The great white-listing lie: Part 3

In the earlier parts of this series I've looked at reputation and content, and how they feed into the deliverability issue, why you need to gain the trust of your recipients, and how all of this really balances out against white-listing.

To round off the discussion, I want to talk about some of the final touches to getting your emails in front of your customers: the right timing, well-managed data and great creative.

Timing

 

Given the realisation people actually manage their emails by using the spam button it makes you wonder whether if you consistently send your email campaigns at the wrong time, they will fall prey to the same treatment.

Firstly, when judging the best time to conduct your send, go with your gut reaction. Next test your theories with an enterprise-level reporting system within a top-end ESP that accurately shows when all the activity occurs.

You can also use intelligent time sending software which pinpoints when recipients are most likely to open your email. Ideally recipients should be engaging with your email campaign within the first few hours of the delivery so it’s clearly worth targeting them when they are going to be the most receptive.

Data

 

I accept this is an obvious one but you'd be surprised how major brands make mistakes over the data they use, or rather how they manage the data. Get this key part wrong and you really shouldn’t be surprised when you get stacks of complaints – or when you are quickly blocked, left, right and centre!

On occasion it’s a good idea to use brokered lists but that in itself is a separate discussion. This is about making sure that the organic lists you build follow a well-managed, single opt-in route. For example, when people unsubscribe, provide a facility that does it automatically and instantly.

A surprising number of emails out there try to draw out the un-subscribe process, stating: ‘your un-subscribe will take 5-10 days to be effected’.

It seems some brands believe they can make the most of this time period by literally blasting the recipient with emails every day until the unsubscribe is actioned. Seriously, don’t do it. If there’s one way to tarnish your brand, this is it.

Provide this unsubscribe facility, which should be standard in every ESP offering, and make sure it is instant. I believe that a click-through to a confirmation web page is sufficient; the need to send an email to a special address is somehow lacking in the assurance the end recipient needs.

If your data capture is managed through a double opt-in process then that’s perfect.

This method requires a welcome mail (confirmation email) to be sent to the user to check they are who they say they are. They simply click on a confirmation link within this mail and they're then validated.

This avoids the whole saga of people who didn't sign-up receiving emails that they then complain about. In short, double opt-in requires a bit more effort but is well worth it for the assurance that the data is perfect.

Creative

What does the creative have to do with deliverability? Well, it follows the same principles as ensuring the subject line and ‘from’ field are explicitly clear to the recipient, taking them one step closer to reading the email.

If the creative has been designed for the preview pane, with a fantastically crisp, powerful graphic and call to action appearing in this top area, end recipients will be encouraged to read the email properly. Again, all incredibly simple but it works.

Overall, don't consider email to be the lesser of the marketing channels. Design your emails as though they are being created for your best above-the-line campaigns (if you still do them) and I promise you will see the results improve and improve.

We've covered some considerable ground and have hopefully enhanced your knowledge of deliverability.

Of course, if you still manage your own internal email solution then you probably realise the magnitude of successfully managing your IP ranges and the amount of time it will take to get properly white-listed or simply get on the response paths.

You could argue (and I would say this) that this is exactly the reason why outsourcing is so successful and far more cost-effective. Whatever you choose to do, much of deliverability, as you now know, is in your hands.

To read the previous parts of this series, visit the archive