Click tracking in commercial bulk e-mail

Direct marketing isn’t rocket science, but it’s not the simplest thing in the world either. And it pays to learn from example, especially when that example is the Direct Marketing Association, the trade organization of the direct marketing industry.

For example: The subject line is clear and authoritative and speaks directly to things I want. It says Improve deliverability and drive response rates

Well, that’s basically my job description right there, so of course I opened it immediately.

Inside, I found some not-terribly-exciting business-like graphics. They weren’t that important, though. Even if I hadn’t loaded the images, I’d have gotten the gist of the offer immediately: A $29 webinar on improving your e-mail marketing.

More importantly, it’s free for members, and we all know about the power of free by now. I doubt the DMA expects many people to pay the $29, but they use the price to send a signal that this free webinar is valuable, and that you’re special.

And of course, there’s a big red button that says REGISTER NOW. Which, of course, I clicked.

And that’s where the problem appeared. The DMA, like countless other bulk e-mail senders, uses click tracking to determine who clicks a link in what message at what time. They do it by having every link in an e-mail go through a special redirect URL that tracks the relevant data and assembles reports. It’s convenient for the sender, and it’s largely transparent to the end-user.

It looks a little sketchy, but most people won’t really care about the fact that a link that will wind up at some sub-page of newdma.org is making a quick stop over at link.email-dma.org.

That works great, unless you’re sending that e-mail message to someone with a restrictive workplace network policy. For example, me. Instead of a signup process for that appealing online seminar, I got a warning about misusing corporate resources and trying to visit prohibited web pages.

Not every recipient will have a firewall set like mine, but do you really want to turn away anyone, especially when there are other ways to track clicks?

For example, instead of using a redirect to a dedicated domain, the DMA could have sewn their tracking system into their main web host, which certainly has its own tracking system internally. Each recipient would be assigned a unique ID which would be appended to every link, like so: http://www.newdma.org/webinar-special?uid=abcd1234

Of course, that would require very close collaboration between the web development team and the e-mail marketing team. In many organizations, web and e-mail don’t work as closely together as they should. They have slightly different goals: The web team wants overall traffic, the e-mail team is focused on click-through. Both want conversion, of course, but the way they measure all the ancillary details makes it hard for them to get on the same page technically.

So they wind up with two tracking systems that don’t work well together, and that leads not only to missed opportunities—people turned away by errors in the click forwarding system—but also to less effective reporting. The e-mail team will know they got 1,000 click-throughs, and the web team might know they got 100 sign-ups. But will the two teams know how many of the signups are driven by the e-mail and how many are a result of organic traffic, or the front page navigation, or SEO?

Bo Ssam

Inspired by numerous people and readings, including Justin Can Cook, and by our very own copy of David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook, Bookdwarf and I made David Chang’s Bo Ssam, basically an enormous roast pork shoulder with a half-dozen or so condiments.

You’d think that a 7-pound pork shoulder would be too much for four people. And yes, we got some leftovers. But not that many. It was crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, surprisingly simple: Sugar, salt, huge hunk of pork. Bake slowly all day, baste regularly, serve with side dishes. Unbuckle belt and slump quietly for remainder of evening.

Bo ssam

Business Writing Samples (Updated June 2012)

These business pieces are presented in contrast to the blog posts in the “portfolio” category on this site.

Direct Marketing Materials

  • Print: I led the project that produced a high-impact mailing for a highly-targeted audience. It consisted of a large envelope, data-driven cover letter, and two datasheets. The program resulted in a dramatic improvement in both contact and cure rates over a control group which got only a conventional set of letters and phone calls. I also managed an additional series of print messages for each of two different brands within the company.
  • Email: I was responsible for content and strategy for both the casual and more formal versions of a loan delinquency communications program. I wrote the copy and built the template and business logic in Silverpop for this program, which consisted of 9 different messages for each of the two brands.


Editing, Copywriting, and Search Engine Optimization

  • Shulman & Hill: I wrote a significant amount of the website copy for this tutoring company, where I also work as a college application essay editor for paying and pro bono clients.
  • Also as part of Shulman & Hill, I helped the charitable group Saving Teens In Crisis Coalition (STICC) develop a press release to promote their efforts.
  • SEO-driven website copy: United Domains needed short descriptions for new top-level domains (TLDs) under consideration by ICANN. Templated or boilerplate text would have drawn a penalty from search engines, so each one had to be written from scratch, while still using relevant keywords and linking to relevant external content. I was able to provide UD with quick turnaround on dozens of pages of copy, including descriptions for .BCN, .ARAB, and .SECURE.

Technical Publications:

Technical Manuals and Whitepapers

  • Evolution User’s Guide:
    I was the primary author for the manual for the Evolution email, calendar, and addressbook tool through version 2.4. You can learn more about the project at the GNOME project site for Evolution.
  • Novell ZENworks Linux Management 6.5 Administrator’s Guide:
    Formerly known as Red Carpet Enterprise, ZENworks Linux Management is a tool that allows administrators to control exactly what software gets installed on which computers at what time. I also wrote the man pages for the command-line interface. Note that I was only involved in the Linux portions of this product, not ZENworks for Desktops or ZENworks for Handhelds.
  • Manuals for Ximian Desktop 2, Ximian Red Carpet and Ximian Red Carpet Enterprise:
    These products have now been discontinued, but I wrote the instructions for them.

1st Draft: Opening the Walls

If you know how to use a wrecking bar
your walls will show you what they have to hide.
Slipshod pipes of course, and non-conforming wires,
and private shame as well.

Nailed to the splintered lath
I found a canvas bag of letters, old ones,
fountain-penned in faded ink,
The story of a lovelorn boy at school,
Of caning, misery, and no replies.

Mere secret heartbreak may not move me now
but then, my neighbor did confess at death Dad never left.
He’d died unmourned, and she went on with no regrets
and only spoke to save her girls the shock
of opening the walls.

Second Chances

Second Chances

It’s just as well you couldn’t hear the man
who found your body swearing
at his dog and holding her at bay.

Just as well you didn’t come around
When she slipped her lead
to lick the vomit from your face,

That you were spared that first of many novel shames
before October in the lockdown ward bereft
of razors, laces, solitude
getting sober, finding God

Mouthing platitudes
till you convinced yourself
there’s some greater meaning here
in failure and in second chances undeserved.

(Well, this one’s bleak as hell).

Poem Revision: The Long Run

The Long Run
It is good sometimes to drop a plumb-line
to the basement and find subsidence;
lie prone in a crawlspace and point a light
at desiccated mice in dusty traps;
hold your hand against the seams of the house
and feel the cold air seep.
to be reminded, I mean, of the long run:
That maintenance is vanity,
that you may rail against decay for just so long
before it tears this whole place down
and carts you off as fill.

Greg Mankiw: STFU & GTFO

A few days ago, former Buch economic advisor Greg Mankiw wrote an editorial arguing that if tax rates returned to their 1990s-era levels, he’d work far less, perhaps writing fewer disingenuous editorials.

If only.

A Taxing Manner and Marginal Revolution and Brad DeLong have all debunked him on the facts, but that doesn’t really address how offensive his lies are.

Like Mankiw, I have several sources of income: I’ve got my day job, and I do some freelance editing, and I do some events work on evenings and weekends at my wife’s book store. Yesterday I worked the Boston Book Festival. Eight hours on my feet with a smile on my face and a twinge in my back lifting books and running a register. For that I earned $80 pre-tax, most of which I spent buying a round of drinks afterwards.

I’m not in it for the money, in other words. I do it because I enjoy it and because I believe in the book store and in sales. And because this weekend I got to meet Dennis Lehane, Chip Kidd, and Kristin Hersh.

Mankiw gets paid good money to advance a theories he doesn’t even believe. If he were serious about what he’s saying, he’d shut the fuck up and get the fuck out, and we’d all be better off.

Revision: The Long Run

The Long Run
It is good sometimes to drop a plumb-line
to the basement and find subsidence;
lie prone in a crawlspace and point a light
at dessicated mice in dusty traps;
hold your hand against the seams of a house
and feel the cold air seep.

To be reminded, I mean, of the long run
and of decay, that maintenance is vanity,
that when your neighbor finds your body
at the bottom of the stairs
he may empty out your wallet
before calling the police.

First Draft: The Long Run

The Long Run
It is good sometimes to drop a plumb-line
to the basement and find subsidence;
lie prone in a crawlspace tearing your knees
and encounter dessicated mice;
hold your hand against the seams of a house
and feel the cold air seep.

To be reminded, I mean, of the long run,
and of decay, of how after an evening jog
and heart attack a man at dawn
will find your body
hold his dog at bay
and empty out your wallet
before calling the police.