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EmailLabs Reveals Its Top Ten ''Must Dos'' for Boosting Email Marketing Results in 2006

Topping the List Are Getting Relevant With Personalization and Segmentation, Resolving Deliverability Issues and Redesigning Emails for the Preview Pane

MENLO PARK, Calif. (Jan. 3, 2006) -EmailLabs (www.emaillabs.com), the leader in high-performance email marketing technology and a subsidiary of J.L. Halsey (OTCBB:LYRI.OB), announced today its list of "must dos" for marketers to boost their email marketing programs in 2006. Email marketers who want to improve their email marketing results in 2006 must increase relevance through greater use of personalization and segmentation, resolve deliverability issues and redesign emails for the inbox and preview pane.

"Email marketing has clearly arrived as a key marketing and CRM strategy for most companies," said Loren McDonald, vice president of marketing at EmailLabs. "But in 2006 those companies that don't align the proper resources and technology to take their program to the next level will find their competitors leaving them behind in the 'inbox' of their customers and subscribers."

The following is EmailLabs' list of  "10 Must Dos for 2006" for those marketers that want to begin taking their email marketing program to the next level:

1. Get relevant -- dive into personalization and segmentation.

Making emails as relevant as possible to each recipient is the most critical "must do" for marketers in 2006. The emails that resonate most, through use of personalized subject lines, offers, articles, products showcased, and follow-up emails based on recipient activity, will be the clear winners. It is crucial that companies begin the process, even if it is simply personalizing the content of the subject line or sending modified emails to a couple of different segments of their list. Once the process is started, companies can then work toward the promised land of dynamic content and lifecycle-based messaging.

2. Resolve or minimize deliverability and rendering issues.

Marketers must send pre-campaign test messages to uncover delivery problems before sending their actual message to recipients and monitor results after each message to spot ISP blocking, filtering and being on anti-spam blacklists. They should test their email messages in different email clients (Outlook, Lotus Notes, AOL, and Web clients like Hotmail/MSN, Gmail and Yahoo!) and platforms (PC and Macintosh) and correct problems. Establish authenticity as an email sender by publishing SPF code in their DNS record.

3. Redesign email messages for the inbox and users who view them in the preview pane and block images.

Marketers must redesign their emails to render properly and be easily read and acted on in a world of preview panes and blocked images. In 2006 Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail will both add preview panes to their Web-based clients, adding to the significant usage of preview panes by Outlook and Lotus Notes users. Marketers should redesign email message templates to deliver maximum information in the top 2 to 4 inches, increase their creative use of HTML fonts and colors, while relying less on the use of images that may be blocked by ISPs or the recipient's email client.

The following are highlights of the number 4-10 "Must Dos." To get the full detail, please read the article "10 Email Marketing 'Must Dos' in 2006: Key Strategies for Success" in EmailLabs' December Intevation Report newsletter at: http://www.emaillabs.com/email_marketing_articles/email_marketing_strategies_2006.html.

4. Optimize the beginning of the email relationship.

Marketers must engage new subscribers immediately with an organized program as the most significant decline in email performance comes after two months of recipients opting in to a list.

5. Get on the permission train.

While not required by the CAN-SPAM Act, permission-based email is becoming the acknowledged standard in the industry and companies that send unsolicited email can expect deliverability problems and greatly risk damaging their brand and losing customers.

6. Focus on metrics that matter.

Instead of worrying about open and click-through rates, companies need to focus more on the end goals and focus on tracking conversion rates, revenue per email, whether specific desired actions were taken, etc.

7. Take better care of long-term subscribers.

EmailLabs estimates that 30-50 percent of a company's email list may be inactive. Marketers need to take multiple steps to wake up these dormant subscribers.

8. Maximize search with email.

Companies need to integrate their email programs with their search efforts by using an email offer as a secondary objective on landing pages and then use email to move subscribers along the sales lifecycle.

9. Test, test, test and improve.

Email marketers must test variables continuously, including format, design, copy style and calls to action, subject line approach and offers, personalization, content types or product categories and more.

10. Create an email marketing plan and align resources.

Marketers need to develop a plan that clearly demonstrates to management the value and ROI of a strategic and well-run email marketing program.

To read the full article "10 Email Marketing 'Must Dos' in 2006: Key Strategies for Success" visit http://www.emaillabs.com/email_marketing_articles/email_marketing_strategies_2006.html(Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.) For more email marketing tips, articles and tools, visit the industry's most exhaustive resource center at http://www.emaillabs.com/resources.html and subscribe to EmailLabs awarding winning newsletter, the Intevation Report at http://www.emaillabs.com/resources_enewsletter_subscribe.html.

About EmailLabs
EmailLabs is a leading provider of high-performance email marketing solutions to agencies, publishers and marketing departments of middle-market and Global 2000 companies. The EmailLabs email marketing platform is provided as an ASP (Web-based) service, and is easily integrated with a company's Web site, sales force automation and CRM technologies through EmailLabs' application programming interface (API). For the fourth consecutive year, EmailLabs has been recognized by ASPnews.com as one of the Top 50 ASPs worldwide and as a Top 25 Service Provider for the Software-as-a Service (SaaS) and Business Service Provider category. The company provides email marketing solutions to more than 550 companies, including Nokia, Agilent, PalmSource and Jupitermedia. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., EmailLabs was founded in 1999 and is a subsidiary of Lyris, Inc. (OTCBB:JLHY). For more information, visit www.EmailLabs.com.