Today I posed the question to my Twitter peers, “Is #emailmarketing really a world with no absolutes? How many “it depends” answers does it take to make an #email guru?” A slew of activity started flying at me regarding the idea; some jovial, some serious and some were inspiring. Most of the replies and conversation ended up here (slightly revised) – http://www.retailemailblog.com/2010/10/bird-watching-best-practices-vs-it.html Big thanks to Chad White (@RetailEmailBlog) for posting this and opening up the topic to more viewers. I think it’s very prevalent right now within the email marketing space .
Are Best Practices Really Who They Say They Are?
Too many marketers believe wholeheartedly that email practices in general “depend” on the company using the channel. While I agree with this in some form or fashion. It’s not entirely true. There are aspects of the email channel that are only applicable to that specific company and mostly irrelevant to other businesses, but the fundamentals (best practices) are the same. This is where the issue seemed to come about. The quantification of ‘best practice’ seemed to vary incredibly throughout the conversation. It bothered me that there was no common ground to defining a best practice and where the label best practice applies. Hell, even Wikipedia didn’t like the answer it had … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_practice . Then there’s definitions like this - http://www.walden3d.com/best_practices/bp_FCP_definition.html .
A recent MediaPost article by @DjWaldow addressed best practices as, ‘Practices that are best for you.‘
I don’t agree – at all.
I tend to view best practices as proven fundamental approaches or techniques within a certain arena. Not just what works for one company. One of the tweets to follow the conversation today said this, ‘“Universal best practices” are like sports fundamentals … all the pro’s worked hard at them. Nike batting gloves are not fundamental.’ I don’t believe what’s specifically good for one company can be called a best practice, or insinuated that it’s applicable for all. Players will wear all types of batting gloves – not essential to the game. What is essential to the game is the way they swing the bat. Most professional baseball players mimic the same swing mechanics regardless of stance, position in batters box or pre-batting ritual. Thus, creating a batting ‘fundamental’ or in my opinion ‘best practice’.
How do you view ‘best practices’? Love to hear your comments.
Viva la Email.
