Annual Scary Episode on What's Scaring Us for 2016

It’s Sooooo Very Scary!
Jenny Lassi, MarTech Manager

www.highroadsolution.com
Your Presenter:
Jenny Lassi is a MarTech Consultant and
MarTech Manager for HighRoad Solution
and is the resident expert at email
marketing deliverability best practices.
@highroadjenny
@jennylassi
@zenworlds
#deliverability #emailchat #emailmarketing
#emailforensics #emailengagement
#authentication #emailpreferences
#assnchat #abtest #emailstrategy

Today’s Content
• Scary
• Sort of Scary
• Shouldn’t be Scary
• Resources
“Email or do not email… there is no try.”
-Yoda Puppy

What email zombies want
to eat you all up?

• List Hygiene & Segmentation
• Platform Authentication Configuration
• Data Security
• Email Reputation
• Content Curation
• Template Design & Rendering
• Using Templates
• Staff HTML Knowledge
• Deliverability
• Reporting Metrics
• Behavioral Campaign Workflow

Did I lose you?

Do these email zombies make you
want to close your eyes in fear or
loathing and pretend they don’t
exist?

List Hygiene & Segmentation
• Scary: The average invalid rate at point of
collection is 6.7 percent.
• Sort of Scary: Of invalid email address lists
analyzed, 50% were true invalids, 12%
were role accounts, 29% were accept all
accounts.
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Running your
Invalid email addresses through an
email validation tool

List Hygiene & Segmentation
• If you haven’t used a list in a while (>3mo)
run it through an email validation tool
before you send an email to it. It will pay
for itself almost immediately.
• Segment your audience for best
engagement/performance but at the very
least, suppress non-engaged. Be
restrictive in Q4 but also in Q3.

Feeling eMoody?
Perhaps you suffer from EMS

Platform Authentication Configuration
• Scary: In a representative sample of
associations 55.6% Use DKIM/SenderID
and 44.6% DO NOT.
• Sort of Scary: ISP filters look at
authentication first - Blacklists second
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Setting up all
authentication methods.

• DKIM/SPF
• DMARC

What about
DMARC?

Co-developed by Return Path and a consortium of mailbox providers and
security vendors, the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting &
Conformance — DMARC — specification aims to put an end to domain-based
consumer email threats.
By leveraging existing email authentication technologies (SPF and DKIM),
DMARC lets email senders work directly with mailbox providers to quarantine
or reject any email that fails authentication.

Data Security
• Scary: The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) defines a
data breach as an incident in which an individual name plus a
Social Security number, driver’s license number, medical
record or financial record (credit/debit cards included) is
potentially put at risk because of exposure. 5,593 incidents
since tracking began in 2005.
• Sort of Scary: The data inside your HighRoad account doesn’t
contain this type of data, but other ESPs have been affected
by a data breach which is why security has increased for all
ESPs and will only become more restrictive in the future.
• Shouldn’t be Scary: 2-Factor Authentication – Many platforms
that store data records have this option available to maximize
security while giving end-user less login headaches.

Data Security
• Sign of the times… Security will continue
to become more restrictive on any web-
based platform that stores data.
• Use 2-Factor Authentication to bypass
password resets if you travel or do not
access the system from a consistent
location.
• Do NOT share login credentials.

Logged into same account
simultaneously from
172.26.541.14 and
172.28.541.18?
Go to Doggie Jail!

User Account Set-Up
• When a new User Account is set up for
you or your password changed, you will
get an email notification with that
Temporary Password.
• DO NOT copy/paste password from that
email notification
• Type in or first paste into Notepad

User Activity Log

I’m traveling and don’t see the
full navigation bar…ack!

Data Security
• Authorized locations security protocol
tracks IP address of login attempt
• Traveling? Beware of rotating IPs
• Using HotSpot? Beware of rotating IPs
• Go to WhatIsMyIP.com to get IP address
• Call/Email HighRoad Support

Security is there for
a reason.
It can cause
headaches with
logging in, but that
is better than a
breach.

Email Reputation
• Scary: Worldwide, just 79% of commercial emails land in the
inbox. This means that one out of every five emails never
reaches the intended recipient. Instead, it’s either sent to a
spam folder or goes missing—most likely blocked by the
mailbox provider.
• Sort of Scary: Engagement filters look at the ratio of active vs.
inactive email accounts that receive promotional emails. In this
case, engagement is defined as how frequently a user logs
into their account, as well as how active they are when they
log in. Mailing to a large number of addresses that appear to
be nearing abandonment is a negative signal to mailbox
providers and factors into their spam filtering algorithms.
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Creating a default exclusion list
that suppresses non-opener/clickers beyond
180-days

Email Reputation
• Know your Return Path Sender Score and
always try to improve it.
• Segment versus Batch & Blast.
• Clean lists quarterly.
• Ask for permission, not forgiveness in
email or you WILL BE BLOCKED.

Content Curation
• Scary: Curating content that contributes to a
complaint
• Sort of Scary: Curating content that is not
relevant to recipient or not written to speak to
the persona/demographic/segmentation of
recipient
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Curating content that
speaks to the persona directly or where
they are in their journey with your
organization

Content Curation
• The role of email is to direct the recipient
somewhere to do something.
• Use teaser text and read more links. Don’t
giveaway the kitchen sink in emails or the
html file size may reach a threshold that
nets you more bounces.
• Relevancy

Template Design & Rendering
• Scary: Neglecting to first define what the
content requirements are BEFORE choosing
an existing template or having one created to
use in a campaign
• Sort of Scary: Using non-responsive standard
templates
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Getting new responsive
templates coded or making existing templates
coded to be responsive

• Know who you are designing for
(demographic, member status, age).
• Know what email clients they are using.
• Always use Responsive HTML.
• Know what performs best with your
audience.

Template Design & Rendering 2016
Accordion Menus in Email
-With native mobile app support, now more verbose emails can have an accordion menu for mobile so they
don't get arthritis in their finger scrolling through all content to find what they want.
Scratch & Flip
-Provides a cool way to allow email recipients to consume the email on their mobile device and using a scratch
effect, they can scratch off offers/promotions.
Graphs
-Interactive graphs increase engagement and this is a very cool option for lists that are primarily mobile as this
doesn't work well for Outlook and Lotus users.
Rotating Banners
-Don't be limited to 1 header graphic when there are so many ways you can visually grab the attention of email
recipients. Again, native mobile apps work, Outlook probably doesn't.
Animated Gifs
-The tried and true method of using gifs to imitate video in email. Outlook shows only
1 frame of gif but this is pretty universally supported at this point.

Template Design & Rendering 2016

32
Ugh… my responsive template
isn’t being responsive!!!

• Proof the original HTML code to ensure
the tags are in the correct order
• Always use the correct workflow process
when adding your content to the template
Word>Notepad/Paste as Plain Text
icon>Control C>control V before you
delete placeholder content

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<STYLE>Responsive
CSS</STYLE>
<META></META>
</HEAD>
<BODY></BODY>
</HTML>

Using Templates - Workflow
• Scary: Having all text/css styles stripped from
the HTML code without understanding why
that is happening
• Sort of Scary: Deleting placeholder content
first and not understanding that also deletes
the code that controls the look/feel of that
content
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Following a consistent
workflow process when using responsive
templates

Using Templates – Staff Knowledge
• Platforms don’t require HTML knowledge
unless something doesn’t look right in your
testing.
• If using a Responsive template with image
placeholders and the images are
programmed to scale up to 320 for mobile,
don’t use editor to swap images, use
Image Properties.

Using Templates - Workflow Process
1. Messages>Create Message
2. Pull in responsive template
3. Put cursor just before the placeholder
text where you want to paste in your
real text
4. Use ONLY the Paste as Plain Text
icon in editor or copy text from
Notepad
5. Control V to paste content into the
Paste as Plain Text box or directly into
template if using Notepad
6. Then highlight/delete placeholder text

Deliverability
• Scary: Not setting up authentication
BEFORE you start sending email through
any platform
• Sort of Scary: Not reviewing bounce logs
within 48-hours of sending any campaign
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Communicating with
abuse@ or postmaster@ blocking
domains to request filter whitelisting

Deliverability
• Monitor bounce logs within 48-hours of the
deployment to address issues.
• Address platform authentication config to
make sure that is not the root of a
deliverability issue.

41
I know our Members put in their
correct email address but they’re
invalid now…pffft!

Deliverability - Invalids
• Spot check the email address for obvious
mistakes
• Use the system’s Invalid syntax report
during import process
• Review the bounce logs routinely to look
for ISP issues that may have invalidated
the record

43
People are on the opt-out list
that never went to our
EPC…hmmmmm!

www.highroadsolution.comwww.highroadsolution.com

Deliverability – Opt Outs
• Include an unsubscribe link in the email
pre-header area too
• Make sure there is an easy to see way to
manage preferences or unsubscibe
• Always honor the unsubscribe when
launching emails

Reporting Metrics
• Scary: Increasing bounce rates &
decreasing open rates
• Sort of Scary: Creating custom reports
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Addressing delivery
issues

Reporting Metrics
• Poop in, poop out. I said poop and now I
have your attention.
• Metrics are a direct result of the sum of all
parts we have discussed. If you don’t like
the outcome, you must address everything
and not point the finger at one thing.

50
I think my list is correct and all
content in my email but having Send
Live Message button anxiety! Mummy!

Reporting Metrics
• Relax… it’s just email.
• If there is a mistake, you can use sent
message metrics to segment out engaged
subscribers and resend a revised email.
• You can verify your list prior to send by
comparing AMS data to Segment data.

Behavioral Campaign Workflow
• Scary: Figuring out what you would like to
accomplish and not knowing what features in
your email platform you can leverage to
create and automate your campaign workflow
• Sort of Scary: Creating a diagram of a
campaign workflow you want to build out
• Shouldn’t be Scary: Creating your campaign
workflow once you know what you are trying
to accomplish

• Automate campaign workflow using out-of-
the-box features of your platform.
• Automate campaign workflow using your
integration combined with out-of-the-box
features of your platform.

Thank you for participating in the
“It’s Sooooo Very Scary” Webinar!
Did I Miss Anything
Scary? Q&A Time!
Tweet me @highroadjenny using #scaryemail
#deliverability #emailchat #emailmarketing
#emailforensics #emailengagement
#authentication #emailpreferences
#assnchat #abtest #emailstrategy

Thank you!
Other questions for Jenny?
eMail = jenny@highroadsolution.com
Twitter = @highroadjenny
@jennylassi

Resources
http://www.leadspend.com/
http://www.emailstatcenter.com/Authe
ntication.html
http://www.idtheftcenter.org/id-
theft/data-breaches.html
https://senderscore.org/
http://www.dmarc.org/overview.html
https://www.lucidchart.com/

Annual Scary Episode on What's Scaring Us for 2016

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