Now, after years of relying upon open rates to determine the success of an email campaign (HTML that is, not text), many reports are now stating that open rates have declined. Is this then the first sign of the demise of email marketing? I do not believe it is.

So, why the low open rates? Well, there are a couple of possible reasons for this: 1: Image Blocking 2: Being delivered to the Junk Mail Folder 3: Loss of interest

1: Image Blocking:

Most email marketing software track opens using a clear 1 x 1 pixel gif that counts the email as being opened when the image loads from the server. However, as a preventative measure to try and stop spam, image blocking was introduced by most email software programs and free web mail providers such as Hotmail and Yahoo. By blocking images it prevent spammers from knowing whether the recipient has opened the email, which therefore means the address is a valid address and active. It also stops pornographic images from loading.

This has had a major affect on how effective the open rates of email marketing now are. In October 2005, Ezemail conducted a survey which asked the question: How often do you download images? The results below show the percentage of people that download images (if their images are blocked by their email client/ISP). As you can see, you can't trust that they will download the images and so this in turn means that you can't place as much value of an open rate as you used to. A click through rate is a much more accurate and reliable statistic.

The emails are being sent to the junk mail folder, where images are not shown nor recorded as the text version generally is only displayed. According to a report by, only 55% of users regularly check their junk mail for legitimate emails. False positives are still a big issue, with many legitimate emails ending up in the Junk mail folder. According to the same report, nearly 1/3rd of users claim that requested emails from trusted sources appear in the junk mail folder.

3: Loss of interest:

Of course, the decline in open rates cannot be exclusively attributed to blocked images & junk mail - there is also another potential contributing factor - loss of interest by the reader. Readers are becoming more and more selective with what they are reading, as more and more companies are realizing the value of newsletters and e-marketing, there is more for a reader to choose from -and the bar has been lifted. So it is imperative to deliver to the inbox timely and relevant information.

If a preview pane is not being used (see chart below), then the reader users 2 factors to determine whether they will open the email: From Name (i.e whether they trust you) and Subject Line (is it information they look forward to or has got an interesting subject line?). And yes, if images are enabled, and the email is previewed in the preview pane, then it counts as an open.

Additionally, they may have already enlisted the use of the 'block sender' tool. This is done instead of unsubscribing. It appears that the email clients and ISP's have realized what many companies haven't , that it is all about the users needs. I believe that if the recipient wants to unsubscribe, let them and make it easy for them to do so. All too often, it seems that for a recipient to unsubscribe, they have jump hurdles, all for the privilege of not being sent any further communcations. This has resulted in the user taking the easy option out and hitting 'block sender'.

Best Practice

• Web Link: Be sure to have a link directing them to a web version of the email. i.e 'If you are having trouble reading this email, click here'. This link in turn replaces the open rate and is used both by recipients receiving text emails as well as those with blocked images.
• Consider Design: Take design into consideration and don't have the preview pane window being taken up completely with an image. You need to utilize this space with headlines or content teasers in order to induce the reader to open the email and contuinue reading. This is what the recipient uses to decide whether or not they will open the email.
• Incentivise to Whitelist: First, you need to incentivise them to add you, the sender to their address book, thereby overriding the block their email program has on images. The only way you can do this is by providing timely, good value information/products which they look forward to receiving. Being added to their contact lists ('whitelisted') has a 2 fold affect, as not only are the images shown, but you are also more likely to avoid the junk mail box.
• Incentivise to Open: However, if they have not added you to their contact list, then you need to incentivise them to open and read your email. Again, you can do this by having 'must read' information within the preview pane
• Add Alt Tags: Be sure to add Alt tags to your images and when possible make them sounds appealing, this way the reader may download the images as they're keen to see the image that you have just described. Be aware though that many ISP's and email clients do not show the alt tags if images are disabled.(see below chart)
• Test design without images: Nothing will turn readers off more quickly than a badly formatted email. If the images are blocked and your design is completely reliant upon images you may want to think about re-designing your email.
• Minimal Images: Have enough images to make an impact & to support your branding, but don't have too many, and certainly don't rely upon images.
• Test Links: For every image link, try and have a corresponding text link.
• Use Click through's: Click through's are a much more reliable way of measuring the success of a campaign. Design your campaign around gaining click through's
• Provide what the reader wants: Provide timely and relevant information.
• Unsubscribe Method: Utilize an easy to unsubscribe function rather than a manual or complicated process, in order to avoid being 'blocked', as this will affect the accura
  All About News
  Today, everybody is in a hurry! The internet provides us with so much information that we can't even imagine. Let's not talk about how many different news sites offer us different categories for all tastes and how we are having trouble finding only the information of interest to us.Google made the first step into sorting the information .Their news portal is up to date; it’s clean and easy to use. They even offer rss and a custom display for each user.Personally I don't think is enough! At this point in time we have to deal with to much information and our brain is just not ready yet to resist and memorize all of it.So we have to think at an alternative way to make the best out of it. The human factor should not be taken lightly. Thousands of people can make the difference. Imagine that all of them like a site and are willing to post only the important news on it. They
  s from knowing whether the recipient has opened the email, which therefore means the address is a valid address and active. It also stops pornographic images from loading.

  This has had a major affect on how effective the open rates of email marketing now are. In October 2005, Ezemail conducted a survey which asked the question: How often do you download images? The results below show the percentage of people that download images (if their images are blocked by their email client/ISP). As you can see, you can't trust that they will download the images and so this in turn means that you can't place as much value of an open rate as you used to. A click through rate is a much more accurate and reliable statistic.

  The emails are being sent to the junk mail folder, where images are not shown nor recorded as the text version generally is only displayed. According to a report by, only 55% of users regularly check their junk mail for legitimate emails. False positives are still a big issue, with many legitimate emails ending up in the Junk mail folder. According to the same report, nearly 1/3rd of users claim that requested emails from trusted sources appear in the junk mail folder.

  3: Loss of interest:

  Of course, the decline in open rates cannot be exclusively attributed to blocked images & junk mail - there is also another potential contributing factor - loss of interest by the reader. Readers are becoming more and more selective with what they are reading, as more and more companies are realizing the value of newsletters and e-marketing, there is more for a reader to choose from -and the bar has been lifted. So it is imperative to deliver to the inbox timely and relevant information.

  If a preview pane is not being used (see chart below), then the reader users 2 factors to determine whether they will open the email: From Name (i.e whether they trust you) and Subject Line (is it information they look forward to or has got an interesting subject line?). And yes, if images are enabled, and the email is previewed in the preview pane, then it counts as an open.

  Additionally, they may have already enlisted the use of the 'block sender' tool. This is done instead of unsubscribing. It appears that the email clients and ISP's have realized what many companies haven't , that it is all about the users needs. I believe that if the recipient wants to unsubscribe, let them and make it easy for them to do so. All too often, it seems that for a recipient to unsubscribe, they have jump hurdles, all for the privilege of not being sent any further communcations. This has resulted in the user taking the easy option out and hitting 'block sender'.

  Best Practice

  • Web Link: Be sure to have a link directing them to a web version of the email. i.e 'If you are having trouble reading this email, click here'. This link in turn replaces the open rate and is used both by recipients receiving text emails as well as those with blocked images.
  • Consider Design: Take design into consideration and don't have the preview pane window being taken up completely with an image. You need to utilize this space with headlines or content teasers in order to induce the reader to open the email and contuinue reading. This is what the recipient uses to decide whether or not they will open the email.
  • Incentivise to Whitelist: First, you need to incentivise them to add you, the sender to their address book, thereby overriding the block their email program has on images. The only way you can do this is by providing timely, good value information/products which they look forward to receiving. Being added to their contact lists ('whitelisted') has a 2 fold affect, as not only are the images shown, but you are also more likely to avoid the junk mail box.
  • Incentivise to Open: However, if they have not added you to their contact list, then you need to incentivise them to open and read your email. Again, you can do this by having 'must read' information within the preview pane
  • Add Alt Tags: Be sure to add Alt tags to your images and when possible make them sounds appealing, this way the reader may download the images as they're keen to see the image that you have just described. Be aware though that many ISP's and email clients do not show the alt tags if images are disabled.(see below chart)
  • Test design without images: Nothing will turn readers off more quickly than a badly formatted email. If the images are blocked and your design is completely reliant upon images you may want to think about re-designing your email.
  • Minimal Images: Have enough images to make an impact & to support your branding, but don't have too many, and certainly don't rely upon images.
  • Test Links: For every image link, try and have a corresponding text link.
  • Use Click through's: Click through's are a much more reliable way of measuring the success of a campaign. Design your campaign around gaining click through's
  • Provide what the reader wants: Provide timely and relevant information.
  • Unsubscribe Method: Utilize an easy to unsubscribe function rather than a manual or complicated process, in order to avoid being 'blocked', as this will affect the accura
    Large-Scale Organizational Change: Look Before You Leap!
    I am often asked, “Should organizational change be done quickly or slowly over time?” and “Should management attempt large radical changes or small incremental changes?” The safe answer is, “It depends.”The literature on organizational change identifies two general types of changes: first-order change and second-order change. First-order change gets less attention because it is less dramatic. It is incremental and evolutionary in nature. We see first-order change today in organizations in the form of quality improvement programs (e.g., TQM or Six Sigma). First-order incremental change is also important after large-scale, organization-wide, second-order change.Second-order change is discussed more often in management literature because it is dramatic, radical, and revolutionary. The very survival of the organization may depend on these changes. Examples of second-order c
    otential contributing factor - loss of interest by the reader. Readers are becoming more and more selective with what they are reading, as more and more companies are realizing the value of newsletters and e-marketing, there is more for a reader to choose from -and the bar has been lifted. So it is imperative to deliver to the inbox timely and relevant information.

    If a preview pane is not being used (see chart below), then the reader users 2 factors to determine whether they will open the email: From Name (i.e whether they trust you) and Subject Line (is it information they look forward to or has got an interesting subject line?). And yes, if images are enabled, and the email is previewed in the preview pane, then it counts as an open.

    Additionally, they may have already enlisted the use of the 'block sender' tool. This is done instead of unsubscribing. It appears that the email clients and ISP's have realized what many companies haven't , that it is all about the users needs. I believe that if the recipient wants to unsubscribe, let them and make it easy for them to do so. All too often, it seems that for a recipient to unsubscribe, they have jump hurdles, all for the privilege of not being sent any further communcations. This has resulted in the user taking the easy option out and hitting 'block sender'.

    Best Practice

    • Web Link: Be sure to have a link directing them to a web version of the email. i.e 'If you are having trouble reading this email, click here'. This link in turn replaces the open rate and is used both by recipients receiving text emails as well as those with blocked images.
    • Consider Design: Take design into consideration and don't have the preview pane window being taken up completely with an image. You need to utilize this space with headlines or content teasers in order to induce the reader to open the email and contuinue reading. This is what the recipient uses to decide whether or not they will open the email.
    • Incentivise to Whitelist: First, you need to incentivise them to add you, the sender to their address book, thereby overriding the block their email program has on images. The only way you can do this is by providing timely, good value information/products which they look forward to receiving. Being added to their contact lists ('whitelisted') has a 2 fold affect, as not only are the images shown, but you are also more likely to avoid the junk mail box.
    • Incentivise to Open: However, if they have not added you to their contact list, then you need to incentivise them to open and read your email. Again, you can do this by having 'must read' information within the preview pane
    • Add Alt Tags: Be sure to add Alt tags to your images and when possible make them sounds appealing, this way the reader may download the images as they're keen to see the image that you have just described. Be aware though that many ISP's and email clients do not show the alt tags if images are disabled.(see below chart)
    • Test design without images: Nothing will turn readers off more quickly than a badly formatted email. If the images are blocked and your design is completely reliant upon images you may want to think about re-designing your email.
    • Minimal Images: Have enough images to make an impact & to support your branding, but don't have too many, and certainly don't rely upon images.
    • Test Links: For every image link, try and have a corresponding text link.
    • Use Click through's: Click through's are a much more reliable way of measuring the success of a campaign. Design your campaign around gaining click through's
    • Provide what the reader wants: Provide timely and relevant information.
    • Unsubscribe Method: Utilize an easy to unsubscribe function rather than a manual or complicated process, in order to avoid being 'blocked', as this will affect the accura
      Mobile Oil Change Business and Corporate Office Complex Customers
      One way to run your small mobile oil change business is to go after the customers who are employees at large corporations. This works well, although can be problematic if you do not set up the way you do business and maintain the schedule properly in advance. But one new comer to the industry writes to ask me a question on the business model and this type of potential customer.Here is the question that our business analyst and future mobile oil change entrepreneur asks; "One thing I can certainly state is that...you or none of your competitors have gone after the nickel and dime biz by concentrating on the large employer populations?? Both here in Ohio and my son out in Las Vegas find that such ops. do not target John & Jane Doe's cars while at work for servicing...why is that? Cost prohibitive...liability lack of employer interest? Hell, I'd sell the ownership on packaging
      • Web Link: Be sure to have a link directing them to a web version of the email. i.e 'If you are having trouble reading this email, click here'. This link in turn replaces the open rate and is used both by recipients receiving text emails as well as those with blocked images.
      • Consider Design: Take design into consideration and don't have the preview pane window being taken up completely with an image. You need to utilize this space with headlines or content teasers in order to induce the reader to open the email and contuinue reading. This is what the recipient uses to decide whether or not they will open the email.
      • Incentivise to Whitelist: First, you need to incentivise them to add you, the sender to their address book, thereby overriding the block their email program has on images. The only way you can do this is by providing timely, good value information/products which they look forward to receiving. Being added to their contact lists ('whitelisted') has a 2 fold affect, as not only are the images shown, but you are also more likely to avoid the junk mail box.
      • Incentivise to Open: However, if they have not added you to their contact list, then you need to incentivise them to open and read your email. Again, you can do this by having 'must read' information within the preview pane
      • Add Alt Tags: Be sure to add Alt tags to your images and when possible make them sounds appealing, this way the reader may download the images as they're keen to see the image that you have just described. Be aware though that many ISP's and email clients do not show the alt tags if images are disabled.(see below chart)
      • Test design without images: Nothing will turn readers off more quickly than a badly formatted email. If the images are blocked and your design is completely reliant upon images you may want to think about re-designing your email.
      • Minimal Images: Have enough images to make an impact & to support your branding, but don't have too many, and certainly don't rely upon images.
      • Test Links: For every image link, try and have a corresponding text link.
      • Use Click through's: Click through's are a much more reliable way of measuring the success of a campaign. Design your campaign around gaining click through's
      • Provide what the reader wants: Provide timely and relevant information.
      • Unsubscribe Method: Utilize an easy to unsubscribe function rather than a manual or complicated process, in order to avoid being 'blocked', as this will affect the accura
        Meet Your Customers Where They're At
        I want to talk about a simple yet often overlooked key ingredient to your success in sales. Many success coaches and entrepreneurs call this "relation." I like to refer to the ingredient as "Meeting People Where They're At". The idea is to form a rapport (bond) and a sense of credibility with your customer before you not only sell them anything, but even introduce them to any of your products.If you've read my article entitled, "The Magic of Credibility", you know that trust and validation in a sales letter can be the 'make or break' section for increasing your sales. In order to build a sense of trust, I like to use techniques of relation to encourage a complete read of my letter and influence an action to be taken at the end (otherwise known as a sale).In order to "Meet Your Customers Where They're At", you must connect through scenarios or stories that are applicable
        tion within the preview pane
      • Add Alt Tags: Be sure to add Alt tags to your images and when possible make them sounds appealing, this way the reader may download the images as they're keen to see the image that you have just described. Be aware though that many ISP's and email clients do not show the alt tags if images are disabled.(see below chart)
      • Test design without images: Nothing will turn readers off more quickly than a badly formatted email. If the images are blocked and your design is completely reliant upon images you may want to think about re-designing your email.
      • Minimal Images: Have enough images to make an impact & to support your branding, but don't have too many, and certainly don't rely upon images.
      • Test Links: For every image link, try and have a corresponding text link.
      • Use Click through's: Click through's are a much more reliable way of measuring the success of a campaign. Design your campaign around gaining click through's
      • Provide what the reader wants: Provide timely and relevant information.
      • Unsubscribe Method: Utilize an easy to unsubscribe function rather than a manual or complicated process, in order to avoid being 'blocked', as this will affect the accuracy of your statistics.
      Email Clients/ISP's which Block Images Outlook 2000/XP Outlook 2003 Outlook ExpressYahooGmailHotmailAOL Versions 6.0-9.0

      Copyright Kath Pay 2006