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This seminar took the form of “10 Big Ideas in 10 Minutes,” times four, beginning with recommendations for growing your email list (below) and being followed by tips for optimizing the customer interaction once you have their permission to contact them. In general, the key takeaways are to provide compelling content to your customers, a streamlined process if they answer the call to action, and thoughtfulness when planning your contact strategy (i.e. not adding extra messages or sending additional, poorly-targeted emails just because it’s cheap and you can). The Q&A also revealed some helpful tips about good timing (midweek), good measures (Avanti Lalwani from Land’s End recommended both buyer and email interaction statistics, such as subscription, unsubscription, click-through, conversion, recency of conversion, etc.), how to get through spam filters (trial and error…maybe not what you wanted to hear), and the best way to obtain snail mail addresses (offer to mail them free stuff). The moral of the story is that best practices have to be used for brands to stand out and capture a customer’s attention.  And now, Andy Sernovitz’s Top 10 tips to grow your email list: 10. Trade ads, links and content with other email newsletters. 9. Shorten form: ask only for a customer’s email address; after you have the opt-in, then make it optional for them to give more information. 8. Ask for email everywhere on the website, not just on the homepage. 7. Improve call to action: need a compelling reason for customers to give you their email address. 6. Brag about privacy concerns. 5. Get rid of the “partner email request” checkbox. 4. Use bait to get sign-ups: people are more likely to follow a link to a download than to a sign-up form. Sub-tip: for sweepstakes, pick “boring” prizes only interesting to your target: opt-ins will go down, but more of them will be qualified leads. 3. Get the “viral basics” right: make tell-a-friend easy to use and compelling, and measure usage of that function. 2. Offer multiple lists: customers self-segment by interest and get content that’s more relevant to them, and are more likely to stay on at least one list. 1. Make it worth reading: Content is king, and it always will be. http://www.adtechblog.com/2417/