1. Deliverability:
The Realities and Demands of Today’s Market
Presented by:
David Fowler | Act-On Chief Privacy & Deliverability Officer
david.fowler@act-on.net | #AOWEB

2. David Fowler – BIO
 Chief Privacy & Deliverability Officer
 With over 20 years of experience in the marketing
industry including the last seven strictly focused on the
complex issues associated with email
marketing, deliverability and privacy compliance.
 A seasoned speaker and email deliverability consultant
with national and international engagements. David held
US and European based Senior Management positions
focused on Deliverability, Email
Privacy, Sales, Marketing, Business Development and
Product Management.

3.  The Realities:
 State of the email state
 Email and the law
 The Demands:
 Email performance realities
 Authentication
 Reputation
 Engagement
 Your path to the Inbox: The barriers to ROI
 Deliverability Feud – The game show for marketers!
 Receiver changes and expectations
 Final thoughts
Deliverability Wake Up

4. Marketing Used to Be So Simple
Private and Confidential

5. But Not Anymore
Private and Confidential

6. Private and Confidential
Source: Smarter Tools
 3 Times as many email accounts as FB and Twitter accounts combined
 Total posts on FB and Twitter add up to 0.2% of all email traffic
 Total number of searches on Google, Yahoo and Bing equals just 1.1% of all email traffic
 4X as much email is sent as web sites are visited inclusive of social sites, search sites and
internet page views combined
The Value of Email
Source: Smarter Tools

7. The Realities
THEY SEE YOU SEND

8. State of the Email State
 Email Deliverability = Brand Management
 Brand Management = Email Reputation
 Good Email Reputation = Better Deliverability
 Email Authentication is a Requirement
 User Engagement is now Paramount for Senders
 More aggressive filter implementation
 More streamlined industry organization/cooperation
 Continued legal | privacy | technology issues remain
 More informed clients as access to information is available
 There are still No Guarantees for delivery to any inbox

9. Email and the Law
 All major countries have some form of email / online
regulation and compliance obligations
 Canada to enact the CASL legislation in Q1 2013
 Not all privacy barriers are created equal:
 Privacy standards today are reverse in the US -vs- ROW
 Consent (opt-in) versus non consent (opt out)
 USA: You have several compliance issues to consider:
 CAN-SPAM | States Laws | Child Registries | FTC | FCC
 UK: Privacy & Electronics Communication & Regulation
 The FTC has prosecuted the behavior of an organizations
partners recently: Affiliate Marketers
 Privacy bill of rights release earlier this year

10. Performance Considerations
MAILING
SYSTEMS
Dedicated IP
Shared IP
Authentication
Volume &
Frequency
Management
RFC Compliant
BUSINESS
POLICIES
Legal
Compliance
Affiliates,
Advertisers &
Advertising
Permission
Practices
Outbound &
Inbound
Processing
REPUTATION
Public & Private
Blacklists
URL Blocklists
Abuse Boards
Spam
Complaints
Collaborative
Filters
User
Engagement
Web Site
Transparency
DESIGN &
CONTENT
Design & Text
Elements in SL &
Body
Rendering
W3C Compliant
HTML
Link
Configuration
RFC Compliant
Headers
DATA
MANAGEMENT
Frequency
Data Collection &
Hygiene
Bounce
Management
Feedback Loop
Management
Unsub
Management
 Deliverability: Are the messages received in the inbox?
 Renderability: Are images in emails viewable; do links work?
 Credibility: Do your customers trust the mail is from you?
 Brand Management: Does the email reflect your brand strategy?
Deliverability is a Shared Responsibility

11. The Demands

12. EMAIL AUTHENTICATION
Establishes YOUR Email Identity

13. Email Authentication

14. Email Authentication
 Proof of identity is achieved through the
following authentication protocols:
 SPF: Sender Policy Framework
 Sender ID
 DK/DKIM: Domain Keys / Identified Mail
 DMARC

15. Reputation & Engagement
=
Engaged Customer | Maximum Deliverability | ROI

16. Email Reputation
 20% of legitimate email never reaches the inbox
 Blame the ISPs and then look in the mirror
 Your sending reputation plays a MAJOR role
 It’s your sending practices that drive deliverability
 And reputation is all about YOUR NUMBERS

17. Email Reputation
 Majority of deliverability issues are based on reputation
 Your data that affects YOUR reputation:
 Authentication
 Email volume
 Complaint rates
 Your “Hard Bounce” rate
 Spam trap hits
 Consumer engagement – Very Important!
 To protect your reputation:
 MONITOR your sends
 To repair your reputation:
 FIX THE PROBLEMS – data integrity / confirmed opt-in

18. ISP Reputation vs. Content Filtering
18
Source: Return Path

19. Email Reputation

20. Engagement
 Means the degree to which your email subscribers are interested in
and acting on your email messages
 In the ways you want and expect, including:
 Add to the address book | safe sender lists
 Clicks & opens
 Sales conversions
 Frequency of mail
 Email folder management
 Hotmail’s engagements metrics include:
 Messages read, then deleted by the subscriber
 Messages deleted without being read
 Messages replied to, a tough one in the email marketing space
 Frequency of receiving and reading a message from a particular
"From" address
20

21. The Barriers to the Inbox

22. 22
• DELIVERABILITY
• Myths or Realities?
DELIVERABILITY
FEUD
with your charming host, David Fowler

23. Common Myths and Realities
Let’s start
the show...

24. 24
There is an ISP “Bat Phone” to call.
Authentication gets me delivered
to the inbox.
There’s a magic list of words you
can’t use in your content – like free.
Confirmed opt-in members
won’t hit the spam button.
Definition of spam as abusive email.
I’m on a blacklist, is my
deliverability going to be poor?
Being CAN-SPAM compliant will
keep me from being considered spam.
There has NEVER been a bat phone.
Authentication is a first step in
building your identity.
Reputation has more influence
today than your content.
CAN-SPAM is a minimum threshold of
compliance. Has no impact on reputation
or deliverability.
As opposed to unwanted email.
It depends on which blacklist you are on.
Some are more serious than others.
Everyone hits the spam button sometime.
If you are confirmed opt in it could be
more unlikely.

25. 25
I mail at night because the ISPs
do not watch during those hours.
Send more mail: Increased mail frequency
will increase your metrics.
My sales will decrease if I
use “confirmed opt-in”
My list is different so I don’t need
“confirmed opt-in”
I have signed up with a third-party reputation
service so all my problems are solved.
My ESP is responsible for my
performance and results.
I scrub with a third-party service
so my list is problem free.
These decisions are being made
computationally and not by humans.
Incorrect in 2012; engagement is more
important than quantity.
As you build relevancy, you build consumer
engagement, which leads to greater ROI.
The principles of permission don’t change
based on list type.
This may eliminate one-time issues, but if
your data collection practices are poor,
you’ll have continued issues.
These services are based on complaints
and user feedback = a work-in-progress.
Your ESP is your partner and not
responsible for your performance.

26. ISP Changes and Expectations
 Major headcount reduction and consolidation
 Outsourcing postmaster duties, delivery management and functionality
(FBLs)
 ISPs Have evolved: They don’t consider themselves ISPs
 Creating features that allow the user to control their in-box
 Offering additional filtering options for inbox management
 Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! have enhanced user experience options
 User control equates to engagement = This is good (ROI)
 Authentication is a REQUIREMENT now
 Deliverability decision making is a reality
 No authentication: do not pass go straight to the junk folder

27. Deliverability
 ROI Insurance
 Client Onboarding
 IP Warming
 Reputation Execution
 FBL Management
 Whitelisting
 Execution Management
 Ongoing Management
ISP Remediation
 Proactive Outreach
 ISP Troubleshooting
 Blacklist Resolution
 Re Ramp Planning and
Execution
 Reputation Repair
Deliverability vs. ISP Remediation

28. Final Thoughts
 The song remains the same
 Deliverability is your ROI protector
 Deliverability services are insurance services
 You are still “guilty until proven innocent” with the receivers
 Retention vs. Acquisition email have separate issues and
challenges associated with their respective models
 Deliverability and ISP Remediation are two separate areas of
management
 It takes time to solve ISP issues and they can be very complex
 The road to the inbox will evolve as messaging strategies change
 Your mailing reputation cannot be ignored - it WILL follow you!

29. act-on.com
Ready Now?
1 (877) 530-1555 or sales@act-on.com
Thank You
david.fowler@act-on.net