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Cultivating a solid, permission-based email list can take a lot time. So some businesses understandably get impatient waiting around for their lists to grow. ALTFor these businesses, online contests may be an attractive quick fix. As an example, let's say a newly launched shoe e-retailer, Shoe-Fanatics.com, wants to grow its email list really fast. So it partners with a well-established fashion news website Fashion-Freaks.com, to run a contest or giveaway. Fashion-Freaks.com has been around for years, and they've built up a subscriber list composed of users with the same demographics that Shoe-Fanatics.com is looking for. Fashion-Freaks.com will send an email promotion to its readers, recommending they all visit Shoe-Fanatics.com to enter a contest, or redeem a nice coupon. When readers of Fashion-Freaks enter the contest, they can opt in to Shoe-Fanatics's email marketing list.

In this second installment, our email and ecommerce experts turn their attention to two critical issues: frequency and standing out from the holiday crowd. So, do you send more email?

""We really love this new website you've built! Now we'd like to send out an email to all of our customers, friends and anyone, and it should look exactly like the website except with a spinning mailbox at the bottom, and have my photo, and my cat's photo…" Ever had that conversation with a client? You've built plenty of websites in your time and could knock off a blog template in your sleep, but HTML email? Seriously? HTML email has the reputation (often well deserved) of being a horrible design medium."

Chad White from the Retail Email Blog recently spotted this email from TigerDirect that dynamically updates image files when a product sells out. This practice prevents the frustration and disappointment when one clicks to a product that's no longer available, creates urgency for other products and may prompt the recipient to open TigerDirect emails right away in the future.

Over at The Email Wars, there is an interesting post about personalized links in ecommerce emails. Instead of linking to the relevant email topic, many times an ecommerce marketing email will simply send me to a homepage, or a broad category page.

Yesterday we posted a Q&A session with Sally Lowery of Bronto Software on trigger email campaigns. Today we have 2 real-world examples from Amazon. These emails followed up the purchase of a camcorder:

As email users, we expect and value emails that are timely, meaningful and relevant from people that we know and trust. Anything that doesn't meet this criteria is considered SPAM. Your goal is to create "Love Opportunities" where recipients WANT to open, click and buy from you.

'm often asked what I think the hottest trend in ecommerce is and I believe it's video content. So I'm excited to see more new technology emerge that can embed video right into retail email, and retailers experimenting with it. Anna Yeaman reports one retailer boasting a 20-27% click through rate without linking to video, and 51-65% with links to video. And Forrester Research reports video in email can increase click through by 2-3X.

In online shopping, it is common to sign up for an account. Often, an ecommerce Web site will send you an email welcoming you to the site. But it doesn't always happen. And while it can seem annoying to have an inbox cluttered by welcome emails, I think it's a good thing to send a "welcome" email. And not just because I had to register on 36 Web sites in order to get the 20 examples I provide here.

These four universal HTML email layouts are infinitely customizable, and are the basic layouts used by just about any email marketing campaign you can find. You can download these templates and tweak them to perfectly match your brand (be sure to check out how some MailChimp customers have used them below).

I've been a big fan of Crutchfield's marketing for a long time - I consider them to be one of the top retailers in that regard. Here's a perfect example of why: Crutchfield recently ran this email incorporating ratings and reviews (an effective and underused tactic for retail email), and includes content that speaks to various buying modes effectively.

Sender lines are important - perhaps even more important than subject lines - for better open rates in email marketing campaigns. The reputation of the sender (based on recognition of a brand/name and past experience with a sender's messages) determines whether the email recipient will even read and consider the subject line.

As email marketers, we never know what mindset email recipients will be in at any given time. So a good idea is to design your copy and creative to speak to all personality types/buying modalities: competitive, spontaneous, methodical and humanistic. If this makes you go "hmmm?" make sure you check out our explanation of the buying modes in our personas webinar and webinar recap.

Now it's time for them to pick out email tactics and strategies suited to the last stages of the holiday season (and beyond).

Response rates are almost always higher for new subscribers to an email list. According to the "Email Marketing Benchmark Guide" by MarketingSherpa, subscribers click through at a 25 percent higher rate in their first month than in their second, and 67 percent higher in the first month than after the first year.

Not too long ago, I did a post on "Welcome" emails. Since I had to sign up for all those accounts - and newsletters - it only makes sense that I take a look at newsletter emails sent by ecommerce Web sites.

Email authentication is becoming increasingly important for email marketers. This is a basic guide on how it works, what the different techniques are, and the benefits of authenticating your messages.

A few months ago I went through the process of configuring a custom wheelchair at Spinlife.com. I needed help understanding the options and called customer service. Lisa walked me through the process like a knowledgeable saleswoman and prepared a custom quotation for me which I received by email.

One of the many retail emails I subscribe to is Rampage, which recently notified its mailing list of a new brand called Golden State (separate e-store).

One of the basics of customer-centric, persuasive copywriting is using "you" and "you're" rather than "I," "our" and "we." People are self-centered and respond better when you make your site all about them. This goes for all touch points in your marketing - including your welcome emails.