by Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter

One thing the MarketingSherpa 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Report makes clear right away is that email is a mature marketing channel. Huge gains in performance are harder to achieve in well-established programs.

"Performance improvements are no longer measured in quantum leaps but in incremental steps," the guide explains.

For email marketers, this means gains are made by using proven tactics and rigorously testing and tweaking them. Following best practices is not enough.

In 2010, marketers continued to find and improve their tactics -- and we continued to report their results. Below are links to 10 articles from the year that touch on email design, reputation, testing and more.

Proven tactics set a foundation

Email marketing has existed for well over a decade, and marketers have built a wealth of knowledge on what typically works. These well-known tactics give email marketers a solid foundation from which to test to discover their audiences' preferences and to adjust to their markets.

Below are links to five articles from our Members Library and one SherpaBlog post from our 2010 email newsletter. They feature experts and email marketers giving advice and showing the tactics they've proven to work.

MarketingSherpa Blog: The Preview Pane and Image Blocking: Avoiding the Pitfalls of This Dangerous Combination

9 Best Practices for Protecting Your Email Reputation

Less is More: 4 Tactics to Simplify Newsletter Design and Get Better Results

Localize Your International Email Campaigns: 4 Proven Tactics

Email Design Tactics for Blocked Images: 3 Options

Testing to improve results

Email testing is about incremental gains and uncovering the best approach for your unique audience. Steady, small-percentage improvements in open rates, clickthrough rates and conversion rates add up over time -- and they create powerful email programs.

Here are links to five Members Library articles from 2010 explaining how to improve your tests, ideas for tests, and marketers' results:

Email Testing Pitfalls: 7 Common Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Test Strategy

Offer Test: Discount Tied to Minimum Order Size Boosts Sales 25%

Discover the Best Time to Send Email: 4 Test Ideas

Email Makeover: 7 Email Optimization Tactics to Boost Revenue

Improve Your Email Programs: 5 Test Ideas


Useful links related to this article

Subscribe to the complimentary MarketingSherpa Email Marketing newsletter

Email Trends 2010: Improve relevance, test emerging channels

MarketingSherpa 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Report

Email Marketing Optimization: Email messaging 101

Email Marketing: Why should I help you?