Worldata & Webconnect
By Jay Schwedelson

Email is a new marketing medium with its own new and forming set of rules and practices. With every email message sent marketers get a step closer to understanding the most effective and appropriate way to communicate with existing and prospective customers. Because of the many nuances, email can become a difficult channel to market through. By examining the Email filtering process, understanding Bounced messages, and employing an effective Unsubscribe mechanism, we can inch closer to a more effective use of Email as a marketing medium.

The Evolution and Filtering of Spam
The term Spam has made an unlikely journey into the direct marketing community. The industry wide term is borrowed from a Monty Python skit in which every menu item contained Spam luncheon meat and was annoyingly repeated over and over again. It was originally used in the early chat rooms to label people who continually posted commercial or useless information. In the early ‘90’s the term took on new meaning as bulk emailers harvested any existing email addresses that were available and began sending a constant barrage of unsolicited offers to those addresses..

As the amount of Spam has grown, so too has the ability to block or filter out these unwanted messages. Email Filtering is one of the fastest growing tools being implemented by both individuals and ISP’s (Internet Service Providers). As marketers are trying to increase the return on investment being made in this new medium, it is essential to understand how, and why, email messages are blocked from ever being read.

ISP’s control what email an individual can receive. A router analyzes all incoming email to the ISP. The router is set up so that when email comes from a certain email address or range of IP addresses, or contains specific words in the subject line, a block is enabled which stops any emails from getting into the network. These Spammer’s addresses are put into a Filter table that is continually updated whenever new violators are found.

ISP’s are not alone in the attempt to block unwanted email messages from being read. Most Email Clients now provide tools for the individual to setup their own Filters on the email that is received. By creating Junk Mail folders, users can automatically have messages either archived or deleted without ever showing up in their inbox.

Reputable email marketers that want to avoid having their messages filtered need to understand the particulars behind the blocking of an email message. Most of the filters are examining ‘subject line’ information. The subject line is often referred to as the outer envelope of any email campaign. This is the vehicle that ultimately decides whether or not your message will be read. While email represents the most effective new media direct marketing tool, some traditional direct marketing tactics do not apply. Phrases like FREE, 50% off, and You’re a Winner!, have caused more postal mail envelopes to be opened than perhaps anything else. Most would then assume that these successful phrases should be included in any subject line for a prospect Email campaign. However, these are the exact types of things that ISP’s and Filters are looking for to identify the sender as a Spammer. Messages including these terms, and others like them, will automatically be deleted or sent into a folder that only exists to house ‘Spam’. Writing your subject line in all capital letters, using quotation marks or exclamation points will also set off the ISP’s blocking mechanism.

Bounced Messages and the Retry Effect
Just because an email message is sent does not mean it will be received. An often-overlooked aspect of email marketing is a campaigns ‘Bounce Rate’. The ‘Bounce Rate’ refers to the number of email messages that were sent but for whatever reason were undeliverable to the intended recipient. Examining the messages that bounced back to the sender can reveal some important information about the email address data that has been collected. With no Email Change of Address procedures in existence it must be a priority to examine any problems with message delivery. The two basic types of undeliverable Email that exist are Hard-Bounces and Soft-Bounces.

Hard-Bounces occur when the domain portion (Jay@Worldata.com Worldata.com is the domain portion) of the email address is misspelled, or incorrect. So when an Email message is sent that contains a non-existent domain address the Email is bounced back to the sender as undeliverable. If Email is a primary communication channel with a customer it is essential to know that the messages that are being sent are also being received. Assuming that email messages are being delivered can result in unintentional poor customer service. The most common cause for Hard-Bounces is the guessing of domain names. Making the assumption that company names are also domain names will create a significantly higher Hard-Bounce rate. Whether Email messages are being sent from an in-house transmission capability or the deployment is being outsourced to a third party, the bounced information should be collected and analyzed on a continuous basis.

In the analysis of any email messages that result in a Hard-Bounce many times there will be no problem found with the domain portion of the address. That is why implementing a Retry program is critical in every Email campaign. Re-sending all the bounced email messages will result in a portion of those messages being delivered. The recipients email server can be down, or a myriad of other technical problems may occur that hinder the original Email transmission from being successful. By instituting a Retry program, the initially undeliverable messages will be re-sent and then delivered which will allow for a more effective use of the data on hand.

Soft-Bounces is the other type of undeliverable email that exists. Many times email messages are sent to the proper domain but the name of the person is not accurate. Examining Soft-Bounces can reveal a misspelling, or more importantly, the departure of that email address from the domain. Any departure should immediately signal that the person associated with that email address is no longer there. The sooner a marketer understands that a customer or contact is gone, the better chance there is to communicate with the individual who has replaced them.

The Details Behind Unsubscribes
 In every marketing message that is employed, respecting a customer or prospects privacy is essential. Affording the recipient of an email message the opportunity to no longer receive communications will create a stronger credibility with that person and greater respect for their privacy. Having Unsubscribe or Removal instructions within every email has become fundamental.

Most Email marketers think by allowing the recipients of the email message the opportunity to reply to the message received and typing ‘Unsubscribe’ in the subject line as a viable removal mechanism. While this is important to have in every message a second option must be included that takes into account when an email address has been forwarded. If a user has forwarded all of their email to a new address and then chooses to reply and unsubscribe from an email received, the sender will not be able to recognize who is trying to remove themselves. The removal reply will come from a new address that is not currently in the database and will result in no action taken to unsubscribe that individual. Having a link in each email to an unsubscribe page that asks for previous email address information will allow users to properly remove themselves from any future messages.

Affording recipients the opportunity to Unsubscribe is a terrific gesture, but unless the suppression of that address actually goes into effect it is meaningless. Turn around time on removal of unsubscribes from an email list is a critical step in ongoing communications with any individual. No message should be sent until the previous message’s unsubscribes have been removed. If someone has taken the time to explain that this is not the channel to communicate with him or her by, it is important to respect and implement that change as soon as possible.

In Closing . . .
Email is an evolving medium. As marketers recognizing the tremendous opportunity Email represents, it is critical we evolve as well. Both the senders of an email message and the recipients have options and mechanisms to make communication via email either easier or more difficult. Having a better understanding of Filtering technologies, Bounced Messages, and proper Unsubscribe options will give marketers the ability to create a valuable channel of interactions with the customer or prospect.

Jay Schwedelson is corporate vice president of Worldata & WebConnect, where he oversees strategic direction and new business development. Under his leadership, Worldata & WebConnect has become the industry leader in permission Email marketing services and interactive advertising solutions.

Schwedelson is active in the Direct Marketing Association, where he serves as a member of the Internet Advisory Board Committee, Catalog Council and List & Database Council, and Marketing Technology and Internet Council. Jay also serves as an advisory board member for the Association of Interactive Media and Co-Chairs the Council for Responsible Email.
He continues his position as the subcommittee chairman for The DMA’s List Leaders EMail Committee.