Bronto Blog

I have never been a big fan of personalizing any part of an email with the subscriber’s first name (subject line, salutation, etc). I think it is pointless and doesn’t really add value to the email. It doesn’t entice me to open the message. In fact, usually it has the opposite effect (”mark as junk”).

However, every time I bring it up amongst my peers at Bronto or in the email marketing ecosystem, a healthy - albeit heated - discussion ensues.

Yesterday, I was speaking with a client who was seeking my advice on first name personalization. I gave him my standard pitch against such a practice:

• Bad data in = bad data out (See Ken Magil’s post about “Dear Stupid” from Barack Obama)
• First name personalization can look spammy
• Some ISPs/email clients may consider it spam
• It can fail miserably when done poorly (See “When Personalization Goes…Odd.”)

This client came back at me hard. “But DJ, we used Bronto’s A|B split and the subject line with first name personalization had a much higher open rate.” Now if you know me, you know that I hate being wrong. Hate it. But in this case, there is not really a right or wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Our Product Development team has been hard at work and is ready to unveil the Bronto Fall 2008 Release. The new release will be going live Sunday, September 14th, 2008.

This is a big release for us here at Bronto, we’ve really pulled out the stops. Here are some of the highlights:

• A slick new look and feel, providing easy access to all the info you need.
• Bigger, Better, and Easier A/B Splits, you’ll be testing in no time.
• Inbox Preview, so you aren’t surprised by Outlook 2007 ever again.
• Flexible Reporting to guide you to better email marketing, including your own custom dashboard.

Looking for a bit more info? I bet you are, so why don’t you check out this 4 minute overview video from John, Bronto’s very own eLearning Specialist. You can open in a new window if you are having problems viewing this.

Of course you can also check out this blog post or even take a look at the release notes which have much more info and are available in Bronto on the Help tab. Lastly, plan on attending the Fall 2008 Release webcast Tuesday, September 16th at 3:00PM. I’ll be going over all the exciting new features with Julie Waite, an Account Manager here at Bronto; for login info please see the announcement within the application.

Adam Covati
Product Manager at Bronto