Contents. Introduction. Creating a list. Growing your list. Managing unsubscribes. Handling spam complaints. Managing bounces

Transcription

1 Managing your data

2 Contents Introduction Creating a list Growing your list Managing unsubscribes Handling spam complaints Managing bounces Dealing with Out of Office notifications Using Send to a Friend Segmentation Data security Legal considerations

3 Introduction Content is king in marketing. If you are using poor data, such as using bought lists, sending s to people who have not willingly subscribed or continuing to mail inactive recipients, you may encounter some issues. In this handy guide, we ll show you how to get the best results out of your marketing by using the right data in the first place, saving you time, money and resources. We ll also give you an overview of how to manage any unsubscribes, bounces or Out of Office notifications that you might encounter as well as some tips on data segmentation, data security and the legal implications of holding data. For more information about managing your data, please contact the little green plane team at or call

4 Creating a list Whether you have an existing list of subscribers or are starting from scratch, it s easy to create a contact list in little green plane. You can either add your subscribers as you go, one by one, or upload them as a group using an Excel.CSV file. You can create as many lists as you wish in little green plane. We also provide a facility to link a subscribe or unsubscribe message to your list, and offer a breakdown of any addresses that have failed to import correctly. Any good marketing agency worth its salt will not allow you to use purchased data lists or lists where people have not actively agreed to be mailed by you. Not only is this not following marketing best practice, but it can also affect the sender reputation of the agency and all of the clients using their system. Plus your results will be poor. Your best bet is to use data that you have grown organically yourself, from people who have agreed to receive your information. This strategy will yield the best results. 02

5 Growing your list Growing your database naturally by marketing your subscription service is the best way to obtain higher conversion rates. People like to do business with people they know and trust. To get the best out of your campaigns, ensure you are using addresses of people who have opted-in to receive your information in the first place and keep it up-to-date. You can grow your list in several ways: Put an sign-up form on the home page of your website (and a tick box under any data capture form) Create a specific sign-up form page and put a link to this on your signature Include a Send to a Friend link on your campaigns Circulate a sign-up form at any event you are hosting or speaking at Create a sign-up tab on your Facebook page Created an automated direct message on Twitter for new followers with link to your sign-up page 03

6 Managing unsubscribes You must provide an unsubscribe mechanism for your marketing subscribers by law. Each you send through little green plane has an unsubscribe mechanism in the footer that will automatically remove contacts from your mailing list if they choose to de-select themselves. Even if you accidently upload an unsubscribed contact to your list, you are safe in the knowledge that we will not allow you to send an to that recipient again, ensuring you are Data Protection Act compliant. The best way of managing your unsubscribes is to regularly examine your statistics. little green plane tracks your unsubscribes in the campaign summary data, marking your unsubscribe rate against the industry average, the date the unsubscribe happened and the reason why to help you track the source reason. We even allow you to export your unsubscribe data into an Excel sheet for further examination. It is also wise to add an unsubscribe message to confirm to people who wish to leave your list that you have removed them from your mailings. 04

7 Handling spam complaints You will receive a spam complaint with little green plane if one of your subscribers has reported receiving an unwanted , otherwise known as an abuse in their inbox. This is a complaint in your campaign summary report. The most common method of avoiding these is by only using organically grown, opt-in data in the first place. Also, if someone unsubscribes, you need to be certain that they will not receive further s by using lgp s automatic unsubscribe facility, this means all unsubscribes will be permanently removed from future campaigns. Another easy tip is to make sure your looks reputable. These days, s need to look like they came from your company, and not a scammer who is phishing for your details. The majority of people are now web savvy and expect quality. Even if you use opt-in data, if you send poorly designed s, this can attract complaints. The final rule is to set expectations when people sign-up to your lists. If it s a weekly , tell them. Then try to not them more than once a week, unless you have a specific reason for doing so. By taking these straightforward measures, you will ensure that your campaigns hit the mark with your audience. 05

8 Managing bounces little green plane s bounce reports allow you to identify the reasons behind your bounced s. Your bounce data is logged in your campaign summary of the little green plane reports, benchmarked against an industry average. Bounced s are categorised into hard and soft bounces, in each case providing the details behind why an has not been delivered. An that is unable to be delivered because of a temporary problem, such as a full mailbox, is known as a soft bounce whilst one with a permanent error, such as an incorrect address, is known as a hard bounce. little green plane will attempt to send your to a soft bounce address eight times before it gets placed in your Do Not Mail file. We have three attempts at a hard bounce address before putting in Do Not Mail and flag these up in your failed export file. There is no need to delete hard bounces as we will not allow any contacts flagged as one to receive your mailings again. If you delete them we cannot ensure this. 06

9 Dealing with Out of Office notifications An Out of Office notification is not a bounce. Technically, it has been delivered to the inbox just not necessarily read by the recipient. People who are actually out of the office will receive your mailing in the usual way when they return. The important Out of Offices to note are those that have left the company (and left details of a replacement) or whose details have changed. Ideally, you ll need to re-contact these new individuals to ask them if they want to receive your mailings. If they say yes, you ll need to go back into little green plane and add the new contacts ready for your next send. It s also best not to schedule an campaign to be sent whilst you are out of the office if your address is the one marked as the sender, as this may look unprofessional. 07

10 Using Send to a Friend So, you ve just started with marketing and have sent out a series of successful campaigns. Your contact database is growing with each . How do you take advantage of the network that your contacts have? What else can you do to reach new audiences? One way to create campaigns that can be accessed by the contacts of your network is to use little green plane s Send to a Friend function. This allows supporters already on your database to forward the content to others. This feature can be found on the code snippets menu option in the editor. Select this and it will drop the code required to create the link where your cursor is. The key to Send to a Friend is to create an that includes multiple links to your website. This way, when an associate of your contact is forwarded the , it drives them to visit your site. Make sure you have a prominent sign-up box on the page that they will be visiting. They can then register themselves on your list and you can contact them directly. 08

11 Segmentation Treating each customer based on their preferences will help you communicate smarter with them and help generate more revenue. If you are collecting personal data such as birthdays, location, purchasing decisions, why not use it to your advantage and provide your customers tailored information, services and products that are bespoke to them? You can segment your data using any info you have collected, such as geographical location, last purchase by date, age, gender, type of purchase or service request. A detailed profile of a customer will allow you to target your campaigns more effectively. Ask yourself; where do they live, when do they read their s, what are they clicking on and what they are purchasing or enquiring about? Build a picture of your subscribers and send them information correlated to their needs and you will see a good return for your efforts. 09

12 Data security At little green plane we ensure our data security is rigorous. All our accounts are protected using a username and password. We enforce a policy of strong passwords all of the passwords have to be alpha-numeric and contain at least one capital letter. We also use an SSL (secure sockets layer) to ensure a secure transmission from users and our server (and back). Essentially this encrypts the message so that anyone intercepting it will not be able to read it. In addition, both our server and the little green plane product have been penetration tested (and passed with flying colours) to ensure they can withstand hacking attacks. It is also important to note that we are members of the Direct Marketing Association and adhere to its code of conduct regarding how we handle sensitive data. If you are collecting data, you will need to have and display a Privacy Policy to let subscribes know how you intend to look after their data. 10

13 Legal considerations marketing is governed by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations of the Data Protection Act This states: Any commercial motives must not be hidden You must provide a valid unsubscribe mechanism You must list your company details on your s You must not use competitions to gather lists unless participants have also said they are happy to receive updates If you are collecting data you must explain how you will handle it AND provide user access, ideally in a Privacy Policy You must also be aware that by using the Send to a Friend feature, you may be liable if this is forwarded to someone who complains. Due to the Data Protection Act, no provider will be able to give you specific data on Send to a Friend apart from the number of people it has been circulated to. 11

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