Email Deliverability Tips from the Experts
Speakers:
Peter Mathea Aleksandra Pabian Irek RybinskiDirector of Anti-Abuse Compliance Communication
SupervisorDeliverability Manager
Aleksandra PabianCompliance Communication
Supervisor
Do’s and Don’ts of email list building
Where do we start?
Build an email list
• Ability to stay in touch with your audience
• Way of building a relationship and turning it into loyalty
• Expected high average ROI
Benefits of having an email list
Rules of email list building
Make a good first impression
• Be 100% open about the purpose of the sign-up
• Don’t hide your true intentions or overpromise
• Show the type of content subscribers may expect in the future
Email sign-ups
Be clear and build trust
What about offline?
• Paper forms may be a hassle to store and scan
• Consider using modern tablet and iPad apps such as Forms on the Go
Offline sign-ups
• Avoid using your own sign-up form to populate the list - This may lead to your IP address getting blacklisted
• Use: Contacts » Add Contacts instead
• Or all of the other import methods
• Do it regularly
When importing your list
Just don’t purchase lists
Treat them as you would want to be treated
Irek RybinskiDeliverability Manager
List Management
Bounces
• Identify the reason of the bounce (should be fairly easy analyzing the response code):
• If it’s an invalid address remove it straight away
• Mailbox does not exist
• No-answer-from-host
• If it’s a mailbox full give him some time, but don’t keep him forever
Bounces
• If it’s reputation based reach out to ISP and ask for the reason
• If it’s a tech issue (i.e. SPF or DKIM validation fail) simply fix it
Bounces
Unsubscribes
• All marketing messages need to have unsubscribe link, no questions asked!
• Make it visible and easy to use
• Hiding it will only anger your subscribers and they will look for a way to get back at you
Unsubscribes
Reengagement
• It only applies to inactive addresses and can/should be done right before the hygiene process
• Do something that catches their attention (break the pattern)
• Failed reengagement needs to end with removing that email address from your list
• With last message it’s a good touch to let them know how they can get back on
Reengagement
Inactive Contacts
• Do a regular list hygiene operations (3-6 months)
• Remove email addresses that are non-responsive, they probably got taken over/abandoned or were even made into spam-traps
• This increases your overall engagement rates, which then improves your reputation and deliverability
Inactive Contacts
Reconfirmation
• Reconfirmation is not reengagement!
• Should only apply to old lists you lost touch with (did not email for a significant amount of time)
• Things that need to be present and visible:
• Name of the company/person that owns the list
• When and where (what site, etc.) did the contact originally subscribed on
• What is this mailing list about (what content will he receive)
Reconfirmation
• Opt-out approach is not appropriate
• It should be only 1 message
Reconfirmation
Suppression lists
• Applicable for single campaigns
• Do not use it as a blacklist (leaves too much room for mistakes)
Suppression lists
Peter MatheaDirector of Anti-Abuse
Managing expectations
• What do you mean by “managing expectations”?
• Why should I even bother?
• Where do’s and don’ts derive from?
• So why buying a list is such a bad idea, again?
• FREE BONUS – above may extend to non-marketing emails
Managing expectations
• Who is a subscriber in permission-based email marketing
• Subscribers’ happiness factor
• Be honest
• Would I like to receive that email if I were my subscriber?
• You don’t know…? Ask!
“Managing expectations” explained
• Sophisticated email filters
• Happy subscribers = happy customer
• People who send your email for you (aka deliverability folks) care
Why subscribers’ opinions matter
Origins
• Best practices build on permission principle
• Email filters are supposed to help real people
• Subscriber decides what is wanted and what is not
• Metrics are like shadows in Plato’s cave
Origins
How NOT to manage expectations
• Buy a list
• Send tons and tons of emails a day
• Ignore unsubscribes
• Don’t care about bounces
• Get yourself blacklisted
How NOT to manage expectations To Do List
Take things further
• Transactional emails can be a flood as well
• Maybe notifying subscribers about EVERY news on a website is a bad idea… dunno
• Get your data from outside email stream
Take things further
Q&A
• blog.getresponse.com
• slideshare.net/GetResponse
• getresponse.tv
For more information visit:
Thank you!
Peter Mathea Aleksandra Pabian Irek RybinskiDirector of Anti-Abuse Compliance Communication
SupervisorDeliverability Manager