Google Ads: Creating a Hash from an email address in SFMC

Google Ads allows you to upload email addresses into Google Ads and then target (or suppress) ads to people who own those email addresses.  

If you want to protect your PII, you may be required to upload the email addresses as an SHA-256 hash.  Google Ads will allow you to upload in plain text, but if you don't like having that kind of data lying around on your end, you'll want to hash them.  (If you don't, Google will immediately hash them as soon as they're uploaded.)

If you're using Salesforce Marketing Cloud (ExactTarget), the query to do the hashing is a little different than if you were to do the hashing outside of Marketing Cloud.  

Anywhere else:

lower(CONVERT(VARCHAR(100),
HASHBYTES('SHA2_256',
@EmailAddress),2)) as HashEmail

In SFMC:

lower(CONVERT(VARCHAR(100),

HASHBYTES('SHA2_256',

CONVERT(VARCHAR(100),@EmailAddress,0)),2)) as HashEmail

A second convert step is needed in the process or it starts with the wrong data for hashing and ends up with a hash that doesn't match anything. Took a lot of trial-and-error and research to get to this, so hopefully it's useful.

AMPscript: Quickly Calculate Integers in SFMC / ExactTarget

There's no integer function in SFMC, but you can get there quickly with mod and subtract.

As a reminder:

mod(a,b) = remainder of a divided by b

subtract(c,d) = c minus d

So....

mod(5.5,1) 
= remainder of 5.5 divided by 1
= remainder of 5.5
= 0.5

subtract(5.5,mod(5.5,1))
= 5.5 minus remainder of 5.5 divided by 1
= 5.5 minus remainder of 5.5
= 5.5 minus 0.5
= 5

So....

if your non-integer number is @numOriginal, your calculation 

set @numInteger = subtract(@numOriginal,mod(@numOriginal,1))

That's one fun secret... here's another: there are far more Email Marketing Jobs than there are people like us to do the work. Your next job may be waiting at emailmktgjobs.blogspot.com.

Recent Reads

Some stuff I've read recently... these are Amazon links, you can buy the books and I'll get a few pennies in the process. (I used to say you were funding my coffee, but really, you're helping to buy me more books. If it's coffee, check out Drink Trade - and get a free bag of coffee!) 

Space Team (Volumes 1-12) by Barry J. Hutchison

These are popcorn books for science fiction fans.  I found myself devouring them at the start and then reading less and less as I got closer to the end, not wanting it to end. Incarcerated for identity theft, due to a case of mistaken identity, Cal Carver ironically is abducted from his cell by aliens. Up until that point, no one knew there was anyone else in the galaxy besides humans. Still processing this, Cal learns he's the last remaining human due to another clerical error. And thus begins twelve volumes of adventures, escapades, romps and capers across a galaxy filled with all kinds of interesting people, some of whom are nice. There are good books, not-as-good books, a few odd shifts in the "universe," some embarrassing titles and a good time I was sorry to see end. A satisfying set of stories with many, many laugh-out-loud moments.

Not One of Us by Debbie Herbert 

Years ago, high school girl's boyfriend and parents vanish. She finishes school, moves to the big city and starts her life. But now, she's back in the small town because her autistic brother's caregiver (her grandma) may no longer be able to care for her. Oh, and she has synesthesia -  she can see sounds. You learn this at the beginning and I really can't help you if it's not immediately obvious that this will come into play. The disappearance of that family isn't the only secrets the town holds and soon people start dying. And anyone and everyone is suspect. The protagonist is a middle-aged Matilda surrounded by cops whose lack of proper procedure (compared to what we see on TV) is astounding and, well, it's all just a mess. Halfway through the book we find out what happened to the family and you'd think it would have been a bigger deal, but it wasn't. 

A Deadly Influence (Abby Mullen #1) by Mike Omer

I liked Detective Abby Mullen. I didn't like most of the other characters in this book. You know how some stories constantly throw plot twists at you? I kept waiting for the plot twists here and they never came. Maybe some characters didn't play exactly the part I was suspecting, but apparently the detective was a superb judge of character. An interesting, modern idea overall, but I didn't much care for it.  I think I would give book two a try, though, since none of the prominent characters in this book would be back for a second call, as near as I can tell.

Abrupt, Unanticipated Destinations

I saw an old couch on the side of the road yesterday and it sparked a new thought in my head.  

I realized the couch had reached its destination, but that its utility had been in the journey. I finally understood, kind of, that saying about the journey being more important than the destination, or however the saying goes.

I've always hated the saying. For me, destination equalled something I wanted, something I was looking forward to.  The journey was torture, the waiting, the anticipation (and the possibility that the destination may not be a good enough payoff for the journey). I tended to take "journey" quite literally like family road trips, or junior high, high school and college -- times where I always felt I was "waiting for my real life to begin."

But I realized I had that same mentality when it came to work. I tend to leave jobs on other people's terms. There was one place where I thought I would work there until I retired. Once a year we'd have our service awards and someone who had been there 25, 30, 35 years would get up and give a speech.  I was amazed and how much they gave given towards the success of the organization and I imagined myself one day up there on stage giving a speech myself. But after eight years, they'd had enough of me and kicked me to the curb. In retrospect, that was good as my wife said I was probably clinically depressed for my last two years there and some pretty phenomenal things have happened since then. 

But this isn't about that, this is about me sitting on the curb, used up, discarded, told I was no longer valuable to the organization I had given eight years of my life to. I had quit my job, moved our family 1,100 miles to a new state because I thought God had told me, and then thought my employment with this organization (a Christian non-profit) was confirmation that I was following God's direction.  It's entirely possible that this was true at the time. (Moving my family back 1,100 miles since then has been great, but again, not about that.)

Because sitting on the curb (or rather, sitting in Costco getting a new cell phone since I had turned in my company-issued phone earlier that day), I questioned what was the point of it all. I couldn't see the journey, the contributions, how I had been instrumental for a time, perhaps what the organization needed, possibly even some aspects of my work living on after my departure, all I could see was -- as they say on American Idol -- I had come to the end of my journey. 

And the destination seemed pretty crappy.

But when I looked at the couch yesterday, I realized that it wasn't a bad investment because it was being thrown out, that it had been desired, specially chosen, and then served dutifully for who knows how long, through scary movies, exciting video games, distressing breaking news.  It may have been enjoyed by kids or pets or served as a temporary home for someone. It might have seen multiple homes. For that couch, it was definitely all about the journey and not the destination.

If life is a journey, there's quite a bit that's not so fun about our current journey, I find myself not so much wishing for my final destination, but knowing whenever it comes, it's going to be heartbreaking (and cruel) for those I leave behind. Not because I'm going to exit in a cruel way but because I'm responsible for people who will never be able to take care of themselves, one of whom won't understand why I'm no longer around.

So this whole journey/destination thing applied to my life is still a struggle for me to make sense of, but I think I can now better understand how to handle sudden destinations not of my choosing.

Recent Reads

More books I've recently read.... (links are to Amazon, in case you want to get them for yourself. And if you do, you're helping my coffee fund, so thanks!)

Have a Nice Day by Billy Crystal and Quinton Peeples

The President's having a bad day. And that's before he learns it's to be his last day on earth. This was a nice story that was fun to listen to. I think it was a polished table-read so there are a lot of different voice actors including a few well-known celebrities, which is a nice treat you don't get too often.  

Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi

The fairytale life has fallen apart, but the now separated couple must embark together on a journey through an enchanted land before time runs out. A nice use of the buddy/quest framework.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist by Marc Fennell

An interesting investigative piece that really benefits from the Audible format because of the ability to include interviews and relevant ambient sound that helps you better understand where you are in the journey.

Second Skin by Christian White

A girl is killed in an accident, and then her mom dies. Years later, a young girl claims to be the reincarnation of the mom, knowing things she seemingly shouldn't know. It's an interesting take and I was really curious to learn how they were going to wrap this up.  Supernatural? Something else? Kept me guessing.  I enjoyed it.

The Second Life of Nick Mason (Nick Mason #1) and Exit Strategy (Nick Mason #2) by Steve Hamiton

Nick Mason is a bad guy, but not a really really bad guy. We're supposed to root for him.  He's exchanged one kind of prison for another after a drug lord gets his prison sentence dropped and he's free, but only so far as the drug lord's leash. The phone will ring, and when it does, whatever he's told to do, he must do. So Nick becomes a killer. But he's still the good guy of the story, so we're supposed to want him to succeed, but also get out of the life he's agreed to. But he still leaves a trail of destroyed lives in his wake and emerges time after time nearly unscathed. It's popcorn/airplane reading. I don't know if there are more books, but #2 seems to be a fine place for me to find my exit from the series.

Alexander X: Battle for Forever (Book 1) by Edward Saviq

Alexander ages slowly. In a lot of ways, he's only 15, but he's been alive for 1,500 years. It's not quite time travel, but it's close enough to the genre to pique my interest but also receive the extra scrutiny I reserve for time travel books. Alexander has met everyone famous. He's not a time traveler, but somehow he was always at the right place at the right time.  This bugged the crap out of me. So often we don't recognize big events until they're already upon us, or in some cases, in retrospect. But Alexander was somehow always in the right city and with the right people to even as a 10,11,12-year-old, be known by and friends with the famous adults throughout history. This was dumb, unnecessary and really distracting to me. Book 1 is essentially his origin story and first fight to introduce his nemesis.  By the time I got to the end of book 1, I wasn't interested in knowing where things went.  It was interesting enough, but not interesting enough to continue onto book 2.

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

I really enjoyed Ready Player One. I loved the references, I enjoyed the story.  It was a lot of fun. So when I heard that RP2 was available for pre-order, I said "Yes, please."  I guess the joke's on me because I paid full price for RP2 and then didn't even finish it.  It's almost as if Charlie received the Chocolate Factory but then morphed into one of the other bratty children and lived in his penthouse with even less concern about the state of things than Willy Wonka was. RP2 works too hard to find 80s references that weren't used in RP1 and then works just as hard to explain those references to you, worried that you won't otherwise get them. A number of other reviewers complained that it was "woke" - I don't like that term, but I would say that it tries to approach some of the current hot topics but does so clumsily, with a heavy hand, from a character (and possibly by an author) who wants to address the issues but is too far removed. I also think when RP1 came out, it was a kindler, gentler time and we were OK with OASIS (the Facebook-stand-in) being the world's preferred - and partially benevolent - online meeting place. Now with Facebook's toxicity and repeated missteps (not to mention that it's clear Zuckerberg has embraced the dark side with relish), it's also harder to imagine such a place, without it being a toxic cesspool.  So, yeah, I eventually dumped this and really recommend against it.

The Missing Sister by Elle Marr

The motivations of the characters in this book make no sense. The Paris authorities seem to lack basic common sense or procedural standards that any viewer would know after watching even a few episodes of any cop drama on TV.  Characters disappear.  Seemingly important characters are introduced really late. Convoluted and complicated backstories are slowly teased out through flashbacks. Everyone is suspicious and untrustworthy but also safe enough to be alone with if the story needs it. In short, this is a mess. I gave up.

Stuck by Chris Grabenstein

Kid doesn't age while everyone around him does. The characters were annoying and felt too childish and too grownup at the same time. Lots of sound effects. I see this is the second book from the same author that I've abandoned for the same sorts of reasons.  Don't recommend.

Recent Reads

Some of my recent reads... links are to Amazon - if you buy any of these books, you're contributing to my coffee fund. Thank you!

The Galaxy and the Ground Within (Wayfarers #4) by Becky Chambers

I can't say enough about how important I think Becky Chambers' work is to anyone who writes fiction. Even if you don't like science fiction, Chambers does an amazing job of world creation and character development. In the fourth book set in the Galactic Commons universe, five people find themselves trapped together temporarily at a galactic rest stop. This "bottle episode" finds each learning more about themselves and each other and challenging their previously held beliefs about the other species they're now forced to spend time with and get to know. A unique aspect of the Wayfarers series is that you do not need to read them in order as they only loosely connect to each other. Cannot recommend enough. Even better - go for the audio version narrated by Rachel Dulude. 

Firefly: Big Damn Hero by James Lovegrove

One of the complaints about this story is that "it feels too much like the TV show." I do not see how this is a complaint. I feel like the author nails the mannerisms and speech of the series while bringing us a brand new story that also gives us a lot more backstory about Mal. I really enjoyed it and it has completely changed my mind about fan and other types of supplemental fiction to extend shows and movies I've enjoyed. It was nice to be back in the 'verse.  I really enjoyed it.

Silverswift by Natalie Lloyd

I think this was promoted as a youth title. My son and I regularly take rides in the car, so we listened to it during our drives. Eliza's grandmother's sight is fading, but she wants to have one last adventure with her granddaughter - to find a hidden cove where mermaids gather once a year. Of course, her mom thinks this is silly nonsense. It was a nice story, an entertaining way to spend a few hours.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe

For centuries, the pattern has repeated - a Demon King arises and begins to take over the world. A Hero arises and saves them. Wash, rinse, repeat. Young Yui has studied this cycle. She's not Hero-material, but that's not going to let that stop here. It's LitRPG if that was just how your world worked, but it goes easy on the skills/stats. A well-crafted and creative experience. 

The Man on the Mountaintop by Susan Trott

This one will make you think but not make your brain hurt.  Joe has built himself a home on a remote mountaintop and people from around the world make a pilgrimage to his door to seek his wisdom. He's getting older and the idea of succession is weighing on his mind. Also, each year he invites a group to live with him during the spring months. The story is told through conversations where all kinds of issues are wrestled drawing from lots of philosophies. I never found it to be preachy and thought it was a terrific book. It does feel like two books, this may be the result of it being an adaptation from multiple books.

The Collapsing Empire (Interdependency #1) and The Consuming Fire (Interdependency #2) and The Last Emperox (Interdependency #3) by John Scalzi

Scalzi never disappoints. The Interdepency is a galactic federation controlled by a small group of wealthy families.  A new threat to the galaxy emerges that could upset this balance of power and also possibly threaten all of humanity. The warring houses will have to decide where their allegiances lie and whether they want to acknowledge the threat and if so, what it means for their businesses: life as usual, grab as much as you can now or maneuver in such a way to come out on top if humanity survives the threat. Some great characters and interesting universe.

The Inn by James Patterson and Candice Fox (Abandoned)

I couldn't figure out where this was going - it didn't hook me and I got bored.

Bacchanal by Veronica G. Henry (Abandoned)

The traveling carnival is Eliza Meek's way to escape her circumstances in depression-era south. A black orphan with the ability to communicate with animals is a good addition to the carnival which is not what it seems. I made it 60%, but I found most nights I wasn't reading much at all and finally decided I wasn't invested enough to keep reading.

TED: Inside the mind of a procrastinator

I can totally relate. The scary reminder/solution comes all too quickly in the last few seconds of this important talk.

TED: Work-lessons from the Pandemic

 Surprise! Employees are adults.

TED: 3 secrets of resilient people

"I think we all have moments in life where our life path splits and the journey we thought we were going down veers off to some terrible direction that we never anticipated, and we certainly didn't want."

"Terrible things happen to you, just like they do everybody else. That's your life now, time to sink or swim." 

 Some great thoughts about how to be prepared in advance before something bad happens you can maintain control as you navigate through it.

Book Review: Space Team

I used to write book reviews all the time on here, back when I had a lot of free time (I guess?).  Used to be for each book I read, I'd provide some commentary.   (Amazon links below, if you click on them and buy stuff, you're helping to buy me coffee. Thanks in advance!)

But, I'd like to be a little more regular about this, last one might have been April 2018? Yikes.

I don't know how long ago, I read a book called "The Sidekicks: A Funny Superhero Adventure" - the superheroes of the world have all been killed and now the world is being overrun by supervillains. The government only has one option - years earlier, the superheroes had young sidekicks. The program had been discontinued and the kids had grown up, but now the government needs to call them back to service. It is as described: laugh out loud funny. I kept waiting for the next one, but it hasn't come out yet. (In a similar vein, Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection and Andrea Vernon and the Superhero Industrial Complex - also highly recommended)

Anyhow, looking for another Sidekicks book (it is supposedly coming but not out yet), I found that the author had another series, 12 books starting with "Space Team: A Funny Sci-Fi Space Adventure" (I'm sensing a theme with the titles) and I figured I'd give it a try - I'm always looking for long series I can retreat into for months at a time. This delivers. I am regularly laughing at this book and these characters, and I feel like the author and I consumed a lot of the same pop culture growing up.  (The book has a few side books and even a few free online mini-stories, so there's a lot of content here.)  Books are usually 0.99-3.99 each and so darned funny. Highly recommended.

What's it about? This dude goes to jail for petty crime, gets put in jail with a hardened criminal, there's a case of mistaken identity, the dude finds himself in space with a few other species and sent on a mission by a governmental organization. The species are all much more advanced than our earth dude and they can communicate with one another through a chip implanted in their head. The chip also has a censor circuit which means when the characters curse, they end up saying things like "fonking" and "son of a bedge" which also adds to the humor and lets them be a little coarser without actually being coarse. The books follow their exploits through space... and time... and multiple dimensions... these are like popcorn books, great for reading before bed, or on a plane and would make for some really funny movies.

Nature-Themed Child's Birthday Party

A few years ago, my wife did a "nature themed" birthday party for one of our kids. I thought it was really cool, so I've been meaning to write about it forever. (Like I've postponed the task in my to-do list over 500 times forever.) I think it was difficult to appreciate just how much my wife put into these, so let me brag a little.  Click through on any picture for more pictures. Maybe one of these years I'll share some of the Harry Potter themed party. That included a 2-story wall of decrees. 

Gift Bags: Pretzels, Marshmallows, Raisins, Chocolate Chips, Goldfish Grahams, Peanuts

Gift Bags: Custom-made Bookmarks

Gift Bags

Saltine Toffee, fashioned to look like bark

A giant tree, made from tissue paper and Amazon packing paper

Table decorated with roughed up butcher paper and ferns from the yard

Hedgehog Cheese Ball (these kids were eating well!)

Paint-a-Birdfeeder as a craft activity

Acorns (donut-holes), Bark (saltine toffee) and some kind of marshmallow cookie

Three Days

 I feel like I need three days. Three days to get caught up on stuff at home and three days to get caught up on stuff at work.  I don't know if I could relax after the three days, or if I would just feel "caught up" and ready to tackle stuff. I think I'm coping alright as we come up on a full year of quarantine, but I feel like I'm behind.

Recently, we arranged my son's room and the living room, in both cases, yielding layouts that feel more open.  I'm energized by this. Growing up, I constantly moved the furniture around in my room. Drove my parents nuts, but I liked the variety. Now all grown up, it's harder to just move everything around on a whim. Did it once to the living room in our college dorm without telling my roommates. They were not amused. Now in our little house, there's only so many ways you can arrange furniture so stuff rarely moves. Last thing you want to do is stumble around in the dark and kick furniture that wasn't where it was last night.

I'm breaking records with chores completed this week. Maybe I only need three days at work.  What I really need to do is block another evening this week to go sit on the back porch and drink coffee in the evening after dinner. Weather has been amazing. 

Lori and I are fully vaccinated, her mother-in-law is half-vaxed and we're working with the school district because they really want our son back at school on early-return. But it's complicated because he can't wear a mask. But I guess that's something they'll work on with him. Hopefully they'll have more luck than we did.

I really don't know what I'm doing here with this post, except that I'm way overdue to write something. I guess with this blog you don't get quantity OR quality. Good times.

120: Stuck

 The pocketwatch seemed to be stuck. I was holding it in my hand, but as soon as I pressed the button on the side, it became stuck. I couldn't move it. I slowly opened my hand and lowered it. The pocketwatch hung in midair where I'd left it. This shouldn't be possible. I stared at it. It was no longer ticking. In fact, it was quiet. Everything was quiet. I couldn't hear the traffic outside or my family downstairs shouting back and forth to one another. I listened, but there was nothing. I reached out to the watch again, prodding it. I wrapped my fingers around it and pulled. Very slowly, with much effort, I was able to bring it towards me. But as soon as I stopped, it was stuck again. I pressed the button on the side a second time and the watch dropped into my hand and I was knocked over by the sudden overwhelming sensation of sound - the cars, the kids, the ice cream truck, a plane overhead, my dad downstairs yelling to my mom. 

It couldn't be, right? I had read a book about a magic pocketwatch when I was a kid, but now here in my my grandfather's house, going through his old things, I had to be imagining things. Pocketwatches that could stop time were a thing of fantasy, right?

I dropped the pocketwatch into my pocket, climbed down the ladder from the attic and headed downstairs to where my mom was inventorying furniture and my dad was looking through my grandfather's file cabinet.  I ran past both, threw open the front door, reached into my pocket, pressed the button. 

and.
everything.
stopped.  

Well, this was going to be fun.

"120" is the umbrella under which I place my creative writing (it's been a long time! Again!) - it refers to one of the practices: writing for 120 seconds on a single topic with no chance to go back and edit - there may be mistakes, typos, embarrassing spelling errors.  Such is the nature.  I might continue writing after the timer ends, but it's about sitting down and writing something. (This one didn't go according to plan, I kept getting interrupted. Oh well, at least I wrote something.) Click here to read more 120s.

Program Your Sleep

I recently wanted to clear up space on my nightstand, so I moved my CPAP machine to one of the drawers in the nightstand. When it's not in use, I can curl the hose up in the drawer and close the drawer most of the way (only the power cord prevents full closure).  

I never really used the drawer, so it still has a fresh woodsy smell. So now so does the air that the CPAP machine brings in.   When I was replacing the air filter the other day, it hit me:

What if there were scented air filters or oils for CPAP machines?

Naturally, I threw a bag of coffee in the drawer.  But, what if there was a new opportunity here?

In the simplest form, you could have vanilla or lavender or any number of those scents they put in candles.

Most CPAPs have a compartment for distilled water, with a heater underneath to warm the water. I don't know if it would mess it up to have scented oils or Vicks Vaporub in the same compartment to deliver smells/medicine to you while you slept. Because if you could, a fancy CPAP machine could release different smells at different times, allowing you to program your sleep.  Maybe you start off with the smell of evergreens and after a few hours, the smell of the ocean and right before your alarm goes off, coffee or toast. This could launch a whole new line of premium CPAP machines.

2021 Charities

Welcome to 2021. As we start off this new year, it's almost as if last year didn't exist. But as I start to work on my taxes and look at where we made charitable contributions last year, I'm reminded of this yearly tradition to recommend a few places you might consider helping out in the new year. 2020 was so messed up that now as I look at last year's post, I realize I didn't even contribute to either recommendation. I will take care of that this week.

Please consider joining me in supporting these charities in 2021:

* No Kid Hungry - They feed kids. It's one of my wife's favorites. 

* Little Free Library Foundation - your gift helps them get books into more communities. 

* NAACP Legal and Education Defense Fund - they did a matching thing at work with the LDF last year and when I donated, I told them I did not want any solitications for future gifts and they honored my request. I haven't heard from them since. I know charities don't necessarily like that, but it means my gift wasn't spent on fundraising.

Charities on the naughty list for wasting my past donations on way too many mailings: Wounded Warrior and Sierra Club. Yes, Sierra Club. Oh my gosh, they send me so much crap and I've asked them to stop so many times. I don't believe they actually care about the environment. 

2020 Charities

* Bithiah's House

* RAICES (The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services)

2019 Charities

* Autism Society

* Burbank Arts for All

* Women of Email

View-Time Optimization (VTO) is a bad idea

 I recently saw a post on LinkedIn suggesting "Send-Time Optimization is Dead, Long Live View-Time Optimization" but they're wrong.  VTO is a bad idea.

First, what is Send-Time Optimization (STO)?  

In your toolbox of "right message, right person, right time" STO is the best-guess about when you send your next email. 

For a long-standing subscriber, you can use it at the individual-level.  For segments and audiences with a number of newer subscribers, you can do it at the campaign level. And for prospects and brand-new customers (or if you have a lot of churn in your subscription base), you can do it at the program or organizational level.

Some drawbacks - it impacts forecasting and planning. You have to establish a window for deployment, so you have to carefully consider when to send the next email after that. It's also not useful with time-sensitive opportunities and limited-time sales. 

Also, behavior patterns change over time. If your analytical model is slow to catch a shift in trends or if there are events or competitive changes it has no way to be aware of or consider, it can end up being wrong in its predictions.

Still,  it has been proven to increase opens and clicks and decrease opt-outs (to a statistically significant degree), which makes it a win-win for customers and companies alike. Programmatic Automations, Journeys and Metered/Deferred Deployments are other methods with similar aims.

So, what is View-Time Optimization (VTO)?

In mid-2020, SendGrid announced an exclusive offering with VMG in a blog post and only really recommended it for Winback and Re-engagement Campaigns.  

This has apparently ended as now Validity is announcing an exclusive offering with with Verizon Media Group for VTO. There aren't a lot of details, but here's what I've been able to figure out.

Validity says the top email in a person's inbox is 2x as likely to be opened as even the second email. VTO happens entirely on the VMG side. When you open the app, a VTO-enabled email is placed at the top of your inbox. 

How it works

You tell Validity how many "credits" you want to apply to the campaign. This determines how many people will be treated to the VTO experience. 

You tell Validity how VMG can spot your VTO campaign. This can be a static subject line, a body tag or an X-Header, depending on what your ESP will allow. 

You also tell Validity what to do at the end of the campaign.  The options were not explained in the video. Hopefully it just places the rest in the inbox without any credit deducted. 

Then you send your campaign normally through your ESP. 

VMG recognizes your VTO-enabled campaign and holds it. As soon as the recipient opens their inbox (app or webmail), the campaign is placed into the top of their inbox. Because this doesn't rely on a tracking pixel/beacon, this will work even if a user has images off.  But, again, limited to AOL/Verizon customers.

So what will I learn from this campaign?

Your ESP will tell you that all messages were sent and delivered, even if they haven't yet made it into the customer's inbox. Bounces will still be handled in real-time. Where STO will tell you when the message was sent, you will have less analytics with VTO.

Campaign results will be available within the Validity portal 48 hours after the campaign concludes. (The end of the window you specify.) Because they are working with Verizon, they will have open and click rates, probably better than you get with your own ESP or Analytics tool that relies on a tracking pixel.  

Again, this is only for VMG mailboxes like Yahoo and AOL. For your own analytics, you might end up splitting AOL, Yahoo, Verizon.net and others into their own separate send so that you can match up your analytics to what you see in the Validity portal. They didn't say, but hopefully there's exportable data you can bring back to your own systems for additional analysis.

Questions that were unanswered after reading up on VTO on Validity's site:

• Do they still get notified as soon as the email is delivered if they have app notifications turned on? 
   
• What if multiple people pay for VTO to the same customer? Which message appears in that coveted top spot? Or does it work once for each app open? Or is your message delivered but no credit deducted if you don't get the top spot?
   
• What if you just keep the webmail open in a tab? Deliver normally with no credit deducted?
   
• What does this do for POP/IMAP? Deliver normally with no credit deducted?
   
• How does this work with messages or senders who are filtered or have been previously sent to spam?
   
• What does the "end of campaign" look like? Does it dump all emails into a user's inbox at the time that the last credit is spent? Does it dump them at the end of the window? But they do all eventually get delivered, right?
   
• Does the message "pop-in" after the app has loaded, or is it just waiting there at the top of the list?
   
• People are 2x more likely to open, but what's comparison rates for clicks, time-spent reading/scrolling, or opt-outs?

To Recap

This is a pay-for-play scheme limited only to a small number of the internet's inboxes that tries to game the system for people's limited time and attention. For some senders, it could lead to fatigue or have a negative impact by making it look like they're always sending emails. 

May require a re-thinking of how you assess efficacy of a campaign or at least considerations towards the change in behavior at these inboxes. 

Lastly, it rewards Verizon and Validity for monetizing what has been an open and free system. (Verizon has been rumored to be working to kill tracking pixels from ESPs, Litmus and others.)

Is it worth it?

I don't think so.  The application, coverage and utility will be limited, the overall metrics are unproven. I also think there are a lot of important unanswered questions. Validity can probably answer some of them, but have intentionally chosen not to in their current explanation of the program. 

(Cross-posted to LinkedIn)