12 Ways to Better Email Deliverability

Tom Sather Sr. Director, Research Return Path @tom_sather @returnpath

The Global Leader in Email Intelligence

Over a Decade of Email Expertise • Worldwide leader in email intelligence • 400+ dedicated email professionals • Offices in New York, Denver, San Francisco, Toronto, London, Paris, Hamburg, Sydney, and Sao Paulo

Proven Data Infrastructure • More than 2.5 billion inboxes supported by our certification program

• 26 million IPs scored daily by Return Path • Nearly 300 ISP partners globally Delivering Measurable ROI • Over 13 years of shaping and driving the email ecosystem

• Serving over 2,000 leading brands across retail/eCommerce, publishing, social media and financial services sectors

#1 Your Email Goals Hinge on One Thing

•  Increase same store foot traffic • Reduce customer churn •  Increase customer engagement •  Increase reach by 10% •  Increase sales 30% •  Increase social media followers by 20%

Email Marketing Goals and Objectives: What are yours?

83% How much email worldwide is delivered to the inbox, called the Inbox Placement Rate

Delivered ≠ Inbox

Content 1. Text 2. Images 3. Links 4. Offers 5. Call to action 6. A/B testing 7. Spam words 8. Spelling errors 9. Image to text ratio

67 Reasons Why Your Email Won’t Be Effective

Delivery Plan 21. Cadence 22. Frequency 23. Volume

(–) Engagement 63. Unread 64. Delete unread 65. Unsubscribe 66. Complaints 67. Feedback loops

List 10. Signup 11. Data 12. Spam traps 13. Welcome 14. Segmenting 15. Aging 16. Hygiene 17. Spam laws

(+) Engagement 51. Reads 52. Opens 53. Clicks 54. Shares 55. Priority Inbox 56. SRD data 57. TINS

Reputation 27. ISP criteria 28. IP History 29. White lists 30. Black lists 31. ESP reputation 32. Shared IP

Security 24. Spoofing 25. Phishing 26. Spam

Bouncing 39. Unknown address 40. Undeliverable 41. Mailbox full 42. Auto reply

Authentication 33. SPF 34. DKIM 35. DMARC

Blocking/Missing 36. Bad seed data 37. ISP Firewalls 38. Unknown user rate

Filtering 43. Classification 44. Automatic 45. Personal 46. Graymail

Competition 47. Similar offers 48. Social updates 49. Notifications 50. Changing interests

Rendering 58. Tagging 59. Images on 60. HTML errors 61. Email clients 62. Mobile devices

Infrastructure 18. MTA 19. IP Address 20. DNS

Key Takeaway

If you’re not reaching the inbox, you’ll never have the confidence that your email strategies were a success or failure.

#2 He’s Checking His List and Checking it Twice

Your Reputation Tells Email Providers if You’re “Naughty or Nice”

List  Hygien

e  Complaint

s  

IP  Permanenc

e  Engag

ement  

Message  Qua

lity  

Infrastructu

re  

But how do I know what my sender reputation is? www.senderscore.org

High Sender Score = High Inbox Placement Rate

Source: Return Path 2012 Sender Score Benchmark Report

Key Takeaway

Every business that sends email has a reputation score. Understand the factors influencing yours.

#3 Manage Complaints

Subscriber complaints can cause major reputation issues

Analyze Complaints for Trends

49,112,414 144,446 0.29%WEEKDAY SENDS COMPLAINTS COMPLAINT RATE

SUNDAY 6,133,897 13,000 0.21%MONDAY 5,744,281 20,758 0.36%TUESDAY 7,386,666 20,538 0.28%WEDNESDAY 5,854,336 28,293 0.48%THURSDAY 7,361,944 26,942 0.37%FRIDAY 8,753,814 19,822 0.23%SATURDAY 7,877,476 15,093 0.19%

Key Takeaway

Managing subscriber complaints is more than just signing up for feedback loops. Analyze complaints for trends based on date, time, vintage, source and demographics.

#4 Avoid sending to these three email types

The Facts: •  Unknown User = Email address that has

been abandoned and is no longer is use •  Mailbox Providers tell you when you

send to an Unknown User via a message they return (bounce code)

•  Remove Unknown Users immediately •  Indicator of poor data practices •  Risk of being Blacklisted

#1 Unknown Users

Reputation Impact

The Facts: •  Spam Trap = Addresses created to

identify poor data practices •  2 Types

–  Recycled –  Pristine

•  Risk of being Blacklisted •  Aged or Inactive data is primary

source of traps

#2 Spam Traps

Reputation Impact

The Facts: •  Active = Email recipients who

regularly open, click, convert on emails received

•  Inactive = Email recipients who have not taken any action on emails received for some time - often the source of complaints or spam traps

#3 Inactive Recipients

Best Practices: •  Quarantine new data – send a Welcome Message •  Make it easy for customers to update their information •  Send to permission-based lists •  Email your list regularly •  Consider utilizing an email list hygiene vendor •  Monitor the age and activity of your data – re-engage

and/or remove inactives

List Quality

The Facts: •  Your subscribers are not homogeneous •  Subscribers behave differently at different points

of the lifecycle within every email program •  Segmentation helps break a large file into more

manageable chunks •  Segmentation makes analyzing campaign

performance, targeting specific content, and increasing customer engagement easier

Using segmentation to clean your email list

Segmentation Ideas

Consumer Type Source Recent Activity

Recent Graduate Home Page Opens

Retired In Store Clicks

Married with Children

Banner Ads Website visits

Married with no Children

During online purchase

Site Login

Single Search Purchase

Key Takeaway

Email providers look at active users from a different perspective, mainly asking “is this a real account? Are they actively logging in and exhibiting behaviors of a real person?” A win-back and reactivation strategy is key to a healthy and engaged list. Subscribers rescuing your promotional email from spam sends a strong signal to filters that your email is wanted.

#5 Track Engagement

It’s All About Engagement

Email Engagement •  Opens •  Clicks •  Shares •  Purchases

Inbox Engagement •  Regularly logs-in •  Reads and sends email •  Files email •  TIS/TINS

ACTIVE VS. INACTIVE MAILBOXES MATTER MORE

“This is Not Spam” – Rarely used, But Highly Trusted

“This is Not Spam” and Deliverability

Source: 2013 Return Path TINS Report

Key Takeaway

Email providers look at active users from a different perspective, mainly asking “is this a real account? Are they actively logging in and exhibiting behaviors of a real person?” A win-back and reactivation strategy is key to a healthy and engaged list. Subscribers rescuing your promotional email from spam sends a strong signal to filters that your email is wanted.

#6 Keywords and Spam Filters

• FREE!!! • Only $ • Save • Save up to • Save $ • Sale • Trial • Deal • Gift Certificate

When writing subject lines, most marketers think they need to avoid…

…But Avoiding These Keywords is Mostly a Myth

BAD_CREDIT   HTTP_ESCAPED_HOST  DATE_IN_PAST_03_06   LOCALPART_IN_SUBJECT  FREEMAIL_FORGED_REPLYTO   PLING_QUERY  FREEMAIL_REPLYTO   RCVD_IN_NJABL_RELAY  FREEMAIL_REPLYTO_END_DIGIT   REMOVE_BEFORE_LINK  HTML_FONT_FACE_BAD   SUBJ_ILLEGAL_CHARS  HTML_FONT_SIZE_HUGE   SUBJECT_NEEDS_ENCODING  HTML_IMAGE_ONLY_12   T_KHOP_FOREIGN_CLICK  HTML_IMAGE_ONLY_28   TRACKER_ID  HTML_IMAGE_ONLY_32   URIBL_BLACK  

Top Spam Filter Reasons

Top Spammy Words

Key Takeaway

Content filtering and keywords are only used when you have no, or a bad, reputation. Use a tool like Inbox Preview to test for potential issues.

#7 Mobile

70% How many Email Subscribers will delete an email if it doesn’t render well on mobile

Source: ExactTarget

62% of Email Opens on Mobile occurred on Christmas

Source: Return Path, Campaign Insight

Apple iPhones and iPads were the winners

Key Takeaways Mobile use trending points to heavier usage for the 2014 holiday season 51% email open rate for mobile (December, 2013)

Christmas day saw mobile open share at 62%

iOS has 86% share of opens, Android 14%

Focus on Email Design Whether you take a mobile-first or responsive design approach to email, use a tool like Inbox Preview to ensure your emails look great on any device, and people won’t delete your email.

Use Mobile Data for Segmentation & Targeting Leveraging data from Campaign Insight, a large on-line retailer targets iPad subscribers with furniture ads after 5pm

#8 Subject Line Testing

Mailchimp: Subject line length has little effect on opens

What works for your competitors?

• August 5 – 29 • Pizza Hut focused on their $6.55 pizza deal

• Deal valid Mon – Thursday only

• Carry-out only

Better Subject Line Performance Using Competitor’s Data • $6.55 special promoted August 5 – 29 • 5 distinct subject lines and creative variations • “$6.55 of Absolute Greatness” had a 17% higher read rate than the worst subject line

110  

100  108  

117  108  

90  

95  

100  

105  

110  

115  

120  

Incredible  Savings  –  $6.55  Large  Pizza  

Early  Week  Steal:  Large  1-­‐Topping  $6.55  

Carryout  

Don't  Miss  Out!  $6.55  Large  

Pizza  

$6.55  of  Absolute  Greatness  

$6.55  Large  1-­‐Topping  Pizza  

Benchm

ark  =  100  

Read  Rate  

Key Takeaway

Knowing your audience is extremely important for subject line testing. For better insights and faster testing cycles, look to your competitors to see what’s working for them.

#9 How the Blacklist Stole Christmas

What time of year are blacklistings highest?

And they can last a long time

• Monitor for and remove spam traps • Collect clean data up front • Remove Inactive Addresses

To prevent a blacklist from happening

• Use a blacklist monitoring system to be aware of issues before your customers or CMO does.

• Check email bounce codes for block reason and instructions for removal

• Before requesting removal, gather the right data, like: –  List acquisition sources –  List management practices –  Mailing practices

• Be Honest •  It helps to have a guide

But if it happens (and it always happens at the worst time)…

Key Takeaway

Blacklists affect your inbox placement rates in an extremely negative way. Prevention is key, but monitor and take action immediately if you find yourself on a major blacklist.

#10 I’m Dreaming of a Whitelisted Christmas

Verify Whitelisting Status

Verify your still on whitelists

Yahoo “Bulk Senders Form” http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/postmaster/bulkv2.html AOL Whitelist http://postmaster.aol.com/Postmaster.Whitelist.php

Key Takeaway

Whitelists aren’t forever. Verify you’re still in good standing with AOL and Yahoo! Senders with great sending reputations even see inbox placement issues. Whitelisting services can, and do, help.

#11 Email Frequency

How Frequency Affects Placement for Top Retailers

Average  #  of  messages  sent  per  week   5+   4   3   2   1  Average  subscriber  spam  complaint  rate   0.005%   0.020%   0.026%   0.037%   0.571%  Average  retailer  Sender  Score   62   86   89   86   83  Average  "This  is  not  spam"  Rate   0.40%   0.22%   0.73%   0.89%   1.07%  Average  Inbox  Placement  Rate   71%   96%   98%   94%   92%  

Source: Return Path, Inbox Insight, October – December 2013

Manage Frequency

TotalEmails Unique Total Unsub

Received Custs Unsubs Rate1 24,339 2,677 11.0% 2%2 22,473 2,586 11.5% 2%3 437,688 2,519 0.6% 40%4 71,438 1,377 1.9% 6%5 51,080 885 1.7% 5%6 7,337 522 7.1% 1%7 4,578 504 11.0% 0%8 14,973 526 3.5% 1%9 458,268 1,840 0.4% 42%10 10,694 42 0.4% 1%11 312 4 1.3% 0%

Total 1,103,180 13,482 1.2% 100%

Total

Key Takeaway

Frequency can be a major driver for complaints, but subscribers may tolerate more promotional emails during the holidays, but don’t go from 0-60 overnight.

#12 Using Email Intelligence Beyond Email Marketing

Give the gift of email intelligence.

Q: WHO ARE LIKELY ADVERTISING/CROSS PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS?

A: Based on this chart, this could be a valuable partnership

Using Data from Email to Find New Valuable Customers

Q: SHOULD I BUY ADS ON FACEBOOK?

A: Based on this chart – absolutely.

Use Data from Email to Get Insight into Other Marketing Channels

Company A Facebook

Key Takeaway

Email intelligence can be used beyond your email program, and can deliver powerful insights that can inform business decisions.

Let’s Connect!

Tom Sather Sr. Director, Research

@ReturnPath @Tom_Sather

Tom.Sather@returnpath.com

www.returnpath.com

Contact Us! http://www.returnpath.com/contact-us/