INinbox Start-up Pack

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2 2 INspired Marketing This is what you should know about sending s through INinbox and how to get started! Thanks for joining INinbox. choice. You ve made a great In front of you, you find the start-up pack. This start up pack contains lots of useful info, tips and recommendations to get the most out of the INinbox platform and your campaigns. We like to think beyond borders, and outside the box, to get IN the inbox!! Important: Please do go through this entire PDF carefully! Introduction Marketing is when done the right way- a very profitable, but even more, necessary medium. All online businesses should treat marketing with care and put it with high priority in their marketing mix. Whether you are small, medium or enterprise sized business, knowledge about how to build, sustain and exploit your data is to crucial to support your online operations and overall brand awareness. Though sending s itself doesn t sound too complicated, all processes that are executed for you on the

3 3 background to get your s delivered, are not that simple The INinbox team is working 24/7 for you to get your s out and delivered, to get a good idea of what we are doing for you please read the What Does INinbox Do PDF here: does ininbox.pdf IN this starter package we ll help you to get a better understanding of the marketing topic itself and of course how you can leverage the INinbox platform to the maximum. We we ll take you by the hand and explain to you the difference between shared pools and dedicated IPs, how you can start crafting your first broadcast and autoresponder s, how you can contribute in getting your own s delivered to the inbox, and how you can set yourself apart from other mailers by branding your s with your own domain, even when you are in shared IP pool. Firstly however, we will show you how our Inspired Support system works to get help whenever you are in need of it. INspired Support At INinbox we take great care about our support system. We want you to get the support needed, when you need it. And to do just that we set up multiple layers of support. The first layer os the Self Service desk (SSD), globally known as a knowledge base. We can offer live support in any way you need it. In this SSD you can enter you own search queries, like you would in a search engine like Google. Whenever you make a search we will check our database to see whether we ve got a matching answer for you. There is a big chance someone else asked the same question like you before and that we will be able to give you an instant solution to your question.

4 4 If you can t find a satisfying answer in the SSD, you can check our resources section ( resources.html). In the resources you can find whitepapers, articles and instruction videos explaining about common marketing topics and how to videos about many features in the INinbox app. Of course, if you still need help or if you just prefer to speak to us in person, you can always reach out to us to get live help by chat or phone. On top of that we can offer live support, in any way you need it. If you for example, are used to Skype, we can offer you support there. Just send or phone us your Skype name and we will add you and contact you there. You name it, we can get it to work. That s our Inspired support! Summarized: Self service desk Resources Live help How does sending s through INinbox work exactly? The actual sending process of your s takes place on servers, our servers. These servers are highly optimized and configured to get your s delivered fast and secure. To make this happen we have powerful software installed on our servers. Within this software we have IPs configured, so called sending IPs, that process the s to your subscribers.

5 5 Shared pool or dedicated IPs. Your choice! When you created your account we automatically connected your account to a few of these sending IPs. These IPs rotate in a pool and are shared between you and other INinbox mailers, that s why such a pool is called a shared IP Pool. A shared IP pool works pretty straight forward. Assume there are 5 IPs in the pool that your account was assigned to and you create and send a broadcast to 500 of your subscribers. Each IP in the pool will now send 100 of the 500 total s. Using a shared IP pool is really handy if you want to get going quick since you can instantly leverage the good reputation of this pool, that was already built by other mailers. The counterpart is that you re dependent of the mailing practices of the other mailers in your pool. If you have a bad boy in the class with poor sending practices he will instantly affect your deliverability. Though the good news is, that ISPs get smarter every day. They invented methods that you can implement that set yourself apart from other mailers in your pool. However if you really want to build your own reputation and maximize your inbox deliverability rates to the highest possible levels, you opt for the dedicated IP. An IP that is dedicated to you and your mailings alone. No one is responsible for your sending reputation but you. It takes some time and patience, but if you follow all best mail practices your business will get an awesome boost. We can offer you both, just tell us how you want it!

6 6 How To Set Yourself Up Properly For Your 1st Broadcast or Autoresponder ? This is probably the most important chapter of this Start Up Package. Before you can start to create and send your autoresponder and broadcast s you need to make 100% sure that your account is set up properly. It s true that most sender s start out in a shared pool with many mailers, but it s false that this this automatically means that your inbox deliverability is not depending on your own practices as well. As I already mentioned briefly in the last chapter, ISP s get smarter each day, and while still a lot of value is given to the reputation of the sending IP, many also consider other individual metrics of a specific sender within a shared pool like: Try to pass as many metrics as possible. from field (the address that is used for sending the ), open rates bounce rates, spam rates unsubscribe rates Even if you are in shared pool with a great reputation when you are failing on many of the metrics above your deliverability will go down big time. So what can you do? Simply put, try to pass as many metrics as possible.

7 7 Implementation 1. Use an optimal from address + your real name When you create a new broadcast, first thing you do is picking a from address. The type of address you choose has an effect on the deliverability of your s. Optimal for deliverability For the best deliverability rates it is best to use a from address from your own domain name. For example: newsletter@yourcompanyname.com Also, always use your real name/identity, you company name or your list name together with this address. List name example: My Little Shop or Webinar Optin So, NO fake identities! OK, but not recommendable for deliverability You can use a from address from a free provider (like gmail or yahoo). But really if you have no other option. Using free account has a negative impact on your overall deliverability. For example: yourname@yahoo.com ISP s prefer s constructed from your own domain names compared to free providers. You can find more info about from field s in the policies PDF located here: 2. Setup DKIM Authentication around your From Field (Recommended) DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a method for associating a domain name to an message, thereby

8 8 allowing a person or organization to claim responsibility for the message. All our account quality for this, and setting it up is really simple, usually takes a few minutes. Contact Inspired Support today and we get it done for you! 3. Setup Custom Domain tracking around your own from field domain (Recommended) If there is one thing that ISPs love it is consistency. Consistency in volume, from field, domains that are being used in your content etc. To increase your own reputation with the ISPs you want to be sure you are doing everything you can to stick to the latest best practices. That s why we recommend you to set your account up for the advanced branding feature Custom Domain Tracking You can simply activate this in your account under account settings. If you don t know how to get it to work or you simple need help setting it up contact Inspired Support today and we get it done for you! I will give you more information about this really cool feature in a next chapter of this starter package called Set yourself apart from the others by using a custom domain 4. Passing the bounce, unsubscribe, spam, open rates metrics There is no simple answer to pass these metrics. The only way to do this is by abiding to best practices and practicing good list management 1. Always use a welcome autoresponder when people signup to your lists. This helps to filter out the first non

9 9 existing accounts and prevents you from getting a very high number of bounces the first time you send your list a broadcast. 2. VERY Important Make them whitelist your whenever you can. In the first welcome mail start with the request to add your sending to their address book. Don t underestimate this! Gmail and Hotmail are really font of this. If many of your subscribers whitelist you it means you are a safe sender and it will make your s go to the inbox even for the subscribers that didn t add you to their contacts yet! Example request:...thanks for signing up for ##YOUR NEWSLETTER## Important, do this first: Spam or junk filters are often used to ensure that recipients such as yourself are not bombarded with s you've not requested. This is great but unfortunately sometimes they can also block legitimate s that you've actually requested such as our own newsletter or special offer s. However this can be easily prevented by adding our sending address ##YOUR ## to your address book. Don't know how to do this? Click here for all major providers 3. Set proper expectations when people opt-in to your lists. If people sign up for weekly newsletters but you send them daily promotions, there is a big chance they are going to report you for spamming. Tell them what you ll be sending and how often they can expect an . Set up different lists for different

10 10 newsletters, for example one for your client s updates, and one for promotions. Don t mix them up. 4. We recommend to use the double opt-in method. This will significantly lower your spam complaints. If you use double opt-in, that s also your evidence that all recipients on your list gave you their permission to them. 5. Don t wait too long between 2 s. Set the right expectations but try to mail your list at least per 2 weeks or once per month. This overcomes spam complaints from readers that don t remember you or don t remember signing up for your list. 6. Use a permission reminder. This is seen as a common best practice, AOL and Hotmail say that you have to highlight how, where and when your subscribers opted in for your newsletter. Example good permission reminder: From time to time, we send special offers from our sponsors to all members of Your Newsletter. Your signup date: ##signup_date##, Your signup IP ##IP## We hope you find them useful. If not, you can unsubscribe from our special offers list ##unsubscribe_link##here##/ unsubscribe_link##. How to Create Your First Broadcast in 4 Easy Steps? When you just log in to your brand new INinbox account it can be quite overwhelming, we understand that. All those features, sections and modules. Help! Where do I start?

11 11 Take a deep breath and after that follow these 4 steps to get you on your way. Before you can send a broadcast , you need to create a list with your subscribers. Because you need some readers to actually mail to. Firstly create a list. Secondly add subscribers to that list through one of the many options. You could for instance import your current subscribers or create a webform (step 3) and capture new subscribers from your website. Lastly, create a broadcast, select the list including the subscribers that you did setup in the first 2 steps, and hit send! We have easy video tutorials too so you can look over our shoulders and copy our exact steps. Please check this section for the videos: How you can contribute in getting your s delivered? Our team is doing everything they can to get your delivered. Though it is really important that you fulfil your role as well. If you don t abide to our policies and

12 12 recommendations that are solely setup with you and your business in mind, you still have a chance that your s wind up in the spam filter or don t make it to the subscribers mailbox at all. So it s really important you are aware of our latest mailing policies. Please check them once in a while since they will change in time as best practices are being updated. Follow our deliverability teams advice and implement their recommendations a.s.a.p. to keep getting your s delivered. These guys are here for you and they do go the extra mile for you. Set yourself apart, setup your own custom domain. Set yourself apart from the others by using a custom domain INinbox offers a superb branding feature to turn INinbox into your own platform. By setting up your own custom domain you get a custom login page which can be branded with your own logo and colours. Setting up your own custom domain in your account also brands all outgoing s with your own domain which can improve your deliverability for autoresponder, broadcast and transactional mails significantly. Why should you setup your own custom domain? You will be able to build your own reputation, even when you are setup on a shared IP pool. By setting up your own custom domain, ISPs like Yahoo, Gmail and AOL can differentiate your mailings from mailings from our other

13 13 clients and can reward you for good sending behaviour which ensures better deliverability. Additionally, branding your with your own domain has a positive contribution in building your own brand. For complete instructions how to setup your own custom domain in a few easy steps please check: Advanced Features for all Mailing Needs! INinbox offers many other features that fall without the scope of this start up package. Since we don t want to give you an information overload, they are not in here. We just want you to know we have them ready for you, whenever you need them. If you would like to know more about our advanced features like the automation rules, list segmenting & management, surpression lists, blacklisting etc. please check our SSD or resources section. Refer your friends and Get $75 Cash! Test us out and when you are happy with our services please let your friends now about! Of course we will not ask you for a favour without anything in return. For every friend that you send our way, and that upgrades to a paid package, we send you $75 cash!