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Learn 12 of the most common points of failure that retail email marketers encounter when it comes to email deliverability and campaign optimization over the holiday season.
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12 Ways to Better Email Deliverability
Tom Sather Sr. Director, Research Return Path @tom_sather @returnpath
The Global Leader in Email Intelligence
Over a Decade of Email Expertise • Worldwide leader in email intelligence • 400+ dedicated email professionals • Offices in New York, Denver, San Francisco, Toronto, London, Paris, Hamburg, Sydney, and Sao Paulo
Proven Data Infrastructure • More than 2.5 billion inboxes supported by our certification program
• 26 million IPs scored daily by Return Path • Nearly 300 ISP partners globally Delivering Measurable ROI • Over 13 years of shaping and driving the email ecosystem
• Serving over 2,000 leading brands across retail/eCommerce, publishing, social media and financial services sectors
#1 Your Email Goals Hinge on One Thing
• Increase same store foot traffic • Reduce customer churn • Increase customer engagement • Increase reach by 10% • Increase sales 30% • Increase social media followers by 20%
Email Marketing Goals and Objectives: What are yours?
83% How much email worldwide is delivered to the inbox, called the Inbox Placement Rate
Delivered ≠ Inbox
Content 1. Text 2. Images 3. Links 4. Offers 5. Call to action 6. A/B testing 7. Spam words 8. Spelling errors 9. Image to text ratio
67 Reasons Why Your Email Won’t Be Effective
Delivery Plan 21. Cadence 22. Frequency 23. Volume
(–) Engagement 63. Unread 64. Delete unread 65. Unsubscribe 66. Complaints 67. Feedback loops
List 10. Signup 11. Data 12. Spam traps 13. Welcome 14. Segmenting 15. Aging 16. Hygiene 17. Spam laws
(+) Engagement 51. Reads 52. Opens 53. Clicks 54. Shares 55. Priority Inbox 56. SRD data 57. TINS
Reputation 27. ISP criteria 28. IP History 29. White lists 30. Black lists 31. ESP reputation 32. Shared IP
Security 24. Spoofing 25. Phishing 26. Spam
Bouncing 39. Unknown address 40. Undeliverable 41. Mailbox full 42. Auto reply
Authentication 33. SPF 34. DKIM 35. DMARC
Blocking/Missing 36. Bad seed data 37. ISP Firewalls 38. Unknown user rate
Filtering 43. Classification 44. Automatic 45. Personal 46. Graymail
Competition 47. Similar offers 48. Social updates 49. Notifications 50. Changing interests
Rendering 58. Tagging 59. Images on 60. HTML errors 61. Email clients 62. Mobile devices
Infrastructure 18. MTA 19. IP Address 20. DNS
Key Takeaway
If you’re not reaching the inbox, you’ll never have the confidence that your email strategies were a success or failure.
#2 He’s Checking His List and Checking it Twice
Your Reputation Tells Email Providers if You’re “Naughty or Nice”
List Hygien
e Complaint
s
IP Permanenc
e Engag
ement
Message Qua
lity
Infrastructu
re
But how do I know what my sender reputation is? www.senderscore.org
High Sender Score = High Inbox Placement Rate
Source: Return Path 2012 Sender Score Benchmark Report
Key Takeaway
Every business that sends email has a reputation score. Understand the factors influencing yours.
#3 Manage Complaints
Subscriber complaints can cause major reputation issues
Analyze Complaints for Trends
49,112,414 144,446 0.29%WEEKDAY SENDS COMPLAINTS COMPLAINT RATE
SUNDAY 6,133,897 13,000 0.21%MONDAY 5,744,281 20,758 0.36%TUESDAY 7,386,666 20,538 0.28%WEDNESDAY 5,854,336 28,293 0.48%THURSDAY 7,361,944 26,942 0.37%FRIDAY 8,753,814 19,822 0.23%SATURDAY 7,877,476 15,093 0.19%
Key Takeaway
Managing subscriber complaints is more than just signing up for feedback loops. Analyze complaints for trends based on date, time, vintage, source and demographics.
#4 Avoid sending to these three email types
The Facts: • Unknown User = Email address that has
been abandoned and is no longer is use • Mailbox Providers tell you when you
send to an Unknown User via a message they return (bounce code)
• Remove Unknown Users immediately • Indicator of poor data practices • Risk of being Blacklisted
#1 Unknown Users
Reputation Impact
The Facts: • Spam Trap = Addresses created to
identify poor data practices • 2 Types
– Recycled – Pristine
• Risk of being Blacklisted • Aged or Inactive data is primary
source of traps
#2 Spam Traps
Reputation Impact
The Facts: • Active = Email recipients who
regularly open, click, convert on emails received
• Inactive = Email recipients who have not taken any action on emails received for some time - often the source of complaints or spam traps
#3 Inactive Recipients
Best Practices: • Quarantine new data – send a Welcome Message • Make it easy for customers to update their information • Send to permission-based lists • Email your list regularly • Consider utilizing an email list hygiene vendor • Monitor the age and activity of your data – re-engage
and/or remove inactives
List Quality
The Facts: • Your subscribers are not homogeneous • Subscribers behave differently at different points
of the lifecycle within every email program • Segmentation helps break a large file into more
manageable chunks • Segmentation makes analyzing campaign
performance, targeting specific content, and increasing customer engagement easier
Using segmentation to clean your email list
Segmentation Ideas
Consumer Type Source Recent Activity
Recent Graduate Home Page Opens
Retired In Store Clicks
Married with Children
Banner Ads Website visits
Married with no Children
During online purchase
Site Login
Single Search Purchase
Key Takeaway
Email providers look at active users from a different perspective, mainly asking “is this a real account? Are they actively logging in and exhibiting behaviors of a real person?” A win-back and reactivation strategy is key to a healthy and engaged list. Subscribers rescuing your promotional email from spam sends a strong signal to filters that your email is wanted.
#5 Track Engagement
It’s All About Engagement
Email Engagement • Opens • Clicks • Shares • Purchases
Inbox Engagement • Regularly logs-in • Reads and sends email • Files email • TIS/TINS
ACTIVE VS. INACTIVE MAILBOXES MATTER MORE
“This is Not Spam” – Rarely used, But Highly Trusted
“This is Not Spam” and Deliverability
Source: 2013 Return Path TINS Report
Key Takeaway
Email providers look at active users from a different perspective, mainly asking “is this a real account? Are they actively logging in and exhibiting behaviors of a real person?” A win-back and reactivation strategy is key to a healthy and engaged list. Subscribers rescuing your promotional email from spam sends a strong signal to filters that your email is wanted.
#6 Keywords and Spam Filters
• FREE!!! • Only $ • Save • Save up to • Save $ • Sale • Trial • Deal • Gift Certificate
When writing subject lines, most marketers think they need to avoid…
…But Avoiding These Keywords is Mostly a Myth
BAD_CREDIT HTTP_ESCAPED_HOST DATE_IN_PAST_03_06 LOCALPART_IN_SUBJECT FREEMAIL_FORGED_REPLYTO PLING_QUERY FREEMAIL_REPLYTO RCVD_IN_NJABL_RELAY FREEMAIL_REPLYTO_END_DIGIT REMOVE_BEFORE_LINK HTML_FONT_FACE_BAD SUBJ_ILLEGAL_CHARS HTML_FONT_SIZE_HUGE SUBJECT_NEEDS_ENCODING HTML_IMAGE_ONLY_12 T_KHOP_FOREIGN_CLICK HTML_IMAGE_ONLY_28 TRACKER_ID HTML_IMAGE_ONLY_32 URIBL_BLACK
Top Spam Filter Reasons
Top Spammy Words
Key Takeaway
Content filtering and keywords are only used when you have no, or a bad, reputation. Use a tool like Inbox Preview to test for potential issues.
#7 Mobile
70% How many Email Subscribers will delete an email if it doesn’t render well on mobile
Source: ExactTarget
62% of Email Opens on Mobile occurred on Christmas
Source: Return Path, Campaign Insight
Apple iPhones and iPads were the winners
Key Takeaways Mobile use trending points to heavier usage for the 2014 holiday season 51% email open rate for mobile (December, 2013)
Christmas day saw mobile open share at 62%
iOS has 86% share of opens, Android 14%
Focus on Email Design Whether you take a mobile-first or responsive design approach to email, use a tool like Inbox Preview to ensure your emails look great on any device, and people won’t delete your email.
Use Mobile Data for Segmentation & Targeting Leveraging data from Campaign Insight, a large on-line retailer targets iPad subscribers with furniture ads after 5pm
#8 Subject Line Testing
Mailchimp: Subject line length has little effect on opens
What works for your competitors?
• August 5 – 29 • Pizza Hut focused on their $6.55 pizza deal
• Deal valid Mon – Thursday only
• Carry-out only
Better Subject Line Performance Using Competitor’s Data • $6.55 special promoted August 5 – 29 • 5 distinct subject lines and creative variations • “$6.55 of Absolute Greatness” had a 17% higher read rate than the worst subject line
110
100 108
117 108
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
Incredible Savings – $6.55 Large Pizza
Early Week Steal: Large 1-‐Topping $6.55
Carryout
Don't Miss Out! $6.55 Large
Pizza
$6.55 of Absolute Greatness
$6.55 Large 1-‐Topping Pizza
Benchm
ark = 100
Read Rate
Key Takeaway
Knowing your audience is extremely important for subject line testing. For better insights and faster testing cycles, look to your competitors to see what’s working for them.
#9 How the Blacklist Stole Christmas
What time of year are blacklistings highest?
And they can last a long time
• Monitor for and remove spam traps • Collect clean data up front • Remove Inactive Addresses
To prevent a blacklist from happening
• Use a blacklist monitoring system to be aware of issues before your customers or CMO does.
• Check email bounce codes for block reason and instructions for removal
• Before requesting removal, gather the right data, like: – List acquisition sources – List management practices – Mailing practices
• Be Honest • It helps to have a guide
But if it happens (and it always happens at the worst time)…
Key Takeaway
Blacklists affect your inbox placement rates in an extremely negative way. Prevention is key, but monitor and take action immediately if you find yourself on a major blacklist.
#10 I’m Dreaming of a Whitelisted Christmas
Verify Whitelisting Status
Verify your still on whitelists
Yahoo “Bulk Senders Form” http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/postmaster/bulkv2.html AOL Whitelist http://postmaster.aol.com/Postmaster.Whitelist.php
Key Takeaway
Whitelists aren’t forever. Verify you’re still in good standing with AOL and Yahoo! Senders with great sending reputations even see inbox placement issues. Whitelisting services can, and do, help.
#11 Email Frequency
How Frequency Affects Placement for Top Retailers
Average # of messages sent per week 5+ 4 3 2 1 Average subscriber spam complaint rate 0.005% 0.020% 0.026% 0.037% 0.571% Average retailer Sender Score 62 86 89 86 83 Average "This is not spam" Rate 0.40% 0.22% 0.73% 0.89% 1.07% Average Inbox Placement Rate 71% 96% 98% 94% 92%
Source: Return Path, Inbox Insight, October – December 2013
Manage Frequency
TotalEmails Unique Total Unsub
Received Custs Unsubs Rate1 24,339 2,677 11.0% 2%2 22,473 2,586 11.5% 2%3 437,688 2,519 0.6% 40%4 71,438 1,377 1.9% 6%5 51,080 885 1.7% 5%6 7,337 522 7.1% 1%7 4,578 504 11.0% 0%8 14,973 526 3.5% 1%9 458,268 1,840 0.4% 42%10 10,694 42 0.4% 1%11 312 4 1.3% 0%
Total 1,103,180 13,482 1.2% 100%
Total
Key Takeaway
Frequency can be a major driver for complaints, but subscribers may tolerate more promotional emails during the holidays, but don’t go from 0-60 overnight.
#12 Using Email Intelligence Beyond Email Marketing
Give the gift of email intelligence.
Q: WHO ARE LIKELY ADVERTISING/CROSS PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS?
A: Based on this chart, this could be a valuable partnership
Using Data from Email to Find New Valuable Customers
Q: SHOULD I BUY ADS ON FACEBOOK?
A: Based on this chart – absolutely.
Use Data from Email to Get Insight into Other Marketing Channels
Company A Facebook
Key Takeaway
Email intelligence can be used beyond your email program, and can deliver powerful insights that can inform business decisions.
Let’s Connect!
Tom Sather Sr. Director, Research
@ReturnPath @Tom_Sather
www.returnpath.com
Contact Us! http://www.returnpath.com/contact-us/