample email” link is really valuable during sign-ups, said Champlin.

List Growth:
>>To grow your email list you have three options: organically, viral and paid (list rental, search, etc.), said Miller. “We’re seeing organic kind of max out,” she said. We’re trying to improve that organic channel with more relevant content—for example, sending prospects a different newsletter (than you do to your customers) that helps them decide whether they want to become customers.

Email Centralization:
>>“We’re seeing a huge focus on email centralization,” because of email being used across business divisions, said Deutsch.

Deliverability:
>>“Deliverability is the first step in your ROI,” said Miller.

Tips Offered by Baker, Champlin, Deutsch, Miller and Mullen:
1. Create relevancy through segmentation.
2. Adopt a test/optimize/repeat philosophy.
3. Integrate email into multichannel communication programs.
4. Embrace failure (preferably small failures).
5. Timing: integrate with trigger events.
6. Think like a consumer when designing content.
7. Create a readable mobile version.
8. Put the consumer in control.
9. Use media and other channels to grow your email database.
10. Build the value of email into your customer onboarding process.
11. Templates are the foundation of good email design.
12. Set frequency caps on non-responders.
13. Purge non-responders.

Any wisdom from the conference that you’d like to share? Just add a comment below. I spent most of my time chatting with members and prospective members at the eec booth, so I know I missed a lot.
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