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Best Practices for Data Collection & Managing Your Email ListsCraig Swerdloff, CEO, LeadSpend
Data collection & hygiene best practices
The old saying that double opt-in is best may be true for some, but for others it can be harmful to growth.
This presentation will feature choices for data collection and data hygiene best practices.
You will gain a better understanding of the companies and technologies that can help, and the role of your ESP in your…..
Collecting Data
List acquisition List barter List rental Call Center Retail Promotions/Sweepstakes Buying leads Site traffic
Why do I care about data quality?
Inbox Placement Rate (IPR) is the rate at which the ISP’s deliver the mail received from you to their customers’ mailboxes.
IPR is determined by your sender reputation Sender reputation =
(engagement) – (complaints + bounces + spam trap hits)
How do you maximize list growth & quality at the same time?
What is a bounce?
Hard bounce: an unknown user at the ISP Soft bounce:
Are bounced records really bounced?
Do you have confidence that you (or your ESP) are removing bounces properly?
Find out what the various bounce codes mean and how you should handle them.
Bonus: Did you know that you can avoid most bounces before they happen? Find out how.
Why do bounces matter?
Bounces mean XYZ for your list.
You need to make sure…XYZ.
Keep in mind…
The three metrics that are most likely to reduce your IPR: Complaint rate Spam trap hit rate Unknown user rate
According to Return Path
Senders with better reputation metrics have cleaner lists. Unknown user rates above 1% for legitimate email is considered problematic and you should address quickly.
The Sender Reputation Report, 2011
How do you address Unknown User Rate?
Incorporate some form of validation on new data collection.
Remove unknown users (hard bounces) when you see them.
Mail at regular intervals or perform list hygiene before you mail.
Validate new data
Confirm email field Confirmation email Email Validation Service Provider (EvSP)
Remove hard bounces & handle soft bounces
Are you confident that you, or your ESP knows the difference between a hard and a soft bounce?
What is the policy for handling soft bounces? What is the policy for handling hard bounces?
In a recent discussion of deliverability experts and consultants, confusion reigned on the differences and policy for handling.
Bounce code confusion
4xx codes are supposed to represent a soft bounce 5xx codes are supposed to represent a hard bounce
Not all ISPs classify them correctly and not all ESPs process them properly.
The Email Experience Council (emailexperience.org) has a bounce code directory from the major ISPs: http://getsatisfaction.com/deliverability/tags/bounce_codes
Yahoo! Bounce Codes
554 - Message not allowed: DK Email not accepted because it failed authentication against your sending domain’s DomainKey policy
421 – IP reputation based temporary block 451 - A substantial amount of inactive or invalid
recipients. 553 5.7.1 – Spamhaus listing 554 5.7.1 – Content based
AOL Bounce Codes
552 Mailbox full 552 Message exceeds maximum fixed size 550 Mailbox not found 550 Access denied 554 RTR:BL - Permanent block due to poor IP reputation 554 HVU – Complaints 554 or 421 DNS – DNS errors 554 CON - The IP address has been blocked due to
unfavorable e-mail statistics
Cox Bounce Codes
Sender based– (452, 421, 554)
Message based– 552 - [$(_id) attachment extension is forbidden]
Recipient based– 550 - [recipient rejected]
Oops– 421 - [ESMTP server temporarily not available]
Blacklists– Spamhaus, SURBL and URIBL
Hotmail Bounce Codes
550 OU - Related to spam-like content or IP reputation, or for external IP blocking technologies. Examples: Spamhaus XBL/SBL & BM.
550 SC – Spam complaints 421 RP – Reputation or rate limiting
Key Takeaways
Bounce removal/handling List hygiene Communication with your ESP Etc. Etc.
More Resources
LeadSpend.com Deliverability.com emailexperience.org
