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Getting a chance to talk to Chad S. White about email marketing is a thrill. At the same time, it’s a tad intimidating: he’s written more than 3,000 blogs and is the author of the industry Bible, Email Marketing Rules. So, what can you ask him that he hasn’t talked about already?
A former journalist for Condé Nast and Dow Jones & Co., Chad S. White is now the Head of Research at Oracle CX Marketing Consulting. He’s been featured in The New York Times, Adweek, and The Wall Street Journal, and is recognized as the no. 1 email marketing expert on Twitter.
When it comes to email marketing, Chad is the cat’s pajamas – but in spite of the many things he’s gone on the record about, he managed to make this interview fresh and captivating. With great passion and knowledge, Chad talked about:
- his rule for becoming an email marketing expert,
- the one mindset shift that would make email marketers more successful,
- how to double your open rates overnight,
- one simple thing you can do today to improve your email marketing performance,
- and so much more!
We’re honored and stoked to have him on the blog – enjoy the interview.
Chad, how did you get into email marketing?
In my previous life as a journalist covering the online retail industry, I used to sign up for promotional emails from all the big online retailers as a way to get leads on new stories, since they’d announce new offerings to subscribers.
I followed retailers’ email programs for years and then my older brother started a personal blog back when blogs were the shiny new thing. Being a competitive little brother, I decided to start a blog of my own, The Retail Email Blog, and write about what I was seeing in my inbox on a daily basis.
Shortly after starting that, I left journalism to join the Email Experience Council to do email marketing research full time. Fifteen years, 3 books, and 3,000+ blog posts later, I can honestly say it was the best decision I ever made.
Email marketing is a great industry full of great people. It has a bright future.
How did you learn so much about email? What or who do you credit as your best sources?
First, surround yourself with smart people. I’ve been fortunate to work at some great companies with super-smart email experts. Here at Oracle CX Marketing Consulting, I learn something new almost every day from my teammates. I also surround myself virtually with lots of bright people on Twitter and LinkedIn, and constantly learn from them as well.
Second, sign up to get emails from lots of companies. In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000-Hour Rule, where that many hours of deliberate practice make you an expert in any field.
I have my own rule—the 10,000-Emails Rules, where if you closely examine that many emails then you’ll be an email marketing expert.
During the 6-plus years that I ran The Retail Email Blog, I read hundreds of thousands of emails—and I’ve looked at hundreds of thousands more since. The more emails you look at, the more you’ll understand what works and what doesn’t, and how things are changing.
