# Weekly Email Marketing News Digest

DDoS (denial-of-service) attacks have been making headlines in the past few weeks. A number of high profile brands were hit including Spamhaus, CBL, GitHub and Raspberry Pi among others. In other security news, Apple has added two-step authentication for iTunes, App Store and iBookstore consumers.

Moving on to the main event, what’s happening in the email world?

**[Improving Email Acquisition – Site Registration](http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2253643/improving-email-acquisition-site-registration "Improving Email Acquisition - Site Registration")**

A huge email list together with frequency of mailings has been attributed to [Obama’s campaign win](http://dmaemailblog.com/2013/03/20/how-the-obama-campaign-succeeded-with-low-open-rates/ "How the Obama campaign succeeded with low open rates"). However, site registration pages are often not optimized to be fully effective. David Daniels provides a list of tactics to increase the chances of email acquisition:

- Promote registration and newsletter subscriptions across the site.
- Keep registration forms short.
- Collect customer information incrementally.
- Use standard form-field names.
- Explain registration benefits.
- Ask a basic segmentation question.
- Make opt-in permission clear.
- Confirm age.
- Confirm country.

**[5 Important Spots to Place Your Opt-In Forms](http://blog.getresponse.com/5-important-spots-place-your-opt-in-forms.html "5 Important Spots to Place Your Opt-In Forms")**

Help customers opt-in with ease when it comes to receiving email communication on content / company updates. Here are 5 places to consider having an opt-in form:

- Landing Pages
- Free Download Pages
- Sidebars
- At the end of Blog Posts
- Headers & Footers

**[Event-Themed Emails & Real-Time Marketing: The Best & Worst](http://www.aweber.com/blog/email-marketing/using-cultural-events.htm "Event-Themed Emails & Real-Time Marketing: The Best & Worst")**

Event emails can be effective in promoting your brand and providing a welcome break from traditional newsletter emails. Here’s one from Universal Music that capitalizes on the Olympics.

Terrain, however, wasn’t quite as effective. Their email newsletter had a compelling subject line, “A Sale of Olympic Proportions”, however the content within had no reference to the Olympics at all.

**[Mother’s Day – Email trends and tips](http://www.experian.com/blogs/marketing-forward/2013/03/21/mothers-day-email-trends-and-tips/ "Mother’s Day – Email trends and tips")**

Mother’s Day is coming up in May, and Experian has some interesting charts and recommendations for email marketers on this special occasion.

**[Email Inspiration: Six More Great Responsive Email Designs](http://blog.lyris.com/us/email-inspiration-six-more-great-responsive-email-designs/ "Email Inspiration: Six More Great Responsive Email Designs")**

Purchases made on the mobile in 2012 amounted to $6.7 billion in 2012. Here are 6 brands that have optimized their emails for the mobile:

-  TOMS
- Waitrose
- Size?
- Top Table
- Late Rooms
- John Lewis

Now that you’re building up your email lists through strategically placed opt-in forms and event-themed emails that have been optimized for conversion, what’s next on the agenda?

How about ensuring that those emails that you do send get into the inbox? Each email that doesn’t make it into the inbox represents a lost opportunity for engagement and ultimately **conversion**.

_Email authentication standard, DMARC, blocked 325 million unauthenticated messages in Nov & Dec 2012. Don’t be that statistic. Watch our **[recorded webinar on DMARC](http://www.messagesystems.com/resources/webinars/benefits-adopting-dmarc-email-authentication?src=Blog&pc=BlogDL-DMARCWebinar "Don't Deprioritize DMARC webinar")** to ensure that your email gets to the intended recipient!_