Bronto Blog

The goal of the Bronto Blog is to provide new and innovative "email marketing insights." In order to solidify that these tactics and techniques actually work, we'll occasionally write a blog post about how our customers have found success using our advice.

In February, DJ Waldow brought the underutilized preheader/snippet text to the fore-front, showing how this small piece of real estate can actually be one of the most valuable spaces in your entire email.

One of Bronto's clients, Blooms Today, began using preheaders in November, 2007, shortly after our post in October 2007. Since changing their preheader from the standard "If you are having trouble viewing this message" to "What are you waiting for? View our collection of fresh flowers," Blooms Today increased their above the fold click-throughs significantly. See an example of how their preheader is visible via preview mode in Gmail:

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For the final blog post in my series on Netflix's email marketing program (see part 1 & part 2) we are going to gain a little insight into the testing Netflix has done to get them where they are as well as take a look at where they can go from here.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Testing is key to any good email marketing program. As much as you may think you have your finger on the pulse of your list, you can't know it all. Testing allows you to optimize your message for your goals.

The folks at Netflix have taken this to heart and do quite a bit of testing. From the talk I sat in on at the Email Evolution conference I learned that they have found one consistent results: simpler is better. This is true in terms of both copy and creative, the simpler the email, the better it performed.

This is evident in all of their messaging, you'll never find long-winded copy or elaborate pictures. They limit themselves to a few short sentences, movie covers, and a couple of simple Netflix based ads. Even the layout of the page quite simple.

As you can see in the Return Survey emails, they get right to the point and provide clear options for the survey. It's a simple email with no distractions, it serves its purpose very effectively. Read the rest of this entry »