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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..
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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.
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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.
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