| The biggest obstacle for most email marketers is | | | | Sending to a purchased or rented list will almost |
| generally message delivery. Messages that are either | | | | always result in poor delivery. List vendors sell or rent |
| blocked or sent to a 'junk' folder by the ISPs | | | | the same lists to numerous people, so complaints will |
| (internet service providers - who manage incoming | | | | be high and open rates low. |
| mail for their account holders) is a major waste of | | | | 2) Email content and design also play an important |
| marketing resources and directly affects an | | | | role in message delivery. Message design should have |
| organization's bottom line. To fully maximize email | | | | a professional look with the sender's brand clearly and |
| delivery, it is important to understand why delivery | | | | quickly identifiable. The content has to be relevant to |
| can be a problem and what impacts delivery. | | | | the person receiving the message, and the message |
| The following guide is designed for marketers who | | | | should be presented in an organized manner. Make |
| want to better understand the challenges of email | | | | sure the subject line matches the content and its |
| marketing, and want to benefit from using the 'best | | | | purpose. And lastly, the 'from address' needs to be |
| practices' outlined by the email industry. | | | | recognizable by the recipient. |
| Why delivery can be a problem | | | | 3) Spam complaints are the next important factor in |
| Today, legitimate email makes up a very small | | | | email delivery. ISPs monitor complaints very carefully, |
| fraction of the total email volume received by ISPs. | | | | making this the number one reason why emails will |
| One of the main priorities of ISPs is to protect their | | | | not get through to major ISPs. |
| account holders from unwanted email. The ISPs are | | | | What is a complaint? |
| spending a lot of time and resources to ensure | | | | A complaint is generated when someone who has |
| unwanted messages do not get delivered, and from | | | | received an email reports it as unwanted, |
| the following statistics you can see why: | | | | unrequested, or for whatever reason considers it as |
| In 2002, 25% of the total mail volume received by | | | | spam. Many ISPs such as AOL, Yahoo, and Hotmail |
| the ISPs was considered spam | | | | make it very easy for their account holders to report |
| In 2009, 95% of total mail volume received by the | | | | a complaint with just the click of a button. |
| ISPs was considered spam | | | | Major ISPs now have a reporting mechanism called a |
| Since the ISPs are often times implementing new | | | | Feedback loop. The member, who doesn't know you |
| technology, legitimate email marketers can | | | | as a sender or does not want your message, simply |
| unfortunately find that their messages have been | | | | clicks on the Spam or Junk button, and then the ISP |
| flagged as spam, and are not being delivered to list | | | | communicates this back to the Email Service Provider |
| members. The good news is that ISPs acknowledge | | | | (ESP). |
| the difference between legitimate and non-legitimate | | | | An email marketer's complaint rate needs to remain |
| email marketers, and they are almost always willing | | | | below 0.1% - that is only 1 complaint per 1,000 |
| to work with legitimate marketers on improving | | | | messages sent to any single domain. Higher |
| deliverability. | | | | complaints can result in delivery problems. |
| What impacts delivery | | | | Reasons for complaints are fairly straightforward: |
| There are primarily four variables that impact email | | | | Message was not requested - Only send to people |
| delivery: | | | | who have directly requested your mailings |
| 1) The quality of the marketer's list of email | | | | Poor subject line or unfamiliar FROM name - Don't try |
| addresses is extremely important! The ideal situation | | | | to trick someone into reading your email |
| is to send emails only to a clean list: A list with minimal | | | | Irrelevant Content - The user is not interested in |
| invalid addresses; every address on the list has | | | | what you are sending |
| requested (opted-in) the sender's message; and the | | | | Long lag in communication - You haven't emailed your |
| list has been mailed to regularly. | | | | list in a long time |
| Make sure the following has been done - especially | | | | High email frequency - Sending too many emails in |
| when switching to a new email marketing solution: | | | | too short a period |
| All addresses that have previously bounced as invalid | | | | 4) Your sender reputation as an email marketer has |
| or nonexistent are not mailed to again. | | | | now become a key factor for successful |
| All unsubscribe requests are honored and not mailed | | | | deliverability. |
| to in the future. | | | | Email filtering is designed to stop the bad emails and |
| Role account email addresses are not mailed to. Role | | | | let the good ones through. So if you have a |
| account addresses are email addresses that normally | | | | reputation for sending legitimate emails, then your |
| do not (or rarely) subscribe to mailing lists. Examples | | | | emails will get through to the inbox. Reputation is |
| include abuse@, admin@, billing@, info@, jobs@, | | | | based on two areas: your company and the domains |
| news@, postmaster@, sales@, support@, and | | | | associated with your company, and the IP addresses |
| webmaster@. These types of addresses are usually | | | | used to send your emails. Building a good sending |
| harvested directly from websites. | | | | reputation takes time, and the only way to build it is |
| Always know the direct source of any email | | | | by sending only legitimate emails and following these |
| addresses added to your mailing list. Many poorly | | | | best practices: Send legitimate emails to clean lists |
| maintained lists contain spam trap addresses. A spam | | | | and don't get complaints. |
| trap is an email address that exists solely for the | | | | Recipient engagement has a big impact on a sender's |
| purpose of luring in spam. The trap is to have | | | | reputation. Engagement is measured by certain |
| addresses that are not used for communication (so | | | | actions a message recipient takes that show the ISP |
| they would never opt-in to a mailing list) readily | | | | whether the message was wanted or not. |
| available to marketers who purchase email lists or | | | | Positive engagement: |
| harvest email addresses from the web. Once the | | | | Recipients are marking the message as 'not spam' if |
| spam trap is sent to, the ISP or reputation monitoring | | | | it goes to the spam folder |
| service presumes the marketer is not using legitimate | | | | Recipients are opening messages. The ISPs know if |
| list building practices. The presence of even one | | | | any message has been opened. |
| spam trap can cause major delivery problems. The | | | | Recipients are clicking on the links in the message. |
| only way to prevent the presence of a spam trap | | | | Recipients are adding the sender's 'from address' to |
| address is to only mail to addresses that have | | | | their contact list. |
| directly opted-in to the actual list that is doing the | | | | Negative engagement: |
| mailing. | | | | A high percentage of recipients are hitting the spam |
| There is no list of known spam trap addresses. They | | | | button to register a complaint. |
| are always kept secret, so removing them can be | | | | A high percentage of messages are being deleted |
| difficult. The removal process consists of building a | | | | without being opened. |
| new list with addresses that have either opened a | | | | A low open rate |
| previous message or clicked on any link within a | | | | Following these tips will give your message a better |
| message (spam trap addresses will never open a | | | | chance of not only being delivered to the intended |
| message or click on a link within a message), and | | | | audience, but also absorbed by the people with |
| then re-opting-in every remaining member of the list. | | | | whom you want to connect! |