Monthly Archives: November 2009

Great Lineup for the Winter Mailorder Gardening Association Conference

November 30, 2009 – 4:15 am

If you’ve been thinking about signing up for the Mailorder Gardening Association conference coming up in Baltimore Jan. 4 – 6, you can save yourself a few bucks by doing so this week. The early bird deadline for discounted registrations runs through December 4.

As Program Chair this year, I can tell you that in my own completely unbiased opinion, we have a great program lined up. Two programs that I’ve written about before are return speakers back by popular demand – garden industry consultant Kip Creel and email marketing guru Sundeep Kapur.

In addition: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Events | Leave a Comment

Surprising Results From An Email Subject Line Test

November 25, 2009 – 4:15 am

The September issue of our Let’s Grow enewsletter discussed Best and Worst Subject Lines Compared. In it, I cited a somewhat counterintuitive study of open rates by email service provider MailChimp. Their survey suggested that non-descript email subject lines might actually be more powerful than traditional “teaser” or other sales copy. I decided to see for myself, and tested it on our own enewsletter, with a promise to report the results in this blog. (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Email marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Creating Positive PR in Online Communities

November 23, 2009 – 4:15 am

Our last enewsletter addressed the subject of How to Handle Online Customer Complaints. It included suggestions on what not to do, as well as best practices to follow. In the course of researching that issue, I came across a superb example of using customer comments to your advantage. To have a look, (click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Customer service, Social media | Leave a Comment

The Growing Audience for Gardening Blogs

November 20, 2009 – 4:15 am

According to a recent survey by the Garden Writers Association, one third of gardening consumers read blogs. Of that third, 29% say they read garden-related blogs either (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Blogs | Leave a Comment

Welcome, Anamese Garden and Home!

November 18, 2009 – 4:15 am

We’re pleased to welcome Anamese Garden & Home as a new client. Anamese wholesales extraordinarily beautiful glazed and unglazed pots to garden centers, landscapers, and commercial establishments. They excel at both quick shipping and knowledgeable customer service. We’re looking forward to helping them grow!

By Val Gosset | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Tips for Increasing Typeface Readability

November 16, 2009 – 4:15 am

After I published my last blog post on readability issues with certain typefaces, a client emailed to remind me that there are many other ways to render type unreadable. Among the things to watch out for are: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

What’s the Most Readable Typeface?

November 13, 2009 – 4:15 am

Anyone involved with designing printed matter, websites and emails knows that not only does each typeface have its own personality, but some are more readable than others. Conventional wisdom (click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Advertising | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Counterintuitive Effects of Email List Segmentation

November 11, 2009 – 4:15 am

I just read an interesting report on a study that email service provider MailChimp performed on the effects of list segmentation on email marketing. They compared the results of 10,691 segmented campaigns that 1,998 companies sent to 8,762,207 recipients to non-segmented campaigns sent by the same companies.

You’d expect that the segmented campaigns would produce better results than the non-segmented ones. For the most part, that was true, but there were a few surprises:

By Val Gosset | Posted in Email marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Top Ranked Speakers Return to MGA Conference

November 9, 2009 – 4:15 am

If you’ve been thinking about attending a Mailorder Gardening Association conference, the January 2010 programs looks like an especially good one to check out. Of particular interest are two speakers back by popular demand. (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Events | Comments (1)

A Study in Pricing Pscyhology

November 6, 2009 – 4:15 am

Duncan Simester of the MIT Sloan School of Management is known for fascinating research on consumer buying behavior, much of it specific to the direct marketing industry. I’ve written about some of his studies in the past, including the surprising long-term impact of discounting and the long-term impact of traditional circulation plans.

I recently came across another interesting study by Simester (click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Offers | Tagged | Leave a Comment
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