A quick review of the Valentine’s Day emails seems to send a clear message: the competition is weak. For many brands, the holiday push is confined to just soaking a featured image in a stew of roses, pink, and hearts.

I’m not sure if Wallace and Gromit are to blame here, but there’s something really endearing about animation. Emails on the other hand…well, I hope it isn’t mutinous to admit they are not always the most warm and cuddly of creations.

With Gmail being a top email client, any announcement of changes being made make big news - and also tend to make marketers nervous. You've likely heard the latest news about Gmail's new security features, but if not, you can learn more about the recent security updates on the Official Gmail Blog.

We hosted the first of our two Customer Connections events in New York this week. It was filled with new ideas, best practices and strategies that will help retailers create a seamless shopping experience for their customers across multiple channels.

Know how to improve your email campaigns by split-testing and learning more about your customers.

Once again we’ve gathered Listrak’s global retail email campaign metrics for the recently completed quarter and compared them to the metrics from the quarter prior.

Learn how you can create a compelling browse abandonment campaign

We're hours away from winter storm Jonas and, unfortunately, we're right in the middle of it with an expected two feet of snow coming our way. And while I wait for the snow to start piling up, I've noticed weather-related emails piling up in my inbox.

In a prior blog post, which you can read here, my colleague shared ideas on acquisition and how to generate an initial sale from those new subscribers.

Email development can be hard to get right! Even for veteran email developers and web jedi, the rendering limitations of inboxes have created a disturbance in the force. I just saw the new Star Wars, so bear with me. No spoilers, I promise.

It’s 2016 and we’re just coming down off the holiday rush, but I bet you’re already thinking about where and how to find new customers and subscribers.

While we anxiously await the final holiday revenue numbers to be calculated, there are a few things we already know regarding the way customers shopped. And these holiday shopping trends tell us a lot about the ways customers will continue to interact and buy from retailers in 2016.

Christmas is only six days away. If you haven't finished shopping yet, chances are you'll be picking up some gift cards in the next few days.

Listrak is a research partner for Internet Retailer, keeping track of what retailers in the Internet Top 500 and Second 500 are doing in the channel.

Our Listrak Retail Reality trip to NYC and our Sephora visit has been mentioned, but we wanted to take a moment to expand on the experience that we had in the store and the follow-up we have received since our visit, as well as a more recent trip to our local Sephora store in our mall.

I love to shop. Nearly every purchase I make is online - clothing, household items, even cat food. I shop so much that the Google Street View of my house shows several boxes on my front porch. But, until recently, I would only visit a store if I needed to return something I purchased online.

It wasn’t that long ago that the industry was saying, “Retail stores are dead!” and “The malls of America are empty and closing for good!” But with a new focus on interaction and engagement with consumers in retailers such as Rebecca Minkoff and Ralph Lauren, there could be a whole new world of retail.

I'm going to say the one thing you probably wouldn't expect from a post about welcome emails, but I promise I have my reasons: for the love of all things good in this world, please stop using the word "welcome" in your welcome campaigns*.

The New Balance store in Midtown Manhattan offers a truly foot-centric digital experience. Amongst the typical shoes and socks that you would find in a traditional shoe store, this New Balance location also offers a variety of interactive touchscreens and kiosks to help each unique customer find the right footwear, personalized for them.

On Listrak’s recent Manhattan Retail Reality Roadtrip, our group visited many stores located in Chelsea, Soho and along 5th Avenue. Even as an avid online shopper, I still love shopping in-store.

Some early reports have indicated that while online shopping is soaring today, traffic at malls is a little lighter than retailers may like.

It's that time of year again. Mailboxes are stuffed full of holiday catalogs and direct mail pieces. When I was a kid, I loved looking through the Christmas catalogs, circling all of the toys I wanted Santa to bring me. But now I rarely even open them before putting them in the trash.

Take advantage of in-store technology to create a one-of-a-kind integrated customer experience.

I had a revelation the other day while chatting with a wonderful client and was able to see this tried-and-true concept in a brand new way: a welcome series campaign is a lot like your first couple dates with someone new. You can begin to lay a strong foundation right there with a few smart moves or ruin it with a few often-made missteps. Hear me out.