Posts filed under 'Deliverability'
Compliance 101 – Deliverability best practices
Here at SimplyCast, deliverability is a main concern.
We have mentioned it before on this blog but we want to remind everyone again. Deliverability is way too important to overlook and our Compliance and Deliverability team wants to help you get as many emails to the inbox as you can.
Below are a few things that we do to help increase the deliverability of each mailing sent through SimplyCast:
- SimplyCast’s Deliverability Team communicates with ISPs to build strong relationships, and resolve issues quickly and efficiently when they arise.
- We abide by a strict Anti-Spam Policy.
- Our team continuously monitors our IPs reputations, contacting clients who fail to comply with our Terms and Conditions.
- SimplyCast’s Marketing Team actively updates this blog and adds FAQ’s to help clients improve sending practices and increasing deliverability rates. For example: Key words which could be interpreted as spam, tips to creating good subject lines and how to maintain good list hygiene.
- SimplyCast’s Deliverability Team also implements a three strike policy. If a client receives “three strikes” we unfortunately have to terminate them, protecting deliverability rates for all our clients.
Here are some things you can do to help:
1. To ensure good deliverability you must have double-opt in email lists.
2. Have your clients re-opt-in to your lists at least twice a year to remove unused addresses, or addresses that may have turned into spam traps.
3. Have good “list hygiene” – Low number of complaints, removing soft bounces.
4. Include an easy-to-find unsubscribe link, so you do not receive unwanted complaints.
5. Create good subject lines, do not use profanity or have content that doesn’t match the subject line.
6. Inform your recipients how often you will be sending and be consistent.
7. When creating HTML campaigns include both text and HTML. Campaigns with large amounts of HTML are likely to be observed as spam, thus not being delivered to the recipient’s inbox.
8. Ensure your “from address” is consistent and does not misrepresent you.
For more tips on deliverability please email our team at deliverability@simplycast.com.
Add comment February 12, 2010
Complying with Can-Spam – A must read!
An important reminder direct from SimplyCast’s Compliance department!
The Can-Spam Act of 2003 is a law which applies to “commercial electronic mail message(s)”. As an email marketer it is important to comply with this act to avoid penalties and fines.
How does SimplyCast ensure compliance?
1. Ensures an “opt-out” option is included and functional.
2. Ensures there is a physical address included.
3. Processes unsubscribed recipients.
4. Investigates suspicious accounts which may be sending to non opt-in lists, and immediately terminates accounts if they violate our anti-spam privacy.
How can the client ensure compliance?
1. Include a valid physical address.
2. Do not use purchased or harvested lists.
3. Keep your mailing lists clean.
4. Only send to recipients which have “opted-in”.
5. Include a good subject line. Do not mislead the recipient.
6. Have a valid “from address” – do not use donotreply@ addresses, or email addresses that misrepresent you.
By complying with the Can-Spam Act, ISPs, ESPs and recipients will be exceptionally happy. This will please you as well because there will no longer be frightening messages from recipients or ISPs blocking your mail. That all adds up to a more positive return on deliverability.
If you would like to learn more about compliance and the Can-Spam Act, feel free to email deliverability@simplycast.com.
Add comment February 2, 2010
Go organic with email marketing
The trend of eating organic food and buying organic home products has grown tremendously over the past few years, being both beneficial to your health and the environment.
Did you know you can also go organic with email marketing? This will also be beneficial to you because it will increase deliverability rates, increase click through rates, lower complaint rates and much more. So how can you be organic with email marketing?
To start, create lists by using opt-in (preferably double-opt in) to make sure the recipient wishes to receive your email. Then they will likely do their part and whitelist you in their address book allowing your mail to go directly to their inbox.
Next, it is a good practice throughout the year to keep your lists clean of soft bounced emails. Check out this link for helpful tools to show you how to clean your lists.
Finally, once a year send an email to have your recipients confirm that they still want to be on your mailing list or to be able to change the frequency of emails. For example only sending one newsletter per month rather than two or three per month so that you do not end up receiving unwanted complaints.
Start 2010 by going organic with these three simple steps and experience a great year of increased deliverability!
Add comment January 13, 2010
Simple ways to improve sales with email marketing in 2010
As we wind down the year (the decade!), many of us are already thinking about 2010 and how to improve business and increase sales. If you are just starting out with email marketing, here are a few really simple ways to grow your business.
1. Invite customers to sign up. When a customer completes a purchase, invite them to sign up for your newsletter. Don’t trick them or sign them up without permission. By sticking to this simple practice, your list will grow for sure.
2. Invite everyone to sign up. Offer free shipping or special offers to anyone who signs up for your newsletter. Make it worth it to them.
3. Promote whitelisting. When someone signs up for your newsletter, give them clear instructions for adding your newsletter’s “From” address to their address book. That makes it less likely that your email will land in the junk folder.
4. Write a good subject line. Don’t use the word “Free” in your subject line if you can avoid it. Write a clear and compelling subject line like ‘Purchase Before Dec. 15th – No Shipping Charges’.
5. Include your company name in the subject line. Since customers already know of you and most likely trust you, make it easy for them to spot the email.
6. Put your main offer or promotion above the fold. Make sure that someone previewing your email in their email client’s preview pane can see and act on the offer right there without any scrolling. Don’t make them hunt for it.
7. Email regularly. Send out an email at least once a month. If your customers start abandoning the list, you might be sending too often. The most important thing is to make sure you stay in touch with customers and don’t let them forget who you are.
8. Use a reputable email provider. Use SimplyCast of course! We have strong relationships with most service providers to make sure that you don’t get blacklisted. Basically that means more of your emails will get to there they should.
9. Include a clear unsubscribe option.
10. Include a clear forward to a friend option.
11. Include your company’s physical address in the email. This builds trust and proves you are legit.
12. Include easy ways for customers to share your email on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
To learn more about SimplyCast’s email marketing service and how we can help you grow your business, try us out today or contact our sales team for more information.
Happy New Year everyone.
Add comment December 29, 2009
Design tips for the email marketer in all of us
With it being the holiday season, many of us are turning down the email marketing engine and letting it cool off until the New Year. But just because you are not creating and sending right now, doesn’t mean you can’t be thinking about how to make your next email look even better (and in as many browsers as possible).
Because I sit just down the hall from our wonderful customer care team, I know for a fact that many of you call in asking for advice on email design and why it is not looking the way you thought it would.
Did you know there are more than 50 different email clients out there with each offering multiple ways to view emails? Now you know why it is very important to try your best to get your email to render properly in as many clients as you can.
Wait, someone else just called in asking about design. I better get this post up fast.
Here are a handful of tips that are sure to help any email designer improve their next campaign.
Overall design tips
Keep email width under 600 pixels – This is a general rule as the preview pane for many email clients doesn’t get much wider than that. It is also the limit when using the editor within SimplyCast.
Think above the fold – There is nothing wrong with your email being full of great content but it should be your goal to make it so your readers don’t need to scroll down to see it. Some will read all the way to the bottom but most will skim the beginning and move on. Park all the important info at the top of an email and don’t forget all those people on their smart phones. The key aspects of the email include logo, call-to-action, navigation, primary subject matter, etc.
Short and sweet – Don’t overload your email with content that does not need to be there. Use the email as a tool to drive readers to your website or landing page. It is all about giving them a taste of what you have to say followed by a call-to-action. This is also valuable for tracking purposes since you can track how many people land on a page.
Keep it simple – Don’t spend all day designing a HTML masterpiece that looks like it was made in Hollywood and expect everyone to see it the way you hope they will. In most cases, the more difficult your email is to code, the more difficult it will be to see across all of the email clients. If you are having problems getting things to work the way you want, don’t forget to contact SimplyCast’s team of code magicians for assistance.
Speak of the wonderful world of HTML…..
HTML Do’s and Don’ts
Hand-coded emails are best – Many simple HTML editors often will add a pile of extra code that email clients don’t like so much and can cause your email to display poorly. A great practice to get in the habit of doing is pasting your content into notepad first before you enter it into the editor. This will strip out any unwanted code. Microsoft Word, for example, has a bad habit of adding all kinds of stuff you don’t want.
Tables are the way to go – Want a foolproof way to ensure your email will render correctly across all email browsers? Try using tables. Before you type anything into the editor, just insert a table (just one box will do) and enter your content within. This really helps control the size and alignment of your email.
Flash is not cool – Most email clients have the option to view all rich media platforms turned off by default. That means most people will never see that cool video or moving logo that you made. Instead provide a link to view your creation on a custom landing page.
Avoid Javascript and other dynamic scripts – Not much to say here. Most email clients will not allow these scripts to function so there is no need to even try. Don’t use them and all will be good.
Avoid Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) – Many email clients strip out CSS or over-write it. That means a lot of hard work that will never get seen. Even though the use of CSS is acceptable in email, there are guidelines you need to follow. Simple attributes like text style, colour, and sizing are usually okay and acceptable across the majority of email clients. It is when you start defining things like spacing, margins and other positional elements that will get you in trouble.
Don’t embed images – There is no reason to even try this if you are using SimplyCast. We will host all of your images for you. To learn more about the do’s and don’ts for using images in emails, check out this post.
Still have questions or not sure why your email is giving you a hard time in the rendering department? Contact our customer care team right now.
Hoping you and your HTML have a happy holidays!
Add comment December 16, 2009
Important information when using a dedicated IP address
As an email marketer the one endless battle you face every single day is deliverability. Whether you’re sending a personal email or a bulk customer communication, electronic messages are frequently intercepted, filtered, erroneously labeled as spam, bounced or returned to the sender as undeliverable.
Needless to say, it can be a real pain in the butt.
Fortunately, one option that is available to you when using SimplyCast’s email marketing service is to send your emails through a Dedicated IP address. What does this mean?
A dedicated IP address is one that is used only by you or your company to send the emails from. Dedicated IPs are static and do not change and since the IP does not change, the history and reputation of the IP belongs to the customer using it.
This does not mean you can stop worrying about deliverability. Even with a dedicated IP, deliverability is not as easy as transmitting an email message from one server to the recipient’s server and hope it will reach the intended inbox. It involves an understanding of industry best practices and adhering to legal/compliance requirements etc. to get your emails delivered.
When using a Dedicated IP you must understand Reputation: Internet Service Providers (ISPs) filter spam based on many factors like the private IP address reputation. Building a solid reputation using a Private IP takes time, and the only way to build it is by sending legitimate emails and following best practices. After 3-6 months of sending legitimate emails, cleaning your lists and avoiding complaints, your reputation will be top notch. The great news is you control this because with a private IP address your reputation is only impacted by your email marketing practices.
Think about it from an ISP’s point of view. They are sitting there one day monitoring the emails flying around and all of a sudden this brand new IP starts sending 100,000 emails out of nowhere. It will trigger a red flag the same way a credit card company investigates a possible stolen card. Even though you are one of the good guys, to the ISP you look like someone sending spam.
Over time once the ISP sees a regular pattern of sending from an IP, then they will trust it and that is when open-rates will return to what they used to be if you were on a shared IP for example.
So in conclusion, if you choose to upgrade to decided IP address, this does not automatically mean all your emails will reach your recipients inbox. You must think of your new IP as an intern that just graduated from college. They are full of promise and have the skills to do the job but they need to earn the trust of the company first before being hired and moving up the corporate ladder. If they moved into the corner office on day one, red flags would be going off and everyone would be complaining.
Take the necessary steps to make sure your emails are compliant, your HTML code and content is compliant and your email lists are updated.
For more information please check out the following links and remember to visit the SimplyCast FAQ for all your other SimplyCast related questions.
How to claim a free dedicated IP
Best practices for building your reputation
If you still have questions concerning your dedicated IP, please contact your account manager.
1 comment November 6, 2009
