LinkedIn Celebrates 100m Users with Great, Personalized Email Campaign

I have been spending a lot of time thinking and writing about email marketing. While social media (branding, communication and advertising) gets much of the attention - email is often overlooked and under-discussed... despite being the building block for great companies: - core to experience: Groupon, LivingSocial, ShoeDazzle, Gilt, Rue La La, etc

- conversions & engagement: Facebook, Redbox, etc

- merchandising: Amazon, Art.com, and other e-commerce providers

- communications: Zappos, Apple, etc.

Like other communication platforms, brands should treat email as a privilege. It is the rare communication that gets delivered, converts, and is trackable... and it is easy to unsubscribe from. As such, the frequency and the content need to be carefully thought out (and each of the above buckets are related - they might come from different parts of the organization - but they all arrive in the same inbox and represent the same brand!).

Here is a great email from LinkedIn (who sent a terrific engagement email to wrap up 2010):

- it is a statement of their success: 100 million users strong!

- it is targeted and rewarding: 'thanks for being one of the early users'

- it is personalized: I was member 314,285. I don't particularly care about the number - but it is a fun, nice touch that makes LinkedIn feel more personal to me.

- It is personal: 'signed' and sent from Reid (with his picture)

- While it is not actionable, but it is on brand and bolsters their relationship with me

Here is LinkedIn's 2010 Wrap Up email (see my thoughts here):

Update: TechCrunch just did a similar review. Looks like I missed out on the Innovator email - which was reserved for the first 100,000 users.

Doodle Jump Hits Amazon's Appstore

Earlier this week, Amazon launched the Amazon Appstore by giving away Angry Birds Rio for free (the #1 paid and top-grossing app on iOS). That promotion was in conjunction with an announcement that Amazon would giveaway one paid app for free each day. Today's free app should also be familiar: the 'insanely addictive' Doodle Jump (which, behind Angry Birds, may be the next biggest game on iOS).

Amazon is clearly moving into the application and Android space by distributing great, familiar titles in a way that fits with their brand / style: by winning on price.

Also worth noting: Angry Birds Rio is still available for free on the Appstore. When it first launched, it was marketed as expiring that day...

Amazon Appstore Launches with Free Angry Birds Rio

Today Amazon launched the Amazon Appstore for Android (more here and here). At this point, there are a slew of app stores (from your phone, computer, tablet, browser, television, alarm clock, etc. But this is Amazon... so it's worth paying attention because: 1. their scale and brand makes them a major player 2. they will do it in the Amazon way... technology, recommendations, price competition, etc

Did I mention price competition? Amazon launched behind Angry Birds Rio - giving the uber-popular game away... for free. It's the #1 selling and grossing application on the iPhone. On Amazon, it's free for today's launch. That's quite a promotion.

And it represents a larger pricing move: Amazon Appstore will give "a great premium app for free every day."

A Week with the iPad 2. My Review.

I got my hands on an iPad 2 while at South by Southwest (SXSW) thanks to Apple's genius marketing: Apple constructed a temporary Apple Store that held almost-unlimited iPad 2 inventory to take advantage of the 20,000 techies in Austin. Genius.

So I've been using my iPad 2 for a week now. Here's my quick review in order of importance:

1. It is lightning fast.

Other reviews mention that the speed is noticeable but not meaningful or impactful. I totally disagree: it is the single biggest improvement. It affects everything from animations to content accessibility to tactile feedback (important on a touch device!). The most noticeable (and surprising) improvement is in typing. They keyboard is remarkably responsive and fast.

2. Facetime is terrific and the camera opens new possibilities.

This was the main reason I upgraded (after all, I did not expect the speed improvement to be so significant). I use Facetime daily for two purposes: first, it's how my family sees and interacts with our baby Dillon; and second, Facetime has become my preferred way to do telephone pitches. At this point, the majority of entrepreneurs I meet with are running on a Mac - so they can Facetime out to my computer, iPhone and iPad. Place the iPad on a stand and its a high-quality, enjoyable experience (far better than a regular phone call).

I am also excited about the crop of new applications and tools that will arrive on the iPad thanks to the cameras and increased screen real estate. Will be fun to watch.

3. The body is great.

Certainly not reason enough to upgrade, but it's a great device: thin, solid, light and generally sexy. Hard to describe why this is so delightful, but it feels great to hold and play with.

4. I love the case.

And an even worse reason to upgrade... but the case is awesome. First of all, the original iPad case was horrible: it was poorly produced, a little bulky, and was impossible to clean (this is important because it collected dirt so easily). In comparison, the new case is good-looking, clever, colorful and light-weight.

10 Fun Groupon Statistics, from Geography to Sushi to NBA

Groupon has reached such scale, that you could spend hours digging into the data and come away with dozens of fascinating takeaways (around geography, consumers, businesses, deals, etc). Here are ten fun and perhaps surprising statistics from Groupon over the last month's data. The biggest, obvious takeaway is that Groupon is massive. But that conclusion comes from a few less obvious findings: Groupon does not rely on any one geography, vertical (ie restaurants, services, etc) or promotional offer. While Groupon is associated with top DMAs and with specific offers, their revenue is distributed across location, sector and promotion. The degree to which this is true surprised me.

10 fun findings from Groupon (over the last month):

1. across all deals and locations, the average Groupon drove 350 sales and $8,750 in revenue

2. 68 Groupons collected $100,000+ in sales

3. The average Groupon is a 56% discount

4. Chicago has the two highest grossing sales

5. After Chicago, geography is very diverse: DC, LA, Phoenix, NYC, Orlando, Dallas, Toronto, San Diego, San Francisco and St. Louis are all in the top 20.

6. Though Groupon is oft associated with food, there are no restaurant offers in the top 50 grossing Groupons.

7. Several professional sports teams have run deals. The Toronto Raptors have the most successful NBA promotion

8. The Nashville Predators have the most successful NHL promotion

9. The most successful Sushi groupon was out of Minneapolis. Seriously.

10. Houston is the next most successful sushi Groupon (though significantly behind behind Fuji Ya).

PayPal, LivingSocial, Causes, Starbucks Use Brand / Community to Support Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief.

Yesterday, TechCrunch covered the $1m that eBay / PayPal had raised for Japan earthquake and tsunami relief. It's been heartwarming to see such big brands and platforms leverage their communities - and their scale - to promote giving. From PayPal (who is in a position to promote spending) to LivingSocial (who is matching donations) to Causes (who has the perfect community & brand) to Starbucks (who promotes giving as soon as access the web via their network)

It's terrific. A few screenshots below. This is not meant to overlook promotions by others - feel free to mention them in comments below.

PayPal homepage:

LivingSocial:

Causes:

Starbucks:

Dogpatch Labs San Francisco Additions & Updates

For South by Southwest 2011, we constructed a two-day long Dogpatch Labs SXSW and, over that period, hosted 100s of entrepreneurs. It was a lot of fun and a big success (TheStreet, Inc, NY Observer, etc).

The weekend also reminded me that there are a handful of exciting new companies who have recently joined Dogpatch Labs SF (see all here) and a couple great launches / announcements from former residents:

New Dogpatch Labs SF Residents

Adility is an offers platform for advertisers, publishers and developers. Adility has three core products: OffersApp for advertisers and brands, OffersDB for publishers and developers, and OffersAgency for sales teams. (Business Insider coverage)

ChartBoost: get your iPhone apps into the ranks.

MyPad is the best way to view Facebook on the iPad. It's been downloaded over 3,000,000 times. (TechCrunch coverage)

Truvie: We're a passionate team working on a building out-of-the-box hyper local solutions that will shape the future of web and mobile fraud detection, targeted advertising and content geo-fencing.

Yobongo is a mobile communication startup currently in private beta testing. The keys to the service are location, realtime, and identity. (TechCrunch coverage)

News from Recent Dogpatch Labs SF Graduates

SoundTracking: share the soundtrack to your life. (TechCrunch coverage)

Wild Pockets is an end to end solution that supports creators throughout the life cycle of 3D game development (Update:acquired by Autodesk)

With Facebook Deals, Facebook Focuses on Friends

Last night, TechCrunch reported that Facebook announced the forthcoming launch of Facebook Deals. Facebook's clear push is around finding activities and local businesses that can be enjoyed among friends... which is a very different value proposition than 'big savings!': "Deals on Facebook. Now Better With Friends. Find fun things to do with your friends.". That positioning is obvious in all of Facebook's marketing thus far: landing page, announcement, and notifications (email, wall posts, viral loop, etc):

In a very competitive space with a couple dominant players, Facebook recognizes that their differentiator is also their launch strategy: their massive audience and each users' social graph.

- Facebook announced their Deals platform yesterday (Coming soon!) - Users were prompted to 'subscribe' to Deals (before Deals are provided) - Once you subscribe, two things happen:

1. Your Facebook wall is updated with the announcement - encouraging others to learn, subscribe and share ('tell friends')

2. You are prompted to directly invite friends to Facebook Deals (the Subscribe Now button becomes a Tell Friends button and you are encouraged to select friends to invite

Zappos Marketing: Surprises & Delights

It's no surprise that Zappos:1) pays attention to customer service 2) markets to and communicates with customers well Below is a great example of both... it's also an example of "surprising and delighting" customers - a core mission that I believe should be baked into product and marketing strategies. When designing experiences, products and messages, the goal should be to delight your users, who in turn, become engaged brand advocates.

After a recent purchase (in which I did not opt for expedited shipping), Zappos "surprised and delighted" upgraded shipping in a clever, cute note. Few brands deliver upgraded service (surprise) and fewer communicate with fun, on-brand messaging (delight):