You surely know what a to-do list is, and chances are that you have several of them scattered around in digital and paper-based fashion -- anyone else have sticky notes everywhere?

While kids are taught “not to judge a book by its cover,” most grown-ups have long since abandoned this wise advice, and as such determine if an email is worth their time based on its subject line. To help you boost engagement and avoid the dreaded trash or spam folders, here are 5 types of email subject lines that get opened vs. ignored: 

Let’s start with this: closed loop reporting isn’t new. In fact, it’s about as old as marketing itself. Of course, it hasn’t always been called closed loop reporting. What’s more, the idea of it was (and remains) notoriously difficult with traditional/interrupt marketing. In fact, with some campaigns, there’s no loop to close. There’s more of a soft, fuzzy hope that there’s ROI at the end of the rainbow.

According to research by ExactTarget, 77 percent of consumers want to receive permission-based marketing communications through email. To meet this demand and optimize the touchpoint, here are 10 mobile friendly email tips:

There’s plenty to love about email marketing. Compared to some conventional offline methods, it’s much cheaper, faster and easier. But there’s a challenge to overcome that many businesses struggle with: email deliverability.

It’s the inbound marketing world’s version of the Yankees vs. the Red Sox, the Packers vs. the Bears, or for those whose tastes run in a somewhat more fictional direction, Dwight Schrute vs. Jim Halpert (courtesy of The Office).

In the last couple of years, much has been written and said about the importance of delivering a positive customer experience. Of course this isn't new news, so this information has some businesses owners scratching their heads and wondering when the marketing world will share its next profound insight, such as that water is wet, or that fire is hot.

In ancient times – so on the business landscape, this is anything before 2010 or so – the metaphor used to engage customers was the good old “radar screen”. And for decades, it was the right image, because the goal was to be noticed and remembered, thus be on "their radar".

As noted in a study by USC professor and author Steve W. Martin, high-performance sales organizations aren’t necessarily those with the most resources or coveted rain makers. Rather, they’re leveraging something that all businesses can benefit from, regardless of whether they’re small start-ups or large enterprises: an optimized sales team structure.