That InboxArmy Podcast

Email is hard. It's even harder when you have a necessary email platform migration sprung on you, like the case of Yotpo's email and SMS customers. Join Scott Cohen, Garin Hobbs, and LB Blair as they discuss the key factors to consider when choosing a new ESP, the mistakes to avoid in the process, and more.InboxArmy is also offering special reduced pricing for Yotpo customers who need to migrate. You can learn about our ESP migration services here: https://www.inboxarmy.com/yotpo.Chapters00:00 Introduction and Context of Yatpo's Sunset03:09 Key Factors in ESP Migration05:54 Challenges of Migration and Warmup Strategies08:57 Timing and Urgency in Migration Decisions11:55 Navigating Platform Choices and Deliverability Risks15:07 Evaluating New Platforms and Avoiding Common Mistakes18:00 Involving Practitioners in Platform Selection23:01 Crafting Effective Plans for Tech Integration24:05 Identifying Key Needs in Data Management27:05 The Role of AI in Modern Tech Stacks30:02 Human Elements in Decision Making36:11 Navigating Migration Challenges39:00 Practical Advice for Successful Migration

In this episode, Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome Chris Behrens, CEO of BearMail, to discuss how brands and marketers can get beyond "garbage in - garbage out" data to power their email marketing programs. The conversation dives into focusing on fundamental attributes in data collection while exploring the importance of understanding both data quality and consumer motivations. And of course, a natural discussion around AI and how important it is to have the right data to power it.03:07 - Chris Behrens' Journey into Email Marketing06:13 - Understanding Data: Goals and Consumer Motivations09:05 - Key Data Points for Effective Email Marketing11:56 - The Importance of Timing and Context in Marketing15:13 - Creating Emotional Connections through Personalization17:56 - The Power of Zero Party Data21:03 - Overcoming Data Collection Hesitations24:01 - The Challenge of Aligning Preferences with Behavior26:59 - Framing Questions for Better Insights28:45 - The Anxiety of Sending Emails29:45 - Data Overload: Finding Actionable Insights30:43 - The Evolution of Content Creation32:39 - Mindset vs. Technology in Marketing35:14 - Human Touch in AI-Driven Marketing40:08 - Data Quality: The Foundation of AI45:12 - Navigating Data Utilization in Marketing48:28 - Brands Excelling in Email Marketing

In this episode, Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome George Pettigrew, InboxArmy's Creative Director, to discuss the challenges and demands of great email design. The conversation covers the importance of a strong understanding of design fundamentals, the importance of the user experience in creating effective email communications, and how design systems can address these needs. Come for the learnings on how to be creative within a design system and leave with an understanding of why you shouldn't use image-only emails, how to avoid the common mistakes of email design, and more.03:21 - Understanding Email Design Systems06:16 - Creativity Within Design Systems09:41 - The Importance of Accessibility in Email Design17:01 - The Case Against Image-Only Emails20:35 - Designing for Dark Mode24:20 - Common Mistakes in Email Design28:52 - Brands Excelling in Email Design30:46 - Balancing Creativity and Best Practices35:33 - B2B vs B2C Email Design Strategies

In this on-location episode from MediaPost's Email Insider Summit, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs are joined by Ryan Phelan, CEO at RPE Origin, and Chris Marriott, CEO at Email Connect, to discuss the challenges of navigating the decision process around choosing and fully utilizing an email service provider. The conversation dives into great detail around the common mistakes and pitfalls marketers make when making these kinds of decisions as well as what's necessary to make these complicated decisions.Come for the banter around the limitations of AI, stay for the 2025 predictions made by email marketing experts with more than 100 combined years of experience.00:00 - Introduction to Email Platform Utilization06:47 - Understanding Email Service Provider Utilization Rates16:54 - Navigating ESP Changes and Decision Points25:03 - Common Mistakes in ESP Migration35:56 - The Shift in Power Dynamics with New Platforms41:40 - Underinvestment in Email Marketing49:41 - The Role of AI in Marketing58:19 - Predictions for 2025: The Future of Marketing Channels

In this episode of That InboxArmy Podcast, Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome back LB Blair, Chief Strategy Officer of Email Industries, to catch up on the latest updates and trends in email deliverability. The conversation focuses on numerous topics, including email authentication requirements, content filtering, the importance of email hygiene, and even branch out into the evolving landscape of email security, the implications of cybersecurity threats, and the risks associated with cold emailing. You'll learn about the need for businesses to build a sustainable brand identity and engage in ethical email practices to ensure deliverability and security.02:47 - Changes in Email Authentication and Filtering05:59 - Content Filtering and Image Usage09:11 - Spam Traps and Email Hygiene11:57 - The Shift in Email Best Practices14:53 - Cybersecurity and Email Links18:12 - Understanding Spam Traps20:57 - The Importance of Email Compliance27:12 - Understanding Email Security and Cyber Threats38:15 - The Risks of Cold Emailing52:01 - The Future of Email Marketing and Security

In this episode of That InboxArmy Podcast, Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome marketing psychology expert Sarah Levinger to explore the intersection of psychology and marketing. The fascinating conversation covered the importance of understanding human behavior, the emotional drivers behind purchasing decisions, and how generational influences shape behavior and marketing strategies. Come for the strategies and leave with some valuable book recommendations for marketers looking to deeper their understanding of consumer psychology.01:20 - Sarah's Journey to Marketing04:54 - Why Psychology is Important in Marketing09:16 - The Critical Drivers of Consumer Behavior15:36 - How History and World Events Drive Consumer Behavior19:05 - Conscious vs. Subconscious Decision Making25:12 - How Emotion Breaks Through Commodity29:12 - What to Avoid When Using Emotions in Marketing35:25 - Customer Loyalty and Brand Obsession41:47 - Who is Doing Emotion in Marketing Right?47:25 - Book Recommendations for Marketing Psychology

Hank Hoffmeier, Senior Manager of Marketing Operations at Kickbox, joins the podcast to discuss the integral role of email in the broader marketing ecosystem. The conversation touches on the interplay between email, social media, and SMS, the impact of AI on marketing strategies, and the future of email marketing innovations.01:36 - Hank's TLDR personal history07:22 - How email marketing and social media play well together18:16 - Where SMS fits into the marketing channel hierarchy22:42 - What has more conversions? Push or SMS?28:51 - The impact of AI on email marketing46:11 - How email marketers make themselves indispensable

If you've been looking at different ways to test your email campaigns, you've come to the right podcast. In this episode, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome best-selling author Kath Pay, founder of Holistic Email Marketing, to talk all things email testing. We dive into how to effectively use the scientific method as the basis for email testing, why achieving statistical significance is important, and the common mistake marketers make when testing.We go deeper on the challenges of testing during the holiday season, how to test for engagement and conversion performance, and how testing emotional and motivational drivers can lead to more effective email campaigns.03:51 - The Scientific Method and A/B testing06:45 - The importance of statistical significance15:05 - Testing motivations18:21 - High impact areas to test besides revenue25:02 - Testing that's actually meaningful35:14 - The challenges of testing during the holiday season46:50 - Leveraging frequency, segmentation, and motivations in holiday testing

In this episode, Dr. Matthew Dunn of Social Signal AI and Campaign Genius join InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs to discuss the evolution of AI in email marketing, the challenges and opportunities it presents, and how data powers AI and personalization.02:05 - The evolution of AI in email marketing06:04 - The role of data in powering AI11:29 - The importance of context and emotional drivers19:16 - The risks of AI in terms of privacy and false information26:11 - The risks and benefits of AI in personalization and email marketing29:42 - Defining personalization: Relevance vs. Creepiness36:05 - The importance of considering user intentions in AI39:51 - Privacy concerns in the age of AI and personalization

In this episode, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome Sarah Gallardo, lead Email Developer at Oracle, to discuss the intricacies, challenges, and importance of email accessibility. We dive into the details of how accessibility is not just a legal requirement, but a crucial component of creating a great customer experience in email.Email accessibility can be a business advantage by expanding the addressable audience, building trust, and leading to increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. Dive in, watch or listen, and get some great tips on how to focus on flexibility in design rendering and meeting other accessibility standards.05:32 - What is email accessibility and why is it important?08:55 - What is the ADA and what are its requirements?13:22 - The risks and consequences of non-compliance21:31 - Why brands should stay away from image-only emails25:07 - The differences between screen readers and voice assistants29:39 - Tips for ensuring accessibility in email design and email code40:55 - The ROI of accessibility and expanding the addressable audience

Video is becoming increasingly dominant in all marketing channels, email included. The crew welcome Lisa Jones, CEO of EyeMail, to the podcast to discuss how EyeMail is overcoming the challenges of delivering video in email. They discuss use cases for video in email, including employee engagement, event invitations, and other key points in the sales and marketing journeys.

In this episode, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen welcomes Carlos Gil, US Brand Evangelist for GetResponse, to discuss how email marketing and social media marketing work together. Carlos discusses the need for brands to humanize and future-proof their marketing by building better relationships with customers. They discuss the need for businesses to listen to their audience, engage with them, and focus on building advocacy.00:00 - Introduction and the Role of Social Media in Email Marketing03:18 - Carlos Gil's Journey to GetResponse10:25 - Email as the Original Social Media and the Importance of Integration15:18 - Building Relationships and Advocacy Across Channels21:39 - Focusing on Individual Customers for Long-Term Success25:03 - Analyzing Data to Identify Loyal Advocates26:59 - Executing a Unified Brand Voice: Strategies and Challenges36:46 - Strengths and Limitations of Social Media, Email, and SMS Marketing43:02 - Listening, Engagement, and Building Advocacy48:54 - Aligning the Social Media and Email Teams: Collaboration Strategies

In this episode, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome Brian Riback of Labrador to discuss the challenges of building and executing personalization in the right ways. In the conversation, Brian discusses the importance of data health, proper setup of data for rules- and non-rules-based personalization, and the role technology plays in enabling personalization. Join us as Brian passionately dives into the common sense needed to drive proper personalization.05:17 - Effective Personalization in 202407:45 - What Companies Need in Place to Power Personalization17:57 - The Line Between Effective Personalization and Creepy26:19 - Reconciling Privacy and Data Collection for Personalization33:53 - How Much Tech is Too Much Tech?42:16 - Is AMP for Email Worth It?43:39 - Personalization Success Stories

In this episode, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome Megan Boshuyzen, Senior Email Developer at Sinch, to discuss the intricacies of email development in interactive email, AMP for Email, personalization, and more. The conversation covers the value of interactivity in email as well as the challenges of implementation. We also cover dark mode and all the complexity that it brings to email developers. Join us for this fantastic, lively conversation about evolving landscape of email development and its vital importance to email marketing.07:05 - What's Possible with Interactive Email?10:45 - Where's the Value with Interactive Email?14:48 - Success Stories from Interactive Email19:35 - Diving into AMP for Email32:10 - What does Effective Personalization Look Like in 2024?36:38 - The Intricacies of Dark Mode45:42 - A Desire for Email Development Standards

In this episode, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs discuss AMP for Email and WhatsApp marketing with Nicholas Einstein of Netcore Cloud. The trio covers the capabilities and complexities of AMP for Email -- including its ability to enable interactive experiences inside the email. Nick also dives into the intricacies of WhatsApp's marketing potential, how it overlaps with SMS, MMS, and RCS, and how marketers should think about their cross-channel investments. A great listen for all.01:14 - Nick's history02:43 - AMP for Email 10104:44 - Headwinds for AMP for Email11:10 - Is the AMP juice worth the squeeze?15:28 - Examples of AMP performance19:42 - How AMP compares to MovableInk, LiveClicker, Zembula, etc.22:33 - Processes for the AMP MIMEtype25:09 - Security implications for AMP28:28 - WhatsApp from the marketer's perspective32:33 - How WhatsApp compares to SMS/MMS35:33 - How RCS fits into the picture38:55 - How marketers should think about channel investments

In this episode, InboxArmy's Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs welcome Matt Holman, founder of Subscription Prescription and Commerce Catalyst. The conversation covers the challenges and strategies of running a subscription business and the importance of delivering value, understanding customer value, and reducing churn. We discuss the importance of email marketing and its ability to deliver value, customization, and storytelling and its crucial role in the subscription marketing channel mix.

We keep it in-house this episode. Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs discuss AI in email marketing and how there are differences between "Operative" AI and "Performative" AI. We also discuss the importance of human expertise as well as the limitations of AI in fully understanding and responding to human emotions and motivations.Key takeaways:AI can be applied in email marketing to improve efficiency and effectiveness.Operative AI focuses on the building, composition, launching, and management of campaigns, while performative AI drives performance and impacts campaign KPIs.Examples of operative AI include automation, list management, and responses to customer inquiries.Examples of performative AI include predictive analytics, AB testing, and understanding the customer lifecycle.When implementing AI, marketers should focus on problem areas in their campaigns and customer journeys and look for solutions to address those areas.AI can provide cost savings, time savings, and faster time to value in email marketing.Drawbacks of AI include the need for human oversight, the potential degradation of marketers' expertise, and the limitations of AI in understanding human emotions and motivations.AI is not expected to replace human marketers but can enhance their capabilities and improve campaign performance.Marketers should approach AI technology with a practical mindset and focus on its application to solve specific problems in their campaigns.

In this episode, Scott Cohen and Garin Hobbs discuss email deliverability with LB Blair, Head of Deliverability and Managing Partner at Email Industries. Their conversation covers the email deliverability process, why ISPs care about protecting their users from scams and attacks, authentication methods like DMARC and SPF, and how sender reputation is very similar to a consumer credit score.