Posts Tagged email 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
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
Email marketing defined: Bounce rate
The SimplyCast team is working hard for you and that is why every so often we will take one of the more common email marketing terms and define it for you. There is always someone just starting out and we want to make sure everyone understands the basics.
The Bounce Rate
The bounce rate of an email marketing campaign is the total ratio of those emails that bounce when compared to the overall number of emails sent. You want to track the bounce rate to help determine the efficacy of your list. Specific details of bounced emails can help to put results into context or cleanse an email list while the bounce rate itself, can help to identify good and bad sources of email lists.
It is normal for at least a small number of emails to bounce during an email marketing campaign. Some subscribers provide inaccurate details either by accident or on purpose while others have simply changed their email address or their server may be experiencing problems at the time of sending.
Always ensure that your emails are being delivered properly by including one or more of your own test email addresses. Send a test to Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft Outlook at the very least and see if they reach the inbox successfully.
At SimplyCast, we have added new technology to our Bounce Management system to process bounces more effectively and efficiently. If any messages are returned to us that are hard bounced (bad addresses or accounts that no longer exist) then they are flagged in your list with a “HB” status code beside each record.
Addresses that are flagged with the “HB” status code are not mailed to when you send to the list again in the future.
By using SimplyCast’s email marketing solution you will no longer have to worry about managing bounce-back emails which will reduce your email delivery costs and increase conversions.
3 comments October 14, 2009
Improve delivery with this optimization checklist
Are your emails still landing in the junk folder even though you are a reputable sender?
Optimizing email marketing campaigns for successful delivery can be frustrating and time consuming.
To help ease the pain, use this optimization checklist as a tour guide to pinpoint strategies to turn your delivery around.
Optimization of content
• Less than five trigger words that could include Free, Sale, Clearance, Discount, Buy Now, Apply Now, Earn Money, etc.
• No spelling mistakes.
• Avoid using CAPITAL LETTERS.
• Avoid exclamation points!! Example: “Sign-up for our product Today!”
• Your text version should match your HTML version.
• Avoid red font.
• Avoid using a large font size. (not over 12pt)
• Specify and use the same size font throughout the entire message.
• Avoid bolding everything. Use bolding style very minimally, if at all.
• Avoid using the % and $ sign within the copy.
• Keep the copy to image ratio at 1:1.
• Make certain your subject line is clean of words that will get flagged, concise and directly relates to the intent of the message.
• Keep subject lines under/close to 50 characters in length (including spaces).
• Campaign should contain a functional Report Abuse link.
• Avoid using background images when possible. Outlook 2007 and Gmail for example do not render background images.
• Check your HTML for bad syntax and spelling errors. The best way to validate your HTML code is to use an online HTML validator like this handy tool called the WDG HTML Validator.
To go along with this helpful list, the SimplyCast deliverability team works very hard to make sure your email marketing campaigns are safely delivered to the inbox.
We monitor and stay up to date on the latest legislation and regulations so your email campaigns will comply without worry.
Our team also responds to and investigates every single complaint that comes in to our abuse desk. They work quickly to resolve issues with clients who receive complaints.
By keeping a close eye on what is sent through our system, we make sure there is nothing being sent out that could affect our reputation and that of our customers.
To learn more about SimplyCast’s email marketing solution, contact our sales team.
Add comment September 4, 2009
