Confirmation emails, calls to action and personalized, relevant content are vital to an email marketing strategy. A recent study found 89% of marketers use email as their primary lead-generation tool.
A change by US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to the Obama-era gainful employment rule would allow career-training programs to appeal government penalties by submitting their own data on student success. Pauline Abernathy of The Institute for College Access & Success says the change allows schools to use federal funds "to enroll students in failing programs."
The EU must assume greater responsibility for defense, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said. "It becomes clear that we cannot, in the long term, rely on American defense support," he said.
Walmart expanded a grocery delivery test with Uber to Dallas and two Florida cities Monday, after launching the pilot in Phoenix in 2016. With more than 53 e-commerce-ready stores, the Dallas-Fort Worth market is the retailer's biggest for online grocery sales.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin found a 6% increase in office visits among providers that have adopted electronic visit programs because many doctors feel the need to see telemedicine patients in person, causing them to spend an additional 45 minutes on those visits. The study, based on health care encounters between 90 providers and more than 140,000 patients over five years, said e-visit programs also reduced the number of new patients seen by providers each month by 15% and did not contribute any "observable improvement in patient health" between users and nonusers.
General Mills, Whole Foods and Lowe's recently used their brands to highlight the common cause of declining bee populations, writes Cone Communications' Sophie Komornicki.
Back-to-school ads from Walmart, Target and Old Navy are winning the most attention from viewers, and they also top the list of retailers where consumers expect to shop, according to the YouGov Brand Index. Other brands shoppers are considering include H&M, Marshalls and Urban Outfitters.
Members of the group Anonymous have released a video indicating that they will launch cyberattacks against white supremacist websites on Friday as part of a "Day to Denounce."
Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., sent letters to the heads of seven drugmakers asking about dramatic price increases on multiple sclerosis drugs. A study published in Neurology found evidence of so-called shadow pricing, or raising prices when competitors do.
Smaller streaming services are setting themselves apart from Netflix by focusing on specialized content. While Walt Disney is the latest to announce plans for its own streaming platform, services such as Shudder, Crunchyroll and MUBI are already competing with major players including Netflix and Hulu, because "[f]ans feel they can go deeper in contrast to a big service," PwC's Christopher Vollmer says.
A 3-mile underground rail extension planned in Boston could cost between $4 billion and $6 billion, according to a recent study by students and faculty at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. A state-sponsored study is being conducted by Arup USA.
A collaboration between Toyota and 7-Eleven is aimed at finding hydrogen-related energy solutions to help the convenience-store chain reduce its carbon footprint.
David Pekoske, the new administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, visited Boston's Logan International Airport on Thursday to introduce himself. "I find that the folks in TSA are very mission-focused," he said.
Williams-Sonoma's forthcoming West Elm hotels plan to debut a loyalty program before year's end. West Elm is working with management firm DDK.
