Marketing Best Practices that Maximize Deliverability

Transcription

1 Marketing Best Practices that Maximize Deliverability The rules have changed for as a marketing tools. Sophisticated receivers like Gmail have taken engagement-based actions to new levels and the new reality is that engagement metrics have become a major driver of deliverability success. The tried and trusted technique of simply sending higher volumes of s to drive results no longer works as an effective approach. Poor quality data will only lead to higher unsubscribes, bounces, s traps and ultimately blacklisting of your s by all major ISPs. The game has changed forever and only marketers who adapt to the new reality of best practices will succeed. 1. Acquisition The very first logical step is how addresses are acquired. It makes sense that without this crucial data you can t even begin to conduct any outreach. It s not about quantity, it s about quality. A key metric of concern is that of permission. Will any particular individual welcome information from you have they on effect opted in? For data you have gathered during a sign up process, don t assume, you must ask for permission! Experts say sending to new signups always carries an elevated risk of triggering spam filters, due to the unproven nature of the new address. For this reason, it s very important to stay current with your welcome campaigns. The risk of triggering spam filters is compounded if you ever find that you have a backlog of new signups. Best practice would be to avoid a backlog of new signups, and avoid ing to them all at once. This can trigger blocking and filtering. Keep a low volume of welcome messages by triggering welcome messages as they sign up. This is easy when using advision integrated with your backend revenue system or CRM. Doing so logs the activity and has triggered responses that fully automate the process of onboarding new customers. 2. Avoid Poor Quality Lists/Avoid Triggering ISP Filtering or Blocking Following poor acquisition practices increase the risk of triggering ISP filtering or blocking: High hard bounce (invalid) rates High spam complaint rates

2 Low response and subscriber engagement rates Spam trap hits Volume spikes Accepted flavors of opt-in Typical performance metrics for campaigns Double Opt-in and Confirmed Opt-in are the strongest methods of acquisition and should be utilized when acquiring addresses through riskier channels such as POS collection. Those subscribers that enter your list through a double opt-in/confirmed opt-in method are showing that they truly want to hear from you and will likely show higher engagement levels with future campaigns. This method also helps prevent bad addresses from entering your list. Opt-in and checked-box opt-in are the two most common methods marketers employ today. Although a follow up or welcome is not required it is highly recommended. Offline opt-in and opt-in confirm are less reliable methods and can potentially degrade the quality of your list. With these methods, you run the risk of collecting faulty addresses and/or generating high spam complaints. advision follows all of these guidelines but also has another trick up our sleeve for professional service clients that helps avoid ISP backlisting and flagging. By having a near infinite pool of revolving IP address blocks, we serve new IP addresses as frequently as required per

3 campaign, per message, even per recipient. This adds unique header code into each message, that authenticates the sender data (defined by the SPF sender policy framework) and signature (DKIM DomainKeys Identification Mail) and IP address as valid at a unique level and never triggers ISP traps that look for patterns and correlations in sender IP address data. As part of our service, advision provides each client a client specific sub domain that the client must create CNAMEs. CNAME points to the DKIM signature which is a domain level authentication framework to permit a signing domain to assert responsibility for the message, thus protecting message signer identity and the integrity of the message. What should your CNAME setting look like: Sub domain (client setup) Record type TTL Destination (this is the dkim setup at Advision) dkim1.advisioninc.domainkey.customer.com CNAME dkim1.advisioninc.customer.com.dkimstr.advisioninc.net Dkim2.advisioninc.domainkey.customer.com CNAME dkim2.advisioninc.customer.com.dkimstr.advisioninc.net Dkim3.advisioninc.domainkey.customer.com CNAME dkim3.advisioninc.customer.com.dkimstr.advisioninc.net Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) is an additional layer of authentication that builds on Sender Policy Framework and DomainKeys Identified Mail authentication methods. First and foremost, both SPF and DKIM must be implemented before a DMARC policy can be put into place. Deploying DMARC for your systems is a powerful way to help prevent malicious entities from potentially spoofing or otherwise tarnishing your reputation. DMARC isn t for everyone, if you own a small domain, you re probably ok without it. If you have ever had problems with phishing in the past, or have a business that is financial oriented in nature, it might be right for you. To setup DMARC, publish a DMARC record with your DNS registrar, then monitor the results and escalate your DMARC policy tags from p=none to p=quarantine to p-reject as you gain experience But that s not all, as an additional safety measure special algorithms in the advision solution automatically de-dup lists as you upload them to the solution, helping reduce duplicates and further reduce bounce rates. Finally, advision uses advanced features such as Postmaster Tools that provides data back to us with specific metrics that may have led to deliver issues. For example, we get data and facts straight from the source and can make intelligent data-driven decisions to improve your program.

4 3. Pay Close Attention to Metrics Most marketers are familiar with engagement metrics such as click through rate, open rate, and so on. But, when it comes to deliverability success, monitoring engagement metrics goes hand in hand with monitoring the more traditional deliverability metrics, such as bounce rates, spam complaints, and more. AdVision automatically collects and reports back all the relevant metrics so you stay ahead of deliverability issues by quickly modifying your campaigns on the fly. All this data is clearly displayed in the marketing dash board that uses real-time metrics to supply results as they occur. AdVision Campaign Dashboard and Metrics Let s take a deeper dive into a couple of the deliverability metrics. First, bounce rates when an is sent but then returned with a notice that the message was not delivered. There are two types of bounces a hard bounce and a soft bounce. The main differentiator between the two is that hard bounces are permanent and ing to them should not be attempted again, whereas soft bounces are temporary and can be retried. The world would be a much simpler place if all soft bounces were temporary and all hard bounces were permanent. But such is not the case as different ISPs handle bounces in different ways.

5 advision handles bounces automatically and appropriately. Hard bounces are automatically deleted and not re- ed. However, all hard bounces are kept in a log and users can decide to r at a later date. Soft bounces are automatically re- ed up to 5x and if there is a persistent soft bounce, they are then elevated to a hard bounce status and dealt with according to the hard bounce policy above. Next, the omnipresent spam complaints, which are based on abuse reports received from the ISPs currently offering feedback loops. Spam is figuratively and literally a four-letter word for marketers, and spam complaints are indeed a major factor in determining inbox placement. The reasons why someone clicks the spam button are numerous, including they simply don t want to receive your message anymore and for whatever reason don t click unsubscribe or they received an that was not expected or came from a brand they did not recognize or authorize.

6 By including an unsubscribe e link in all communications including automated responses to customer or prospect calls to action helps minimize the spam complaints by offering a persistent opt-out opportunity, advision make this a very easy best practice to follow. Marketing Objectives and Measurement Criteria Dashboard metrics tell a very important part of the story. There are other measurement criteria that set objectives that actual performance can be compared to in order to insure everything is in line (or exceeding) overall goals. Every Professional client of advision receives these goal at the outset of a project This provides clients with a solid baseline for the kinds of activity and expected results and when used in conjunction with real-time reports and dashboards, delivers tangible measurement metrics that keep activities focused correctly and if necessary the opportunity to course correct and refine campaigns. 4. Be Aware of Feedback Loops (FBLs) FBLs play a major role in overall deliverability. One of the greatest tools we have in managing reputation and deliverability is feedback from our recipients. Many ISPs provide us with just that via FBLs, which provide a path used by the ISPs to relay information (feedback) they receive from your recipients back to us. When a subscriber clicks on a spam or

7 junk button, reporting an as spam, this information is then recorded by the ISP and provided to us through the current feedback loop set up. Feedback loops are offered by many of the well-known ISPs but one rare exception is Gmail that has none, as they rely on unsubscribe data alone. As we already noted earlier advision has some special sauce that helps avoid ISP backlisting and flagging. Using a near infinite pool of revolving IP address blocks, we serve new IP addresses as frequently as required per campaign, per message, even per recipient. This adds unique header code into each message, that authenticates the IP address and sender data as valid at a unique and never triggers ISP traps that look for patterns and correlations in sender IP address data. 5. In Communication, Variety is the Spice of Life Keep things fresh by constantly changing the type of message you send. This element of unpredictability will help maintain engagement over longer periods of time. Examples of the types of messages you could send include: Informational build awareness and stimulate interest on your products and brand values, differentiate from competition Nurturing Often educational for continuing prospect engagement, aimed at prospect not yet ready to engage, or existing clients to reinforce loyalty. Welcome New customer service/satisfaction. Should include essential information (e.g. purchase confirmation, log in credentials, next steps, etc.) Provides confidence and purchase decision support. Promotional Offer driven with sense of urgency, with the objective of prompting a purchase Brand Value Reinforces brand benefits and values, supports confidence in prospects and loyalty in customers.

8 It is clear to see that each category above has a different set of objectives. Key is to use the right type of message at the appropriate time. Clearly, this requires advance planning of campaigns that converts a name into a lead, lead to prospect, prospect to customer, and customer into a repeat buyer. Often CRM users have a predefined set of sales stages, so interaction and awareness of a prospect s journey though the sales pipeline even better, integration of the marketing automation solution and CRM are extremely beneficial and create enormous efficiencies and synergy. In addition, it s important to note that more than one category of message can be used at each stage, and in particular to stimulate loyalty and repeat purchases an increased intensity and variety of messages should be used -- this is often the opposite of how companies engage after the initial sales as their sales operation switches gear from new sales acquisition to account and relationship management mode.

9 In advision s case, our solution is fully integrated with a number of leading CRM solutions through partnerships and alliances that insure seamless integration and sharing of sales and marketing data at every state of a customer lifecycle. Leading solutions in the growing number of CRM systems supported includes Oracle, Salesforce and Zoho. 6. Engage via an Omni-Channel Approach Increasingly, people use multiple devices during a single transactional process. This means not only will marketing reach your leads, prospects and customers on PC, Tablet/Mobile device and Smartphone, but also this opens up new channels of communication for marketing purposes. Make sure that you are aware of individuals preferences by listening and responding to these interactions. If you ask the right questions, prospects and customers will tell what they like best. You can also be aware of demographic factors that influence these preferences To quote Neil Mohan, Google s VP of Display Advertising, speak at a recent conference. Neil said, If you re just focusing on mobile, you re solving yesterday s problems. Throughout the day, Neil explained, consumers are flitting back and forth among many devices, from smartphones to desktops, and from laptops to tablets to TVs. 90% of consumers start a task on

10 one device and finish it on another, he noted. Consumers are way ahead of where advertisers and publishers are. This means that preferences are fluid and ever changing and just when you think you have a handle on things, they will change in a heartbeat. The chart below is a synthesis of multiple sources on current day preferences by generation But while this is undoubtedly useful as a generalized guide, there are no hard and fast rules. This leads up to some best practices when the selection of channels of communication are concerned: 1. An omni-channel approach will always have greater value over a single channel approach. Look for marketing automations solutions that embrace omni-channel. 2. Be adaptable and don t focus exclusively on any given channel for any given audience. Be prepared to plan campaigns that take advantage of all available channels, Web, Mobile, SMS and and make sure to include social media interaction. 3. Ask for channel preferences and take action based on feedback, rather than relying on simple rules that may not be relevant, next year or even next week. Happily, many specialist marketing automation service providers advision include provide all the tools in one place. Which brings us to the final piece of advice: simplify your supplier

11 relationships and eliminate single point products that don t integrate together well. There are several benefits that you will derive from a reduced vendor approach Unified, consistent view rather than a fragmented, hard to compare set of data points. Single vendors like advision can uniquely provide tolls that aggregate all your results from multiple channels and multiple campaigns. Not only does this allow for powerful dashboarding and detailed metrics, it also allows for better analysis of ROI and theory test across disparate activities. Seamless Integration single vendor solutions are built from the ground up to work together, so the need for a user organization to act as a software integrator, or to pay for integration is eliminated. Cost savings every vendor applies portion of their development costs and overhead to each product. Multiple suppliers equal a higher cost, single suppliers are invariably less costly. Efficiency similarly, in addition to the pure cost benefits, there are efficiency savings to be made in training and support of multiple products with different interfaces and underlying operation logic. Copyright 2017 advision Digital Communications Solution, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any references to brands, companies and published reference sources, deliberate or otherwise, are recognized.