Improve Email Deliverability: Tactics for Handling Complaints and Boosting Reputation Sponsored by
Introductions Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter MarketingSherpa / MECLABS Primary Research @AdamTSutton Tom Sather, Director of Professional Services Return Path @ReturnPath
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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 email deliverability How Twitter and True.com improved inbox placement and conversion by focusing on reputation metrics
Current Trends in Deliverability
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.
Email Deliverability Tactics: 3-Dimensional View Removing inactive subscribers is the most popular tactic, with 70% email 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.
How One Company Does the Work
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 email, according to Ryan Morris, Director of Content. Delivery is vital
Tactic #1: Establish a proactive attitude Test emails with a seed list Scan emails with a spam filter
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
Tactic #2. Set expectations and meet them Continues with signup form Visitors are clearly signing up to receive discounts on activities in their area
Tactic #2. Set expectations and meet them Reinforced with welcome email Subscribers know what to look for in their inboxes
Tactic #3. Work with a proven template Fewer surprises from familiar layouts Problems easy to uncover; usually it is something tried differently
Tactic #4. Monitor reputation metrics; diagnose problems immediately Metrics Monitored: Spam complaints Bounced emails Missing emails Spam filter scores Placement rates Seeing numbers shift up makes us just as attentive as seeing them shift down."
Tactic #5. Clean list: Remove bounces Two types of bounces: Hard bounces -- these messages have permanently failed to deliver. Could be an invalid email 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
Tactic #5. Clean List: Remove complainers Complaint Department Zozi immediately removes subscribers who mark its emails as spam or junk.
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
How Another Company Does the Work
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 email newsletters Needed to identify and remove bad email addresses
Bad Email Addresses: Role Accounts Addresses maintained by a website or company for specific purpose. Examples include: info@yahoo.com admin@travelsite.com press@blog.com abuse@news.com Used by multiple people Commonly picked up by spammers
Bad Email Addresses: Syntax Errors and Typos Examples: Forgotten letter Misplaced letter Misplaced period Double period Miss the @ symbol donespinoza@verison.net nenosam7@hotmale.com s_cruz59@hotmail.ocm george52@mindsping.com zephirin@earthlin.net "I saw 500 different ways yahoo.com was entered into our address book. - Jack Hogan, CTO & Co-Founder of Lifescript, Inc
Bad Email Addresses: Bogus Addresses nope@gmail.com null@void.com asdf@yahoo.com nowaybuddy@getlost.com qwerty@qwerty.com email@hotmail.com Photo: photophonic at Flickr These are people who do not want to subscribe.
Bad Email Addresses: Spam Traps Two ways to find a Spam Trap on your list: Poor sources -- if you purchase lists of email addresses from disreputable companies Poisoning -- they can be entered by a malicious competitor or an upset customer
Two Years Later: Results More than 26 million email addresses checked More than 345,000 invalid email addresses caught (1.33% of all checked) Fewer emails sent to invalid or malicious email addresses
Your Reputation Holds the Key to Your Deliverability
Complaints are the #1 cause of a poor Reputation
High Complaints Low Inbox Placement Low Response
How Subscribers Complain About Your Email
Subscriber hits the junk or spam button in their email application
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
The email was voted as Junk during a Windows Live Sender Reputation Data poll.
Complaint Rate 4.00 3.50 3.00 2.50 2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 0.00 Complaints By Industry
Top 5 Reason Subscribers Complain And How to Prevent Them
1 This isn t what I expected! Use proper permission and disclosures at sign up
Allow subscribers to choose the types of messages they want to receive
2 These emails don t appeal to me. Only send relevant email messages
Cater to their preferences then, send customized messages
3 I don t know this company. Make sure the from address is recognizable
Also, update subscribers if you have to change your own email
4 I vaguely remember this company? Did I sign up for this email? Why am I getting email every single day? Check if your frequency is too high or too low
Ask permission before you change frequency
5 How do I get off this list? Make it easy to unsubscribe
Make sure you re Can-Spam compliant
How to Manage Your Complaint Rates
Sign Up for Feedback Loops
Perform a Complaint Analysis Regularly 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 3 26 49 72 95 118 141 164 187 210 233 256 279 302 325 348 371 394 417 440 463 486 509 532 555 578 601 624 647 670 693 716 739 762 785 808 831 854 877 900 923 946 969 992 1015 1038 1061 1084 1107 1130 1153 1176
Always Monitor Your Reputation
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
180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 90 75 70 30 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
Questions, Comments Send us your feedback: Adam.sutton@meclabs.com Webinars@marketingsherpa.com Tom.sather@returnpath.net