9 Things Every Marketer Must Know About Email
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THINGS EVERY MARKETER MUST KNOW ABOUT EMAIL with Greg Kraios & Chris Arrendale Inbox Pros TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS 1 Deliverability Branding 3 2 Shared IP vs. Dedicated IP 7 3 Feedback Loops 13 4 No-Reply's 18 5 Setting Subscriber Expectations 21 6 Single Opt-In vs. Double Opt-In 29 7 Permission Marketing 37 8 Email Authentication 44 9 Email Throttling 50 250ok.com | InboxPros.com 2 Your domain is your identity. Write that down on a Post-It Note and stick it to your monitor. Now repeat after us, “my domain is my identity.” DELIVERABILITY It’s the identity that your customers, the recipients of your marketing and transactional messages, have come to trust, or believe they can. It’s this trust that you must BRANDING: YOUR guard as if your business depends on it because it often DOMAIN IS YOUR does. How so? In the 2015http://www.pardot.com/blog/the-2015-email-marketing-landscape/ State of Marketing Report, the Salesforce survey of 5,000 marketers revealed 20% of IDENTITY the audience reported their business primary revenue source is directly linked to email operations. Those people saying email is dead? Tell them to put that stat in their pipe and smoke it (in locations where that’s legal, of course). So, in an eort to get your identity in order, we are going to focus on the Display Name or Friendly From, From Address, and the links used within the email. EMAIL, STILL NOT DEAD 3 1 | DELIVERABILITY BRANDING THE INBOX EXPERIENCE The Friendly From, subject line, and preview text are the In a perfect world, an intuitive and consistent first connections your message has with a subscriber. It’s Friendly From should: an email’s first moment of truth. Now, consider this - the • Reinforce recipient trust in your email average email user receives 215 emails per day (http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Email-Statistics-Report-2015-2019-Executive-Summary.pfhttp://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Email-Statistics-Report-2015-2019-Executive-Summary.pdfThe channel https://www.verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/domain-name-search/index.xhtmlRadicati Group). It’s an email deluge out there, so clearly identifying yourself and purpose helps you cut through • Instantly provide insight as to the inbox noise. nature of the message you’re sharing • Improve the odds of a message getting discover by a subscriber that’s located somewhere other than in their primary inbox (i.e., promotions tab, junk, trash) • Increase the odds the subscriber will add your email address to their address book (“whitelisting”/ ”safe listing”) • Help subscribers search, sort, and archive messages • Ultimately, improve the likelihood of an Friendly From Subject Line Preview Text open and a better brand experience Example of the Gmail mobile experience 250ok.com | InboxPros.com 4 1 | DELIVERABILITY BRANDING Along the same lines, a branded and appropriate From Gmail, Yahoo!, and AOL can aect the deliverability of Address can also be crucial for getting your subscriber emails sent by various email service providers (ESPs), so to open the email. Choose a From Address related to our recommendation is to use a domainhttps://www.verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/domain-name-search/index.xhtml you own. the mail stream (e.g., support, billing, promotions) and Neither you or your organization have one? Learn how don’t change it. In addition to your customers, internet to register a domain. After all, your domain is your service providers (ISPs) prefer to see stability in the identity, right? From Address. LEGAL STUFF For those mailing to U.S. subscribers, there is a non-negotiable requirement that your From Address and Reply-To Address “must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message,” according to the https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-businessCAN-SPAM legislation. Example of the From Address Sending to subscribers in the E.U.? Disguising or concealing the identity of the sender on whose behalf USING A FREE EMAIL SERVICE ADDRESS the communication mailed is strictly prohibited. Canada FOR YOUR FROM ADDRESS requires that the sender must identify itself and the If you use a free email service for the address you persons on whose behalf a commercial electronic provide in the From Address field, a warning may appear message is sent. We’re not attorneys, so we recommend that recommends registering for a domain. The DMARC you consult someone who is when setting up your email http://kb.mailchimp.com/accounts/email-authentication/about-dmarc authentication policies for some free email services like program. 250ok.com | InboxPros.com 5 1 | DELIVERABILITY BRANDING PREVIEW TEXT BRANDED EMAIL LINKS While we're trying to stay on topic with domain branding, Finally, branded email links are also important in making we had to mention preview text - the text that your customers feel comfortable clicking on links. When immediately follows the subject line. Again, this is your your subscribers hover over a link in the content, ensure email's first moment of truth in the inbox, so you need to that the link is branded with your domain, or a optimize the preview text when possible. subdomain, and not a shared domain provided by a third party. Most ESPs have the ability to apply custom Our friends at Litmus did a nice job explaining domains for link tracking. This type of link not only helps https://litmus.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-preview-text-supportpreview text in detail and created a list of email clients with any shared link reputation factors, but it reinforces that display preview text. trust. Example of Preview Text 250ok.com | InboxPros.com 6 An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical number assigned to any device connected to the Internet. When it comes to sending mail, your IP address a single dedicated IP address at places like SendGrid or allows ISPs to identify you and your mail server. SparkPost is a drop in the bucket compared to the piles DELIVERABILITY of cash you burn on PPC on a daily basis. When you hit send, your email is transmitted from your IP address to the ISP’s receiving mail server, who then And let’s not forget your transactional mail – password DECISIONS: decides whether or not to accept your message based resets, order confirmations, shipping notifications – that your IP’s reputation, sending practices, etc. These you depend on to minimize customer support inquiries SHARED IP VS. factors directly impact whether you land in the inbox, and optimize the brand experience. If email is your spam, or get blocked altogether. A clean IP doesn’t primary driver of communication and critical to revenue, guarantee inbox placement, as the journey an email this is not the place to be penny-wise. For most DEDICATED IP takes is complicated, but you get the picture. businesses, cost should not be the driving factor in the decision-making process. As you consider your IP options, know you’ll use a shared IP, a dedicated IP, or a pool of dedicated IPs. LET’S GET THE COST CONVERSATION OUT OF THE WAY If messaging and communication is important enough to the success of your business, and you step back and look at the overall budget of your marketing programs, you’ll see that the extra $20/month or so you'll spend on 7 2 | SHARED IP VS. DEDICATED IP a single dedicated IP address at places like SendGrid or senders with inconsistent sending behaviors (e.g., SparkPost is a drop in the bucket compared to the piles seasonal senders). The downside of the shared IP is that of cash you burn on PPC on a daily basis. pooling together with other senders leaves you with $44 ROI limited power to influence the sender reputation and it And let’s not forget your transactional mail – password exposes you to greater risk based on the sending resets, order confirmations, shipping notifications – that behaviors of your IP neighbors. you depend on to minimize customer support inquiries ON EVERY and optimize the brand experience. If email is your Life on a shared IP tends to weaken performance for the primary driver of communication and critical to revenue, best senders and improve performance for lower quality this is not the place to be penny-wise. For most senders. That being said, the ESPs of today are businesses, cost should not be the driving factor in the extremely skilled at uncovering and shutting down decision-making process. $1 abusive senders, and getting even better at predicting bad behaviors before they happen. Bottom-line: If you are a small, irregular or infrequent INTRO TO SHARED IP SPENT ON sender, the standard shared IP environment at most The shared IP environment involves a series of IP top-level ESPs is a great option. Also, if you have higher addresses used to send mail from a single organization EMAIL than average hard bounce rate (3%+), the shared IP or a group of unrelated organizations. This group of IPs environment is a safer place for you. is also known as the “shared IP pool.” The shared IP is Source: Direct Marketing News 2015 If messaging and communication is important enough to the entry-level environment oer by most ESPs. the success of your business, and you step back and look at the overall budget of your marketing programs, Shared IPs are often used to group the outbound mail you’ll see that the extra $20/month or so you'll spend on delivery of multiple, low-volume senders or smaller 250ok.com | InboxPros.com 8 2 | SHARED IP VS.