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November 30, 2005
FTC: ISP Anti-Spam Efforts Work
Spammers continue to harvest email addresses from public spaces on the web, but ISPs using anti-spam technology block the vast majority of spam sent to those addresses, according to the Federal Trade Commission, writes DM News. The FTC studied address harvesting, ISP spam filtering and the use of "masked" email addresses to prevent address harvesting of addresses. Addresses posted in chat rooms, message boards, USENET groups and blogs were much less likely to be harvested.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:08 AM | Permalink
November 29, 2005
Why Emails as Images Are Bad
Just a quick note to remind you why sending out an email that is 100% an image is wrong. Now for speed and simplicity, great, but for delivery and giving it an actually chance in the inbox, bad news. This is an example of some simple MSN.com/Hotmail image blocking. Love to read it, but I can't, and the fact that there is not an alt tag for the image or an image name, give me as an end user nada.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:02 AM | Permalink
November 28, 2005
Setting Deliverability Expectations
A good article from Clickz.com
The Importance of Expectations
BY Derek Harding, ClickZ.com
Recently, I've been working with two major corporations with the same e-mail problem. AOL tightened enforcement of its 10 percent bounce rate and 0.1 percent complaint rate target thresholds. This increases the pressure on marketers to determine why recipients who opted in to receive their mailing were complaining about those messages.
These mailings weren't sent to the usual suspects: rental, third-party, co-registration, or prior business relationship e-append; they were sent to the house list. All recipients were customers or prospects who explicitly and knowingly opted in to receive e-mail communications. Further, the lists hadn't been repurposed, that all-too-common process of sending subscribers something other than what they'd signed up for. All recipients had agreed to receive the messages they were getting.
So why were these recipients hitting the "this is spam" button in such high numbers? What was wrong with the process?
Expectations. Both these companies were making some simple, yet common, mistakes.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:10 AM | Permalink
November 23, 2005
Picking the Best Day To Send E-Mails
Should you e-mail your prospects on Monday or Friday, sometime in between or on the weekend?
Offering new insights into a question that has perplexed marketers since the beginning of the Internet, new data from eROI, an e-mail services firm, the "Q3 2005 Email Statistics" study found that the day of the week was not the only factor — beyond creative execution and offer — in determining e-mail marketing success.
"We decided to take a look at day of the week statistics by list size, and found that was beneficial in determining campaign value," said Jeff Mills, eROI e-mail analyst.
Read the Article
(After December 11, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 11:06 AM | Permalink
November 22, 2005
Most B2B Readers Don't Open Emails
Recipients of business-to-business emails rarely open their messages - they use a preview pane - and don't download images in emails, according to a new survey by email technology firm EmailLabs, which reports that 69 percent of B2B email newsletter subscribers frequently or always use a small preview pane, 49 percent look only at the first few lines of the preview pane to decide whether to continue reading the message; and 19 percent delete the email if insufficient information is displayed in the pane, reports DM News.
Now almost all of us that use a email client like Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc have a preview pane. This study is not bad news to me, or really new news. It actually helps me to know that I need to make sure that the call the action is above the fold, clear and compelling to take action. If done right, this is actally a good thing.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:57 AM | Permalink
Generating Qualified Leads in the Inbox
A little self promotion today. We had some great feedback to a recent case study for a new PSP game launch this past summer. The funny thing is that this site is still rocking and getting between 2K and 5K Unique visitors a day and about a 10% sign and and conversion rate without any additional marketing supporting it.
eROI’s Death Jr. website attracts and captures the gaming crowd; learn how this has boosted the game's sales.
In the case of Death Jr., a game designed for Sony's new PlayStation Portable (PSP), unique challenges included marketing the game -- and its unique, spooky storyline -- to a relatively small base of potential customers. (Only 1.5 million PSPs had sold in the North American market when the game launched.) Additionally, this would be the first Konami title marketed exclusively by the company's North American operations (previous efforts were managed from Konami's Asian headquarters).
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:01 AM | Permalink
November 21, 2005
Responsibility for Allies Actions
The recent settlement of a CAN-SPAM complaint implies liability by companies for the actions of their affiliates, writes ClickZ, pointing to a requirement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), backed by a U.S. District Court in Nevada, that several porn sites keep detailed records on affiliate marketers, obtaining a name, address and working phone number for each affiliate and sub-affiliate.
Also, seven days before a campaign launches, the affiliates must certify to the defendants how they obtained each email address on their lists, together with details of the message content.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:55 AM | Permalink
November 20, 2005
How to Hurt Your Brand Value in the InBox
As an email marketer, I watch everyone else in the space. Many of them do a great job at staying to task, using best practices, and making sure to focus on the number one task of education, resource and self promotion. There are two vendors out there that seem to either sell offers through their lists from either partners or just others that could benefit from reaching their subscribers.
I find it to be a bad practice to cross promote and cheapen the brand message of an Email Service Provider. To me it really is a bad practice to market in this way. Now that being said, newsletter sponsorship or partner spotlight could be a much better method to use in this audience. The reason for this is that if you are continuing to send bascially 3rd party offers during the month on top of your own newsletters and emails, it will eventually hurt your own deliverability and campaign success. I know that it lessens the value to me to get these offers when I expect to be getting something of value for my information and time.
This is also a good example of how GMail blocks images from those that Gmail deems as possible Junk.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:46 AM | Permalink
November 19, 2005
Wear Short Shorts Office Olympics Video
Out team at eROI (okay our CEO) really wanted to get into the holiday spirit and something went terribly wrong. Somehow, he ended up in short shorts looking like John McEnroe in the 70’s without the hair. This video is troubling but strangely amusing - check it out if you get a chance and let him know how you feel about it. It may become a living site with future Office Olympic Events (image chair luge, drunken trike races, garbage can hurdles, or even the dreaded printer deadlifts). But without your vote, it could die on the office floor.
Don’t forget to vote on what Office Olympics event we should do next. The “Drunken Tricycle Race” seems to be leading the pack, but don’t let that influence your decision. Check out the full site (if time allows).
Here is what some people have voted for as the next Office Olympics event:
Come up with your own event. Tell us what you want. www.wearshortshorts.com
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 6:45 AM | Permalink
November 18, 2005
A New Spam Civil War in the US
The first official challenge by legitimate marketers. We actually expected it sooner, but here is the first, of what I anticipate to be many groups joining the challenge.
Utah "Do Not E-Mail" Registry Faces Court Challenge
A TRADE GROUP REPRESENTING MEMBERS of the adult entertainment industry Thursday asked a Utah court to nix a recent law prohibiting e-mail marketers from sending promotions for material considered harmful to minors to e-mail boxes that can be accessed by children under 18.
The trade association, "Free Speech Coalition," argues that Utah's law isn't valid under the federal Can-Spam statute--which supersedes state laws regulating commercial e-mail, except for laws relating to fraud and computer crimes. The group is seeking an order barring Utah from enforcing the law.
The Email Service Provider Coalition, which represents mainstream e-mail marketing companies, also opposes the Utah law and plans to seek permission to file a "friend of the court" brief, said Trevor Hughes, executive director of the Email Service Provider Coalition.
Read Article from MediaPost.com
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 3:07 PM | Permalink
Why Doing Opt in Right Rocks
So we all have opinions of WalMart, Good or Bad. But what I want to talk about is what a great job they do at the opt in stage. This is one of the most important areas to nail even before delivery. If the opt in is clearly defined, expectations set with the consumer, and upon opt in, show show them what to look for and when in the inbox, as well as what actions they need to take.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:52 AM | Permalink
I "Heart" Email Frequency Plans
Now when you actually get an opt in and a detailed list of when to expect what editions it rocks. Not only do I know which ones I am going to get, but what they each cover. I can quickly go in and update my editions if I find I am not reading one of or the other.
Now with this in place, I am sure to sign up for more editions (instead of just one daily blast) and then regularly change them based on need.
Great email communication strategy and public facing frequency plan.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:42 AM | Permalink
November 17, 2005
Co-Registration and Bad Partner Practices
I think that opt in email rates are getting killed by co-registration practices. I love email and getting a page like the one below KILLED my desire to complete the process for this Northern California newspaper. I am there to interact with your brand and not that of 10 others.
I know many will say that co-reg is great for exposing your brand and gorwing your list from the efforts of others, but atleast don't make the form an opt out (checking all the boxes by default). Let me make the concious decision to take a moment to check a box.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:12 AM | Permalink
November 16, 2005
Spam's Affect on the Web
An Except from Bomb-Proof Branding By Seana Mulcahy
Users were asked about spam in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2003 approximately 25 percent said spam has reduced their use of email; just over 50 percent said spam has made them lose trust in the Internet, and 70 percent said spam has made being online unpleasant. The numbers peaked in 2004. Surprisingly, the numbers have dipped this year: 20 percent have reduced use of e-mail, 52 percent have lost trust in the Net, and about 68 percent claim the online environment is unpleasant, all due to spam.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:25 PM | Permalink
My Dad Can Kick Your Dad's Ass
Here is one that I love. Really shows that some of these anti-spam blacklists and service providers hammering one another. It is a War of Two Evil. They all are trying to profit from blocking everyone and selling a solution, with ZERO accountability, false positives and no answers to legitimate marketers. Maybe that is what we should do as an industry, sign up for emails from the for profit side of each and just start to report every email as spam and never answer anything. As many subscribers that opt in do just this and these sources will "never reveal" info so it is an ugly circular process.
Or even better.. as email marketers and ESPs why don't we create our own blacklist and give it to all of our clients, ISPs and others to use. Wouldn't this just be the same?
It is time for action. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Postini And The On-Again, Off-Again Spam List
By Jim Wagner from InternetNews.com
Anti-spam vendor Postini has looked at spam from both sides now.
The Spamhaus Project, a popular U.K.-based organization that maintains a database of spamming activity, placed two of the San Carlos, Calif., company's IP addresses on its Spamhaus Block List (SBL) last week after receiving numerous complaints of unsolicited e-mail from the company.
While the IP addresses were removed from the list the following day, the brief listing highlights the tensions that exist between the different entities that make up the anti-spam community.
Andrew Lochart, senior director of marketing at Postini, said the episode with Spamhaus is a tempest in a teapot. He said the incident demonstrates how real-time blackhole lists (RBL) (define) are a failed technology. Someone, he said, received a legitimate opt-in e-mail and had mistakenly labeled it spam, which led to the temporary listing.
Lochart said the company does generate its e-mail address list from interested people at events like trade shows or through forms on its Web site, but doesn't go out and get e-mail addresses illegitimately.
Read the Full Article @ InternetNews.com
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:49 AM | Permalink
The Triple Secret Handshake
Wow. What a great job Pricegrabber is doing for verifying opt in. This is the first time I have actually seen this practice in use by a consumer emailer. So when you opt in and create an account, they send you an email with a link, that also give you a confirmation code that you MUST use (copy and paste) to add a 3rd level of verification.
Here is the message. And it WORKS great. This is a best practice in email marketing that should be watched and used as it would keep an extra layer in place.
Welcome, Jim!
Your registration with PriceGrabber is almost complete.
Email Validation Code = 587S443c754R3demo
We have sent you this email to verify your email address. To complete this step, enter your Email Validation Code in the form provided or click on the following link:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/user_validate.php?vs=587S443c754R3demo
This will confirm your email address.
Note: You can either click the above web link, cut and paste the entire link into your web browser, or re-type the link in the address bar of your browser.
Do NOT reply, replying to this e-mail will not validate you.
Thanks,
The PriceGrabber Team
If you have any questions, email one of our friendly customer service reps at info@pricegrabber.com
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 12:03 AM | Permalink
November 15, 2005
If No Text, How do I find the Store?
Now I applaud the effort to recognize that not all purchases are made on the interent. We know what email campaigns can actually drive more people to offline stores. I love the fact that they added a store locator to the footer of the email, but maybe they should think about adding it to the top of the email and not placing it below the fold.
Text version (I do get HTML) as a back up default for wherever I get this email (could be forwarded to my Blackberry or another device) is the same as it not getting delivered at all to me.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 12:33 PM | Permalink
Lead Capture Best Practices Shunned
Now who does not like the GAP? Maybe you don't shop there, but as for a ecommerce site that works, they have it. My peeve here is that they are killing lead capture and the opportunities they have to grow a list. Most of us know that they have been updating thier sites this fall in planning for a large holiday run, but don't end my experience with a simple, site down page. This is just like an email campaign getting flagged as junk or not delivered.
They, or you, should look to add a sign up box on a page like this (if you HAVE to take your site down at any time) that says, "Hey thanks for stopping by, sorry we are making the shopping experience better. Want us to let you know when the MALL is open? Enter your email and we will tell you as soon as the doors open."
That would have helped, potentially grown the list and made for a better user experience. And what the heck does asking me to donate to the Hurricane Katrina effort provide to GAP?
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:27 AM | Permalink
November 14, 2005
SpamHaus? Credible or Crap?
This type of post really hits home with me. As an industry we all complain about these Rogue Spam companies that are out to eliminate spam by not being accountable to the companies that they might report on and block. I can tell you we have done the dance with many of them for clients and it sucks. SpamCop is one of our least favorites as they are very friendly when it comes to RELATIONSHIP building. But what kills me about them, just as you will see in the article below about another (spam organization) is that they are owned by a parent company that sells anti spam solutions and software. It is a racket and we need a group of equal partners on these watch groups from business, ISP, and Email Service Providers and even the FTC.
From Mark Naples is Managing Partner, WIT Strategy
Why can't we grow out of this?
Maybe it's because it's so much easier to foment fear than it is to communicate benefits. Anyone who recalls the huge solid waste crisis of the mid-1980s knows what I'm referring to. Most of you are probably too young to remember the "garbage barge" as a symbol of how we were all running out of places to dump our trash. Fear is a whole lot easier to communicate. Just ask "Scooter" Libby.
Which brings me to Spamhaus, and their cop/judge/jury/executioner site, which reminds me of f*ckedcompany.com, only slicker. While f*ckedcompany.com sold T-shirts and coffee mugs on its site, Spamhaus sells--you guessed it--anti-spam software! Some of their stuff is a real bargain too--at only $14,500 for the unlimited seats version of one of their filtering tools. Of course, that's a small price to pay for enabling users to avoid hitting their delete keys, right?
Why does anyone believe these guys--because it's easy, controversial, and because it panders to our base nature? If so-and-so is successful, they must be doing something illicit. Is that it?
Are we becoming nihilists in our industry? Things are great, so we expect it's a bubble. These companies are doing so well, so they must be doing something illicit...
Well, I guess I should admit that I'm beginning to take some of this personally. After all, my column in your inbox today is considered spam by one of Spamhaus' criteria, as are the recent additions to the MediaPost stable of columns. At least four clients of mine have been implicated in these scares over the years. But, I think that our entire industry is being somewhat scandalized by the bald-faced fear-mongering of these unaccountable web-based Witch hunters.
Still think they're credible? Then, feel free to buy their software. I'll be in touch with a bridge and swampland to sell you next Friday.
Mark Naples is Managing Partner, WIT Strategy.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:51 PM | Permalink
Email Still King in Light of Spam and Blocking
It is not surprising to me that over 70% of marketers are stating that they are relying on email marketing as the vehicle of choice for direct marketing campaigns. Even with spam, non delivery rates and the negatives that the media spreads, email marketing is still KING.
Now we do not espouse that marketers should drop other marketing efforts, as targeting and using other mediums are great too. Just remember to either start or end a marketing campaign on the internet.
Thanks to eMarketer for great data.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:22 PM | Permalink
Another No Text Email Example
As refenced in other posts prior, I love these big brand emails, and actually buy from them both online and offline. But please add a text version to the email, use some text and not all images and HTML. I won't even get into the fact that they send me ads each week featuring women's wear don't even take the time to segment or ask me if I would rather get men's ads. Now I would think that atleast you know what merchandise I am buying and could segment by gender. Maybe it is too much to ask. Leaves me to click (of course I do and this might be the strategy) to find men's clothing.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:16 PM | Permalink
November 11, 2005
Good Use of Email for Privacy Policy Change
An interesting email came in today from my Daily AM stop. It was a really good use of the email trust system, letting me know that the privacy policy changed and I should know.
Nice work Starbucks. But one thing that always bothers me, as an email marketer, is when an ESP adds thier URL to an email address and then the reply to is a CRYPTIQ address that gives me ZERO safety net.
From: "Starbucks.com"
To:
Subject: Starbucks.com has updated its Privacy Policy
Reply-To: "Starbucks.com"
Dear Starbucks.com subscriber,
We have recently updated our privacy policy to provide greater clarity regarding current practices.
We invite you to read our new Privacy Statement and our Terms of Use.
Thank you for being a Starbucks customer.
Best regards,
Starbucks Coffee Company
Please let us know if you wish to unsubscribe from this list.
Or, mail your comments to Starbucks Coffee Company, P.O. Box 34067,
Seattle, WA 98124-1067. Thank you.
Copyright (C)2005 Starbucks Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 11:29 PM | Permalink
Give ME some Text in my Emails
So I get quite a few emails each week from all sorts of companies that I have opted in for. Now I LOVE most of the big brands emails, that are image rich and have a clear agenda and call to action, but do they know that I am also getting these on my Blackberry? Now I do have a browser on my mobile device, but am I really going to react to a subject line and nothing else to read except a link to "View this as a webpage"? Not likely.
Now in keeping with this blog format, I would like to suggest that delivery rates for emails that are not sent in a multipart format that work can have a negative spam score. Not only does it not give me anything I can work with as a consumer, but it also it apt to get a higher spam score in my inbox as the ratio of text to images/HTML is going to be very HIGH. Let's work to get emails delivered and follow best practices on email marketing.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:07 PM | Permalink
User Interface Reporting in Email
If you don't look at the deep level of your metrics reporting for the emails that get delivered, you are only fighting half the battle. Make sure you are not only looking at conversions, but also a UI overlay of the stats (our emailROI platform does this automatically). If you can measure the areas of interaction on a campaign (like the first few minutes of a email marketing study we released today) you can see where the interactions are taking place.
Focus on the success and provide multiple areas to drive to the same place. You can see if you look at the larger image that all the links go to the same place, but we "give" people a choice of what they want to interact with.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:35 PM | Permalink
Spam war enriching ISPs: Report
Very interesting article that really shows that the ISPs are using the War on Spam as a selling feature. I think that this might show that it might be a huge marketing campaign by ISPs themselves. I do feel that it is a big problem, but the article below highlights that it is also a revenue machine the ISPs use.
From: JACK KAPICA Globe and Mail Update
Internet users might have won numerous tactical battles again spam, but the war against junk e-mail continues, researchers say, and is proving to be profitable for Internet service providers.
A survey conducted by Vancouver-based Prophis Research and Consulting Inc., an independent marketing research and consulting company, says the level of spam "continues to be a real and significant irritant."
But spam, said Prophis senior consultant Stuart Hemerling, has also become a potential selling point among providers. Offering effective spam-resistant e-mail service will help curb the desire of consumers to switch and potentially be useful in finding new customers."
He added that "there is as much of a battle on now between ways to effectively combat spam as there is against spam itself."
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 5:37 AM | Permalink
November 10, 2005
Promise Me I Won't Get Spammed
No not that I signed up for this, but with such a promise maybe I should. This was on the top of a new "viral" site that Playboy UK had at the top for lead capture (thank you once again Adverblog for showing me these campaigns). It stood out to me as something odd as why the heck would you have to promise that you would not spam someone? Maybe it is a best practice, but it also made me second guess why the heck I would give my email adddress to someone that could be associated with bad practices.
Take the high road and don't start spamming so you never have to publically make a promise to lessen the concern.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 10:01 PM | Permalink
Q3'05 eROI Email Statistics by List Size Study Released
Just an FYI, we released our new study this AM. Look for it on MarketingVox today, eMarketer Friday and others in the days coming. Read the overview below, and get the whole PDF at our site.
In Q3 of 2005 we notice that the middle of the week is the low point, as far as read and click statistics go. Noticeable high points in the week occur on Sunday and Friday for both stats. So from this quarter we reaffirm again that sending volume is inversely related to how reads and clicks are going to react with the one exception of Saturday.
Why is this shift in behavior occurring? As we close in on the holidays, consumers are beginning to think more of how they are going to spend their money this holiday season. While we anticipate these stats to start even out more as we come closer to December and through the new year, this behavior shows marketers are getting an early start and secure the consumer awareness and solidify a place in their, um, your, wallet.
Overall By List Size
This quarter eROI takes a different look at day of the week stats. When looking at aggregate stats we see less dramatic changes in read and click statistics and they are not always applicable to large and small senders. eROI decided to take a look at day of the week statistics by list size.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:48 PM | Permalink
E-mail Authentication Up Among Fortune 100
From MediaPost.com
MORE THAN 70 PERCENT OF Fortune 100 companies use one of the available e-mail authentication protocols on outbound marketing e-mail to help protect their brand and customers against phishing scams, according to survey results released Wednesday by the Email Service Provider Coalition. Fortune 100 companies had a 57 percent increase in the authentication of corporate e-mail domains, and a 27 percent increase in the number of .com and .net domains supporting Sender ID since July 2005, the survey revealed. In August 2004, the ESPC mandated that all its member companies implement one or more of the available authentication protocols for their corporate and affiliate e-mail. Since ESPC members represent a large majority of the ESP market, a dramatic increase in authentication by the Fortune 100 resulted.
Visit http://www.mediapost.com
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:43 PM | Permalink
Stats on the Email Wars from Bill McCloskey
In today's Email Insider newsletter, Bill McCloskey gave some great insight on email marketing from Stephan at MarketingSherpa.
From Bill:
I sat in on Stefan Tournquist's (of Marketing Sherpa) session on e-mail statistics. Here are some hightlights:
5 percent of the population reads their e-mail from a cellular device--and this trend is predicted to grow over the next few years.
49 percent of people think that hitting the "spam button" in their e-mail browser is the same as unsubscribing from the list.
12 percent of the population is using RSS feedsbut only 7 percent are actually aware that they are doing this.
78 percent of the e-mail population subscribes to at least one e-mail newsletter.
The average e-mail list grows by 5.2 percent a month and shrinks by 2 percent, leaving a net gain of 3.2 percent.
There is a drop in response rates, but conversion from e-mail remains consistent.
Click to purchase is up 28 percent. Orders per e-mail delivered are up 18 percent.
Last year 62 percent of the population said they were less trusting of e-mail because of spam. Only 53 percent feel that way now.
52 percent check their spam filter to see if it has caught any legitimate e-mail. But only 4 percent see this as a major problem.
78 percent of e-mail marketers don't think to suggest whitelisting to their audience.
One of the big takeaways was the wasted opportunity with welcome messages, which have a 2x open rate and yet are rarely used to further the relationship. Stefan suggested that one use of the welcome message is to provide a sample of what future mailings might look like, perhaps embedding the most recent e-mail drop in the welcome message.
The other takeaway was how important relevant graphics are in getting people to actually read a full message with more concentration. Using eyetracking technology, Stefan was able to show that, without a graphic, people rarely read the message below the fold. With an appropriate, relevant graphic, people followed the message through to the call to action.
Great Data.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 6:03 AM | Permalink
November 9, 2005
Great Opt In Practices
One of my favorite emails comes from Alaska Airlines each week. It is always relevant, timely and most importantly not sending me junk that I would not be interested in.
One of the practices I love is that they take the time to give you some steps you can take to update your preferences and profile, as well as delivery formats. Take note of this as I think that everyone should make it easy to interact with a brand that you love, as well as empower me to let them talk to me how I want to be spoken to in email.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:55 PM | Permalink
Email Delivery Rates Hurt by "Friendly Fire"?
In a recent study shown on eMarketer, Return Path has released numbers showing that the increase over the past 3 years or emails (opt in emails) that are not delivered are climbing. Now just taken at face value, this is alarming. But I could not tell if the study was on only large brand marketers, as this is what Return Path normally works with and not small companies. Either way it is something that we should all pay attention to. I would argue that these rates are due to some best pratcies not being followed (and using the "shotgun" approach to dropping to large unsegmented lists (from articles I have read).
Comments (2) | Posted by dylan at 9:46 PM | Permalink
November 8, 2005
Deciphering the Email Header
Great Article posted on Clickz.com recently. Really helps the novice understand the factors most email marketers don't pay attention to. I know we look at these daily and the importance of what you don't see is just, if not more, important as what you do see. If you are not taking time to send out your email campaigns in a test format and opening up the headers to look for errors, spam scores and more, then you are just fighting half the battle.
As e-mail marketers, we spend a majority of our time creating e-mail bodies. However, the most important part of a message may be something outside the creative process: the e-mail header, those generally hidden lines of code at the top of each message.
Now that the e-mail industry is using authentication, reputation, and accreditation, the e-mail header plays a critical role in an ISP's decision to block or deliver a message. Most of us, though, let our IT departments or e-mail service providers (ESPs) worry about the header.
With our basic walkthrough, you can interpret what the header tells you about message delivery. We'll also provide a couple reasons fiddling with some list software settings can actually hurt deliverability.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 11:28 PM | Permalink
Email Non-Delivery Rates by ISP
If you have a large consumer email list, it looks like by ISP these non delivery rates could really impact your email campaigns. Especially if you target the top tier ISPs. Now funny that AOL is under half as much with non delivery as other ISPs. I would have thought that AOL is a bigger block rate than this.
My thoughts on this is that AOL users are fairly loyal to an email address and do not change as often as others do with say an Hotmal or gmail account. These ISP portal emails can be quickly created and can be used as a huck and chuck inbox. Now not that everyone does this, but it is so easy if you are inclined. One other note is that many people also just type in junk email addresses to use at sign up with a hotmail or yahoo address. Say ASDF (look at your keyboard as these fall in a row) @asdf.com. We see this alot bu imagine doing it and adding an yahoo.com or hotmail.com ISP address.
Good email list management is important to a well performing email camapaign. Make sure that you are regularly looking at your bounce rates and unsubscribing poor performing emails. (emailROI does this automatically for you).
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 9:40 PM | Permalink
November 7, 2005
Using Kids as Enemy Combatants in the War on Spam
These state specific laws have been thought to be an issue not only in a costly manner for everyone to maintain, but also in a data security manner. Giving direct access to lists and suppression lists really just let's people know more people with valid emails, not ones to really suppress. It is good to see that the FTC is taking a stand on this issues, as it has troubled me for a while.
FTC: State Email Registries Put Kids at Risk
States that set up "Do Not Email" child-protection registries actually put kids' contact info at risk, according to a letter by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) addressing proposed child protection legislation in Illinois, but also apparently aimed at warning other states that already have or are planning to set up such lists, writes ClickZ. Utah and Michigan have passed legislation to create such lists, and the Illinois bill was nearly identical to those states' but has since died in committee.
The FTC says such registries - since they consist of verified email addresses - allow unscrupulous marketers to identify and sell to kids while legitimate marketers are hurt because they must spend time and money to compare their lists against the registries.
"The FTC doesn't have the ability to directly speak to Michigan or Utah unless asked. The timing of this letter is not coincidental and is entirely related to the Michigan and Utah...registries," Trevor Hughes, executive director of the E-mail Service Provider Coalition is quoted as saying.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 8:07 PM | Permalink
November 4, 2005
USPS Hike could affect email volumes
With the announcment of US mail rates going up again, it seems that email could be an even better way to interact with your clients from cost standpoint. Now just like traditional mail, you might not have your message get opened. But if you can track the delivery and actions, it seems to be better justified in the spend. This leads me to think that the value we place on delivery of email could justify the movement underway to pay for delivery with the ISPs. Many programs are under testing to actually pay the ISP for your opt in deliveyr on top of your ESP costs. Would you pay for delivery? I think that many would if they were getting more bang for the buck. With the cost of email delivery already low in comparision to email, getting that extra stamp of approval for basically certified delivery of email would be more cost effective that direct mail.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:55 AM | Permalink
November 3, 2005
Windows Live Mail Beta Released
Today Microsoft changed the email beta they had rolling for the past two weeks to a newly named version of the Windows Live (new category for all Windows products). This version is not much different from the first beta, except they are hyping the developer blog that accompanies it. The biggest thing to look out for is that the Junk folder could generate some false positives. Although it is not loading all the images in the email, it is previewing them in a limited state. They do make it hard to clear the folder without actually previewing at least one email. Not sure what impact this will have, but we will be watching.
Also of note is the release today that they will begin serving ads through thier ad network (think Google Adwords) that accompany the emails. So it is important to consider the text, html and images names that you might choose, as I am sure that like Gmail, they will serve ads from competition that can battle against your targeted message. I had thought that the new clean interface was nice, but that will all change when ads are served against it.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:49 AM | Permalink
November 2, 2005
Cryptic Messages and Spam Scoring
So far this week I have been watching the use of text based versions sent as an option for the HTML based emails I get each week from large national brands. Now I might be a different class of Soldier, as I use email as well as Blackberry, but why would you send out no compliant emails and fail to deliver the message to a customer. When checking the HTML (mostly images) based emails in some spam checking software we use to score emails, it seems that every negative point they get is due to too many images or HTML and not enough text in the email. Now while most feel that they have large enough brands to not worry about the ones that don't get through, don't you think that every customer would be important?
A good mix of image, html and text... not to mention always sending a text version as an option,is a best practice that ALL email marketers should follow if they want a message (even in the shotgun method) to get the best delivery and response rates.
Comments (0) | Posted by dylan at 4:44 AM | Permalink
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