Email Deliverability Best Practices

The Essentials“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

Authentication Check-List• Update DNS with proper SPF and

DKIM records• Protect your domain with

DMARC

Domain Configuration• Use a sub-domain of your base

domainExample: e.yourdomain.com

Deliverability Tools• Setup Google Postmaster Tools• Register with Microsoft SNDS• Use a reputable service provider

for inbox and reputation monitoring

Data Sources• Confirmed Opt-in’s are 2nd to none• Secure all web forms• When in doubt use Email

Validation• Send triggered welcome messages

to new subscribers

Email Content & Creative Guidelines Checklist

• Design clear CTAs at the top of the email and consider what’s falling below the fold

• Compose short, compelling emails that are relevant to the audience and clearly represent the brand

• Include concise subject lines that are persuasive and resonate with the audience

• Utilize message pre-headers/preview text to convince recipients to open

• Link all logos and hero images to increase engagement

• Apply a safe sender prompt at the top of all email

• Test creative design to ensure email remains fresh and pertinent to recipients

“A Solid Opt-in Process is a Must for a Successful Email Program.”

If your goal is to send email to people who want to receive it (and it is!), you should follow these principles when you collect emails on your web forms.

1. Web forms should have CAPTHCA or Google RE-CAPTHCA

• Prevents bot abuse

• Reduces the chances of falling victim to a subscription bombing

2. Trigger a confirmed opt-in email

• Send this message in real time to ensure continuity in the signup process

3. Recipient clicks the “confirm” button

• Prevents typos or fake sign ups

• Confirms a recipient is interested in your emails and is a real person

• Improves your reputation at mailbox providers by sending an email the recipient was anticipating

List OriginsThe goal of a successful email program is to send emails to people who want to receive them. It can be difficult to find these people if you are acquiring data from a third party, e.g. co-registration lists and rented/purchased data.

Here is the recommended approach if you do decide to use third-party data:

Best Option Have the third-party vendor send the first email.

§ The goal of the campaign is to entice new subscribers to opt-in to your email program§ Load your opt ins from the third-party into your production platform and send them a Welcome email§ These are now your subscribers—continue to target them in a relevant and meaningful manner

Other Option Have the third-party send the first email. Load all openers and clickers—excluding those who clicked solely to unsubscribe—into your production platform.

Ill-Advised OptionWe do not recommend deploying emails out of your production platform to recipients who have not opted in. The recipients’ mailbox providers will treat these with apprehension, and are very likely to block it, junk it, or, in severe cases, blacklist you. This negatively affects your reputation with the mailbox providers and can impact your opted-in subscribers.

Cross-Brand MarketingSend a transitional email asking the recipient to opt into a new stream/brand, rather than automatically targeting them with a communication they never signed up for.

• Example: Brand A’s stream to brand B’s stream• Eases recipients into the new mail stream• Prevents unwanted communications from continuing

and causing reputation issues• Customize your content to the unique population

thereby sending a more targeted message

• IP/Domain Segmentation• Segment IP/domain to prevent potential reputation

issues or mixing brands

Permission Reminder w/Unsubscribe Examples“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing”

The main purpose for having the permission reminder at the top of ALL campaigns is to help reduce spam complaints by reminding recipients of how they opted-in and providing a quick and simple “one-click” unsubscribe option.

Example 1 Example 2

Manage Subscription Page Best PracticesBusiness Growth Presentation

User FriendlyMake it simple for users to select which mailings that would like to receive.

Listen to the SubscriberIf a user reduces their subscriptions, that is perfectly fine. They could have marked your next message as spam!

Clear and ConciseDon’t make the page too busy, as to deter the user from what they are there for.

Anti-Spam Laws• Stay in compliance with anti-spam laws, some of which are outlined below:

• CAN-SPAM – sets the rules for commercial electronic messages in the United States• Don’t use false, misleading, or deceptive header and subject line information• Identify your name, the commercial intent of your email, and where you are located• Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email and honor opt-out requests

promptly

• CASL – applies to commercial electronic messages sent to subscribers/devices in Canada• Only send to permission-based email addresses• Identify your name, the commercial intent of your email, and where you are located• Provide proof of signup if asked• Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email and honor opt-out requests

promptly

• EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications

• Region-specific laws for Australia, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, France, Spain, and the UK

• * This information is not to be interpreted as legal advice. Please review and consult with your legal team regarding all anti-spam laws.

Building, Repairing, and Maintaining Reputation

• ISP Specific Strategies• Focus on the Metrics that Matter!• Leveraging Engagement Based Segments

GMail

ISP Specific Strategies“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

• Each ISP has their own set of rules and proprietary filtering technologies. What may work for one ISP, may not work for another.

• The distribution of domains will vary for each sender, so it’s important for you to take this into consideration when developing your strategy for warming or repairing reputation.

Why So Specific?

Gmail 27.8%

OATH 6.3%

MSN 11.4%

https://litmus.com/blog/infographic-the-2019-email-client-market-share

Top Email Clients • Gmail can be one of the more sensitive ISPs. Success at Gmail is much like making good barbeque…”you just have to take it low and slow” in order for things to be good. And once you’ve found your “secret sauce,” you’ll have a winning recipe!

• In most cases, “if it works at Gmail, it will work at other ISPs.”

If it Works at Gmail…

The Big 4 ISPs make up a large percentage of the email client market share. Focusing your efforts on doing what works at these ISPs and applying these solutions to other domains can really payoff.

Focus on the Metrics that Matter“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

5%

Inbox Placement tests provide great insight, but these results are just a small piece of the puzzle.

15%

Looking at your bounces can provide important details about how ISPs are handling your mail, however, if your mail isn’t bouncing this data may not be as useful.

20%

Who better to ask than the ISP receiving your mail? Your reputation rating at places like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS are key data point reference when investigating issues. Engagement rates will almost always align with your rating.

60%

Changes in performance in these areas are the most reliable metrics that you can use to judge performance. If there’s been a downward trend in opens and clicks, then you’ll want to start looking into these other factors for further proof of an existing issues.

Opens and ClicksReputation StatusBouncesInbox Test Results

Engagement Based Segments“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

Highly EngagedOpened and/or clicked multiple campaigns. Audience can be leveraged for IP warming, reputation rebuilding, and re-engagement campaigns.

Less EngagedOpened and/or clicked within the 7-12 month timeframe. Should be considered a MEDIUM deliverability risk and sent to strategically.

EngagedOpened and/or multiple campaigns within the 4-6 month timeframe. This audience presents little-to-no deliverability risk.

UnengagedNo opens or clicks recorded within the past 12 months. This should be considered a HIGHrisk audience and should be sent to strategically and only with the guidance of an experienced deliverability consultant.

0-3 months 4-6 months

7-12 months 13+ months

Leveraging Engagement Based Segments“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

Building ReputationIP and/or Domain

Segment by ISP*

Daily Volume Caps

Hourly Throttling

Takes 4 Weeks Min.

0-3 Month Openers

Repairing ReputationIP and/or Domain

Segment Problem ISP(s)

Daily Volume Caps

Hourly Throttling

Takes up to 2-4 Weeks

0-3 Month Opened & Clicked

Maintaining ReputationIP and Domain

Send Consistently

Test Regularly

Find Your Ratio

Avoid Spikes in Volume

0-6 Month Openers

A reputation can be very easily established and/or repaired in a timely manner byhandling each of the major ISPs individually and targeting your most active subscribers.Once a sender has the essentials in place, it then becomes all about who they send to andhow during their warm-up or repair phase. After identifying your Best Audience and“Finding Your Ratio,” maintaining a good reputation is very simple.

Overcoming the Real Challenges

• Managing Big Brands and Old Data• The Game of Ratios• “I Need to Email My Entire Audience. What are Your Recommendations?”

Reactivation and Win-Back Campaigns• Reactivation or Win-Back Campaigns, when executed properly, are great ways to grow your active audience by re-engaging subscribers who aren’t as active as your standard audience. How aggressive or conservative you can approach this be based on the following factors:• Average opens/clicks for your standard audience• Reputation • The total size of your active audience • Send frequency

• Here are the keys to a successful reactivation/win-back campaign:• Find the best ratio of active to inactive subscribers that works based on the factors

mentioned above. • In all cases, we generally recommend starting a 90:10 active to inactive ratio for

your daily traffic.• Ramp up to eventually sending to a max ratio of 70:30 active to inactive

subscribers.• Throttle the campaigns that will be going out to the inactive audience. • Schedule the inactive segment 15-30 min after the standard audience • Avoid sending to non-openers (re-mails) on the same days that you’re targeting

inactives.

Managing Big Brands and Old Data“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

Convincing senders to focuson quality over quantity canbe difficult when you’redealing with Big Brands,especially when their mostactive segment(s) areoftentimes only 25-30% oftheir entire audience.

Some senders can get awaywith sending to their 0-12actives as their standardtargeted audience. A senderwith higher opens has more“wiggle” room with how farback they can expand their“active” segment.

In most cases, this is the”sweet spot” for regulartargeting. This audiencecan be paired with lesseractive segments. This agood strategy for satisfyinga sender’s request to sendto a larger audience or tore-engage older subscribers.

This audience is your breadand butter. This is theperfect audience to mail toduring warm up or rebuild.When times get hard, youcan always revert tosending to this segment andfeel confident in your abilityto recover from issues.

0-3 Month Actives25%

0-6 Month Actives50%

0-12 Month Actives75%

0-24 Month Actives100%

“The Game of Ratios”“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

100%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

0-3 Month

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0-3 Month 4-6 Month

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

0-6 Month 7-12 Month 12M+

1. Create the following segments: 0-3M Openers, 0-6M Openers, 7-12M Openers2. Pick your standard targeted audience based on the segment with the highest average unique opens. (I like 15% range or higher)3. Pair this audience with a unique segment of one of your lesser active audiences, not to exceed 20% of the total volume to start.4. This process can be continued until you’ve worked your way through your entire inactive audience over time.

IP Warming Reputation Repair Re-Engagement

Rules to the Game

“I Need to Email My Entire Audience. What are Your Recommendations?”“Stop Guessing.Start Inboxing.”

Contingency Plan

Before deployment, besure to meet with yoursenders to setexpectations on potentialimpact on reputation.

Send to Actives First

Warm up to the ISPs bysending to your mostactive subscribers beforemailing your inactives.

Increase Monitoring

Having an extra set ofeyes and additionalmonitoring in place duringbig pushes is a must!

Throttle the Less Active Segment(s)

Since you know that thisaudience is going toengage at a lower rate, it’simportant to spread thattraffic out over time to.

“The size of an ending will never offset the inevitability of a beginning.”― Craig D. Lounsbrough

Click Below for the Answer to All of Your Deliverability

Questions

Who Did You Send To????“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

Spam Folder Placement

Engagement canhave a greaterimpact on inboxrates than content.

Drop in Reputation

Sending to Activescan help improveyour reputation.Sending to inactives

Excessive Hard Bounces

Sending to olderaudiencesoftentimes results inhigher than normalbounces.

Declining Open Rates

Revisit yourtargeting strategy.Find your BESTaudience and focusyour efforts there.

The answer to most email marketer’s questions lies within their list.

Gmail Case Study

“A Journey into the Spam Folder and Back”

A Journey to the Spam Folder and Back“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

Expanded their definition

of actives out to 12 Months

Started the reputation repair

process. Targeting 0-3 month openers.

Reputation started to pick up at this point.

By week 3 reputation was back up to Medium.

Reputation was fully restored by week 4. Volume caps and throttle requirements were lifted. By week 6 the audience was expanded out to 0-6 month openers.

Challenge: Increasing Volume by Expanding ActiveDefinition

Solution:• Revert to 0-3 Month Openers for 2-4 Weeks.• Implement Daily Volume Caps and Hourly

Throttle Requirements.• Expand to 0-6 Months After the Reputation

Rebounds.

Main Key Points“Stop Guessing. Start Inboxing.”

ENGAGEMENT IS KEY

Find the Ratio of Active to Inactive that Works Best for Your Business!

Treat EACH ISP the Way They Want to be Treated.

Ditch the Complex Reports and Focus on the Metrics that Matter!

Get the Essentials in Place!

As subject matter experts it’s easy forDeliverability Consultants to fall into thehabit of touching on all of the complexdata points that we look at and usingtechnical jargon when working withsenders. Although, being able to speakconfidently on these topics is a keycomponent to our roles, bombardingmarketers with tons of superfluousinformation can be extremely confusing.Keeping it simple can help to reduce theconfusion and help with ”selling” yourideas to clients.

Keeping It Simple Key Takeaways!