Improve Deliverability: Tactics for Handling Complaints and Boosting Reputation. Sponsored by

Transcription

1 Improve Deliverability: Tactics for Handling Complaints and Boosting Reputation Sponsored by

2 Introductions Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter MarketingSherpa / MECLABS Primary Tom Sather, Director of Professional Services Return

3 Join the conversation on Twitter #SherpaWebinar

4 Today s Agenda Overview of current trends in deliverability metrics and tactics Outline of how two companies maintain and improve deliverability Key factor affecting sender reputation and how to manage its impact on deliverability How Twitter and True.com improved inbox placement and conversion by focusing on reputation metrics

5 Current Trends in Deliverability

6 How Deliverability Metrics Are Changing Many organizations see improvement. Nearly as many see declines. The net result is a slight improvement overall. A majority of marketers are having more success reaching subscribers. More marketers are having trouble with post-receipt issues, such as placement and engagement.

7 Deliverability Tactics: 3-Dimensional View Removing inactive subscribers is the most popular tactic, with 70% marketers pursuing Establishing a dedicated IP address is reported as the most effective tactic Advanced organizations are twice as likely to use dedicated IP addresses, delivery monitoring solutions, and deliverability consultants.

8 How One Company Does the Work

9 Real Example: Maintaining 100% Delivery Rates Zozi is a deals website that offers discounts on local activities such as kayaking and wine tasting. Well over half of its transactions are generated through , according to Ryan Morris, Director of Content. Delivery is vital

10 Tactic #1: Establish a proactive attitude Test s with a seed list Scan s with a spam filter

11 Tactic #2. Set expectations and meet them "Stepping outside the bounds of what your audience signed up for is an easy way to get a lot of unsubscribes and spam complaints. - Ryan Morris, Director of Content Starts at the homepage

12 Tactic #2. Set expectations and meet them Continues with signup form Visitors are clearly signing up to receive discounts on activities in their area

13 Tactic #2. Set expectations and meet them Reinforced with welcome Subscribers know what to look for in their inboxes

14 Tactic #3. Work with a proven template Fewer surprises from familiar layouts Problems easy to uncover; usually it is something tried differently

15 Tactic #4. Monitor reputation metrics; diagnose problems immediately Metrics Monitored: Spam complaints Bounced s Missing s Spam filter scores Placement rates Seeing numbers shift up makes us just as attentive as seeing them shift down."

16 Tactic #5. Clean list: Remove bounces Two types of bounces: Hard bounces -- these messages have permanently failed to deliver. Could be an invalid address. Soft bounces -- these message have temporarily failed to deliver. Common causes are that a subscriber's inbox is full or the mail server is temporarily down. Addresses removed after five bounces

17 Tactic #5. Clean List: Remove complainers Complaint Department Zozi immediately removes subscribers who mark its s as spam or junk.

18 Tactic #6. Plan to add more safeguards Launch re-engagement campaigns Establish a dedicated IP address Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. - George Washington Photo: Joye~ on Flickr

19 How Another Company Does the Work

20 Real Example: Finding and fixing bad addresses Lifescript features health and fitness content for women More than 5 million readers who subscribe to six daily newsletters Needed to identify and remove bad addresses

21 Bad Addresses: Role Accounts Addresses maintained by a website or company for specific purpose. Examples include: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Used by multiple people Commonly picked up by spammers

22 Bad Addresses: Syntax Errors and Typos Examples: Forgotten letter Misplaced letter Misplaced period Double period Miss symbol [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] "I saw 500 different ways yahoo.com was entered into our address book. - Jack Hogan, CTO & Co-Founder of Lifescript, Inc

23 Bad Addresses: Bogus Addresses Photo: photophonic at Flickr These are people who do not want to subscribe.

24 Bad Addresses: Spam Traps Two ways to find a Spam Trap on your list: Poor sources -- if you purchase lists of addresses from disreputable companies Poisoning -- they can be entered by a malicious competitor or an upset customer

25 Two Years Later: Results More than 26 million addresses checked More than 345,000 invalid addresses caught (1.33% of all checked) Fewer s sent to invalid or malicious addresses

26 Your Reputation Holds the Key to Your Deliverability

27 Complaints are the #1 cause of a poor Reputation

28 High Complaints Low Inbox Placement Low Response

29 How Subscribers Complain About Your

30 Subscriber hits the junk or spam button in their application

31 Subscriber sends a message to the postmaster group at the ISP Subscriber sends a complaint to a filteringg application or blacklist like Cloudmark or Spam Cop

32 The was voted as Junk during a Windows Live Sender Reputation Data poll.

33 Complaint Rate Complaints By Industry

34 Top 5 Reason Subscribers Complain And How to Prevent Them

35 1 This isn t what I expected! Use proper permission and disclosures at sign up

36 Allow subscribers to choose the types of messages they want to receive

37 2 These s don t appeal to me. Only send relevant messages

38 Cater to their preferences then, send customized messages

39 3 I don t know this company. Make sure the from address is recognizable

40 Also, update subscribers if you have to change your own

41 4 I vaguely remember this company? Did I sign up for this ? Why am I getting every single day? Check if your frequency is too high or too low

42 Ask permission before you change frequency

43 5 How do I get off this list? Make it easy to unsubscribe

44 Make sure you re Can-Spam compliant

45 How to Manage Your Complaint Rates

46 Sign Up for Feedback Loops

47 Perform a Complaint Analysis Regularly

48 Always Monitor Your Reputation

49 30% 25% Increased Paid Subscriptions By 40% 20% 15% 10% 12% 23% Performed complaint analysis Reduced sending frequency 5% 0% 5% Open Rates 1.5% Clicks Through Rates Removed inactives from the past 6 months Made unsubscribe link more prominent Before After

50 Sender Score IPR Day 1 Day 30 Increased Inbox Placement Rate by 20% Added a global unsubscribe Signed Up for Feedback Loops Added list-unsubscribe header (used by Window s Live Hotmail) Properly authenticated mail so ISPs could identify their domains

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