Talking with…Jeanniey Mullen, EVP and CMO, Zinio

Most of us – myself definitely included – have a love/hate relationship with email. On the one hand, it makes things so easy – doesn’t it? On the other hand, well…don’t get me started. So I was particularly fascinated by the title of one of Shop.org’s webinars, “Is Email Marketing Dead?” and decided to go straight to the source – bona fide email marketing expert Jeanniey Mullen – for our next Talking With.

Looking for Jeanniey to tell you that email is the end-all, be-all of marketing? You won’t find that here. What you will find are some incredible insights on why email is still relevant, the best way to measure success, how social media and mobile play into the mix, and the best marketing advice she’s ever received.

How would you explain your company in three sentences or less?

This is so difficult because I am involved with three companies:

• Zinio is the world’s largest newsstand, leading a reading revolution where all the content we love is readable on whatever device or screen we have access to.
• VIVmag is the world’s first all digital magazine made for women who love to work hard and enjoy their success by living their life to its fullest.
• The Email Experience Council is the largest global networking community for email markets.

Phew! That was a lot.

In the age of status updates and 140-character news, how has social media changed the marketing game?

Finally! Something makes you think and consolidate your communication. The world had gotten a bit too verbose – don’t ya think? (14 characters left)

You’re speaking on a Shop.org webinar today entitled, “Is Email Dead?” I presume your answer to the session title is no…but why?

My answer hasn’t changed in the 15 years I have been working with email. Email is the 3rd mode of communication: Verbal, Written, Electronic. Saying email is dead is like saying people will stop speaking some day because it’s faster to text.

Most marketers make the mistake of looking at email as an ROI building channel and fail to miss the simple fact that email is your digital social security number. There is not one thing you can do online without registering with your email at some point.

What is the most prominent mistake retailers make when marketing through email?

Oops. I think I just answered this above. My best advice is respect the channel for all of its benefits. Getting someone to give you their email address (whether they ever even open an email you send them) drives a 27% lift in sales from the customer. Your brand impact with email is huge.

What is the best way to measure email success?

There are a few key ways based on what you are using email for. My favorite is CPO: click per open. The open rate tells you how relevant your subject line was; the clicks you get from the people who open tell you how relevant your message is. This is key.

Tell me about one of your most successful email campaigns. What was the key to success?

I have so many. If I have to pick one, it would be the email campaign I worked on with CKOne in 1998. They put email addresses on models in outdoor billboards and people, lots of people, took the time to write emails to these models. Every inbound email was replied to with an “in character email back” – there was the party girl, the nice girl, the hot guy, etc. The personal emails consumers received in return had product recommendations that drove sales through the roof. Those types of emails are so much more exciting than a standard flyer. We need to integrate email into other channels. It’s really going to be the only way to go, now that the entire world is mobile.

Which retailers do you look to for email inspiration?

Gosh – I can’t answer this one without someone getting mad at me for leaving them out. Can I plead the Fifth? If not, the only comment I would make is that the team that runs the GAP’s efforts is amazing and really understands the channel.

What are your thoughts on marketing through text messages?

In our mobile world, there are so many better opportunities than marketing through text messages. I’m not a big fan – even if someone opts in. When you are mobile, any message you receive is interrupting whatever you are doing (because you are out and about). Why build a level of resentment with – potentially – your top customer?

I hear that you used to work for Shop.org’s Chairman of the Board, Rich Last. Tell me what it was like working with Rich.

WOW – I knew that one day, my opportunity to blackmail Rich would actually be presented to me! Here I am with a whole blank page just begging me to spill all of the juicy secrets about Rich. What do I want to say first…

Many people see Rich as an intelligent and strategic thinker. I don’t. I see him as a sage guru. Back in the 90’s, when no one knew what the heck a website should do, or what a strategy for growth should look like, Rich took chances no one else in retail would. Many of those gambles paid off in a big way. Today, we face the very same, new world of mobile opportunities where apps will rule the experience and nothing will run off a web for much longer. Who better to advise on taking chances and building for the future than someone who has already done it once?

Anyone who reads this should seek out Rich and ask him 3 questions about “the good old days” to see what inspired him to take the chances he did. You will find that much of what he says will be a guide for you to follow now. (See, and I didn’t even mention…oh…never mind)

Your company, Zinio, is revolutionizing the way consumers access published content. How close are we to taking individual digital access into the classroom? Will we be seeing a classroom full of third graders with iPads in the next few years?

I will answer this by saying my 7-year-old stole my iPad so she could take it into her class and share the interactive version of National Geographic for show and tell. I think that sums it up pretty well as far as impact potential. That said, we at Zinio get some insights on new devices coming out. I can safely say in 3 years our world will be driven by mobile web access and touchscreens. The future will be about ease of access and connected content. If anyone is still thinking @ is their website strategy- they should retire now. The future is 100% mobile apps.

Kindle or iPad? iPhone, Blackberry or Droid? What do you carry and why?

I have them all. It’s my job. I don’t use the Kindle – its black and white and klunky. I use my iPad to read Us Weekly (no joke – try it – it’s AMAZING), I use my iPhone for QA stuff only, my BlackBerry because it actually has a keyboard and I can text without looking at the keys and my Droid because the Android platform has a tremendous number of benefits.

That said, I know that in the next 6 months the technology that will be introduced is going to make these all look silly. So, no one buy any holiday gifts yet. Just wait a bit longer.

For people who might be interested in a career in marketing, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I have ever received in marketing is this:
Never evaluate a marketing program or potential program at work.
Go home
Go running
Go to dinner
Go to the beach
Go somewhere and then look at it through the eyes of the customer.

There are too many occasions where we get too close to the business and need to take a step back.