Reason 9,785 Why You HAVE To Get In Subscribers’ Address Books
by Justin Premick on June 3rd, 2009OK, 9,785 reasons might be a slight exaggeration.
But the writing is on the wall for marketers who aren’t getting subscribers to add them to their address books.
Soon, if you’re not in there, it’ll be even easier for customers and prospects to ignore your email marketing campaigns.
Here’s what I mean:
Continue reading “Reason 9,785 Why You HAVE To Get In Subscribers’ Address Books”
Comments: 18
Why Did That Email Get Marked As Spam?
by Justin Premick on February 24th, 2009In the comments of our recent post on email whitelisting, John asked about how to deal with spam complaints and shared what his experience with them has been.
After looking back through other posts on spam complaints, I didn’t see one that fully addressed his comment the way I wanted to. And I’ve heard similar comments and questions from other people.
So let’s talk about it.
Continue reading “Why Did That Email Get Marked As Spam?”
Comments: 32
Answers to Common Questions about Whitelisting
by Justin Premick on January 29th, 2009A lot of email senders are concerned with whitelisting and spam complaints.
They’ll ask questions like:
- Are you whitelisted? How do I get whitelisted?
- So if you’re/I’m whitelisted, I won’t ever go to the spam folder?
- How do you make sure I don’t get spam complaints?
- How do I know who marked my email as spam?
If you’ve ever been concerned about your email deliverability, you’ve probably wondered the same sorts of things.
All of these questions can lead to useful discussions about getting your email delivered. But a lot of times, those discussions require more than a simple one-word or one-sentence answer.
I recently came across a handy resource on ISP whitelisting and feedback loops that gives us an opportunity to clear up some misconceptions and uncertainties that many people (perhaps even you) have had about email deliverability.
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Comments: 20
A Well-Done “Change of Address” Email
by Justin Premick on October 3rd, 2008There ought to be some kind of warning label: Changing your “From” address can be hazardous to your email deliverability.
Do it, and a few things can happen:
- All those people who added you to their address books (you have been asking them to do that when they sign up, right?) suddenly don’t have you in their address books anymore.
- People who had been viewing images in your (HTML) emails suddenly don’t because they haven’t yet permitted images to display for emails from your new address.
But if you have to do it (and sometimes you do), then you should at least do it well.
Continue reading “A Well-Done “Change of Address” Email”
Comments: 2
Confirmed Opt-In Protects Against Spamza and Other Malicious Sites
by Justin Premick on September 2nd, 2008In the many discussions I’ve had about Confirmed Opt-In, and why it’s key for anyone doing email marketing, there’s one point I’ve found many people just don’t believe:
When you run your campaigns as single opt-in, you run the risk of people or scripts maliciously signing up other people’s email addresses to your list – meaning you’re spamming them.
Unintentionally, yes, but it’s still spamming, because that person who you’re now emailing never signed himself/herself up to your list.
For many people, the idea that someone would use their signup form to sign up someone else’s email address just makes no sense.
Well, you’re right – it doesn’t make sense.
But it happens, sometimes on a grand scale.
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Comments: 11
List-Unsubscribe Header Makes Unsubscribing Easier and More Trustworthy
by Justin Premick on August 22nd, 2008Some people don’t trust unsubscribe links, even from legitimate email senders.
Others don’t want to be bothered locating the unsubscribe link in your email.
In both cases, recipients may click the “spam” button in order to unsubscribe – raising your spam complaint rates and possibly reducing deliverability.
Wouldn’t it be nice if ISPs made unsubscribing easier and more trustworthy for users (at the same time reducing your complaint rate)?
One major ISP is already doing so.
Continue reading “List-Unsubscribe Header Makes Unsubscribing Easier and More Trustworthy”
Comments: 25
The Ugly Truth About Buying Email Lists
by Justin Premick on July 29th, 2008Experience, as the saying goes, is the best teacher.
Unfortunately, sometimes that experience is really painful.
This is never more true than when a well-intentioned business, eager to grow, gets suckered into a “quick fix” by someone offering them an inexpensive “shortcut” to building their email list.
I recently came across an example of someone who learned a hard lesson about email marketing, list-building and email deliverability…
Continue reading “The Ugly Truth About Buying Email Lists”
Comments: 32
Asking Subscribers To Whitelist You: Is It Ever Too Late?
by Justin Premick on July 18th, 2008United Airlines doesn’t think so.
I just got an email from them asking me to add the address they use to send email marketing campaigns to my address book.
The thing is, I’ve been getting emails from them for a while now. Years, I think. And as far as I can tell, they’ve done a good job of getting to my inbox.
Continue reading “Asking Subscribers To Whitelist You: Is It Ever Too Late?”
Comments: 28
AOL Clarifies Its Requirements and Recommendations
by Marc Kline on April 29th, 2008It really does make sense for ISPs to want to help email senders to get messages through to users who want them.
But “who wants them” is more complex than “anyone who filled out my sign up form” in an age where message relevancy, bounces, complaints, and authentication increasingly way in.
Just today, AOL announced two new or revised documents they’ve published that should give a firm understanding of both what they suggest strongly as well as what they require.
Your ESP should help you take care of most of the requirements they list, since most are technical or procedural in nature. A quick read of the suggestions validates recommendations you’ll find being expressed in the permission only email community over and over again.
It’s also nice to see where we’re on the same page with those who decide what happens with our email. This type of transparency helps everyone but those who don’t adhere to the standards.
Comments: 10
Comcast Added to Feedback Loop System
by Marc Kline on April 23rd, 2008
Since our messages’ relevance to subscribers is crucial to the deliverability of our messages, knowing how they respond to them is important.
Opens and clicks tell us some things, like the rate at which our subscribers positively respond to messages. But at best, that’s only half of the story.
That’s why we’re glad to be a part of Comcast’s new feedback loop system.
Continue reading “Comcast Added to Feedback Loop System”
Comments: 2
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