Some key highlights:

• E-mail marketing to house files is delivering higher response rates and lower costs per order than other channels
• E-mail is delivering sales at an average cost per order of less than $7, according to two surveys conducted by Forrester Research on Shop.org’s behalf to create the State of Retailing Online 2007 report. This is compared to $71.89 for banner ads, $26.75 for paid search and $17.47 for affiliate programs.
• 91% percent of those surveyed said they use e-mail to a house list as a marketing tactic while 88% of them said it has increased as a priority in 2007
• Average click-through and order-conversion rates of e-mail are an astounding 11% and 6%
• Most popular and effective e-mails are those that tout online-only promotions, with 71% of those surveyed saying they use the tactic and 66% rating it as “very effective.”
• One of the lowest-rated types of e-mails were those following shopping cart abandonment, with 17% saying they use it and 13% rating it very effective.

More info and full article here:
http://directmag.com/disciplines/email/email_metrics_healthy/

“Hello, my name is Gord, and I’m addicted to the Internet. I didn’t realize I was addicted until I recently spent three weeks in Europe and had to go through withdrawal. But after hanging around hotel lobbies trying to get a hit from a local hot spot, I’ve had to face up to the fact that I can’t kick the habit. I need my broadband, baby!

Fear and Loathing in l’Italia

I didn’t go totally cold turkey. I had my PDA to keep up on e-mails, but it just didn’t give me the rush I was looking for. Here I was, surrounded by the culmination of centuries of artistic achievement, and all I could think about was where my Google hook-up was coming from.

I speak somewhat facetiously, but there’s a lot of truth here. Here’s an online definition of addiction:

Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance.
The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.
It seems to me that going online qualifies on both counts. There’s no doubt that being online is habit forming. But it goes further than that. I realized in the last 20-plus days that it’s hard-wired into my physiology. Not having instant access was as foreign as not having my right hand.”

Read Gord’s blog: http://www.outofmygord.com

The microsite for Staples’ “The Wall” campaign is truly impressive. For starters, the commercial transported me back in time to the place in which an ancient Chinese emperor and his small band of men take on a massive army of barbarians. The music, visuals, and effects were so “on brand” that I felt compelled to pour a cup of steaming hot Jasmine blossom green tea to complete the transformation to ancient Chinese times. More importantly, the message of the “Easy button” resonates with me. In short, I’m sold on Staples’ differentiating factor– they make things easy. The mechanics of the “Launch the emperor over the wall” advergame are very fluid and straightforward. You can simply point and click instead of having to remember a half dozen command keys as with other advergames.

The Fortune-Cookie page adds the much-needed humor element to an otherwise stoic site. My favorite fortune in this interface was, “He who climbs corporate ladder should not wear kilt.” Viral Send to a Friend pages are embedded into each piece of the microsite. Brilliant.

To read the full iMedia Connection “Creative Review”, click here >>

I need to beat a dead horse on the search engine optimization front. I understand the need for Flash: it’s a beautiful, interactive site. However, Flash could be incorporated into an HTML site so that it is optimized with at least a text navigation footer and site map. Staples does do a good job with its Sponsored search listings which softens the blow to the lack of search engine optimization in the microsite.

The architecture and layout of the microsite is spot on. I’m drawn to the commercial first, then advergame, fortune-cookie telling, “behind the scenes,” and finally the downloadable desktop application for Staples. This campaign is well put together and incorporates a beautiful balance of viral components throughout the site. With that, I shall sign off and drink my ancient herbal tea.

10. Online viral campaigns will continue to spread like the plague.
Marketers finally get it – viral marketing is here to stay. The multiplier affect of great marketing, online public relations, co-creating with your customers, and lead capture for minimal cost is too much for marketers and business owners to pass up. 2006 will see a rise in viral campaigns. Some will feel forced, some weak, but the most innovative and creative campaigns will be rewarded with huge online traffic and leads. Our five favorite online viral campaigns in 2005 are:
a. Death Jr Hamster Game – Konami
b. Chinese Back Street Boys
c. Kettle Foods Crave Site
d. Darth Vader Mind Games – Burger King
e. JibJab’s ‘2-0-5’ video

9. Email design and content will matter more.
Assuming email addiction has set in more and more as we predicted last year, we are becoming more and more jaded with email in our inboxes that have predictable content and weak design. Don’t tell me that you spend 5 minutes admiring every email that hits your inbox – holmie don’t play that. The average email recipient spends 2.8 seconds reading an email. This time per email is decreasing rapidly year over year. As humans, we love a pleasant surprise; something that makes us stop and look a little bit longer so we can tell our friends and colleagues about it. Email template and brand consistency will continue to be important, but more marketers will take advantage of unique headline banners to their newsletters and other email communication.

8. More blogs than websites for most.
It’s not whether or not to have a blog in ’06, it will be how many blogs. Disclaimer: we are ridiculous – eROI maintains four blogs and five websites (www.eroi.com and four micro-sites). Companies will realize that a blog for each vertical niche of their product or service offering (or for segmenting their customer base) is the way to go in ’06. Why? For three main reasons:

a. Blogs personalize your brand because the blogosphere is an informal, conversational medium.
b. Blogs allow for 2-way dialogue.
c. Blogs are incredibly powerful for search engine optimization due to all of the inbound and outbound links and keyword-loaded text within each blog.

7. Marketers will invest more in email list management.
On large email lists, email list fatigue has set in for most of us. Our newsletters used to get phenomenal read rates and click rates, but they have steadily declined as our main list grew rapidly through organic lead capture from our websites and blogs. What can we do about it? Segment our list based on user preferences and deliver more relevant content to each segmented list.

6. One crafty marketer will launch a graveyard site for failed campaigns.
What can we learn from our failed email campaigns, micro-sites, or integrated offline / online campaigns? I don’t know. We need your help. Would www.WearShortShorts.com be in the failed campaign graveyard or not? Tell us what you think.

5. The Gimp returns.
Business owners will hire their personal online “influencers.” We know it sounds scary, but business owners will maintain their own version of “the Gimp.” In this scenario, the Gimp looks like a normal recent college grad who absolutely loves to monitor chat rooms, instant messaging, and posting to industry blogs and discussion boards. Remember to smile (not shudder) the next time someone says “Bring out the Gimp!”

4. Avoid making predictions that could come true.
Sad but true and the truth hurts. Here is our excerpt from #4 last year: “U.S. Census data has shown a couple surprising trends in ’04. There has been a dramatic increase in pregnancies in 30-40 year old women in the second half of ’04. The census data has shown a direct correlation between pregnancies and decreased sexual activity. Look for these affected marketers to channel their activities into sports, outdoor activities, email, social knitting, and heavy consumption. Wait, that has to do with us. Man this crystal ball we bought at WalMart is a real let down.” 2006 brings optimism back to the human race. World peace begins with the reversing of the dreaded 2005 trend of decreased sexual activity. Who knows – maybe we’ll even get some resolution in the Iraq War. Is that why we are at war?

3. Every major TV ad campaign will be extended online.
Remember getting an email from your friend with an attachment of Budweiser’s “Wassup” video? Now, marketers are much smarter than relying on people to pass around 3MB files via email – they are creating micro-sites with lots of great video content and coming up with creative ways to drive people to those campaign websites. Let’s take a look at one example – the eBay “it” campaign site.

2. Crackberry, then iPod, now Virtual Reality Goggles.
What will be the most popular “enter to win” item at events and as an online lead capture “carrot” to dangle to prospects? We predict that it will be the yet-to-be-created Virtual Reality Goggles. Harken back to the release of “Lawnmower Man” and “Total Recall” when we were shocked by the power of Virtual Reality. Business Owners will do anything to get their hands on a pair of these Virtual Reality Goggles where they will sign up in droves to feel the elation of growing sales and profits in 2006. No, seriously, the goggles will most definitely be used to make sure the last part of the above prediction #4 comes true.

1. Audacious Adver-games will reign supreme.
Not only are adver-games really fun for web visitors, but they are a huge driver in growing your email database with leads. Obviously advergames make sense for gaming companies (see Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution advergame), but even deep-tech B2B companies will see the value of stepping outside the box with a creative advergame related to their business model. The best place to explore advergame ideas for your business is to visit www.adverblog.com.