KEYNOTE
Bringing the Landing Page to the Inbox
Wednesday, May 18 - 8:50AM – 9:40AM

The recent growth in usage of webkit based email clients has opened the doors for getting creative with email code. What this means in the real world is things like image galleries, tabs and accordions and now not only possible but supported in most email clients.

In this session we will look at what is now possible in email templates, the support for those features and how to measure the success of these campaigns.

Diamond Sponsor Presentation
Email + Desktop + Mobile: How to Orchestrate Across Channels & Devices to Acquire New Customers Today
Wednesday, May 18 - 9:40AM – 10:00AM

Consumer behaviors are vastly different now compared to just a few years ago — and your customer acquisition strategies need to adapt to the demands of today’s marketing environment. Come learn from Bridge Marketing’s Ari Saposh about how to target people — not just cookies or unknown audiences — across email, desktop and mobile. The future of multi-channel acquisition campaigns is here now.

TRACK 1: Innovate
PANEL
Innovation in Acquisition: Big Data and Real-Time Targeting at the Top of the Funnel
Wednesday, May 18 - 10:30 AM – 11:15AM

Better quality opt-ins and a larger database don’t have to be a struggle, but year after year, email marketers complain that customer acquisition is one of their largest challenges. In this session, industry veteran Jordan Cohen will lead a panel of brand marketing executives in a discussion about the strategies, tactics, and technologies that they are using to acquire their best customers, with precision, at a massive scale. Going far beyond “the basics” of list building, this panel will dive into how sophisticated data modeling, real-time interaction with consumers, and people-based marketing platforms can be deployed to aggressively grow the top of the funnel while preserving high engagement rates and ROI.

Key takeaways will include:

• How to generate mass quantities of sign ups across multiple channels while ensuring a great user experience
• New approaches and technologies that make acquisition programs easier and more effective than ever
• Exciting opportunities for expanding the reach of acquisition programs across email, mobile, display and social

TRACK 2: Educate
Stand Out from the Crowd – Email Innovations That Get Attention
Wednesday, May 18 - 10:30 AM – 11:15AM

With only a few seconds to make an impression, connecting with your audience is vital to the success of your email campaigns. In this session, you will learn about the latest tools for incorporating live content and dynamic messaging that speaks directly to your audience. Learn more about email targeting based on weather. Email tactics such as countdown timers for seasonal messaging and personalized weather content by region will keep you ahead of trending weather events. You will also learn about the practice of send time optimization. Not only can you reach your audience on their preferred device, but you can also send them a targeted message at the time of day they are most likely to purchase.

TRACK 1: Innovate
Innovations: Making Subject Lines Pop in the Inbox.
Wednesday, May 18 - 11:20 AM – 12:05PM

When marketers write a subject line, there’s two possible outcomes: 1) they win the lotto and write the one in a million which wins; or 2) they’re wrong, and lose sales as a result. In this presentation, Parry Malm will take you through the lessons he’s learned from his time ESP-side, Client-side, Agency-side… and now as a subject line innovator. Parry will start by debunking accepted best practice - and then will show you how, through scientific rigor and statistical methodology, you can flip the script and make your subject lines pop in the inbox. You will learn 3 Crucial Secrets about Subject Lines that the “experts” won’t tell you.

TRACK 2: Educate
It’s Time to Prove the Worth of your Email Campaigns!
Wednesday, May 18 - 11:20 AM – 12:05PM

How many times have you known what can improve your email-marketing results, but you weren’t able to get the buy-in from senior management? Similarly, have you ever been frustrated with an aspect of your program — such as your email service provider or your deliverability — but you weren’t able to successfully get senior management to invest in a more appropriate platform? The problem likely is neither in your ideas nor your understanding of email marketing; it may be in how you are presenting the value to your management or your clients.

In this session, Mitch Lapides shares how you can use several practical models to estimate the impact of any of a variety of improvements to your email program. For example, what’s the impact of a 5% improvement in deliverability to your bottom line? As well, what would be the incremental revenue generated from a combined improvement in open rate and click-through rate over the next 12 months? The more you understand the value, the easier it will be to justify the investment necessary to achieve those results.

Then, with these financials, you will see how the conversation quickly changes in the boardroom…in your favor.

Finally, see how Mitch and his team put this to work with LasikPlus, a leading provider of laser vision correction. Their efforts resulted in multiple improvements (such as a 78% increase in clicks and a 33% increase in conversions) that generated significant revenue growth.

Lunch & Learn
Dynamic Content: Email Personalization that Pushes the Envelope (On the Open)
Wednesday, May 18 - 12:05 PM – 1:05PM

You are sending more mail but fewer people are clicking. Why? Emails can no longer be the same for everyone, static and manually produced. Email marketers need to provide relevancy and leverage dynamic and real-time content to engage users and improve conversion. You have 3 seconds to make an impression - how do you do that?

With dynamic, personalized content you target individual subscribers with different content all within the same mailing. Using dynamic components will save you tons of time, get better results and is actually fun to use.

In this lunch & learn you will learn how to:

• Match the right content with the right user based on a number of factors (hint: time, device and location, to name a few)
• Avoid the time sink of creating segments and automatically adapt email for each recipient with the same template
• Leverage data you already have and data you never knew you had to gain better insights
• Get positive results on your email campaigns

Diamond Sponsor Presentation
How Staples and Zulily Amplify The Customer Experience: The Use of Cognitive Content to Inspire Consumers to Act
Wednesday, May 18 - 1:05 PM – 1:30 PM

What if there were a way to inspire action from your consumers from every digital impression, every time? Advances in cognitive technologies are giving marketers the ability to leverage cognitively generated content, infused with behavioral preference data, to consistently create engaging messages. Hear how Persado’s Cognitive Content Platform is empowering both the digital marketing teams of both Staples and Zulily to generate the most effective communications, at scale, for any audience.

TRACK 1: Innovate
PANEL
Innovations in Email Design (Part 1: Inspiration)
Wednesday, May 18 - 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM

Email design is no longer trapped in a world of static content and table-based code. Creative marketers have partnered with design and development teams to “push the envelope” on email design techniques—incorporating interactivity, animation, responsivity, and advanced targeting to surprise and delight their subscribers with what is possible in email.

Join this fast-paced session as 4 industry thought leaders share examples of the emails that have inspired them, and see why email design has moved past 1999. And don’t miss Part II where our experts will share some “behind the scenes” tips on how to make the magic happen!

TRACK 2: Educate
PANEL
Hanging Out Your Shingle: The Good, Bad, Ugly (and Upside!) of Starting an Email Consultancy
Wednesday, May 18 - 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM

Craving escape from a 9-to-5 cubicle farm? Hungry to exercise your creative genius and shed the administrative BS of corporate-world? Dreaming of a 4-hour workweek running your biz poolside? Then an Email Consultancy might be for you!

This panel will explore the upside, downside and sometimes sideways world of starting and running an email-centric consultancy. Our panelists have been there and done it, and they’ll deliver real-world, no-holds-barred advice on what it takes. We’ll cover it all from what you need to get up and running to early trade-offs for gaining traction, to growth strategies and balancing client “feast-or-famine” cycles. Along the way we’ll bust some myths, share tales from the front and dispense a little tough love if needed. Don’t miss it!

TRACK 1: Innovate
PANEL
Innovations in Email Design (Part 2: How-to and Resources)
Wednesday, May 18 - 3:30 PM – 4:15 PM

If you were inspired by Innovations In Email Design Part I, this is your chance to hear how to incorporate interactivity, animation, responsivity, and advanced targeting techniques in your own campaigns.

Don’t forget a cup of coffee and your notebook—we’ll be moving fast and getting a little technical, sharing tips and resources to take to your teams back home.

TRACK 2: Educate
Agile Email Testing
Wednesday, May 18 - 3:30 PM – 4:15 PM

Test plans suck and email optimization fails because best practice approaches to testing are frequently wrong. Building on years of experience running experiments Tim will be sharing smarter test methods that fix the problems, leading to better outcomes. A thought provoking look at common errors.

• The fallacy of ‘test one thing at a time’
• The two critical ignored elements of testing
• Balancing test risk, speed and accuracy
• Using a two pass test process
• What should be in a test plan (and what shouldn’t)

KEYNOTE
Looking Through the Wrong End of the Telescope: How and Why the Lack of Customer-Centric Reports in your Marketing Platform may be Holding you Back.

Wednesday, May 18 - 4:45PM – 5:30 PM

Marketing Automation technology was meant to allow marketers to deploy seamless multi (omni) channel campaigns, kill batch & blast forever and take us to the Promised Land. Yet in a recent study only 4% of adopters rated multi-channel marketing as a benefit and batch and blast refuses to die. In his keynote Dela explains why and argues that despite recent advances in marketing technology the KPI’s in use are over a century old. Not only do they make decision making difficult, they have no place in the armoury of a modern marketer. Without customer-centric KPI’s - delivering a truly multi-channel experience to each and every customer will never be achieved.

KEYNOTE
The Key To Being Innovative: Getting Stuff Done
Thursday, May 19 - 8:50AM – 9:40AM

Innovation is key for companies in any industry, but being innovative is also vital to success in your role as a leader of an email marketing department. How do you stay on top of the latest email trends, techniques and technologies but also still get revenue-generating emails out the door?

In this fast-paced and provocative keynote, industry veteran and thought leader Loren McDonald will share more than a dozen concepts and habits deployed around the world by the most innovative AND successful email marketing teams. Loren will challenge you to think differently, take risks and get out of your office and comfort zone to take your email program and results to new heights. You’ll want to buckle your seat belt, open your mind and take lots of notes. A bonus, Loren will share an email marketing “Innovation and Success Self Assessment” to help you uncover opportunities to jump ahead of your competitors.

Diamond Sponsor Presentation
Managing the Shift to Customer-Led Marketing
Thursday, May 19 - 9:40AM - 10:00AM

There is a dramatic shift underway from brand-initiated marketing to consumer-driven marketing. This session will help marketers manage and plan strategically for this new age of B2C marketing automation by sharing insights into:
 

• What are the key differences between a brand-initiated & consumer-driven marketing approach? Why now?
• What are some powerful examples of consumer-driven campaigns?
• How do you manage the complexity of data, interactions, context, and behavior to create personalized communications?

TRACK 1: Innovate
PANEL
Selling the Innovation: Getting Executive Buy-In
Thursday, May 19 - 10:30 AM – 11:15AM

You’ve discovered an innovative new way of doing something, or maybe you’ve found an innovative new product to improve efficiency or increase revenue or just boost overall marketing performance; how do you sell it to the boss? Join this panel of experts as they field questions from the moderator and from attendees.

Track 2: Educate
Six Things You Need to know from 80,000 Email Marketers
Thursday, May 19 - 10:30 AM – 11:15AM

EDS tracks 80,000 email domains and over 9 billion e-mails a year for 100 leading ESPs and Brands.
Shared e-mail marketing insights will cover:

• Deliverability- Trends
• Mobile- who is doing it the best
• Targeting- How higher degrees of targeting are correlated with higher read rates
• Subject lines- Price­/promotional nature Vs simply feature products/services
• Email subscriber overlap- opportunities for audience development & How to take advantage of them.
• Presidential campaign email- What we can learn from politicians who live off e-mail marketing

TRACK 1: Innovate
Wear is the Future?! Email Marketers meet Wearable Tech
Thursday, May 19 - 11:20 AM – 12:05PM

Smart watches, connected accessories and other devices, coupled with machine learning and iot data platforms represent a whole new world of opportunities for email marketers. Way beyond just fitness trackers, the Apple Watch, Tory Burch ring, and many other form factors that are flooding the market have messaging as a key functionality; whether it’s simply notifications or the ability to display and respond. How can email marketers think about this new and extremely personal way that consumers will receive email…even more personal than the mobile phone (wearables are often thought of as the next generation of mobile).

What type of data will now be available through extremely powerful and detailed “big data” iot platforms? Will formatting and crafting the message need to be completely rethought? And most importantly how will this powerful new industry redefine the relationship marketers will now have with their customers?

TRACK 2: Educate
Preparing for Successful Integration from RFP to Implementation
Thursday, May 19 - 11:20 AM – 12:05PM

Learn what steps the pros take in preparation of adding an innovative new solution or implementing a new way of doing something. Be prepared to take notes and make lists of the steps to help make for a painless integration or implementation.

Lunch & Learn
From Zero to Hero: Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Email Marketing Maturity
Thursday, May 19 - 12:05 PM – 1:35 PM

Adobe recently conducted a study that examines email marketing best practices across the key areas of data, content, delivery and strategy. The study builds on benchmark data collected from an email
self-assessment that includes three progressive stages of email excellence: classic, dynamic and contextual.

Join Patrick Tripp, Senior Product Marketing Manager, and Jen Capstraw, Business Consultant for lunch and learn with Adobe to discover:

• Key insights gained from the study across email data, content, delivery and strategy
• ROI metrics for classic, dynamic, and contextual email marketers
• Practical tips and tricks and customer stories around each maturity level

TRACK 1: Innovate
Innovations in Identity Management & People-based Marketing – An exploration of how brands and marketers are tying together first and third party data to create holistic views of customers across channels.
Thursday, May 19 - 1:35 PM – 2:20 PM

Email’s role in the digital marketing ecosystem took a major step forward in 2015 as the channel found itself at the core of the emerging space of ‘people-based marketing.’ As a primary digital fingerprint, email is increasingly the key to tying together consumer identity across channels, allowing marketers to make better marketing decisions and drive relevancy. This panel will explore the challenges and rewards of identity management and offer useful advice for brands and marketers who want to take next steps in people-based marketing.

We will answer the questions:

• What is people-based marketing?
• What is identity management?
• Why is it important?
• What does it look like in action?
• What are the challenges? Rewards?
• What people, process, technology do I need to make it work for my business?

Presentation Participants:
The panel will be led by The Relevancy Group’s VP of Research, Nicholas Einstein, and consist of a mix of critical vendors in the space, as well as marketers. Key strategists & leaders from vendors such as Experian, Zeta, and LiveIntent will be joined on stage by key customers like Hearst, Allrecipes, and Progressive.

TRACK 2: Educate
Understanding Your IT Department: What Non-Technical Brand Managers Need To Know about Email Security, DMARC, ISP’s and Delivery
Thursday, May 19 - 1:35 PM – 2:20 PM

What do you do when your IT department starts talking about Email Security and what do you need to know to do your job. Email Delivery expert Laura Atkins will introduce the technology behind Email geared towards a non-technical audience. You will learn the terms you need to communicate with the IT Department and why things like Email Security are important for you to understand.

No technical knowledge required. Laura will clearly explain the concepts, terms, and the technology you need to know for 2016.

TRACK 1: Innovate
PANEL
Challenging Conventional Wisdom - Don’t Believe the Hype!
Thursday, May 19 - 2:25 PM – 3:10 PM

Four grizzled industry veterans - representing both brands and vendors - take on conventional wisdom and explore what does and does not work for their email programs.

TRACK 2: Educate
Creating Meaningful Attribution
Thursday, May 19 - 2:25 PM – 3:10 PM

There is no ‘one size fits all’ for attribution. But we will give you some tips and tricks to take back with you that will make attribution go from a struggle to a success. We will discuss common obstacles and how they have been overcome. And talk about the different tools that have been used to create a meaningful story and how these results have been shared across organizations to create positive change.

TRACK 1: Innovate
Driving Digital Innovation in a 104-Year Old Organization
Thursday, May 19 - 3:40 PM – 4:25 PM

While most people think of innovation as moving into the future - sometimes it’s building a foundation for the present. Girl Scouts has embarked on an initiative to migrate all 112 councils to the same technologies for their Web platform, CRM, and email marketing platform over the course of three years. Kristin Bond, Senior Email Marketing Manager for Girl Scouts of the USA will discuss building and scaling up an email marketing program that currently has 50+ business units (and counting!) and more than 300 users - who don’t technically have to follow her recommendations. But how does one initiate change when faced with 104 years of “but we’ve always done it this way”? How do we persuade them to follow email best practices, when we’re not quite leading by example with our own emails (yet!)? And how do we persuade and educate our own team to start leading by example?

TRACK 2: Educate
A Glimpse into the Future of Email Marketing – Reaping the Benefits of Machine Learning
Thursday, May 19 - 3:40 PM – 4:25 PM

Have you ever struggled with lack of time and resources in order to optimize your email campaigns or programs? Are you keen to start personalizing your campaigns but haven’t got the bandwidth and resources to do it well? Enter machine learning. Machine learning solves the issues of lack resources for optimization and scalability for personalization.

A recent Gartner report has identified that “Improvements in machine learning, data integration and predictive analytics apps for all areas of business content are combining to inspire a new class of solutions”.

Join us in this session of expert panelists and hear how they are currently pushing the envelope in utilizing machine learning to deliver increased conversions for email marketing. A session not to be missed!