Avoiding Gmail Spam Placement

As a sender of bulk email drops you know that passing Gmail spam filters is no walk in the park. Gmails complex filtering system uses a multiple tier system based on pattern analysis, virus/phishing detection, and most importantly user preference analytics to ensure that spam stays out of the inbox. The problem is, legitimate emails sent to opted-in users are often trapped in spam filters because of these strict filtering policies.

So the real question is – what can you do? The following are items Gmail identifies for you to take into consideration when sending to Gmail in an attempt to reach the inbox and ultimately interact with your users.

Authentication & Identification: A consistent and healthy IP address with valid reverse DNS2 records that point directly to your domain and a accurate from name that isn’t frequently modified should be used.

Subscription: Users must be opted in to your list through either an email of by manually checking on online web form.

Unsubscribing: A user must be able to request and stop receiving emails through an unsubscribe via link or email.

Format: Don’t attempt to hide the true sender or landing page location and make sure the subject is pertinent to the body content

Delivery: Add a header to your email requesting that users add your from address to their safe sender list and click “not spam” to ensure proper delivery every time.

Now you’ve got some items to think about when you’re composing and dropping your emails. Check back soon for more information on Gmail blocks and what specific spam notifications mean for the sender.

Re-Engagement

Get Your Objectives in Order

1. Identify Your Goal

Regardless of the purpose of an email message, whether it’s to make a sale or provide useful information to users, the desired outcome is to persuade the user to take action. To make this end result a reality you want your message and call-to-action to be clear before you start work on your email. First ask yourself - what is the purpose of this email? Having a clear and achievable goal in mind will help ensure the content of your email will benefit your bottom line.  

2. Plan Execution

Now that you’ve identified your goal you need to plan the best way to format your email to accomplish said goal. Keep the following items in mind:

                - It is important to place a clear call to action above the fold line of the email

                - A prominent company logo must be present to identify yourself as a reputable sender

                - The layout of your content should allow for easy navigation

                - All Iinks should redirect to the proper location and be tracked for data result purposes

3. Send Promptly and Properly

The goal has been identified, the email itself has been formatted, now it’s time to send. While sending make sure to keep in mind time zones and the particular location of mail recipients and consider what day of the week it is.

These may seem like 3 simple priorities when formulating an email but you would be surprised at how easily they can get lost in the mix. Identify, plan, send. As usual, our team is here if you should have any questions!

Re-Engagement

Get to know your list.

Mailing to users who haven’t engaged could be important to converting them back in. These users can still be valuable to you if you can think of ways to re-engage them. As a consumer so much is going on around them. Different products and services they are subscribed to getting emails from that they usually filter what they want to see read right away or what can be left for later. Often times the emails saved for later viewing end up being forgotten, deleted or even spammed.

Going back to an example I used in a previous post (hyperlink to my blog: Smartphone E-mail Usage Climbing) about receiving coupons from my favorite store, if I have not visited the site in a while it is nice to get an incentive such as a special offer in my inbox to re-visit. Incentives as such can re-engage the consumer and entice them to visit your site.

Thinking of ways to re-engage your users is crucial but first you have to identify who are the users you need to reach out to. Separate these users from your engaging users and send a specific message to them to help get them engaged again. The specific message you send to these users might not re-engage them right away. Keeping an eye on who re-engages and who doesn’t is important. Testing various campaigns and offers can help identify what your users are looking for and what engages them to visit your site and convert.

A/B split testing different offers can help identify what the particular audience felt like they were missing. You can also test the content and how you approach the audience. The tone you use in the email message is important. Consider using a friendly tone and not just a corporate company talking to the audience. This can also be tested.

Re-engaging your users might help converting these users into customers again!

 - Happy mailing from the KobeMail team

Email Personalization – How Much is Too Much?

Get personal! But know where to draw the line.

Your email list has a ton of information so don’t be afraid to use it. The collection of information from your users such as their first names, locations, and even birthday can come in handy. Why not use that information to send them a personal message?  An email you can send to all users who share the same birthday month, that includes some sort of special offer, is easy – and could present measurable results.

Drawing the line all depends on your marketing strategy. Let’s look at 2 examples:

DO

A user signs up on a maternity site looking to get free products and discounts for all types of baby products. During the signup process the mother provided information about her due date so that you could find the deals that were right for her. When her date is approaching you could send an email with an early congratulations and some deals that she’d love to see. Using her name, the baby’s name (if provided), and/or the due date can make an expecting mother feel special!

DON’T

A user signs up with a loan or financial advisory site. These users may not only be embarrassed about their current financial status but they may even be worried about personal information being release or stolen by third parties. In this case – sending an email with their first and last name in a subject line, including information about their loan request like personal income status may be crossing the line. Consider personal privacy and preference while making a judgment about email content.

Just remember – evaluating your users and the type of service or product you provide on a continuous basis to determine what content is appropriate and how much personalization may be too much.

Simply Irresistible Email Pre-Headers

So how many of you have been guilty of deleting an email that you thought was of no interest to you without even opening the entire message? This is where a pre-header is becoming one of the most important parts of the email composition. For those not sure what the header is, it is generally the text all the way on the top of the email usually residing above company logo.

When a user first receives a message, what will normally be displayed are the sender’s name, subject line and then one or two sentences known as email fold on ISPs. Since this is the first exposure to the content, we think a good call to action is needed. It is very important that the sentences explain the purpose of the email. Not only is it crucial for raising attention in users to open the email - it is also the only text seen when the email is open as images may be blocked until the user downloads the images (usually when you are not classified in the users safe list). It may even help to personalize pre-header or the subject line to engage your audience. Here at Kobemail we test all our campaigns on different ISPs and devices to better understand what users see when emails are sent to them and advice our clients accordingly.

Take under consideration as well that we are now in the mobile generation. Consumers continuously check their inbox while on the go. In a mobile device, for example a Blackberry, the header takes up about 1/3 of the screen. The header is one of the only chances to motivate your recipient to fully scroll down the rest of the email.

Overall pre-headers are a crucial part of any email deliverability campaign as it is where you can earn the attention of your recipient to motivate them to view the full message. It is always good to give recipients an idea of what the email is about in the pre-header of the email. Write your main selling point or the reason for your email.

Happy Mailing !!

Author: Adeline Zeledon
Editor: Yasifur Rahman

Social Media Email Marketing - Tips

In case you missed it, check out Part 1 and 2 of this Social Media and Email Marketing blog:

Part 1: It Doesn’t Have to Be One or the Other
Part 2: Ways to Connect

Let’s finish this 3 Part segment off with some friendly tips and reminders to help you make the most out of your email marketing campaigns.

Have a Clear Goal

What do you plan on getting out of this? Is this synergy an attempt to gain membership? Drive more traffic to the company website? Encourage registration in a contest? It’s important to have a clear and consistent goal and mold you efforts around said goal.

For example, if you are currently holding a Facebook contest and trying to increase signups, be sure to make mention of the contest in the newsletter or try sending a “blast” to your list that centers on the contest with links that redirect straight to your Facebook page.

Foster Positive Conversation

Work to increase positive feedback while acknowledging and dealing with negative. The worst thing you can do is delete or ignore negative comments; users will feel like they’ve been tossed aside by the big bad business, and this kind of animosity is what leads to diminished reputation and poor company image.

Hire staff to answer posted questions, respond to tweets, and look for trends in feedback. If users are all posting the same question, then the information you’ve provided is not comprehensive enough - fix it. Utilize users as an extended marketing team and learn to consider their advice – after all, the customer is always right.

Keep the Cycle Going

Follow up – make an effort to confirm things have been fixed if there was an issue or that things are still going well if there wasn’t. To keep the conversation going invite users to discuss a topic further on your Facebook page or other social channel.
Show consumers you are really listening by featuring their comments in a newsletter or on your website. Send them an email thanking them for their feedback. Make sure they know their comments are not just being fed to a robot – there’s a person over there!

Promote Transparency

Here at Kobemail we work to promote transparency with our clients and encourage them to do the same with their recipients. Remember, social media blew up as a personal outlet and in order to mold it to business practices we must be in tune with how it works.

Is called “Social” media for a reason – Have a conversation with your users just like you’d have a conversation with a friend (while keeping the profanities and sarcasm to a minimum, of course). Nobody wants to talk to someone they think is being fake or insincere – so be real, and they’ll appreciate it.

Experiment

Try out new techniques, the only failure is not taking advantage of a learning opportunity. Every business is different and because of this you won’t know what works best until you experiment! Trying different incorporation techniques (how links are used, where they’re used, what kind of incentive your offering, etc) can help lead you to a practiced marriage of social media and email marketing campaigns.

As always – Happy Mailing (and Social Media) from all of us here at KobeMail!

Author: Caitlin Durand
Editor: Rebecca Allas