And just like that #LitmusLiveWeek has come to an end! Luckily for anyone who missed some of the awesome talks from the week, Litmus have added all the recordings here.

Although we couldn't physically attend Litmus Boston this year, and missed out on the Lobster Mac and Cheese *cries*, this didn't stop us from gaining some super insightful takeaways from the week of talks. And a massive shoutout to all the speakers and Lauren Kremer from Litmus who brought the conference to life!

We can't expect change if we don't change ourselves:

Doing the same thing over and over, and expecting the same result, will get you nowhere

Our very own Paris Fisher took to the *virtual* stage on Tuesday to discuss how an Email Design System can improve your production process.

I think this is a topic discussed frequently most years at each Litmus conference - if you sit back and make no changes or use the excuse we have always done it this way you can't expect anything to change. As Marketers we have the power to change how we work and what internal changes we make. If we do this, we can get time back to be more creative and give time to improve our work ethic, relationship with peers and mental health.

Yes, pop-ups are annoying

We loved this talk from Mike at Really Good Emails who covered whether email subscription pop-ups work - and what the magic number for pop-ups on your site is.

Pop-ups are annoying, and can be creepy. Mike quoted that 75% of people find pop-ups annoying - but this doesn't mean they aren't effective. Yes, we might feel frustrated or insulted when we see a pop-up, but here are a few things they are good for:

Possibly one of the most valuable pieces of advice Mike gave us from his talk was to build relationships, not lists. We can have a huge subscriber list, but if we don't actively nurture them and start building a relationship with them, they can just hit that unsubscribe button. Also, if we pull users in to the pop-up by offering discount codes which might be falsely worded, that relationship will be lost before it has even started. Let's treat our readers with respect!

Mike also touched on the dark side to these pop-ups - no one likes to be shamed by being forced to click a button which tells them they are a bad person. So let's be clear with our intentions rather than trick people into a false reality.

And of course we couldn't miss out the magic number for pop-ups (8 seconds =@)

Give your brand a voice

Ann Handley opened up #LitmusLiveWeek day 1 and said that too many brands focus on the news side of a newsletter when we should be looking at the latter. To create an engaging newsletter we need to make it personal - why not create a one on one conversation with our subscribers?

If we do this we can build better relationships and be the trusted face and voice for your audience - email gives you the opportunity that no other marketing channel does. It enables you to hear directly from your audience. And audiences want a relationship with someone they can trust, which is why using one writer can be super powerful in engagement and trust building.

Consider accessibility and readability in your designs

"If our designs are not being seen or heard because they aren't accessible or relatable then we are failing as marketers."

Leslie LeCroy and Kathryn Colohan gave a really inspiring talk on designing emails for equity and inclusion. When we talk about accessibility we are really talking about inclusion - we need to design and build emails with any type of disability in mind because we want the design to benefit everyone.

And when it comes to challenging the status quo, we need to challenge our assumptions - personas differ because everyone is different. And representation is key. Instead of using a skin tone in an image that doesn't relate to anyone, actively include as many different ones as you can.

Don't throw interactivity into your emails without purpose:

The best interactivity is almost that which you don't notice. It's intuitive and something that no one questions.

Interactivity in email doesn't automatically produce results - as exciting as it can be to use every type of interactive element in your email let's take it back a step.

You can make email as fun and interactive as you want, but if it isn't working for the audience then it falls flat. It all needs to be geared towards the user experience.

What does produce the results is how you use the reels of extra information they can provide. So don't put interactivity in for the sake of it, have a clear purpose to get the most beneficial outcomes from it. And remember, fallbacks are your friends! As we know, not all web clients render the same or support interactive elements which is why fallbacks are important.

Want more #LitmusLiveWeek insights?

We covered everyday of Litmus Live Week, and you can read all about each day here:

Monday - Writing for your audience, doing data responsibly and the at of the unique

Tuesday - Repetition, accessibility and validation

Wednesday - Agility, newsletters and interactivity

Thursday - Pop ups, brand loyalty and inclusion