Let Customers’ Email Preferences Be Your Guide

Want to get your email messages into your customers’ inboxes, and more importantly, read? Then let their personal preferences inform your email strategy and deliver content they can use.

Here’s the skinny on those important factors for email success.

Listen to your recipients and they’ll love you.
Sending email is considered a binary option by marketers: “Either we send the customer email or we do not.”

Sending the right piece to the right list segment should be the more important consideration. To ensure long-term deliverability success, that decision should be governed by the user’s own preferences.

Email is still the primary means of communication used by most consumers. Further, consumer surveys show a consistently expressed desire to receive solicited email—but only at the frequency they desire and expect. Sadly, very few marketers give their recipients an opportunity to state what type of mail they want to receive and how often they desire to receive it. Without this, marketers are not able to properly segment their lists. The lack of segmentation means that undesired (or just simply too much) mail is sent and subscribers are more likely to unsubscribe, or worse, click the “This Is Spam” button.

Marketers should give subscribers the ability to choose what types, and how often they receive email at the beginning of the relationship. This should be repeated throughout the relationship life cycle, until they unsubscribe.

The CAN-SPAM Act allows for use of preference centers on two conditions: (1) The use of a preference center does not require log-in by the subscriber in order to completely unsubscribe; and (2) that subscribers are given a single, discrete option that will result in their removal from all lists and segments. A well designed subscriber preference center will allow a subscriber not only to choose which segments they wish to be a part of, but will also give them the ability to adjust mailing frequency. At the very least, a preference center should clearly state the general content and frequency of list segments.

Additionally, senders should consider reading through whatever messages are received when a user unsubscribes, or even better, invite subscribers to provide direct feedback. If those subscribers are saying things like “I am receiving far too many advertisements” when they leave your list, they are providing you valuable feedback regarding the type and content of mail you are sending. If mailings make them feel like the sender considers them nothing more than walking checkbooks or credit cards, then they will almost certainly be lost quickly. Subscribers will be more likely to be engaged if they are treated like people whose thoughts, feelings and sensibilities are respected.

Offer content, not just marketing.
An often overlooked strategy to maximizing both delivery and ROI is to stop marketing, at least occasionally. Instead, allow email pieces to offer something valuable to the recipient for having received the mail. There will be plenty of time to upsell when the subscriber reaches the website or follows through on some other call to action.

In 2011, mailers who are able to recognize that users remain in control when it comes to email are most likely to do succeed. Mail streams that consist of pure marketing material are likely to do poorly as they will be characterized by continued high spam complaints and low user engagement.

On the other hand, email that contains useful and desirable content will do better as these mails are more likely to score well as ISPs move to engagement models when making filtering decisions.

Mickey Chandler is a senior deliverability consultant for ExactTarget.