Posts filed under 'Email'
Looks like IMAP is making it’s way into Gmail, which is exciting and long overdue. Great news for those who use desktop apps to manage their Gmail. Now changes you make in your desktop app are reflected in your Gmail account.
Although, still no love for it’s Google Apps for Your Domain (GAFYD) accounts. Which, actually, is not surprising. Google Calendar and Gmail have great mobile interfaces, but the business app users, who arguably need it more (and pay for it), get nothing beyond the standard Gmail BlackBerry app. Google seems to have it’s priorities backwards. They update their free consumer accounts before their paid business accounts.
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October 23rd, 2007
As if I have not already been to mini.com enough, configuring and reconfiguring Mini Cooper’s; Mini gives me yet another reason to check out their fabulous website. They sent out an email blast with “Secret Codes” that you can type into the search box, on the Mini website, that allow you to play with the site’s hidden features. Pretty cool. Give them a try.
Once you type in the code (case sensitive), look to the bottom left of the main window for instructions on how to use the hidden feature.
The Secret Codes (shhh!):
- Reverse
- Take It For a Spin
- Under The Hood
- MINImize
Great Flash work and another piece of Mini’s masterful marketing.
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September 19th, 2007
FedEx’s new Launchapackage.com “service” is fantastic! Not only is it fun to use, but also a great example of effective online branding. It is very simple to send a virtual package. You start by filling out your FedEx delivery slip, of course.
Add the contents to your package; write a message to your recipient, upload pictures and documents. Then launch your package (the fun part). Pull back on your rubber band loaded package and let that sucker fly. Don’t pull hard enough and you are warned by messages such as these:
(Posting continued after images.)
Now to be more critical of a service that could be truly outstanding and useful. The service is fun and a great marketing tool for FedEx, but it really does not do anything my email cannot. The maximum size for document attachments is 3MB (1MB per document). The total picture size limit is 2.5MB (500kb per picture). Most email services can send and receive attachments up to 10MB.
So, how about increasing the capacity of the service to make it more like Senduit, which allows users to upload and transfer files up to 100MB in size. The virtual FedEx service would then truly be useful, because it picks up where email file transfers leave off.
A more useful FedEx online delivery service would make sense. Make FedEx the first company/service that comes to mind when shipping or transferring any type of information. After all, as online transfer speeds and capacities increase, many will no longer be using traditional FedEx shipping services to send information (via CDs or DVDs). FedEx might as well capture the online file transfer market while they can.
5/20/07 - Interesting tie-in:
Traditional FedEx delivery still faster than file-transfer over a high-speed Internet connection, when transferring more than 1 terabyte of data. In other words, if you have a lot (a whole lot!) of data to transfer, just send it via an overnight delivery service. It will get there faster than the online file transfer (even if ideal transfer speeds are sustained).
Keep in mind that 1 terabyte of info is more than any typical company would need to send. We are talking about more than 212 DVDs of data to equal the 1 terabyte. So this info is more trivial, than useful. Nevertheless, still interesting…if you’re into this kind of stuff.
Check out the Royal Pingdom post.
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May 16th, 2007
So, as you probably have heard (or know), Colorado just got pummeled with the perfect (or not so perfect) storm. Up to 20″ have fallen in Boulder County over the past few days.
This is great for all of those who get a snow-day from school or work, and horrible for those stuck in airports or stranded from their families. As for me, I am sad to be missing this after recently moving from Boulder to Vermont with hopes of a VT white Christmas being a “sure thing”.
This evening, I received an email from one of my favorite Boulder restaurants, The Kitchen, after never removing myself from their email list.
Here is how it read:
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…
Everyone here at The Kitchen and [Upstairs] hopes that you have remained safe in this new ‘winter wonderland’.
The Kitchen’s downstairs dining room will unfortunately will be closed this evening, December 21st, due to blizzard conditions…
Many of our staff however, live quite close to the restaurant and it was their decision to open the [Upstairs] tonight! Chef Hugo Matheson will be cooking and the view of snow-capped Boulder from the [Upstairs] windows is breathtaking.
Come join us tonight if you can travel safely. The Kitchen and [Upstairs] will both be open for their regular hours starting tomorrow, December 22nd, 2006.
Now, many restaurants and businesses have email newsletters, specials, etc. that are sent out monthly, but I was thoroughly impressed that a restaurant (or business in general) was reacting quickly and taking advantage of the real-time power of email and the list of clients they have been building. Not only did they make a smart business decision by taking advantage of the current weather situation, they also further developed their brand, by showing patrons that it was the staff’s decision to open the [upstairs] portion of their restaurant. This shows that the employees are dedicated, happy working there and ready to interact with and welcome customers. Plus, reading the email made me feel welcome and part of something - as any invite should.
As reading email becomes more widely available in real-time (mobile devices, phones, etc.), this authentic marketing technique, becomes even more powerful. Imagine, just stepping out of the office, or on your drive home and getting a targeted, relevant email like this on your BlackBerry. It just might change your evening plans.
How I wish I was there tonight with a glass of red wine, by the fire, looking out on snowy Pearl Street.
p.s. - our 50 degree, sunny, blue-skied, Vermont day, was not half-bad either 
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December 21st, 2006