By Karen Shunk, Account Executive 

The Guru Conference is the world's largest virtual conference focused on email marketing. I attended their 2023 event and was impressed by the wide range of useful information that was presented: tips and tricks about everything from formatting to deliverability, strategies for more effective email marketing, discussions about artificial intelligence (AI) advancements in the industry, and so much more.  

Several of the sessions I liked best were panels that presented tons of useful tips about formatting and had slide decks that made great handouts. Although some were pretty platform-specific, many offered helpful suggestions that are easy to implement no matter what platform you use.  

The "15 Email Mistakes You Don't Even Know You Make" session, presented by Nancy Harhut of HBT Marketing, offered easy fixes that can take your emails to the next level. A few of my favorites were: 

  • Don't spell out numbers — numerals are more eye-catching. 
  • Make special offers look like coupons — a dotted line around the text goes a long way in helping readers make the connection that you are presenting a discount or special offer. 
  • Use "you-focused" copy — focus the messaging on how your offer will benefit the recipient, not just how it's a great deal. 

In "Mastering Email Deliverability," Brian Minick of ZeroBounce covered sender scores, risky contacts, and how to protect your email list from invalid addresses that can negatively impact your email deliverability.  

Rima Deming of Marigold presented information about loyalty trends and using behavioral tagging and analytics to learn more about how users interact with emails and are motivated by certain offers in "Loyalty on the 10s." 

Other helpful insights included: 

  • Focus on the subject line when writing sales emails — try to make it compelling so it will stand out in a full inbox. Maybe even try humor or emojis. ("How to Write Compelling Sales Emails," Daniel Disney) 
  • "Personalize" your emails without actually personalizing them — use phrases like "how your," "how do you," "just for you" and others that make your message feel personal to the reader. ("Do This, Not That," Jay Schwedelson) 

One of the biggest topics of discussion throughout the Guru Conference was AI. It was interesting to see how people are divided on accepting AI tools — many like to experiment with them, but others are skeptical. Keynote speaker Ann Handley discussed some pros and cons of AI in her presentation, including: 

  • Query targeting — it takes time to learn how to develop queries so that AI will produce the results you want. 
  • Voice and tone — maintaining a consistent organizational voice and tone can be difficult when using AI-developed content. 
  • Editing vs. creating — it is often easier to edit existing content than to start from scratch, so AI can be helpful in creating the initial content that can then be adapted to suit your needs. 
  • Angles — AI sometimes introduces an unexpected or different angle to a queried topic, which can be helpful and interesting. 
  • Repurposing — AI can help with repurposing existing content to be used in other formats or platforms. 

All in all, this conference was a helpful resource. I learned a lot of useful tips, and hearing from other professionals got me thinking about how CAM might implement some of these strategies. 

Does your association need help with email marketing or other aspects of marketing strategy? Contact CAM today to learn more about how our team can be your association management "gurus".