Sunday, October 18, 2009

Gmail Spam Messages

Have you ever noticed that when an email hits the Spam folder in your Gmail Account a little message pop’s up at the top? Have you ever taken the time to actual read it? I was surprised to find that these messages, which at first glance look pretty much the same, all mean different things. Each of the 8 reasons below that Gmail provides recipients can be simply categorized and that could be the key for improving your Gmail deliverability. Check them out.

CAUSE 1: Reputation Problems
Be careful with this message. Many people marked similar messages as spam.
Why is this message in Spam? We’ve found that lots of messages from a
re spam.
Among other factors, proper and continuous cleansing of your database is necessary to avoid reputation issues.

CAUSE 2: Authentication Problems
This message was likely forged and did not originate from your account.
This message may not have been sent by:
It is important to check your email authentication settings as they may not be properly set up.

CAUSE 3: Content Problems
Why is this message in Spam? It’s similar to messages that were detected by our spam filters.
Why is this message in Spam? It contains content that’s typically used in spam messages.
Make sure emails maintain a 60/40 text to image ratio, eliminate words that may get noticed by spam filters such as “cash,” and make sure content is valuable and relatable to recipients.

CAUSE 4: Serious Content Problems
Be careful with this message. It might contain a virus or a malicious link.
Be careful with this message. Similar messages were used to steal people’s personal information. Unless you trust the sender, don’t click links or reply with personal information.
If you see one of these messages, immediate action is required. Generally these messages will be seen as a result of a phishing scam – its important to handle promptly.

 

Friday, October 16, 2009

Best Times to Mail

Clients often ask us if there is a particular day of the week or time of the day that’s best to send to their distribution list. This is a hard one to answer. Although there are periods of time that are generally accepted as being most likely to return the best results, day of week and time of day depends greatly on the client and the purpose of the email.
Below are some things to keep in mind regarding email timing by day:
Monday - Inboxes are filled from the weekend, and people are trying to get back into “work mode.”  If you plan to send Monday its best to send mid-morning after office workers have had a chance to clean out their inbox.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - These 3 days are generally accepted as the best time to send. Why? By this time inboxes should be cleared from the weekend rush and your recipients should be in full mid-week mode. For office workers this entails reading through work emails as well as checking personal mailboxes for your messages. For stay at homes, timing may vary here, but usually at some point within this period (whether it be morning or night) individuals will most likely check their mailboxes.
Friday - There is research that suggests that sending out emails on Friday could present lower opens than other days of the week. On Friday people are itching to start their weekend and checking emails may not be high on their priority list.  If you do plan to send out on Friday, morning is generally best as it gives users a chance to check their message before leaving the office.
The Weekend – Business workers are generally out of the office during this period, which means if they don’t check mail from home they wont see your message until Monday morning when its lost in a sea of weekend emails. Try to avoid bulk mailings on the weekends unless to circumstances are conducive to this type of send.
In regards to time of day, we at Kobemail generally suggest to clients a send time of around either 10am or 1pm in the afternoon. Although time of day will have less of an effect on opens than the day itself, these times are great as a benchmark because recipients have already sifted through morning and lunch break messages.
Keep in mind, with the progression of mobile devices and the increase is accessibility to email these rules tend to fade. For individuals with smartphone devices, emails are checked as they come in and day tends to matter less.
We can’t stress enough that these are simply guidelines and tips for sending; what’s most important is proper analysis of your email marketing campaigns. Know your demographic, look through past data result trends, and experiment with times to find out what works best for your mailers specifically.
Happy Mailing!
- The Kobemail Team