.tweak-blog-list-alignment-left .BlogList-item-meta { display: none; } .tweak-blog-item-alignment-center .BlogItem-meta { display:none; } time.blog-date { display: none !important; } .entry-dateline { display: none; } time.dt-published.published.post-date { display: none; }
Greg Zakowicz
My Reading & Podcast List

Here is my list of recent reads and podcasts I am currently enjoying. Maybe they’ll give you something new to look into and enjoy.

Read more to find what I’ve been digging into lately, including:

  • Building a Story Brand

  • The Power of Geography

  • The Greatest Beer Run Ever. A Crazy Adventure In a Crazy War

  • The Escape Artist. The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World

  • Devil in the White City. Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

3 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve CX

Retailers are constantly looking to improve the customer shopping experience. For e-commerce brands, it may mean implementing live chat, improving site speed, using 3D product images, and offering free returns. However, the shopping journey isn’t isolated to technical website details and store policies; it also applies to marketing.

With email marketing, brands tend to look at it exclusively as a direct sales channel — especially when it comes to automated emails. And for good reason. A recent Omnisend report shows that in 2021, behavior-based automated emails generated 29.6 percent of all email marketing orders with only 2.2 percent of sends.

But focusing automated emails only on sales and not on how they can improve the customer experience is a mistake most brands make. In today’s environment, brands need to do both simultaneously. Here are three ways e-commerce brands can use marketing automation to improve the shopping experience and increase sales:

The 'Buy it Now' Consumer is Here: Are You Prepared?

Consumer expectations and shopping habits are constantly evolving. How brands adapt to the constant evolution, from logistics and staffing to marketing strategy and tactics, ultimately determines whether they stay relevant in consumers’ eyes and their business continues to grow.

We’re witnessing another evolution in purchasing behavior, ushering in a new breed of consumers — the "buy it now" consumer. What exactly is the "buy it now’" consumer, what propelled their emergence, and what do brands need to know about them in 2022?

How iOS 15 Will Kill Email Open Rates—And How Marketers Can Prepare

Picture this: Your company's email campaigns have an average open rate of around 15%. Then one day it suddenly skyrockets to 40%.

Maybe it's just a fluke, you think... until it happens again. And again.

Anyone with marketing chops will know it's not a cause for celebration. Something is just not right.

For companies that send emails, that scenario may play out as early as mid-September. But it won't require much detective work to solve: Apple's forthcoming iOS 15 privacy update will soon render open rates irrelevant, and marketers need to start adapting now.

Keep ThemHow to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, & Email to Dramatically Increase Sales Engaged

Marketing a product or service today is easier than ever before in history. Using platforms like Facebook ads or Google ads, a company can market their product directly to people who perfectly fit the ideal client demographic, at a very low cost. Digital Marketing tools, Pay per Click ads, and email marketing can help a company dramatically increase sales. At the same time, many companies that just start exploring with digital marketing tools often see disappointing results.

In this interview series called “How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, & Email to Dramatically Increase Sales”, we are talking to marketers, advertisers, brand consultants, & digital marketing gurus who can share practical ideas from their experience about how to effectively leverage the power of digital marketing, PPC, & email.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Zakowicz.

The Death of the Open Rate: How Email Marketers Can Prepare for iOS 15

Email marketers at e-commerce brands use traditional reporting data such as open, click, and conversion rates to measure email campaign performance. But what happens when you suddenly take away one of those long-established data points?

Buckle up because we’re about to find out.

Apple’s announcement of its upcoming iOS 15 update, which is expected this fall, includes a feature that prevents companies from seeing whether subscribers opened their emails while using the Apple Mail app. Not everyone uses iOS or Apple's email app. But losing even partial data makes the rest unreliable for making informed marketing decisions across your email program.

SMS Marketing Examples

SMS and MMS Marketing Examples

SMS is a must-have marketing channel for ecommerce brands. The reason: everyone texts.

Ecommerce brands sent 58% more SMS sends in 2023 than the year before. Previously, the year-over-year lift was 62% in 2022, and 75% in 2021. As you can see, SMS is growing, and growing fast!

2023 SMS Marketing Statistics (promotional messages):

  • Click rate: 7.6%

  • Conversion rate: 0.13%

2023 SMS Marketing Statistics (automated messages):

  • Click rate:9.4%

  • Conversion rate: 0.28%

Interested in more? Check out the full SMS marketing statistics report.

Just here for examples of SMS marketing? Here are some SMS and MMS examples to draw inspiration from.

The Customer Journey Has Changed — Has Your Marketing?

The Customer Journey Has Changed — Has Your Marketing?

Let’s face it; the traditional linear model of the customer journey is no longer accurate. Today’s consumers shop how they want, where they want, and when they want—all while facing distraction at a moment’s notice. They are choosing how they interact with brands and on which channels they do so. They have all of the power. Who said being a marketer is easy?

3 Easy Yet Effective Ways to Create Transactional Emails

Relevant, personalized and timely transactional emails are virtually impossible to over-hype as they can generate five times more revenue than non-transactional messages. Even though these messages are some of the most highly read emails sent by retailers, because they're so common improving them is often an afterthought. However, their value shouldn't be overlooked, as each additional open holds the potential to increase engagement and generate sales.

Examples of Post-Purchase Email Marketing

Examples of Post-Purchase Email Marketing

When it comes to post-purchase email marketing, it may just be the most underutilized yet powerful email marketing tactic there is. A strategic, well-thought-out series can help increase customer retention and help build brand loyalty and advocacy. The best part of all is that these messages are automated, generating revenue while you sleep.

Creating a series of messages designed to enhance the purchase experience is something every retailer should implement.

47 Ways to Prepare Your Email Marketing and Ecommerce Store For The 2020 Holiday Season

47 Ways to Prepare Your Email Marketing and Ecommerce Store For The 2020 Holiday Season

The holiday shopping season is fast approaching there is a lot of uncertainty about what will unfold. Questions surrounding the health of the economy and what a resurgence of COVID-19 might have on the supply chain make planning for this holiday season unique. Here are 47 ways you can prepare your marketing program and e-commerce store for the holiday shopping season.