Join industry veteran Matt Lynch, the General Manager of Perth, WA based technical marketing company Vorian Agency, with a look at EDM - Email Direct Marketing. How to improve deliverability, open rates, click through rate, virality and social share. How to reduce
2. Matt Lynch
• General Manager of Vorian Agency – Delivering integrated online and offline marketing solutions
to business wrestling with how to market in today’s changing environment.
• With over 22 years Online Marketing & Information Technology experience, Matt’s primary
speciality is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Matt is a highly experienced senior digital
marketing specialist working both within agency and in-house roles. Matt is also a certified
Google Adwords and Bing Ads Professional.
• Enjoys keeping up with the 'bleeding edge' of technology advancements and social media
evolvement to ensure current knowledge in an ever changing landscape, leading to early
adoption and determination of opportunity for marketing enhancement.
• Local, national and international project experience particularly in the field of Travel for over 10
years with companies such as Trafalgar Tours, The Travel Corporation brand and travel
properties, Stella Travel and Best Flights. Matt has earned a reputation as an online marketing
expert and search evangelist for thoroughness, quality, technical knowledge and success driven
results. Matt's previous role was as the Global Online Marketing Manager for Trafalgar,
coordinating the online marketing efforts with international teams for this global brand.
Your Presenter: Vorian Agency General Manager
Slide: 2
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Email: matt.lynch@vorian.com.au
Slide: 3
5. Interactive Questions?
During today’s session, you are welcome to tweet
questions to our Vorian Agency Twitter Account
@vorianagency using the hashtag #voriantraining
https://twitter.com/vorianagency
Slide: 5
6. Housekeeping
Before we start, please note the following:
• Exits
• Toilets
• Mobile Phones on Silent
• Question & Answer session at end of the Presentation
• A link to the Presentation Slide Notes will be emailed to you
• Vorian Agency info packs are provided to showcase our service offering
• Vorian staff are available to arrange an appointment or answer specific questions. We
can set up MailChimp, create custom responsive templates, build your subscriber list,
manage and report on your email campaigns, assist you with your content marketing
activities and market strategy.
• Please provide your feedback on today’s seminar on the supplied questionnaire
• Please invite others you may know to register for our free seminar series
Slide: 6
7. What’s an EDM?
EDM Electronic Direct Marketing / Email Direct
Marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses
electronic mail as a means of communicating
commercial or fund-raising messages to an
audience.
Slide: 7
8. EDM Electronic Direct Marketing
Where the numbers are at…
• There will be 236.8M US email-users by 2017 -eMarketer
• 91% of consumers report checking their email at least once a day -ExactTarget
• For every $1 spent, $44.25 is the average return on email marketing investment
-Experian
• 43% of all emails are now being opened via a mobile device -Return Path
• Subject lines fewer than 10 characters long have an open rate of 58% -Adestra
July 2012 Report
• 93% of consumers get at least one permission-based email daily.
• 7/10 people say they made use of a coupon or discount from a marketing email
in the prior week -Blue Kangaroo Study
• 64% of decisions-makes read their email via mobile devices -TopRankBlog
• The average subscriber receives 416 commercial messages each month
-Return Path
• 33% of email recipients open email based on subject line alone -Convince &
Convert via salesforce.com
Slide: 8
9. Average Email Campaign Stats
by Industry
• How does your email-marketing stats compare to others in the same industry? What
kind of open rates should companies like yours expect? How many bounces are too
many? What’s an acceptable abuse complaint rate?
Slide: 9
Industry Open Click Soft Bounce Hard Bounce Abuse Unsubscribe
Agriculture and Food Services 26.09% 3.53% 0.73% 0.55% 0.03% 0.28%
Architecture and Construction 25.80% 3.45% 1.76% 1.28% 0.04% 0.37%
Arts and Artists 28.25% 3.04% 0.86% 0.62% 0.03% 0.28%
Beauty and Personal Care 19.90% 2.33% 0.56% 0.55% 0.05% 0.33%
Business and Finance 21.71% 2.97% 0.87% 0.72% 0.03% 0.25%
Computers and Electronics 22.03% 2.72% 1.24% 0.88% 0.03% 0.31%
Construction 22.81% 2.13% 1.93% 1.49% 0.06% 0.47%
Consulting 20.29% 2.62% 1.16% 0.88% 0.03% 0.30%
Creative Services/Agency 23.84% 3.13% 1.36% 1.07% 0.04% 0.38%
eCommerce 17.14% 2.69% 0.36% 0.29% 0.03% 0.21%
Education and Training 23.15% 3.11% 0.71% 0.60% 0.03% 0.21%
Entertainment and Events 21.75% 2.45% 0.64% 0.53% 0.03% 0.27%
Government 27.06% 3.66% 0.65% 0.53% 0.02% 0.14%
Health and Fitness 23.81% 3.19% 0.58% 0.57% 0.04% 0.37%
Hobbies 29.94% 5.79% 0.42% 0.34% 0.03% 0.23%
Home and Garden 26.14% 4.21% 0.79% 0.55% 0.05% 0.39%
Insurance 20.11% 2.25% 0.81% 0.85% 0.04% 0.22%
Legal 22.49% 3.10% 0.82% 0.68% 0.02% 0.20%
10. Average Email Campaign Stats
by Industry
• Unsurprisingly, the smaller the list, the better the rate of opens and click-throughs, so
if you’re just starting out with your list, you may see even higher rates.
Slide: 10
Industry Open Click Soft Bounce Hard Bounce Abuse Unsubscribe
Manufacturing 23.95% 2.74% 1.73% 1.18% 0.04% 0.38%
Marketing and Advertising 18.89% 2.22% 0.96% 0.76% 0.03% 0.29%
Media and Publishing 22.96% 4.76% 0.37% 0.24% 0.01% 0.13%
Medical, Dental, and Healthcare 23.53% 2.82% 0.92% 0.91% 0.05% 0.30%
Music and Musicians 23.19% 2.89% 0.78% 0.57% 0.04% 0.31%
Non-Profit 25.89% 3.03% 0.59% 0.50% 0.02% 0.19%
Pharmaceuticals 19.05% 2.75% 0.78% 0.72% 0.03% 0.22%
Photo and Video 27.21% 4.18% 0.87% 0.74% 0.04% 0.40%
Professional Services 21.86% 2.83% 1.15% 0.91% 0.03% 0.33%
Public Relations 21.38% 2.00% 1.00% 0.81% 0.03% 0.26%
Real Estate 22.20% 2.29% 0.87% 0.73% 0.05% 0.34%
Recruitment and Staffing 21.51% 2.65% 0.73% 0.77% 0.04% 0.33%
Restaurant 24.77% 1.66% 0.37% 0.33% 0.03% 0.30%
Restaurant and Venue 23.09% 1.50% 0.73% 0.61% 0.04% 0.40%
Retail 22.54% 2.95% 0.48% 0.40% 0.03% 0.29%
Social Networks and Online Communities 22.54% 3.81% 0.44% 0.39% 0.03% 0.23%
Software and Web App 23.27% 2.80% 1.17% 0.94% 0.03% 0.40%
Sports 26.32% 3.63% 0.64% 0.56% 0.03% 0.28%
Travel and Transportation 20.86% 2.52% 0.82% 0.59% 0.03% 0.25%
Vitamin Supplements 17.52% 2.07% 0.42% 0.34% 0.05% 0.26%
11. Time of Opening
• On average, about one-third of total opens of commercial email happen within two
hours of receipt, and 75% happen within 24 hours.
• So within one day of sending your email campaign, you can make a fairly clear
judgment on its success, certainly in terms of click-throughs and opens.
• But don’t discount the ‘long tail’ of respondents who respond after 24 hours. Who
knows when a latecomer could become your biggest client, or someone dig out an
old email, or forward your email on? For this reason, you should always keep the links
(and any images used in your email promotion) LIVE for a long time – certainly
months, probably a year, and arguably longer.
Slide: 11
12. Tips for improving your stats
• When it comes to subject lines, boring works best. When you write your subject line,
don’t sell what’s inside—tell what's inside.
• If you want people to open your emails, you have to get past their spam filters first.
Avoid using spammy keywords and phrases, and avoid using ALL CAPS or too many
exclamation points!!!
• Too many hard bounces is a sign of an old, stale list. People change email addresses
every few months. Make sure you keep in touch with your subscribers regularly (at
least once a quarter), so they can stay on your list.
• Soft bounces usually mean the recipient is “temporarily unavailable.” Maybe they’re
on vacation, or their mailbox is full. You can keep those emails and try them again
later, but MailChimp auto-cleans soft bounces after five failed campaigns.
• Hard bounces mean an email address failed. Maybe it no longer exists, or maybe
someone made a typo when they subscribed to a list. But hard bounces might also be
spam filter —if you see an abnormally high number of bounces after a campaign,
read your bounceback records for any messages or clues from spam filters.
• Abuse complaints happen when recipients click the “This is spam” button in their
email programs. That usually means they don’t remember you. Make sure your
“From” and “Subject” lines contain your company name, so your subscribers will
instantly recognize you.
Slide: 12
13. Churn & Burn Rates
• List attrition, is the ‘churn’ rate, of the number of subscribers you lose, and the
number of email accounts that become inactive, where you can no longer send.
• Annual list attrition – meaning the proportion of email addresses on a list that leave or
become invalid – is typically 10% to 33%.
• In other words, every year, you will have between; 1 in 10 to 1 in 3 of your
subscribers’ email addresses leave your list or become inactive.
• What does this mean for you? Well unfortunately, if your list appears to be standing
still, you’re actually probably going backwards.
• Solution? Produce valuable content that can’t be found anywhere else and market it.
There is little you can do that is as valuable to you as actively building your list!
Constantly work to build your email database, and create clear discoverability to it via
all your online channels, not just your website.
• TIP: Give people an option to “opt-down” rather than just unsubscribe.
• Some of your subscribers may be leaving because their interests aren’t being served.
So try segmenting your list into 2-5 sub-lists according to subscribers’ major interest
groups.
Slide: 13
14. Best Subject Lines
• On the “best” side, you’ll notice the subject lines are pretty straightforward. They’re
not very salesy or pushy or slimy. Heck, some people might even say they’re boring.
On the “worst” side, however, notice how the subject lines read like headlines from
advertisements you’d see in the Sunday paper. They might look more creative, but
their open rates are horrible. It’s as if those email marketers assumed that subject
lines have to jump off the screen and GRAB THE READER’S ATTENTION! or
something. Unfortunately, most people get so much junk mail in their inbox, anything
that even hints of spam gets thrown away immediately.
Slide: 14
15. Subject Lines Examples
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Best Open Rates (60%-87%) Worst Open Rates (1%-14%)
1. [COMPANYNAME] Sales & Marketing Newsletter 1. Last Minute Gift - We Have The Answer
2. Eye on the [COMPANYNAME] Update (Oct 31 - Nov 4) 2. Valentines - Shop Early & Save 10%
3. [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos 3. Give a Gift Certificate this Holiday
4. [COMPANYNAME] May 2005 News Bulletin! 4. Valentine's Day Salon and Spa Specials!
5. [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - February 2015 5. Gift Certificates - Easy & Elegant Giving - Let Them Choose
6. [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - January 2015 [ *|FNAME|* *|LNAME|* ] 6. Need More Advertising Value From Your Marketing Partner?
7. [COMPANYNAME] and [COMPANYNAME] Invites You! 7. [COMPANYNAME] Pioneers in Banana Technology
8. Happy Holidays from [COMPANYNAME] 8. [COMPANYNAME] Moves You Home for the Holidays
9. ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] Staff! 9. Renewal
10. ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] West Staff!! 10. Technology Company Works with [COMPANYNAME] on Bananas Efforts
11. Invitation from [COMPANYNAME] 11. [COMPANYNAME] Update - A Summary of Security and Emergency Preparedness News
12. [COMPANYNAME] Jan/Feb 2015 Newsletter 12. Now Offering Banana Services!
13. Website news - Issue 3 13. It's still summer in Tahoe!
14. Upcoming Events at [COMPANYNAME] 14. [COMPANYNAME] endorses [COMPANYNAME] as successor
15. [COMPANYNAME] Councils: Letter of Interest 15. [COMPANYNAME] Holiday Sales Event
16. [COMPANYNAME] Coffee Exchange - Post-Katrina Update 16. The Future of International Trade
17. We're Throwing a Party 17. [COMPANYNAME] for your next dream home.
18. October 2014 Newsletter 18. True automation of your Banana Research
19. [COMPANYNAME]: 02.10.14 19. [COMPANYNAME] Resort - Spring into May Savings
20. [COMPANYNAME] Racing Newsletter 20. You Asked For More...
16. The Secret of Subject Lines
• So what’s our advice when it comes to email subject lines? This might sound dead-
simple, but here you have it: Your subject line should simply describe the subject of
your email.
• Always set your subscribers’ expectations during the opt-in process about what kinds
of emails they’re going to receive. Don’t confuse newsletters with promotions. If your
email is a newsletter, put the name and issue of the newsletter in your subject line.
Because that’s what’s inside. If your email is a special promotion, say so in the
subject line. Either way, just don’t write your subject lines like advertisements.
• When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what’s inside, and the
worst subject lines sell what’s inside.
Slide: 16
18. Setting Expectations
• So does that mean your subject lines should be stale and uncreative if you want high
open rates? Not necessarily. In this study, we actually saw some campaigns that
used more creative subject lines (like the ones on the “bad” side of our table) but had
decent open rates. The difference seemed to be in the expectations that were set for
the emails.
• For example, traditional email newsletters are for “soft-selling.” They build
relationships with your customers, and they’re great if your products have a long
sales cycle. Use them to slowly soften your customers for the sale, or to make them
feel really good about your brand. If your recipients signed up for these kinds of
emails, don’t expect them to be enthusiastic when, out of the blue, you send an email
with a subject line like, “10% Discount! Open Now!” If you’re sending newsletters,
keep your subject lines simple, straightforward, and consistent.
• On the other hand, if your subscribers specifically opted in to receive special offers
and promotions from your company, there's nothing wrong with saying there’s a 10-
percent off e-coupon inside. They’re already expecting a “hard sell” from you. It’s
when marketers send promotional emails to their entire newsletter list when things go
wrong. The idea is to create a totally separate opt-in list for those who want to receive
promotional emails only. You might even want to segment your promotions list into
smaller, more focused groups before you send a campaign (don’t send an offer for
purses and high-heeled shoes to the men on your list).
Slide: 18
19. Requirements for all MailChimps
• You must agree to our Terms of Use.
• You must tell us where you got your list.
• Our unsubscribe link must be in all campaigns.
• You must include your contact information inside every promotional email that you
send, including a physical mailing address or PO Box where you can receive mail.
(Not a website or email address.)
• You may not falsify your contact information or subject line.
• Even if you are outside the US, our servers live in the US. We have to make sure all
US standards are observed.
• We require that your emails comply with the US CAN-SPAM Act. If you break the
rules, you could be liable for hundreds of dollars for each recipient that you sent non-
compliant messages to.
• In addition to CAN-SPAM rules, you must comply with the anti-spam laws of the
countries your recipients live in. So if you're sending to UK residents and US
residents, check the UK spam laws to make sure you're also UK compliant.
• Australia: Spam Act 2003, Act No. 129 of 2003 as amended.
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2011C00080
Slide: 19
20. How to avoid Spam Filters
• If you send enough email campaigns, you’ll inevitably run into spam filter issues.
According to ReturnPath, you can expect 10-20% of your emails to get lost in
cyberspace, mostly due to overzealous filters. Legitimate email marketers who send
permission-based emails to people who requested them get spam filtered all the time.
Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix. The only way to avoid spam filters is to understand
what spam is and how the filters work:
– What is spam?
– How spam filters work
– Preventing false abuse reports
– Email firewalls
• Legitimate email marketers who send permission-based emails to people who
requested them get spam filtered all the time. Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix. The
only way to avoid spam filters is to understand what spam is and how the filters work.
Slide: 20
21. What is Spam?
• Even if you’re sending perfectly legal and engaging email newsletters, you need to
have an understanding of the spam world. It will help keep you out of trouble and
make you a better email marketer.
• What is Spam?
There are a variety of definitions and interpretations of the word itself, but at its core,
spam is unsolicited, irrelevant email, sent in bulk to a list of people. For example, let’s
say you purchased a list of email addresses from a local business organization. On
the surface, that list of addresses seems like it could contain some great prospects
for your business, and you want to send them an email with a relevant offer they can’t
refuse. But, since those people didn’t give you explicit permission to contact them,
sending an email to that list would be considered spam.
Slide: 21
22. Spam Laws
• Spam laws
• As an ESP, MailChimp is required to enforce spam laws, not just because it's a legal
obligation, and not just because it's the right thing to do. Spam negatively impacts
deliverability rates, and we want to make sure your emails reach their recipients.
There are some very strict rules that must be adhered to in all countries, but you may
find that your country has additional requirements. The following covers the laws in
the United States and Canada.
• The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 became law on January 1, 2004. According to the FTC,
if you violate the law, you could be fined $11,000 for each offense—that’s $11,000 for
each email address on your list. ISPs around the country have already successfully
sued spammers for millions of dollars under this law. If you send commercial email
(generally sales or promotional content), you should familiarize yourself with the
requirements of CAN-SPAM.
Slide: 22
23. A few key points of the law:
• Never use deceptive headers, From names, reply-to addresses, or subject lines.
• Always provide an unsubscribe link.
• The unsubscribe link must work for at least 30 days after sending.
• You must include your physical mailing address.
• Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) went into effect on July 1, 2014 and carries
penalties of $1-10M per violation. CASL is very similar to the CAN-SPAM Act, but has
some minor differences and covers all electronic messages, not just email.
Slide: 23
24. How Spam Filters Work
• Spam filters consider a long list of criteria when judging the “spamminess” of an
email. They’ll weigh each factor and add them up to determine a spam score, which
then determines whether a campaign will pass through the filter. They might look for
spammy phrases like “CLICK HERE!” or “FREE! BUY NOW!” Then they'll assign
points every time they see one of those phrases. Certain criteria get more points than
others. Here’s a sample of criteria from SpamAssassin:
– Talks about lots of money (.193 points)
– Describes some sort of breakthrough (.232 points)
– Looks like mortgage pitch (.297 points)
– Contains urgent matter (.288 points)
– Money back guarantee (2.051 points)
• If your campaign’s total “spam score” exceeds a certain threshold, then your email
goes to the junk folder. Passing scores are determined by individual server
administrators, so unfortunately, what passes some filters doesn't pass all of them.
As for that list of spammy criteria, it’s constantly growing and adapting, based on—at
least in part—what people identify as spam with the "Mark as spam” or “This is junk”
button in their inbox. Spam filters even sync up with each other to share what they’ve
learned.
Slide: 24
25. How Spam Filters Work…
• Spam filters don’t publish their filtering practices, as doing so would give spammers
the knowledge needed to bypass filters and harm their users. But even though there's
no magic formula, we can still help you avoid common mistakes that result in emails
landing in junk folders.
• Avoid these common mistakes
• Using phrases like “Click here!” or “Once in a lifetime opportunity!”
• Excessive use of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!
• USING ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS
VIA EMAIL (especially in the subject line).
• Using bright red or green colored fonts.
• Using bad content. This one’s broad, but important.
• Coding sloppy HTML, usually from converting a Microsoft Word file to HTML.
• Creating an HTML email that’s nothing but one big image, with little or no text. Spam
filters can’t read images, so they assume you’re a spammer trying to trick them.
• Using the word “test” in the subject line. Agencies can run into this issue when
sending drafts to clients for approval.
• Sending a test to multiple recipients within the same company. That company’s email
firewall often assumes it’s a spam attack.
Slide: 25
26. How Spam Filters Work…
• Sending to inactive lists. These are lists which have not engaged in the campaigns
through opens and clicks. Because subscriber engagement is a huge part of getting
emails into the inbox, when an ISP sees low engagement rates they will often begin
to bulk the campaigns to the spam folder. Then they will block the domain and IP
addresses used to deliver the campaigns.
• Sending to stale lists. Permission generally goes stale within about 6 months, so if
your subscribers haven’t heard from you within that timeframe, you’ll need to
reconfirm your list.
Slide: 26
27. Do you monitor your IP address?
• Emails for your business can be send from your website hosting SMTP server, as
well as from your ESP (Email Service Provider) for your bulk marketing emails, and
your office mail server, for your regular staff communication processes. This may
mean that you have multiple IP addresses that should be monitored to ensure that
you haven’t been added to a DNS Blacklist.
• DNSBL Spam Database Lookup: http://www.dnsbl.info/
• Not sure of your IP address in your office? http://www.whatismyip.com/
• MXToolbox is another great source for Spam list checking:
http://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx
Slide: 27
28. Some of the Advanced Tech Stuff
• It’s important to use a reputable registrar—use one that has high standards and, most
importantly, takes abuse seriously. Don’t associate your IPs with a registrar known to
be used by spammers.
• The from address you use should be associated with the same domain as the from
domain in a dedicated IP setup, and the same domain where the signup occurred.
• When you register your domains, apply ALL of your information to the WHOIS
information. Make sure the physical address information is listed, along with the
organization name that’s associated with the email. Also ensure that the contact
email addresses for abuse and other info is present in the WHOIS record.
• Setup forward-confirmed reverse DNS for your IP/Domains. Do this before you
register anything with ISPs, providers or do any type of whitelisting.
• Ensure your MX Records are properly configured. Generally, your hosting facility will
help with the setup of this. Check the records at MXToolbox or DNS Stuff.
• If you’re sending out for multiple clients or customers, sometimes it’s better to use a
shared pool of IP addresses. The volume or frequency from one client or department
may not warrant a dedicated IP. If you plan to send lots of volume (50-75K twice a
week), send frequently (10-15K daily) or send transactional messages, you’ll want to
use a dedicated IP for that traffic.
• Another critical step in the MTA configuration is rate limiting or throttling. Rate limiting
allows ISPs proper time to process and filter spam and ensure that transactional
email doesn’t get backed up. Slide: 28
29. Checking Campaigns before send
• How can I tell if my emails were spam filtered?
– For starters, look at your open rate. If it suddenly dropped from your average, then you
probably have a spam-filter problem. An abnormally high bounce rate is another indicator.
Look through your bounces and read the SMTP replies.
– Most established ESPs, like MailChimp, have been accepted into feedback loops with
providers like Hotmail, Yahoo!, and AOL. When a recipient on their network reports an email
as spam, an alert is sent to the sending server. MailChimp receives those alerts and stores
them under your account, so you’ll know how many people reported your campaign as
spam. MailChimp will also automatically unsubscribe and remove those people from your
list.
• Can I check my campaign before I send it?
– MailChimp offers a tool called Inbox Inspector that you can use to thoroughly scan your
email campaign and test for appearance and content-related spam triggers. All monthly paid
accounts include 25 inspections per week. Pay as you go and free plans can purchase
single Inbox Inspections for $3.
– Inbox Inspector tells you whether your email will be stopped by spam filter, but if you want to
find out why your email was blocked, you’ll need to systematically isolate the different
variables in your campaign. Make a copy with a different subject line. Still getting blocked?
Change the content. Still blocked? Remove the links. And so on.
– We also have a tool called Delivery Doctor that can help you with this testing process as
well. It's available to all monthly or pay as you go accounts. Delivery Doctor tests your
campaign using many common spam filters and ISPs to provide you with insight into any
potential delivery issues. It looks at your subject line, links, and content to help identify
potentially troublesome areas and gives the campaign a “pass” or “fail” result for each filter
tested. If the campaign fails a filter, we’ll try to provide you with a general idea of what might
be causing issues. Slide: 29
30. Have you set up Test Accounts?
• I highly recommend setting up test email accounts
– There are many ‘common’ and ‘popular’ email clients and platforms where the majority of
your recipients will gravitate to. It is sensible for marketers to set up multiple email accounts
in each of the main free providers such as Hotmail, Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo!, and AOL and
include these in your test-send process to ensure that emails render (display) correctly in
each of these platforms, as well as are received, and not blocked by these main ESPs
before trying to send to your main email subscriber list.
– Test your emails on different browsers, OS (Operating Systems), devices; desktop, tablet
and smart phone.
Slide: 30
31. Engagement Varies by Client
• Interestingly there is a different
user engagement level with
your email marketing
dependent on the type of
device and platform that they
are viewing.
Slide: 31
32. Preventing False Abuse Reports
• Preventing False Abuse Reports
– You don’t have to be a spammer to get reported for spamming. Sometimes an email gets
reported as spam, even if it’s not. Sometimes it’s a simple mistake, like when an
inexperienced user clicks the spam button to unsubscribe from an email.
– But mistake or not, getting reported for abuse is serious. If a major ISP like AOL receives
even a small handful of complaints about your emails, then they’ll start blocking all email
from your server. And if you use MailChimp—or any email-marketing service, for that matter
—that means your emails can affect the deliverability of thousands of other legitimate
marketers. One bad apple can truly spoil the whole bunch.
– Since it’s inevitable that you’ll receive spam complaints every now and then, ESPs like
MailChimp are constantly monitoring abuse reports from ISPs, blackhole lists, and anti-
spam networks, so we can immediately pinpoint problems as they arise and investigate the
account in question.
– Every major ISP cares about reducing unwanted email for their customers, so when you
receive an abuse report, you’re unfortunately guilty until proven innocent. There is no
negotiating—they don’t have time to listen to excuses or long-winded explanations. And who
can blame them? They're too busy trying to handle countless other spam complaints.
– As long as your email list has been collected legitimately and you are able to prove without a
doubt that any complaint you received is a simple mistake, you’re in the clear. But if we have
reason to question your list-collection practices, your account will be disabled—or shut down
altogether. Incidentally, that’s why our list management system uses double opt-in, and why
our terms of use prohibit purchased, rented, and third party lists. Those types of lists
generate too many complaints, even they were originally collected in a legitimate manner.
Slide: 32
33. How Abuse Reports Work
• How abuse reports work
– When people receive what they think is spam, they can just click a button in their email
program to label it as such. Once clicked, an abuse report is often created and sent to the
recipient’s email program or ISP. If enough of these reports are received, an automated
warning message will be sent to the sender.
– When you use MailChimp to deliver your emails, we are that sender and the warning
messages are sent to our abuse team. If the warning message includes the identity of the
person who filed the complaint, MailChimp will automatically remove them from your list.
– If the complaints continue within a certain timeframe, that’s it—all email from that particular
IP address of the sending server is blocked, at least temporarily. Scary. That’s why we’re
constantly monitoring incoming complaints and have a team of human reviewers that review
MailChimp accounts.
Slide: 33
34. Reasons for false abuse reports
• Reasons for false abuse reports
– So, why do legitimate email marketers get falsely accused of sending spam? Sometimes it’s a mistake. But
more often than not, it’s the marketer’s own fault. Here are some common reasons marketers get accused
of sending spam:
– The marketer collected emails legitimately—perhaps through an opt-in form on their site—but took too long
to contact their list. As noted earlier, permission goes stale after about 6 months. If they haven’t been
contacted quickly enough, the subscriber might not remember opting-in.
– The marketer runs an online store. They’ve got thousands of email addresses of customers who have
purchased products from them in the past. Now they want to start emailing them. Instead of asking people
to join the email marketing list, they just start "blasting" offers.
– The marketer is exhibiting at a trade show. The trade-show organization provided the marketer with a list of
attendee email addresses. The marketer assumes they have permission, and starts emailing full-blown
newsletters and promos.
– Business folks drop their cards—with email addresses—into a fishbowl at a restaurant counter. For a
marketer, it's an easy way to grow their list. But the recipients weren't asking for email, just a free lunch.
– The marketer purchases or rents members’ email addresses from another organization, then adds them to
their list without getting permission.
– There's a common theme here. Do you see what it is? Yep: permission.
Slide: 34
35. Preventing false abuse reports
• Ways to prevent false abuse reports
– Getting permission is extremely important. Without permission, you could be reported for
abuse whether or not you’re a legitimate marketer.
– Use the double opt-in method. This is standard with MailChimp. If you use double opt-in,
you have proof that each and every recipient gave you permission to send them emails.
Period.
– Even if your recipients are already your customers, don’t send promotions without getting
permission first. Set up a separate marketing list for customers to join. Tell them you’re
about to start up a great email newsletter or promotions program, and give them reasons to
join.
– Don’t use purchased lists. Even if you acquired them legally, they’re against our terms of
use, so you’ll get in trouble for it. They're a waste of money, and just plain wrong.
– Don’t hide the unsubscribe/opt-out link in your campaigns. It should be prominent. People
who no longer wish to receive your emails are either going to unsubscribe or mark you as
spam. Which would you prefer? Some folks even place the unsubscribe link at the top of
their emails, so it’s easier to find.
– Make sure your email looks reputable. If you’re not a designer, hire one. Your email needs
to look like it came from your company, not some scammer who’s phishing for information. If
your email looks unprofessional, who’s going to trust your unsubscribe link?
– Set expectations when people opt in to your list. If people sign up for monthly newsletters
but you also send them weekly promotions, they’re probably going to report you for
spamming. Tell them what you’ll be sending and how often. Set up different lists (one for
newsletters, one for special offers and promotions). Understand that there’s a difference
between soft-sell newsletters and hard-sell promotions. Don’t mix them up.
– Don’t wait too long before contacting your subscribers. We’ve seen lots of small businesses
collect emails at their storefront, but then wait more than 3-6 months before contacting theirSlide: 35
36. Double Opt-in
• Double Opt-in
– We highly recommend the double opt-in method when managing your email lists. In fact, it’s
a requirement of MailChimp’s native signup forms. Here's how it works:
– A customer signs up for your email newsletter through a form at your website.
– They receive an email with a confirmation link.
– If they click the link, they are added to the list.
– If they do not click the link, they are not added to the list.
– Double opt-in is fast replacing the single opt-in method, in which someone submits a form
and is automatically added to a list. Single opt-in increases the likelihood for someone to get
added to the list without permission, either erroneously or maliciously.
• Double Entry
– Asking a user to re-enter their email address in a <form> on your website, allows a
comparison check to be performed with the form processing, to help reduce the number of
manually entered incorrect email addresses, that can be lost forever!
Slide: 36
37. Email Firewalls
• Email Firewalls
– By now, most email marketers know that spammy phrases like “FREE! CLICK NOW!” will
trigger spam filters to flag their message. But before an email even gets to that filter, it first
has to pass through a gatekeeper or "firewall." (Yep, spam is now such a problem that spam
filters now need filters of their own.) Firewalls are used by ISPs, large corporations, and
small businesses alike, and they all communicate with each other to help identify spam and
spammers.
– If IronPort’s Email Security Appliance thinks your email is spam, it’ll gobble it up and shoot
its remains into cyberspace before your recipient’s spam filter even has a chance to look for
the word "V1AGRA." It won’t even waste the energy to tell anybody about it (which means it
won't appear on a bounce report).
– But how does this server know what spam is? Your own recipients teach it. When you send
an email to your list, and someone on your list thinks it’s spam—or doesn’t remember
opting-in to your list, or if you never had permission in the first place—that recipient can
report you to SenderBase, the world’s largest email monitoring network. If you get enough
complaints, SenderBase will propagate your data to all the IronPort servers around the
world, letting everyone know you’re a spammer.
– Your ESP should be registered at SenderBase, so they can properly investigate every
complaint generated in response to their users’ campaigns. MailChimp’s staff receives
copies of any complaints that come in, so we can disable the sender’s account and
investigate immediately.
– IronPort is only one of many email firewalls, gateways and security appliances. There's also:
– Cloudmark; Barracuda Networks; Symantec
– All of these gatekeepers rely on reputation scores to block emails before they even get to
the content-based spam filters. They all calculate sending reputation differently. You can
make sure your reputation is good by sending clean emails to clean lists. Slide: 37
38. MailChimp’s Omnivore System
• Omnivore
• Omnivore is MailChimp’s abuse-prevention algorithm that keeps our system clean by
predicting bad behavior in a campaign before it even gets out the door. We started
working on Omnivore in 2008, and now we have a tool that’s constantly analyzing
email-campaign and user-account data behind the scenes.
• Spam filters are equipped to catch obvious and evil spam, but they’re not as effective
at predicting permission issues. ESPs often have a hard time detecting ignorant
spammers too. Omnivore can predict users' lack of permission and send them a
warning to help them develop better practices before it’s too late. If Omnivore detects
an especially suspicious activity, we’ll suspend the account while our team
investigates.
• If you’re not a spammer, how does Omnivore affect you? Well, because it prevents
abuse on such a massive scale, you’ll achieve better deliverability by default. Even
problem-free senders benefit from a self-cleaning system.
Slide: 38
39. Get to know common ESPs
• Cleaning CRMs and subscriber lists, requires time and effort.
– I have seen 44 different ways that users have incorrectly entered in their ‘Hotmail’ address.
Rather than give up on the bounce email in cases like this, review and run “find and
replace”, or regular expression queries, to clean up a mail list/CRM that has incorrect email
address data due to poor data entry or past capture/entry procedures.
– Typo errors are very common when a double entry, or double opt-in process hasn’t been
implemented. Use excel to sort your email addresses; group by domain names to see
patterns of concern, search for common errors of incorrect characters which can’t be used
in an email address.
– These characters can be used in the NAME part of the email:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789!#$
%&'*+-/=?^_`{|}~.
– These characters can be used in the DOMAIN part of the email:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789-.
Slide: 39
40. Subscribe to your competitors
• Monitor the activities of competitors and your industry
– Probably the best way for you to stay in touch with what is happening in your industry (local,
nationally and internationally); as well as to monitor the activities of your competitors, is to
register to their mailing lists.
– Use a persona account that matches your/their target audience. Remember that the settings
in the profile may influence what is received if they are segmenting based on gender, age,
location or interests.
– Use the same free web-based email account (e.g. Hotmail or Gmail) to receive all their
offers into the one account, so that you can readily analyze their sending patterns (day of
week, time of day), their subject lines, seasonal patterns, content marketing strategy, and
design layouts.
Slide: 40
41. HTML or Plain Text
• HTML email has images. It also has text formatting and the ability to show information
in columns. The text email is just text. It has no HTML code.
• You don’t absolutely have to send both a text and an HTML version of your emails.
That was a common practice up to even five years ago, but now almost every email
client can read HTML emails. However, while the majority of email clients can read
HTML emails, there are still some holdouts. So while you don’t have to send a text
email, we do recommend it.
• If you’re only sending text emails because you’re concerned people can’t read HTML
emails, there’s a more elegant solution available. It’s possible to embed a text version
of your email into the HTML version. These are called “multi-part emails” or a “multi-
part MIME”. They basically have a simple text email bundled up inside of an HTML
email. If the HTML can’t be read, the text is shown instead.
Slide: 41
42. Good Email Design Elements
– MailChimp’s template language makes it easy to code your own HTML emails that will allow your
clients to adjust colors, fonts and more—without breaking the layout or messing with your code.
And our template language uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) comments and a few special
HTML attributes, so you don’t have to waste your time learning another language.
– Your email’s layout should be no wider than 600 pixels in order to allow proper viewing in most
email clients. As a rule, avoid using floats and positioning in your email templates.
– The primary focus display preview area of an email is the 300 x 300px box originating from the top
left of screen, is your brand, subject and CTA clear in this area?
– For a first time recipient of your email, all your images may be blocked. Have you used <alt> tags
on all images, and do you have body text to support the images that aren't showing?
– Inlining CSS styles is the standard for making sure template designs retain their integrity within an
email client.
– You can use background images in templates, but getting them to work consistently across all
email clients is tricky at best. Using the “background-image” CSS property declaration to set a
background image on an element is disregarded by many email clients.
– Use the often ignored “bgcolor” and “background” HTML attributes on your table and body tags.
This can circumvent your CSS issues completely, since you’re using HTML code that’s older but
still well supported.
– <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
– <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
Slide: 42
43. Good Email Design Elements…
– All mc:edit areas must have unique names (like mc:edit=”box1” and mc:edit=”box2”). Template
content is attached to these names and stored in the database accordingly—so regardless of
where in a template the mc:edit area is, if it shares a name with any other area, it’s going to
duplicate any content entered (and it can trigger the loss of content). For simplicity’s sake, you
should limit the number of editable spaces in your template and name all editable spaces
consistently.
– mc:edit="header"
• to name your email’s header
– mc:edit="header_image"
• to name an editable header image
– mc:edit="sidecolumn"
• to name an editable left or right side column
– mc:edit="main"
• to name the main content space
– mc:edit="footer"
• to name your email’s footer
Slide: 43
44. Good Email Design Elements…
– Merge tags
– The following five merge tags should always be included within your templates (generally in or
near the footer);
– *|UNSUB|*
• unsubscribe link
– *|FORWARD|*
• forward to a friend link
– *|UPDATE_PROFILE|*
• update profile link
– *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|*
• list address
– *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|*
• list description
Slide: 44
45. Good Email Design Elements…
– External links
– When you’re including links in an email, include the target=”_blank” attribute in your anchor
elements to make them open a new browser window or tab when emails are viewed in web-based
email clients. Here are some handy links to include:
– <a href="|UPDATE_PROFILE|" target="_blank">change subscription preferences</a>
• A link for users to update their subscription preferences.
– <a href="|ARCHIVE|" target="_blank">view this email in a browser</a>
• A link to let users view the email in a browser.
– <a href="|LIST:URL|" target="_blank">visit our website</a>
• A link to your website.
– <a href="|FORWARD|" target="_blank">forward to a friend</a>
• A link to let users forward the email to a friend, usually somewhere prominent.
– Don’t wrap your email’s content text in standard HTML tags if other people are going to use your
template—avoiding unnecessary tags will help minimize confusion and errors if part of the tag is
deleted within the editor.
– Leaving out a title in the email template can bring up some difficulties when using social sharing
functions. It’s best to include the html title tag and include the *|MC:SUBJECT|⧵* merge tag
within it. This allows the campaign title to be pulled in automatically.
– Save your template under My Templates, without content and with your necessary editable areas,
and use it to create your campaigns instead of replicating a campaign and re-editing previous
content every time you want to send.
Slide: 45
48. Increasing Sharing
• Use the MailChimp sharing merge tag to allow readers to share your campaign with
their friends. You can even customize it to include only your favorite networks. Our
Tumblr merge tag allows your readers to share your newsletters on their Tumblr
blogs, just like they would any other content. Use our Google +1 merge tag so your
readers can recommend your newsletters in their Google+ circles. You can even
include the +1 button in your campaign archive bar.
Slide: 48
49. MailChimp Automated Emails
• Easily define when your emails go out. Trigger workflows to start sending instantly,
only on weekdays, or based on other criteria you chose. Set time delays between
emails in a series, and set triggers within your workflow so that emails further into the
series only send to subscribers who’ve opened or clicked.
• MailChimp integrates with hundreds of web services, so you can expand on our built-in features
and sync customer data to use in your automated emails.
Slide: 49
50. Best Time to send Emails
• Late last year, MailChimp rolled out our Send Time Optimization feature. Built on the Email
Genome Project, which powers many of the MailChimp other products, Send Time Optimization
does just what you’d think: It suggests to users when they should send their campaigns.
• Looking at the stats, this would be: Thursday between 10:00am-12:00pm
• Don’t forget to A/B test and measure your own industry, and specific list.
• A 2012 Experian email marketing benchmark study across all industries found that recipients are
surprisingly active late at night. Unique open rates averaged 21.7% from 8pm to 11:59pm and
17.6% for 12am to 4am. Moreover, this late night group was more likely to click through, with
open rates of 4.2% and 3.2%, respectively. These night owls also had the highest click through
rates for all times of day. Revenue per email was also the highest in the 8pm to 11:59pm group…
so night times are NOT always the worst time!
• Mad Mondays: The general consensus is that should avoid sending out email blasts on Mondays.
Why? People are already bummed out about the end of the weekend. They march into the office
and are flooded with emails they’ve collected over the past few days. What’s the first thing they
do? Delete those emails of course!
• Weekends: Historically, weekends are the days when folks are out running errands and going on
adventures. Weekends tend to have low open rates, so most marketers avoid them like the
plague
Slide: 50
51. Personalisation & Segmentation
• Around 70% of marketers say personalization can have a significant
impact on customer retention rates, lifetime customer value,
customer advocacy rates, and average revenue per transaction. 91%
of shoppers admit they would be likely to respond to a well-targeted,
customized email offer.
• Nevertheless gathering user data for targeting, personalizing and
segmenting email marketing lists is getting harder and harder, as
subscribers become more and more wary. 62% of global consumers
worry about their personal data being used for more than marketing
purposes.
• Go beyond first name. If you’re personalizing with first name only —
you may as well skip it. 70% of customers found this unappealingly
superficial. Use your sign-up forms for more than just sign-up. Ask
about geolocation, gender, business type, etc. and make use of this
information in your campaigns.
• Use purchase history to forecast future orders. For consumable
goods, the last order date can help you estimate the next purchase
date. The most-recently purchased product category can tell you a lot
about customer preferences and help you prepare a matching offer.
• Track user engagement. Open-and-click stats indicate the type of
communication that’s interesting for your customer: sales offers,
content, videos, coming events, etc.
• Don’t go overboard with volume. As with everything you do — respect
and deliberation are essential. Slide: 51
52. How to prevent Spam Complaints
• Here are some common mistakes even legitimate marketers make that may cause recipients to
report abuse.
• Stale Lists
The marketer collected emails legitimately through an opt-in form on their site, but didn't contact
them soon after. A subscriber could receive a newsletter they don't remember signing up for two
years ago.
• Lists From Online Purchases
The marketer has a list of email addresses from customers who have purchased products from
them in the past. They want to email them but instead of asking purchasers to join their email
marketing list, they just add them and send.
• Trade Show or Third Party Lists
When a marketer exhibits at a trade show or sponsored event, they receive a list of attendee
email addresses. Rather than ask the attendees to join their mailing list, they assume they have
permission and send.
• Fish Bowls and Business Cards
People drop their business cards in a bowl to enter a drawing for a prize. This can seem like
a common sense list collection technique, but entering a drawing doesn't qualify as giving
permission to receive emails.
• Purchased or Rented Lists
The marketer purchased or rented members' email addresses from an organization, then added
them to their list without getting permission first.
• In order to stay compliant with all ESP Terms of Use and avoid abuse reports as much as
possible, always get permission to send to the subscribers on your list, using a double opt-in
method, whenever possible. Slide: 52
53. WordPress – Gravity Forms Add-on
• The Gravity Forms MailChimp Add-On gives you an easy way to integrate all of your
online forms with the MailChimp email marketing service. Collect and add subscribers
to your email marketing lists automatically when a form is submitted.
• Seamless Integration: Automatically add subscribers to your email lists when a form
is submitted.
• Custom Fields: Populate MailChimp custom fields from form field data.
• Opt-In: Control opt-in and only add subscribers when a certain condition is met.
• Double Opt-In: Automatically send a double opt in message to ensure only legitimate
subscribers are added.
• ! This Gravity Forms Add-On is a Basic Add-On and is available only to Business &
Developer License holders. http://www.gravityforms.com/add-ons/mailchimp/
Slide: 53
54. Are you capturing on Facebook?
• Either through custom pages with forms, or plugins, capture your Facebook users
and bring them into your CRM so you can market to them.
Slide: 54
55. ChimpFeedr RSS-to-Email
• Enter a bunch of RSS feeds into ChimpFeedr, and we'll mash 'em up into one master
RSS feed. Then, maybe you can use that master feed for your awesome RSS-to-
email campaigns!
• http://chimpfeedr.com/
Slide: 55
56. Chimpadeedoo – Collect Emails
• Chimpadeedoo collects email addresses and stores them locally on your iPad or
Android tablet, even when you’re not online – so great at events, or as an in-store
ipad for consumers to register for your company enewsletter. Whenever you connect,
it automatically pushes the addresses to your MailChimp list. Be sure to send these
contacts a welcome email that confirms their opt-in to your list.
• http://mailchimp.com/features/mobile-signup-forms/
Slide: 56
57. Hootsuite & MailChimp
• Yes you can use Hootsuite to monitor and connect to your MailChimp account! A
great way to help coordinate your Social Media activities with a coordinated marketing
campaign.
Slide: 57
58. Terminology
Term: Definition:
Avg. Average
Avg. Time on Site The average time a user spends on the website during their interaction. The longer the time a consumer stays on site indicates
that they are getting benefit from the site, and investing their energies in researching and looking through.
Backscatter (also known as outscatter, misdirected bounces, blowback or collateral spam) is incorrect automated bounce messages sent by mail
servers, typically as a side effect of incoming spam.
Blacklist Some soft bounce error messages will indicate that our sender IP has been added to a 'blacklist'. In these cases we need to work on
improving our sender score and ask to be whitelisted.
Bounce Message In the Internet's standard e-mail protocol SMTP, a bounce message, also called a Non-Delivery Report/Receipt (NDR), a (failed)
Delivery Status Notification (DSN) message, a Non-Delivery Notification (NDN) or simply a bounce, is an automated electronic mail message
from a mail system informing the sender of another message about a delivery problem. The original message is said to have bounced.
Bounce Rate Percentage of emails sent that bounced. (Number Bounced ÷ Number Sent)
Campaign and Report If the Lead or Contact received this email as part of a mass email sent to a Campaign, the name of the Campaign is shown in
the Campaign field. If the Lead or Contact received this email as part of a mass email sent to a Report, the name of the Report is shown in the
Report field. If both the Campaign and Report fields are blank, this email was sent to the Lead or Contact individually, through the Send Email
link on the Lead or Contact detail page.
Campaign and Report Name If this email was sent to a Campaign, the name of the Campaign is shown in the Campaign field. If this email was sent
to a Report, the name of the Report is shown in the Report field.
ccTLD Country Code Top level Domain, eg .com.au is the ccTLD for Australian domains.
Click-Through Rate Percentage of recipients who clicked at least one link. (Number of Unique Clicks ÷ Number Delivered)
COI Confirmed Opt-in
CRM Customer Relationship Management
CTA Call To Action (a button, link, phone number, email address) trigger that we want the user to initiate.
Date Bounced If the email bounced, this field shows the date of the bounce.
Date Opened The date and time when the Lead or Contact last opened the email. Whether or not the Lead or Contact opened the email can be
ascertained only for those recipients who received the HTML version of the email, not those who received a text version.
Date Sent The date and time when the email was sent.
Date Unsubscribed If the Lead or Contact unsubscribed by using the unsubscribe link in this email, this field shows the date on which that action
occurred.
Deliverability Rate Percentage of emails successfully delivered. (Number Delivered ÷ Number Sent)
Delivered The number of Emails that were able to get to the intended recipient's email address.
DKIMDomainKeys Identified Mail
DNS Domain Name System
DNSBL Domain Name System Black List
DSN Delivery Status Notification Slide: 58
59. Terminology
EDM Electronic Direct Marketing / Email Direct Marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating
commercial or fund-raising messages to an audience
Email Name The name of the email that was sent. The email name is one of the email properties that you can view and edit from within the
ExactTarget application.
Emails Sent This is the number of emails that ET sent for that particular segment of the campaign. This number is determined by what exists
initially within CRM (Customer Relationship Management database), is then put into a Stored View of the segment, and FTP'd to ET for use in
campaigns.
ESP Email Service Provider
ET ET is the abbreviated name for Exact Target a bulk email vendor.
From Address The email address displayed in the email's "from" information.
From Name The name displayed in the email's "from" information.
FTAF Forward To A Friend
FTAF – Forwarders Forward To A Friend - Forwarders (how many people was the recommendation to receive and subscribe to this EDM sent out to)
FTAF – Recipients Forward To A Friend - Recipients (how many people actually received the recommendation to read and subscribe to this EDM)
FTAF – Subscribers Forward To A Friend
FTP File Transfer Protocol is the method used to upload and download files from a location to server. In this case our database stewards transfer
consumer/agent records from CRM via FTP into a directory on ET for them to pick up and associate to the Stored Views of Data Extensions for
specific campaigns.
GA Google Analytics
GA Pages/Visits The number of pages viewed per visit made to the website when referred by the EDM campaign CTA (Call To Action)
GA Visits The number of actual visits made to the website when referred by the EDM campaign CTA.
Hard Bounce A hard bounce is a permanent failure error alert. Normally this is a clearly defined situation where the ESP bounce message indicates
that the username/email address no longer exists for this domain.
Invalid Addresses Number of Lead or Contact records whose email addresses contained a syntax error (such as a missing @ sign or a missing period)
or did not exist.
IP An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a series of numbers that identifies a digital device such as your computer. They work like your home
address--they allow data to arrive at the correct Internet location
ISP Internet Service Provider
Last Clicked Date and time when the Lead or Contact last clicked this link.
Lead and Contact If you accessed these results from a lead detail page, the lead's name is shown in the Lead field. If you accessed these results
from a contact detail page, the contact's name is shown in the Contact field.
Link Name The name or alias defined for each tracked link in the email. Click the hyperlinked link name to open the link detail page, where you can
see the number of unique clicks.
MTA Message Transfer Agent
MX Mail eXchange record Slide: 59
60. Terminology
NDN Non-Delivery Notification
NDR Non-Delivery Report/Receipt
New Visits % The number of new (compared to users who have previously been to the website) referrers achieved from the EDM campaign.
Number Bounced Number of emails that bounced and did not reach the recipient's inbox.
Number Delivered Number of emails that reached a recipient's inbox, which is the Number Sent minus the Number Bounced.
Number of Existing Undeliverables The number of Lead or Contact records who already had an email status of Undeliverable when this email was
sent. The application does not attempt to send emails to undeliverable Leads and Contacts.
Number of Existing Unsubscribes Number of Lead or Contact records who already had an email status of Unsubscribed when this email was sent.
The application does not attempt to send emails to unsubscribed Leads and Contacts.
Number of Total Clicks The number of times that the Lead or Contact clicked this link in the email.
Number of Unique Clicks Number of unique recipients who clicked at least one link in the email.
Number of Unique Opens Number of unique recipients who opened the email at least once.
Number Sent Number of emails that were attempted, which is the Total Number of Records minus the sum of Records without Addresses, Invalid
Addresses, Number of Existing Unsubscribes, and Number of Existing Undeliverables.
Number Unsubscribed Number of recipients who clicked the email's unsubscribe link and unsubscribed.
Open Rate Percentage of recipients who opened the email. (Number of Unique Opens ÷ Number Delivered)
Opened A check box indicating whether or not the Lead or Contact opened the email. Whether or not the Lead or Contact opened the email can be
ascertained only for those recipients who received the HTML version of the email, not those who received a text version.
Opt-in email is a term used when someone is given the option to receive "bulk" e-mail, that is, e-mail that is sent to many people at the same time.
Typically, this is some sort of mailing list, newsletter, or advertising. Obtaining permission before sending e-mail is critical because without it,
the e-mail is Unsolicited Bulk Email, better known as spam.
POP Point Of Presence
Records without Addresses Number of Lead or Contact records who did not have email addresses stored in the CRM record.
Regex Regex (Regular Expression) are used to help search queries. For example you can use a regex search filter to find and replace the username
before the domain in an email address: [A-Z0-9]+@ [A-Z0-9.A-Z0-9]+@ [A-Z0-9_A-Z0-9]+@ [A-Z0-9-A-Z0-9]+@ [A-Z0-9+A-Z0-9]+@
Region Country location for the specific sales office.
Sender Domain The chosen sender domain or sub-domain for your email.
Sender IP The sender IP for Trafalgar is XX.XXX.207.22 This is the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the Email Host server that sends out the EDMs.
This email address is what should be whitelisted when required.
SMTP The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol permits any computer to send email claiming to be from any source address.
Soft Bounce A soft bounce does not have to be a permanent failure (hard bounce), and some issues could be transient and pass in time, or if energy
is spent reviewing and resolving, then the issues noted may be fixed so that the recipient can receive the EDM as expected.
SPAM Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email (UBE), is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to
numerous recipients by email.
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61. Terminology
SPF Sender Policy Framework is an email validation system designed to prevent email spam by detecting email spoofing, a common vulnerability, by
verifying sender IP addresses.
Subject Line The subject line displayed to the Lead or Contact records who received the email. Personalization strings will be displayed as %
%AttributeName%%.
TLD Top Level Domain
Total Clicks The number of total clicks achieved from the EDM, by the consumer, as actions. These will go through to landing pages specified in the
EDM content. An EDM may have several click actions within the one email, as the consumer clicks on points of interest within the received
email. A user may also go back to the email, view it online, or forward to friends, family and colleagues, which is where 'unique clicks' comes
in.
Total Emails Opened The complete number of times emails from the campaign have been opened, even if several times, viewed online mode, or
even forwarded to family, friends and colleagues.
Total Number of Records Total number of intended recipients (the number of Leads or Contacts associated to the Campaign or included in the
Report)
Undeliverable The number of emails that were not able to get to the recipient due to hard or soft bounce issues.
Unique Clicks Number of unique recipients who clicked at least one link in the email.
Unique Emails Opened The number of times the single email is opened once. The figures shown for number of emails opened reflect only those
recipients who received the HTML version of the email, not recipients who received a text version. Consumer may go back and re-read an email
(opening it again), or viewing it online (opening it again), or forwarding to friends, family and colleagues (all of which open it again).
Unsubscribe Rate Percentage of recipients who clicked the email's unsubscribe link and unsubscribed. (Number Unsubscribed ÷ Number Delivered)
Unsubscribes Unsubscribing means that the recipient has chosen to remove their email address from the database, and no longer gives permission
to receive opt-in marketing from our company. The figures shown for recipients who unsubscribe may continue to rise for some time after the
delivery, as recipients may not unsubscribe immediately after receiving the email.
URL Uniform Resource Location (normally used in context of saying 'web address')
Whitelist In some cases we need to request to the IT sysadmin of a domain, for our sender IP address to be added to their 'whitelist'. This means that
we get a straight passage through for our EDMs and they won't be blocked by SPAM rules/filters.
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62. Soft Bounce Error Codes
IP address is on a blacklist - Our sender IP address XX.XXX.207.22 has been listed on their SPAM filter/rules and our EDMs won't get through. This
might be because the ESP IP sender range has been blacklisted, or our specific IP. Where possible request the email administrator to whitelist
our sender IP.
Receiving email server is temporarily overwhelmed with delivery attempts, from you and other senders - Effectively the mail server of the
recipient was under too much strain (flooded), and as such couldn't handle all the incoming requests at once. At this time, the mail server
decides to drop the incoming mail queue, and our EDM doesn't get through, but is told to retry later. As ET is an over efficient email platform,
we may need to throttle our delivery speed so as to not hurt smaller networks. Work out the MTA (preferred mail delivery rate for the
company, and throttle to this level in ET).
Recipient's mailbox is full or has exceeded storage allocation - Particularly the case for business people who are constantly travelling, their mail
box fills up. At this time no more mail can be received. These soft bounces should be put into another group to then retry at different intervals
for delivering that EDM (try 3days, 7days).
Unknown - A very vague error message, that gives us nothing! We need to review subsequent sends to see if any patterns exist.
Failed due to temporary failure or indecipherable bounce message - Little better than 'unknown', and gives us nothing. These may be older email
applications/servers or ones that are not correctly configured (small operations), and so their bounce messages don't follow the normal
conventions.
Message lacks required authentication - Effectively the same as IP address on a blacklist. Our sender IP/Name has not been 'authenticated' and
recognised by the recipient email server. Just like with IP blacklist, try to contact the sysadmin of the provider to get whitelisted.
Message was filtered due to content - Our EDM was flagged as 'SPAM', as certain content rules were triggered within either the subject line or the
body content. Monitor this alert, if frequent look to ensure you run your EDM through a content checker before send and revise any
words/phrases flagged as 'spammy'.
This email has been blocked by recipient - Either this email, or all emails from our Sender Name/IP has been blocked within their email
application, or at the corporate network level within their SPAM application. Just like blacklisting it is worth contacting the sysadmin of the
domain to request to whitelist our IP.
Address is temporarily unavailable - The email address we are trying to send to is currently temporarily unavailable for any number of reasons.
Common ones are accounts that are suspended, haven't paid their internet access bill, or there may be network outages, or mail server
outages. These should be flagged to try to send again to (try in 3/5days).
Connection lost or timed out during delivery - Due to poor internet connectivity, an over loaded/saturated internet link, a mail server that is a
long distance (many, many hops away), could cause a connection time out to occur under normal thresholds (30 seconds is the common time).
Look at what time of day you are sending.
Email is rejected due to formatting or line length errors - Either the incoming mail server doesn't recognize the email headers, or is not configured
correctly. Generally there is nothing that we can do with these type of errors as the problem is on their end.
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63. Keep Connected
After today’s session, please feel free to connect with me if
you have additional questions:
LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/in/mattlynchseo
Don’t forget to LIKE Vorian Agency on Facebook:
https://facebook.com/VorianAgency
All of my other Social Media links are available on About.Me:
About.Me: http://about.me/au.mattlynch
Email: matt.lynch@vorian.com.au
Slide: 63
65. Please… invite others
We would like to thank you for your attendance
to today’s seminar on eNewsletters
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Slide: 65