The Icing News: Segment to Target, Check-up on your Newsletter template

By Isabel Lapointe, on August 30, 2011 - Leave a comment
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Here are some interesting articles we’ve been sharing at CakeMail lately.

How to overcome segmentation challenges and deliver targeted content
Segmentation has proven its efficiency. If you don’t do it yet, here are a few steps and advices to help you target your content to the audience who is the most interested.

Is your email newsletter template reader friendly?
Denise Cox reminds you on 5 points to check for your newsletter template. A good check-up to avoid most of the problems and improve usability.
1. The design is clean and allows the eye to easily navigate through your content
2. The preview pane space is maximised to draw the reader into the rest of the newsletter
3. The design is consistent in the company branding, and look/feel of your website
4. It is designed for images off, but allows for careful use of images that add rather than detract from the reader’s experience.
5. Inserted content will be easy to skim – using short paragraphs, bullet points and white space

eMarketer Webinar: What Retailers Need to Know About Online Holiday Shopping Behavior
Since Solid Ecommerce Spending Recovery Suggests Strong Holiday Season (in USA), eMarketer offers a free webinar on Thursday, September 8, 2011, 1 pm ET.
Topics:
• What is the outlook for the 2011 online holiday shopping season?
• How will budget-minded consumers shop online to find the best deals?
• What effect will mobile and social have on holiday shopping?
• What can marketers still do to ensure a successful holiday season?
- Merry, Happy and Wealthy Christmas everybody!

Three things clients and customers want
“Not just the first one. And not all three. But you really need at least one.” Seth Godin is talking about the importance of giving our customers: Results, but whenever possible also give them Thrills, and Ego. To make their experience unique.

Cool email creation
A personalized email with recipient’s name animated with diamonds from Jeweller Helzberg Diamonds

Andrea Says: Set Up Your Opt-In Emails

By Andrea Saez, on August 22, 2011 - Leave a comment
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A Subscription Confirmation Email is a major component of good list-building practices, and the second step for those subscribing to a confirmed (or double) opt-in list. This automatic email allows your recipients to confirm that they have allowed you to add them to your list.

You can edit this email by navigating to a specific contact list within your CakeMail account and going to List Summary on the left hand menu.

Find the Personalize option and hover over Confirmation Email

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Click on Edit Confirmation Email

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Feel free to personalize this email any way you want! Remember, all recipients will receive this automatically upon subscribing to your list via a web form. Subscribers that you upload or import will not (though you still need to ensure that they have opted in to receive your emails).

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Once subscribers have confirmed their email address, you can choose to send them an additional Welcome Email, which can be set up by following the same steps above but selecting “Welcome Email” from the list of emails you can edit.

Would you like more information about opt-in lists and why they’re important? Visit our support site or take a look at our email deliverability whitepaper for more information.

The Icing News: Death to the ‘Noreply’, How “FREE” produced high CTR

By Isabel Lapointe, on August 17, 2011 - Leave a comment
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Here are some interesting articles we’ve been sharing at CakeMail lately.

Death to the ‘Noreply’ Mailbox
Developer & software engineer Joss Crowcroft rants about the use of the no-reply address for email newsletters. Violent but efficient.

Understanding Differences in Clickthrough Rates and Open Rates
A very useful article explaining (once more!) how those calculations on open rates and clickthrough rates are made and, more importantly, how you can realistically evaluate the performance of your campaigns based on those numbers

How “FREE” Produced a 6.7% Higher Clickthrough Rate (even with a higher bounce rate)
Using ‘bad’ words in an email campaign is always a delicate choice. Chances are most of your emails will end up in a spam filter somewhere as a result. This is an interesting experiment showing that results are globally positive. (But don’t tell our deliverability guy you heard it from me…)

The Filter Hierarchy
From an email from your boss, a SMS from your loved one or the trendiest video posted on YouTube, Seth Godin reflects on all the stuff that requires our attention each day and how we have to prioritize it. Now, where would your latest email newsletter stand in that list?

The Icing News: marketing advice from the past & how to destroy your email program

By Isabel Lapointe, on August 10, 2011 - Leave a comment
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Some serious topics turned into pleasant advice in this week’s icing news. Read these quotes, view the presentations & videos, and learn how to be a better email marketer.

The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.
And some other advice like this by David Ogilvy, coming from an older era of marketing though it applies to modern marketing too. A fun, but thoughtful article from Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content at MECLABS

How people are reading their email on different mobile devices
Videos of people actively looking at their emails on iPad, Blackberry PlayBook, Samsung Droid and other mobile devices.

How to destroy your email program
Some of you might have some clients who already are doing this perfectly. This very cool presentation from Andrew Kordek, Chief Strategist at Trendline Interactive, is ‘a bit old’ but, unfortunately for some companies, still up to date.

What From address should I use ??

By Kevin Huxham, on July 14, 2011 - Leave a comment
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This is a simple question with a simple answer that – surprisingly!  a lot of marketers get very wrong. The From address you use in your email campaigns is a fundamental part of the success of your marketing efforts. It has as much impact on your open/click rates as the Subject line and is one of the first things people see when deciding whether (or not) to open your email.

Most important, it has to be recognizable and should remain static. The recipient should know instantly who this email is from and trust that the sender is sending them something of value that they have asked to receive. If a recipient doesn’t recognize you (the sender) they’ll be more likely to unsubscribe from your emails. Worse, they might flag your message as spam, making it harder for subsequent messages to reach others who want to receive it as well as tarnishing your reputation in the process.

Ideally, the domain in the From address should be the same domain the recipient used to sign up and the same domain in your Welcome email. It should also be able to receive mail (unsubscribe requests) even if it’s a no-reply@ address. In fact, you should encourage this and here’s why.

Here are some more tips:

  • The From domain should point to a valid website and should have functioning abuse@ and postmaster@  addresses
  • It should have valid, public WHOIS data
  • Encourage each recipient to add your From address to their Contact list to take advantage of whitelisting
  • The From domain used should be set up with both SPF/SenderID and DKIM (see below for more details)
  • Ensure you always reflect your brand well with legitimate “From” names and a valid reply address that is managed by a real person
  • Keep your From email address short and sweet – too long and it’s likely to run off the screen of most mobile devices
  • Consistency is important! It should never change unless absolutely necessary (if you do change it, you should run a separate campaign informing everyone of the change)

Authentication

I see a few people using @gmail, @hotmail  or @yahoo addresses from time to time and this is a big no-no. Not only are these addresses generic and often a target of spammers, it’s also a good bet that the recipient didn’t sign up to your list via any of these domains! Large ISPs like this also have SPF/SenderID, DKIM records that do NOT include any of Cakemail’s servers so any authentication verification during transmission will fail and increase the likelihood of your email going to Junk or not show up at all.

Both Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and SenderID are setup by the domain owner publishing a list of trusted servers/IPs that are allowed to send email on it’s behalf in their DNS. The receiving end can then check whether the message complies with the domain’s stated policy and if not, send it to junk, label it as ‘worrisome’ or block it altogether. This varies by ISP and depends entirely on how much weight they apply to the authentication process, but in general, an email that is authenticated will perform better than one that has no authentication, and worse still if the domain is setup but the person sending the email is not among those listed in your DNS.

Reputation

Many receivers will assign a reputation not only to the IP used to send your email, but the domain used to send the email as well. This is particularly true if you are sending from a shared pool of IP addresses and if you change the From domain, you will instantly loose any domain-based reputation you have garnered to-date, not to mention any Whitelisting associated with that domain.

Almost all ISPs these days (even the small ones) are looking at some form of authentication to filter spam. Even the SMB crowd looks at authentication (however indirectly) by incorporating outside filtering services such as Postini, McAfee, Brightmail, Spam Assassin, etc.. to their anti-spam filtering solution. Allowing Cakemail to send on behalf of your domain will go a long way towards ensuring your email gets delivered.

For information on making sure your domain’s DNS is set up properly, please contact our Deliverability team.

Bye for now,

Kevin

Andrea Says: Help, my email looks weird!

By Andrea Saez, on July 5, 2011 - 1 Comment
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If you’ve spent any amount of time designing and coding emails to be sent with CakeMail or another similar email system, you’ll know that email design can be a bit…..fickle. It will work in Gmail, but look strange in Hotmail. It will look great on your Android device, but wonky on your iPhone. Or vice versa, and so on and so on.

Getting emails to look the same *everywhere* is a challenging task, but you can do it! The following tools can lend you a hand as you make all those tiny last minute adjustments and get your campaigns out the door.

Litmus
This fantastic tool, available as an add-on in the CakeMail marketplace, allows you to preview your email across a wide range of popular email clients and mobile devices. Do they all look the same? Fantastic! You’re good to go.

It also provides spam testing services – a chance to see if your campaign will set off any red flags with ISPs or get caught in junk mailboxes or spam filters instead of getting delivered as intended. Litmus isn’t a free service, but it’s worth every penny.

Code like it’s ten years ago
Use tables for layout, rely on inline styles/CSS when you have to, and simplify, simplify, simplify.

Verify your styles
Our built in premailer tool checks your code and converts your CSS styles to inline styles in order to be more email-client-friendly, letting you skip the hard work poring over lines of code.

Know your limits
Every email client has its limits, and the Email Standards project helps you to keep track of them all. Refer to it if you want to be well-informed before you even start work on your campaign design.

Andre Says: How To Avoid Complaints

By Andrea Saez, on June 8, 2011 - Leave a comment
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Today’s Andrea Says is all about tactics to help you prevent the dreaded subscriber complaint for you next campaign. We’ve included some quick tips below, but feel free to get in touch with our support team to ask a question, or check out our guide to email deliverability if you’re looking for more details.

Recipients who flag your email as “Spam” or “Junk” have the greatest impact on your reputation as a sender. It is essential you avoid this at all costs by delivering great and relevant campaigns to recipients who want to (and have opted in) receive them.

To avoid complaints, you should:

  • Never use a purchased, harvested or “scraped” list of any kind
  • Make sure you have a direct relationship with every single address on your list
  • Start confirming new sign-ups (using a confirmed or double opt-in process)  if you’re not doing this already
  • Ask people if they want to be on your mailing list. DO NOT sign them up automatically
  • Make your sign-up process clear, explaining what someone is signing up for, when they will start receiving emails, and how often they can expect to hear from you
  • Use a consistent sender name and email address
  • Use a subject line that truthfully describes the content of your email
  • Honor all opt-out requests immediately
  • Abide by the rules of CAN-SPAM
  • Keep your list current and up to date
  • Don’t reactivate old addresses
  • Send emails on a regular basis

If you comply with all of these rules, you’re off to a great start. To make things even better you’ll want your list (and the messages you send to them) to be both segmented and your content to be well-targeted. Learn about list segmentation.

Andrea Says: What’s a role account and why can’t I send to it?

By Andrea Saez, on May 30, 2011 - Leave a comment
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What is a Role Account?

Role accounts (admin@, support@, sales@) are email addresses that are not associated with a particular person, but rather with a company, department, position or group. They are not generally intended for personal use, as they typically include a distribution list of recipients.

Why are role accounts an issue?

It is impossible to prove everyone who will receive emails at these addresses has given consent to receive them. This is especially important when it comes to sending commercial-based marketing communications because you can never control who or how many people will receive your message. This also raises the likelihood that somebody will mark your email as SPAM. These addresses are commonly included in many websites (like on a Contact Us page), which means they are more susceptible to being picked up by list harvesting software. Lists with a high percentage of role accounts are indicative of someone using a ‘scraped’ and/or purchased list. We’re able to monitor lists as they get uploaded to see how many of these role accounts are present and act accordingly before a campaign gets sent. This can help detect other potential problems with the list in question.

As if that’s not enough, Blacklist providers such as Spamhaus use role accounts like these as “honeypot” addresses in an attempt to trap spammers. They claim that any email sent to those addresses is spam by default because the address was obtained and used without permission.

What does CakeMail do about these types of emails?

We maintain a master suppression list for role-based addresses to help maintain a consistent, good sender reputation for our services and our clients. While the full list of prefixes we suppress is not publicly available, we update it frequently to ensure it is accurate and to maintain high levels of email delivery.

When clients send emails, and even when someone attempts to add a role-based email to a contact list, the email address is automatically suppressed and never sent to.

Whether someone complains to their ISP, you get blacklisted for sending to spam traps, or your list contains too many of these generic addresses in proportion to personal email accounts, these addresses are suppressed because they are almost never found on opt-in lists and sending to them can seriously hurt your delivery.

Suppression lists are a common feature amongst all email service providers – it’s how we maintain consistent (and great) delivery rates, and also how we help your reputation as an email sender be a positive one.

Top 10 things that hurt your email delivery (Part two!)

By Kevin Huxham, on April 21, 2011 - Leave a comment
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In the spirit of the Easter long weekend…and since many of you won’t read this until Tuesday morning,  here is the continuation of Monday’s entry about the Top 10 things that will hurt your email delivery. Enjoy! 

Content

The single most influential factor when it comes to people interacting with your emails is content. Studies have shown that open rates for targeted campaigns are typically twice that of a generic newsletter. Segment your list and send targeted content to your recipients on a regular basis to keep them engaged.

Content filters also play a huge role in email delivery. Signup to services like Litmus or setup seed accounts of your own. Whatever you do, test, test, and test. If you aren’t doing this simple task before sending your email off to your entire list, it’s like going to work with no pants on. Sure it’s easier, but it’s only a matter of time before you regret it. ☺ Here is an excellent example of what I’m talking about from the folks at MarketingSherpa.

Take away: Write engaging targeted emails to each person on your list. Making sure your content is clean and doesn’t upset any spam filters should be part of every email you create.

Reputation

Getting your email marketing messages to your audience relies heavily on your reputation. Your delivery is determined by the reputation you have acquired by the practices you adhere to as a sender. You have to earn a positive online reputation, but once you do it will make the difference between your email getting delivered to the Inbox, Junk folder, or not showing up at all.

Take away: A good reputation is key to everything, if you don’t start caring about it, nobody else will.

Authentication

Almost all ISPs these days (even the small ones) are looking at some form of authentication to filter spam. Even the SMB crowd looks at authentication (however indirectly) by incorporating outside filtering services such as Postini, McAfee, Brightmail, Spam Assassin, etc.. to their anti-spam filtering solution. Allowing Cakemail to send on your domains behalf will go a long way to ensure your email gets delivered.

Take away: If you’re not who you say you are, your email has a little chance of making it to its destination.

Blacklistings

Blacklists are used by receiving networks to judge a given IP and/or domain’s reputation. Blacklistings are the result of sending Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE) to addresses that never asked for it. There are many different blacklist providers out there and some carry more weight in the community than others, so it’s very important you keep your lists as clean as possible.

Take away: If you have a history of being labelled a spammer, there’s a fat chance anyone is going to let you send them anything.

Compliance

There are many aspects when it comes to Email compliance, but for this list I am referring only to the one that will keep you out of jail. Sending commercial-based email has certain laws and breaking those laws is a criminal offence. It doesn’t matter what country you are in, it matters what country you are sending - To. The following are links to several anti-spam policies available online.

United States: The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers

Canada: Fighting Internet & Wireless Spam Act (Bill C-28)

Europe: Privacy & Electronic Communications Directive (2002/58/EC)

Australia: 2003 Spam Act

For email legislation in other countries, please consult Wikipedia.

Take away: Even Email has laws, if you choose to ignore them you not only stand a good chance of getting fined, you won’t make a very good impression with ME either.

Top 10 Things That Hurt Your Email Delivery

By Kevin Huxham, on April 18, 2011 - 1 Comment
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Technology

Emails are sent using an MTA (Mail Transfer Agent), which is essentially a piece of software that connects one computer to another to send email. In order for everybody to understand each other, a standard was established called RFC (Request For Comments) and every email in the world must be RFC-Compliant in order for the message to be delivered successfully. It doesn’t matter if the message is in English, French or Chinese, a successful transfer must include the following:

HELO/EHLO (introduction)
MAIL FROM:
RCPT TO:
DATA (body of the message)
QUIT (end of the message)
221 Goodbye

As is the case with most ESPs, sending multiple copies of the same message can be achieved within the same connection thus allowing you to send to multiple recipients at once. This is done by repeating the RCPT TO command several times within the same connection, but there are limitations. For example, some ISPs limit the number of recipients and can also limit the number of connections per IP within a certain timeframe, this process is called “throttling”.

Luckily you don’t have to worry about this, we have a trained group of individuals who are looking after this for you. Leave this part up to us!

Take away: If my computer doesn’t say the right things to your computer, there is little hope that you will accept my email.

Complaints

If your recipients are marking your email as ‘spam’, your delivery is going to be in trouble. Spam reports are a direct reflection of how your email is received and what a lot of people don’t understand is CAN SPAM and Bill C-28 aren’t the gatekeepers; the ISP is, and the ISP listens to their users (your recipients).

If you want your email to get delivered, you cannot generate complaints. It’s as simple as that. Here are a few ways to avoid user complaints:

  • Make sure every person on your list knows who you are and is expecting your email
  • Send a confirmation email to all new signups (if you are not doing this, you are in the dark ages of email marketing.. seriously)
  • Have the common courtesy to ask people if they want to be on your mailing list, DO NOT sign them up automatically
  • Make your signup process crystal clear, explaining what someone is signing up for, when they will start receiving emails, and how often they can expect to hear from you

For a more complete list, check out our Guide to Understanding Email Deliverability here.

Take Away: If people don’t want to receive your email or never wanted to receive it in the first place, they are going to complain.

Bounces

A ‘hard’ bounce is generated when you try to send an email to an address that does not exist. Sending to these invalid addresses repeatedly (whether knowingly or not) will seriously damage your delivery. You must ensure they are removed and stay removed.

If you haven’t used the list in a while (3-6 months) or you are thinking of reviving an old list, you need to be very careful. ISPs monitor the number of hard bounces you generate very closely and too many will affect your delivery and cause blocks.

  • Confirm the address exists on signup by sending a confirmation email
  • Ensure you are processing hard bounces correctly
  • Send on a regular basis

Take Away: If you aren’t removing the bad eggs from your hen house, it’s going to get pretty stinky.

Spam Traps

Spam traps are email addresses used to catch spam. They do not signup to receive email voluntarily and if they wind up on your list, it is going to affect your delivery, your reputation or worse.. get you blacklisted. Believe it or not, spammers have ways to get around complaint/bounce rates, but they do not have ways to get around sending to spam traps.

  • Never purchase, borrow, steal or harvest an email list
  • Confirm new signups to ensure the person signing up owns the address in question
  • Remove hard bounces
  • Send on a regular basis

Take Away: Traps addresses are one of the most effective ways of controlling spam today, they are not going anywhere. If you don’t protect yourself, you are at risk.

Engagement

OK, now that we’ve covered the easy part ☺ .. here’s where it gets interesting. Making sure your recipients open and read your emails!

ISPs measure engagement by looking at the number of people who open and click your emails. Engagement is nothing new, it’s been around for a while but like everything, ISPs need to make sure it works before acting on it. Guess what? Now they’re acting on it.

Take Away: If people aren’t actively opening/reading/clicking on links in your emails, it’s a pretty good sign they aren’t interested in receiving them.

This covers the first five of our top ten reasons – check back next week for the remaining five!

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