DMA Email Marketing Council Blog

Email Research from Return Path: UK Marketers Missing Opportunities to Engage

With market conditions changing so frequently it can be difficult to keep abreast of what is happening. During my time with the DMA I have signed up to a number of blogs and e-newsletters; most days my inbox is teeming with updates and useful information.

Working in a research function my eye is naturally drawn to new studies and reports that help with our day-to-day efforts. I am also keen to promote findings to members that are relevant to their business and that serve as best practice guidelines.

One recent new study that arrived in my inbox was from Return Path, the deliverability service provider. The report, Creating Subscriber Experiences That Maximise Returns for UK Marketers, offers some very interesting findings. Unfortunately, the picture it paints of how email subscribers are treated in the UK is not pretty.

I was particularly interested in the statistics around personalisation and the use of data to target messages.  In the study, Return Path researchers found that 85 per cent of companies that collect personal data on subscribers fail to use this valuable information to make their marketing messages and offers more relevant. 

This is alarming news for the industry.  First, because segmentation and personalisation is the bread-and-butter of any direct marketing effort.  Sending generic messages when you could be sending highly targeted, relevant messages just seems counter-productive. 

Secondly, consumers in Britain are pretty sensitive on privacy issues.  That said, there are plenty of people who see the value in handing over a few personal details in exchange for messages that are more helpful and personal.  But when the result of filling out a form on a web site is a bland email message that doesn’t speak to the consumer’s needs, the value equation quickly appears lopsided.  Consumers start to wonder what the hell we marketers are doing with all this data we are collecting?

The advice that Return Path gives its clients is quite sound and aligns with the advice we give DMA members: Collect only the data you plan to use, use the data you collect. 

The other surprising statistic I found is that Return Path's researchers failed to receive a single email from 39 per cent of the organisations they registered with during the five-week study period.  Not a single email in five weeks!  In a time of global economic crisis it seems mad that companies would ignore potential customers by not following up quickly with the email messages they request.  Either companies aren’t integrating new data into their system quickly enough, or they are sending the emails as requested but are being blocked from the inbox.  Interestingly, if deliverability issues are at play here (and it seems highly likely to be the case, at least for some of these companies) then these two statistics may be linked.  Sending generic messages can often lead to high complaint rates (subscribers hitting the “this is spam” button) which can lead to ISPs blocking all the email from that sender. 

Return Path has very good advice on this as well: make sure you know where your email goes.  Blocked email can’t generate any kind of response.

Those are just two of the juiciest data points, but this report is full of interesting stats, great advice and examples of what some of the best marketers do with email. 

You can download it at the Return Path site:  http://www.returnpath.net/landing/ukstudy/

Give your domain a health check

One factor which is often overlooked with regards to email deliverability is the health of a sending domain name. The actual 'from' domain plays a very important job when it comes to getting your emails delivered to your subscriber's inbox.

Apart from the (very important) basics, such as the power of brand recognition, there are many unseen factors to do with your domain name, which may be preventing your emails to be delivered as successfully as they could be.

The main things to be aware of are:

1: Authentication
2: Reverse DNS
3: Active sending 'from' address
4: Active Abuse@ and Postmaster@ addresses
5: Whether the domain is blacklisted

Let's take a quick look at each of these influencing factors:

1: Authentication

Authentication is a key factor to good deliverability and is growing steadily in importance and use.  The main types of authentication which need to be done on a domain are SPF, SenderID, Domain keys or DKIM. You can download a whitepaper by Return Path here which explains more about it.

2: Reverse DNS

Reverse DNS (RDNS) is a very basic, yet important factor in the health of a domain. Many ISP's will not deliver a message from a domain which doesn't have a RDNS and there are some blacklists out there that will put you on their list for this as well. You can check your RDNS at www.dnsstuff.com

3: Active sending 'from' address

Don't be fooled into thinking otherwise -the ISP's do check these, so make sure that your sending address is active and monitored. If it isn't, there's a good chance that not only will the emails not be delivered, but that you may get blacklisted.

4: Active Abuse@ and Postmaster@ addresses

Ensure both these addresses are active and monitored. ISP's, system administrators and blacklists all check to see if these are functioning addresses. It is also advisable to register the domain at www.abuse.net.                                                                                      

5: Whether the domain is blacklisted

This a very obvious thing to do, but you'd be surprised how many companies don't have it scheduled to do on a regular basis. A free service which allows you to do this is www.robtex.com.

Kath Pay
Ezemail

Another reason to become authenticated...The new Yahoo! FBL

It's official - Yahoo! has opened its Feedback Loop (FBL) back up again to marketers through Return Path. You can read the press release here.

So what does this mean? Well, last year Yahoo! closed it's feedback loop to new applicants - so having it back available to new marketers is fantastic news. Feedback Loops are an essential tool for ISP's like Yahoo! to tell marketers and ESP's about the complaint rate of their databases. Most reputable marketers and ESP's then use this information to clean their list and deliver more relevent emails to their subscribers.

However - this time there's a catch...In order to participate in Yahoo's new Feedback Loop your sending domain names need to be authenticated for Domainkeys/DKIM.

So - if you aren't currently participating in Yahoo's FBL but want to (and who wouldn't?), you first need to ensure that you are authenticated for Domainkeys and DKIM. Return Path have partnered with the UK DMA and we offer an Authentication whitepaper for DMA members to download for free or alternatively, you can ask your ESP to assist.

To apply for the Yahoo! FBL go to http://feedbackloop.yahoo.net/

Kath Pay
www.ezemail.com

Don't Feel Sorry For Yourself – Get Active with 7 Ways to Increase Email Revenues

There is a quandary in email marketing that all we email marketers,  despite our good intentions, have not found a way to correct.  We love sending email – it’s efficient, effective and inexpensive.  Our subscribers love signing up for email – the promise of great deals and timely information always sounds wonderful at the start.

Yet, most of the email marketing in our inboxes is pretty terrible.  It’s irrelevant, untargeted and poorly timed.  Why does this happen?  We want to break free.  We want to do the right thing by our subscribers.  We want to abandon the broadcast model once and for all and start to take advantage of email marketing as a dialogue channel, built and optimised around the customer lifecycle.

Sure, we email marketers have a lot of pressure on us right now – perhaps now more than ever.  The global recession, the tightening of spending by consumers, jobs being eliminated… there is a lot of stress in the macro-economic environment today.  Plus, there is stress in our micro-worlds… no one outside the email marketing world really understands what we do, how complex email marketing is or why it matters that we send subscribers messages that they love.

Now more than ever, we email marketers are being asked to deliver more than ever – higher revenue, larger subscriber files, more active lists and longer lifetime value.  None of our bosses will invest in this channel or support our efforts unless we can prove that the channel deserves more resources and more careful segmentation and content strategy.

Stop complaining.  Stand up for your subscribers.  Advocate for them – because the only way to increase revenues from email marketing is to create great subscriber experiences.

Here’s seven ways to do that now – which is a quick summary of what I presented at the DMA UK’s email conference the other week.

1.    Improve Relevancy in Small Steps.  We all know about the behaviour triggers that help make our programs more relevant.  Basically, you change your contact strategy and cadence to send more email when subscribers are more inclined to buy.  This is effective, but can require additional resources or technology.   What to do if you don’t have those resources or technology?  A great way to improve your programme without new technology or data integration is to think about a content strategy that improves the value of your email messages over time.  Adding value to just some of your messages, even SOME of the time, will improve response to ALL your messages.   So instead of just sending promotions over and over, replace some of them with messages that feel more custom, even if they are still sent to large segments of your file.  Insert a few tips in your next promotion or business newsletter.  Host a poll.  Say “thank you” to everyone who bought this past quarter.  Send a no-strings-attached whitepaper to everyone who visited the website last month.  Encourage everyone who uses product “a” to take a free trial of product “b.”  Help subscribers network with each other.

2.    Reach the inbox. There is no better way to boost response and revenue than making sure you reach the inbox consistently and avoid the junk folder or going missing altogether.  Reaching the inbox is based on your sender reputation – the “score” that ISPs like Orange, Hotmail and the others give to you. It’s based on your practices, including the number of times subscribers complain about your email by clicking on the Report Spam button.  First thing is to know your sender reputation by visiting www.senderscore.org or www.dnsstuff.com.  Work with your email broadcast vendor, IT team or a deliverability expert to address the root causes of deliverability failure. 

3.    Publish Serial Content.  I give you full license to abandon that long notion in email marketing that every permission grant has to be for long term content.  If the message and action you want someone to take is short term – optimise it!  Identify places in the customer lifecycle where three or five or even 15 messages over the same number of days or weeks will move the customer forward in the sale process.  For example, subscribers might welcome additional email messages during  the two weeks before a big sale, if there are really cool deals or offers.  Or, two months before a contract renewal is a great time to send subscribers information about how to evaluate success and integrate your products deeper into their operations.  New subscribers might welcome a 3-5 message series about how to  do business with you, navigate your website features or get the most out your new partnership.

4.    Show Up the Way You Intend. Test your messages and your templates to be sure they render correctly in the various email clients.   Be sure that they are readable, even with images turned off.  If subscribers can’t see your offer or find a link, they are less likely to download images at all. You will find that your messages are more quickly deleted than read.  Consider the many shapes and formats of the preview pane (e.g.: vertical, horizontal, large, small) when designing your masthead.

5.    Get Personal.  Be careful when personalising with first name, as some audiences do not welcome this.  For examples, Brits like their first name, but Germans do not, and Americans often find this spammy.  If you use someone’s name, be sure your relationship is authentic – customers can tell when a machine calls them by their first name.  More than just a salutation, however, think about how to adjust content so that it feels more custom to each recipient. Move content up and down your template for different audiences, featuring the products, promotions and articles that appeal to them most.

6.    Understand your Opt Outs.  Never get in the way of someone who wants to unsubscribe. However, polling subscribers at exit can give you good feedback for improving your programme relevancy. Also, offer alternate frequency and content options to retain subscribers.

7.    Gather Email Address Everywhyere.  Consider this:  The most important function of your website, customer service team and even retail operation is to capture email address of prospects, so you can continue to market to them.  Really.  Make the invitation appealing and put it everywhere prospects gather on your site – especially search landing pages.

Questions?  Need help applying this to your own programme?  Please email Stephanie Miller.

Stephanie MILLER
Global Markets Catalyst
Return Path, Inc.

AOL to use DKIM

Deliverability.com have just posted that AOL will start to use DKIM next year to authenticate incoming emails.

If you haven't as yet become authenticated, now's the time to do so. The UK DMA in partnership with Return Path have released an authentication whitepaper which is free to DMA members.

You can download the Authentication Whitepaper here.

Video in email

That age old question has raised its head again in the last couple of weeks – ‘can I have video embedded in my email please?’

Haven Holiday’s interesting case study on their recent video in email campaign has been cropping up, and throwing out as many questions as it answers. So... right on cue, here is my soapbox shout on using video in email.

Of course it’s not surprising that email marketers are keen to get in on the online video revolution. The website visiting public can’t get enough of streaming video.

But video in email is not reliable in the way that website based video is. It won’t work for all your recipients, and those it does work for, may well not be happy it did.

Extensive inbox testing is essential if you are embedding video. Some Microsoft email clients for example, use HTML tags that allow video to be played in emails. But others don’t. Only by testing your creative in all relevant email clients can you get a clear picture of how effectively your campaign will be delivered.

If your testing works well and you know clearly which domains will support your video and which won’t, you could then filter your campaign send by domain name, to control its successful delivery. But wait – what about email forwards? You can’t control them by domain, so the valuable viral element of your campaign could be lost, simply because of the unreliability of video.

As ever in digital marketing, the opportunities and developments are dynamic and exciting. I’ve heard of movements in the industry to let you insert java script into emails that will enable video to play. But again, this is likely to be specific to certain ISPs and not supported by all – so the need to test will remain paramount.

Animations in emails can also cause rendering problems. For example, Outlook 2007 won’t support animated gifs. Remember when using animations to have your key message or call to action on the first frame – however briefly it is shown – as Outlook 2007 will display this as the static image.

Beware too, the potential intrusiveness of video in email – particularly when sending to B2B lists where your recipients are at work. In a quiet office with the Boss hovering, who really wants to be seen watching videos at their desk?

The most reliable solution to all of these issues and complications is to use your email campaign as a teaser to drive recipients to a campaign micro site where they can click to view your video clip, at their leisure.

By including a ‘play video clip’ button in your email you can have can a powerful call to action. It’s practically a human reflex now to click ‘play’ when it looks like there is a video to watch. So marketers and ESPs who are wisely cautious but click-through hungry, can reap the benefits of the pull of video in their emails, without actually embedding any.

A campaign micro site with video can become the centre of your integrated marketing campaign, so you can drive traffic to it from a series of on and offline channels and really maximise your return.

Call to Action for Authentication by November 1st, 2008

In June's issue of Infobox, Craig Spiezle, from AOTA wrote an article: Restoring trust in email: role of state of email authentication and the internet trust ecosystem.

In the article Craig promotes a Call to Action for all brands to be authenticated before November 1st, 2008 in readiness for the Holiday Season. As a Council of the DMA we have decided to support this Call to Action by releasing a whitepaper as well as holding a webinar in September and running an event in late October.

To register your interest in either or both of these events, please send an email to Catherine Gibbon and we will keep you informed.

You can read more about Authentication at the AOTA's website: www.aotalliance.org/