techPresident - John McCain: Tolstoy in My Inbox - Comments

Keep testing

ChrisM — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:04:11 -0400

testing once isn't sufficient...you should be testing at least monthly...trying difft formats to smaller segments of your list...

if you are doing this regularly...there is no harm in reassuring conservative readers of techpresident...

thanks Patrick for pushing this discussion

It's the content

Patrick Ruffini — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:28:37 -0400

Having personally experimented with the "stripped down" approach long before it was all the rage, I can tell you it's not a panacea. Of course, "stripped down" can mean those dorky emails staff are supposedly sending to each other in Outlook but "accidentally" got sent out through the mass email software. 99% of the time, it's the *content* not the formatting that matters.

Obama and Clinton's emails are something different than "stripped down." They are just very well-written emails that sound like they could have been written by a real person.

And given that they have very big playgrounds to experiment within (~2 million users each) I trust what they're doing more than most.

Yes

EricFrenchman — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:28:44 -0400

My personal guess is yes, but let's not let data and facts get in the way of making a blog post on techPresident :-)

Eric Frenchman
Chief Internet Strategist
Connell Donatelli Inc

good post

Todd Zeigler — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:53:11 -0400

Does anyone know if they've experimented with the stripped down approach at all? They are clearly clinging to the traditional email newsletter approach and I'm wondering if they have data to back up the decision.

http://www.bivingsreport.com

The problem with that...

Patrick Ruffini — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:39:29 -0400

General election voters aren't the ones signing up to your email list. The "chorus" is.

Use your website to persuade and your email list to gin up your base.

Why Obama and Hillary's are short

Freedomfighter — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:18:23 -0400

Here is the problem with your analysis. McCain is playing toward the general election for votes from questioning voters. Obama and Hillary are still raising money from the "chorus". That is a fundamental difference.

John McCain: Tolstoy in My Inbox

Patrick Ruffini — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:24:21 -0400

Good online strategy is simple: reflect the very best of your candidate offline. John McCain offline is transparent, accessible, and willing to answer any question. John McCain online is stilted and awkwardly asking me for money. There’s a fundamental disconnect.