When it comes to cleaning your email list, it's important to decide whether you'll use a conservative approach or tackle your list more aggressively.  Treating your list like an apple tree and trimming it accordingly can help you clean it up without sacrificing customers who are not very responsive now but will benefit from remaining on your list.

Was your holiday season hectic?  Were you so busy orchestrating your holiday marketing and processing demand for orders that you were burning the candle at both ends?  We have a great exercise you can do now that will help when you are ready to make your Q4 plans in 2018. 

Good marketers know what their contacts respond to and when. They design an email schedule that delivers what your contacts expect, at the time and day they are most likely to respond to it.

But that consistency has a downside. Your list can fall asleep after a while. They may assume they know what you’re sending or when you’re going to offer a sale and feel they don’t need to open the email.

Every once in a while, you should shake things up. Send an email that doesn’t follow suit. The change can be very subtle or it can be bold. 

This holiday I hope you are gathered with family and friends.  I suggest keeping your friends close, but your competition even closer from this week on.

That doesn’t mean you’ll be passing the cranberry sauce across the table or splitting a wishbone with your business rivals. But you should be actively monitoring your competition’s marketing.

It’s simple to do and you can even delegate it to an associate or intern. Follow these easy steps.