What’s DKIM got to do with it?

Ever heard of DKIM? Think of it as your overnight shipping source – your FedEx or UPS for email. DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) allows an organization to take responsibility for a message while in transit. This handling organization could be the originator or an intermediary; and it’s their reputation that the ISP uses as a basis for delivery.

How does it work?
The handling organization adds a digital signature to the message; this signature associates the domain name of the organization – DKIM permits signing to be performed by an authorized third-party. The owner of the domain (being used for a DKIM signature) is declaring that they are accountable for the message, reading between the lines… their reputation is at stake. Receivers, successfully validating the signature, use information about the signer to limit spam, spoofing, phishing etc.

The use of DKIM doesn’t necessarily improve deliverability or guarantee inbox placement – that is at the discretion of the validating receiver(s). Most receivers use their knowledge about the DKIM signer to determine how to handle the message; therefore one could assume that messages from a signer with a good reputation would be subject to less scrutiny.

Not all ISPs use this authentication, find out who does and learn more at the DKIM website.

30 Minutes of it's Free!

Remember the old pizza promotions? They ultimately failed because it wasn't about the quality of the food or the building of their brand - the promotion ultimately died because the pizza joint lost out. People were ordering because there was the potential for a free meal. I'll spare the cheesy email puns - but as in the pizza analogy, delivery is the deciding factor. You could have the best creative, a fantastic offer but poor deliverability - essentially a waste of your creative time and budget. According to our friends at Return Path, one in five commercial emails won't get delivered due to the sender's reputation.

Sender reputation is based on past performance, how you deal with complaints, address SPAM Traps and your infrastructure. Keep your reputation positive by addressing complaints immediately, honor unsubscribes, manage registration and conduct routine analysis of the process. But there's more...SPAM traps can be avoided by maintaining the health of your list, purge dormant addresses and bounces and gather your data appropriately.

Remember get good data, monitor processes and choose your vendor wisely. Learn more by listening to Return Path's Amanda Bacher on our November SIA call - available as a podcast on the SIA site.

Subscribe to our Newsletter by visiting the Service In Action, Panel of Peers or NCR eCommerce sites.

2008: Five Must Dos...

1) You MUST grow your list
Look back at your list over the past five years (or longer) and see how many new names you have added. Look at your direct mail file. I have checked with financial institutions, catalogs, retailers, travel, entertainment or other companies to find a common thread – the average percentage of names for which people have email ids is less than 20%. Meaning you have another 80-something percent to tap into. More importantly you have to look for constructive ways to grow your list. This means every name counts, so reduce churn and get creative. Your entire team needs to work on helping you grow the list.

2) You MUST know more
About your customers and prospects, that is. Just having an email association is not enough. You need to survey your list at different stages – during the sign-up process, various transaction points as well as stages of inactivity. You need to keep this information in a preference table and also build up operational preferences. Operational preferences are tracking information about a particular recipient – whether they open your emails, they click, or they simply haven't cared. Your approach to asking questions needs to be direct and beneficial; put on your own user hat and see what is really helpful.

3) You MUST interact (across all channels)
No more left hand right hand dislocation – your recipient is on the receiving end of a number of different communiqués. They expect you to make sure they are served appropriately. There is no channel conflict in their mind and you better treat them that way. Some of my friends have started splitting parts of a story across their paper communiqués and online messages… their recipients are beginning to realize that it is the same company that is communicating seamlessly across multiple channels. During a subsequent post, we will discuss ways to make sure your paper communiqués are revered by your recipients.

4) You MUST sizzle
The three Cs – Creative, copy and overall content; focus on what is inside your newsletter or email offer. Recipients are expecting you to grab their attention, keep them tuned-in and steer them towards the offer. Depending on the size of your email program you can have a person or a team dedicated to the online media. You can leverage the same information you put together across other Web 2.0 channels. Think about every email as a piece of art – take time to put it together, and you will see your efforts pay off. The email channel has arrived.

5) You MUST make it to the party
As recipients, we often take deliverability for granted; we expect you to show up in our inbox. As email marketers, deliverability should be monitored and perfected daily. Your other customer touchpoints should be trained on what bounces and deliverability means so they can carry out intelligent conversations with intended recipients. You are legitimate, your offer is legitimate, and you have taken time to put together the offer – make sure you make it to the inbox.

One more… A MUST Attend!
This year we have invited our friends to our Annual Panel of Peers – a peer-based discussion group that brings together marketers across industry in an interactive discussion around best practices. Our event will focus on these subjects and more with real case studies, best practices and practical learning that will help you with your email endeavors. Mark your calendars for March 24-26; visit the site for more details.

Again, happy New Year and best wishes for the year of 1… (more on 1 later.)

Don't Get Caught in the Spam Trap

On our last Service In Action call, Return Path’s Amanda Bacher talked about delivery. One of the things that really caught my attention was her discussion of Spam Traps. According to Wikipedia, Spamtraps are usually an email addresses that are created not for communication, but rather to lure spam.



Sometimes, these addresses could be added to your list maliciously, or from an append list you may have purchased. How can you get rid of them from your list? The are two things that you can do to both clean out Spam Traps, and also trim some of the fat from your email list.

• Exclude Non-Openers: People who have been on your email list and haven't opened in three months should receive reduced frequency of emails. Spam Trap emails will never open, so they will fall into this category.


• Re-permission Non-Openers: If people haven't opened your mail in six months or more, send them a friendly note asking them to open and click on your mail, or else they'll be removed from your list.

One client trimmed the fat of their non-openers from their list, and found their open rates doubled. Also, because they were mailing to less people, their ROI increased as well.

So take a look at a strategy to remove non-openers from your email campaigns. Not only will you avoid Spam traps, but you'll also boost your open rates and improve ROI.

Deliverability 101

On our Service In Action call this past Friday, Return Path’s Amanda Bacher talked with us about deliverability. Here are some of the things we spoke about; you can also listen to the entire call through the podcast on the Service In Action site.

Service In Action: If an organization sent marketing messages through a third-party and transactional email from internal servers – would their deliverability be affected?
Amanda Bacher: Since the IP addresses are separate, the answer would be no. However, we all need to be careful about the transactional emails we send through our internal systems. Banks send out e-statements/ notifications, retailers put out order confirmations – these are important, transactional emails that also need to be delivered. The challenge here is that these messages are often text-based and harder to track. Also, many users look for the unsubscribe button – something that is not required for transactional messages. Since these don't have unsubscribe buttons, users mark them as spam. So I would encourage you to keep checking your IPs, there is a good chance that you might be getting dinged.

SIA: If the ESP put their logo on your message, would it impact deliverability?
AB: From a deliverability perspective, the logo really doesn't matter. What matters is the IP that is associated with the email. The larger issue is that you should be carefully of the brand you are promoting. Should your ESP get a free ride on your dime? You should also be mindful of the company your ESP keeps – you may implicate your reputation through other companies they work with.

SIA: Senders are tracked through consistency in volume – how do you deal with a weekly email that turns into a three-per-week or more during the holidays? A cataloger that used to target me once a week is now sending me an email every single day and it is driving me nuts!
AB: It is important to disclose the frequency you will mail your customers at the point of sign up and stick to that. Also, give customers the control; ask them how often they would like to hear from you. Changing the frequency could result in complaints. Bottom line, insure you have a message that is relevant to your audience when sending them an email.

SIA: Should non-responders be sent from a separate IP address?
AB: Sending to non-responders through a separate IP may be worthwhile; as this will protect the reputation of your main IP. However, sending from a brand new IP address might not be a good idea because that IP will have no reputation and is less likely to get delivered. Also, make sure the separate IP is setup with the feedback loops so you can collect complaints and remove them from the list. Set the expectations with the client that they may end up dumping a lot of data but it is worth in the long run because spam traps can impact your deliverability.

SIA: What is the one thing you can do to improve deliverability?
AB: Keep your list clean – remove your bounces expeditiously.

To listen to all the tips, simply connect to the podcast on the Service In Action site. Our next call will focus on user-generated content and is scheduled for December 14th at 2:00 EST.

100%

I’ve attended a number of tradeshows, as an attendee and exhibitor, and seen many different approaches – but one of the more interesting is an email service provider exhibiting at eComm Expo in London. This company boasts 100% Deliverability.

Seems a bit odd to me, I can see 100% sent but the law of averages for 100% Deliverability is just too much. Maybe the definition is different across the pond, but by our standards 100% Deliverability would require every recipient to have room in their inbox (otherwise a soft bounce), have not disabled their account (hard bounce) and given you a true email ID – as you can see, the law of averages are just against you.

So what do you need to make sure you’re as close to 100% as possible? Our suggestions focus on three simple things:

1) Monitoring – make sure you focus on your email collection process, are there checks in place to eliminate miss-keying (double opt-in), and include an automatic confirmation so that bounces don’t pollute your core list.

2) Hygiene – Clean your list regularly, honor unsubscribe and SPAM feedback promptly, be sure to check your blacklists, monitor bounce rules and use a dedicated IP address to send your emails as blocking is usually based on the sending IP address.

3) Test – Make sure your content passes SPAM filter assessment; there are tools that verify your content and provide a score based on the message, allowing you to adjust your message as necessary.

Additionally your lists should be seeded, so that the top ISPs are receiving and being directly monitored – specifically because the ISP rules change often.

Good 'Ol Text

Many eMarketers have traded their multi-part emails in for HTML-only versions. With more email recipients using up-to-date technology to access their email, most are able to view the preferred HTML version of the multi-part emails and no longer need to rely on the text version. Studies have also shown that the HTML versions generate more results than the old text version.

So, why waste valuable time and resources to continue to make two versions of the email (HTML and text) to support the multi-part email?

The answer: To reach one of the most technologically advanced segments of your audience. With the expanded use of PDA phones to access email, eMarketers need to remember that the good 'ol text version looks a lot better on those screens than the HTML counterpart.

To continue to reach your customers - on the go, or at home - you should send both HTML and text versions of your email.

Tracking Delivery Issues by Domain

How well do you really know your delivery rate? We all know that hitting the ‘send’ button on an email does not necessarily mean that it will make it to the recipient’s inbox. As marketers, it’s important to analyze the delivery results in order to maximize response.

To do this, the first place most of us look is at the email bounce rate. Although this metric gives us an idea of how many emails were not delivered, what can you do to improve the bounce rate?

First, for each campaign you send, segment your email list by domain. Looking at the top domains will give you the most impact. Here’ s sample of what your domain breakout may look like:



Once you’ve segmented your email list by domain, track the performance of each of your top domains to identify deliverability, open, and click through trends. If you notice a high bounce rate or lower open and click rate than normal, you may have a delivery issue with that domain.

Ok, so what now? Look at your bounce logs to find the codes returned by the ISP’s. If any indicate blocking, contact the ISP to request removal from their block list. If you don’t have access to your bounce logs, you can still request removal from the ISP, but some may require the bounce codes in order to process your request.

AOL Image Suppression

This week, AOL has rolled out a new interface for customers using AOL.com and AIM.com to access their email. The webmail versions are now suppressing images by default for unknown senders, similar to how AOL 9.0 operates. It is unknown how large the AOL webmail universe is since they do not publish this information, but we expect to see some impact to your open rates for AOL. Of course the only way to know is to pay close attention to the open rates for the AOL domain over the next several weeks so you can analyze the impact of these changes and adjust expectations accordingly.

As more ISP's have implemented default image suppression, we would like to remind you of some best practices to keep in mind when designing your email content:

- Include a link at the top of your email to view a web hosted version of the email. If you are not already doing this, please contact me and I can show you how to automatically host a web version of your email by adding some simple code to your content.

- Where possible, use a mixture of text and images in your creative, rather than having all images.

- Include ALT tags on your images so subscribers can get an idea of your email offer without seeing the images.

- Encourage your subscribers to add your sending email address to their safe sender list.