Tips for Avoiding ISP Filters and Getting Your Email Read

Posted on by Beth Negus Viveiros

Some big changes have taken place over the last year in how ISPs process and deliver email. Filtering that used to focus on spam complaints and unsubscribes is now looking at metrics like messages that are deleted without being read, the percentage of messages received from a sender that are opened, and messages replied to.

This means that even email communications that have been subscribed to may not always make it to the inbox. There's now a whole new category of "gray mail" that falls somewhere between spam and top priority — and ISPs are trying to "help" their users by raising the bar for what's considered a wanted message. Emails may get automatically sent to "newsletter" folders, flagged, or filtered out entirely. Whether you are a CMO with an online retailer, a daily deals company, a content provider, or a B2B enterprise, the bottom line is that you can't put your email program on autopilot. Here are several tips for ensuring that your messages pass the inbox test:

Keep it Real, Real Relevant. Now that ISPs look at engagement levels in determining which senders are "inbox material," email marketers can no longer afford to simply send the same message to every subscriber on their list in the hopes that a small percentage will open and respond. Understanding your audience's behaviors, preferences and history with your brand can go a long way toward enhancing your ability to segment and create personalized, relevant messages that are more likely to engage recipients. This requires not only tracking behavioral analytics about who bought what and when, but even more importantly, providing incentives to subscribers to tell you what they want.

Master the art of the subject line. Now more than ever, you don't want to blow it at the subject line. Are you running a discount that only lasts one day? Offering a new, exclusive iPad app for loyalty program members? When you have mere seconds to capture attention, clarity is essential. Compose subject lines as if you were writing for a billboard on freeway, or the only click your email is going to get is the one that drags it to the trash.

Consider your timing. Using timing to create a sense of expectation and urgency is another way to increase open and response rates for your email campaigns. For example, successful flash sale provider HauteLook uses burst email delivery to ensure that every message to its millions of subscribers arrives within the same 10 minute window every day. This enables the company to emulate the experience of an offline sample sale, where women line up at the crack of dawn to get the best pick of the "exclusive" inventory. The goal is to get subscribers to actually look for the message and think "I don't want to miss out on this," rather than, "Oh, maybe I'll open this later."

Stay on top of bounces. Another thing that HauteLook is smart about? Bounce management. Many marketers push this to the bottom of their priority list, but it's actually a critical part of improving email deliverability. Sending too many emails to bad or abandoned addresses can eventually damage your reputation at receiving ISPs, so you want to make sure that you keep your lists clean. This doesn't have to be a chore — a reliable system that automatically identifies and removes addresses that are repeatedly bouncing can help you stay on top of things. HauteLook is rigorous about bounce management, and even uses bounce data to proactively manage its relationship with ISPs. By closely monitoring all of its IP addresses, the company can reduce its "gray mail" by suppressing addresses that have recently soft bounced (meaning the address is valid, but the recipient's mailbox is either full or some other problem is occurring) or that belong to inactive users.

Rekindle your relationships. The reality is that your subscribers are probably going to open and click your emails less frequently over time. First, you might want to examine your expectations (and your analytics) a bit. Even the most loyal customer is not going to buy something every day. But when you notice the interest is truly waning, consider offering special incentives to rekindle engagement. A general rule of thumb for re-engagement targeting is 6-12 months of inactivity, but it all depends of the frequency of your communication. Online travel discounter Travelocity recently had success winning back lapsed subscribers with a campaign that combined a discount offer with a personalized message that stressed the message was designated for "valued customers." In Travelocity's case, a little extra attention and appreciation for these subscribers made a big difference — the email generated 2-3 times greater ROI than similar campaigns.

Even the most seasoned email marketers need to adapt their delivery strategies to stand out in the ever more crowded and selective inbox. Keeping your subscriber lists in top shape, re-engaging with consumers who have gone quiet and, most importantly, working hard to deliver relevant messages that people actually want to open will help ensure that your email program continues to produce results.

Tal Nathan is vice president of client services at StrongMail.
 

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