Barack and Beyoncé

Over on the Huffington Post a few weeks ago Patrick Ruffini declared 2012 the Groupon Election.  Patrick’s basic premise is that due to campaigns’ increasingly sophisticated use of analytics, email asks and online promotions have come to resemble those run by companies such as Groupon.   The long winded campaign updates of 2008 have been replaced by ...

Five Great Donation Page Designs

If you ask most non-profits, charities and political campaigns what the number one priority for their online program is, the majority of them will tell you it is to raise money online.  Yet at the same time, most of these same organizations will admit to spending very little time thinking through the layout and design of their online donation pages. ...

How to Track Email Marketing Campaigns in Google Analytics

Having used Google Analytics since 2005, I can make a few definitive statements about the program:

• It is an awesome, powerful tool.  There is a reason 50% of all sites use it.
• It has a baffling user interface.   Some of its best features are hidden and hard to use.
...

The Obama Campaign Fights Email Fatigue with Infographics

If you subscribe to the Obama email list, you are used to seeing emails that look a lot like this.

Short.  To the point.  Mostly text with few if any images.  A single link to the action they want you to perform.  And that’s it. 

Over the years the Obama campaign has experimented with a ...

Share Walls

As the news industry continues its move online, publishers have struggled to figure out how best to monetize their online traffic.

A year ago, the New York Times launched an innovative pay wall system that allows visitors to read 10 articles a month for free.  If you want more,...