You’re planning, creating, and getting ready to send holiday email campaigns. But how do you make sure your emails get to subscribers’ inboxes and they see the content you’ve worked so hard to create? In this webinar, learn about: Recent changes at Gmail and Yahoo The rise of engagement as a factor in deliverability How personalization and targeting impact delivery rates When to say goodbye to non-engaged subscribers

1. DELIVER SMARTER
Insights on Reaching the Inbox

2. TODAY’S SPEAKER
Brad Gurley
Director of Deliverability
WhatCounts
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3. HOT TOPICS
Changes afoot at Gmail and Yahoo
•
What effects have been seen?
•
How should you react?
Engagement: the key to the inbox
•
How personalization and targeting
help improve delivery rates
•
When to say goodbye to nonengaged users
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4. CHANGES AT GMAIL & YAHOO
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5. RECENT CHANGES AT GMAIL & YAHOO
Recently, both Gmail and Yahoo made changes that caused
ripples in the email marketing community
• Gmail introduced the Tabbed Inbox in late July
• Yahoo performed a mass deactivation of inactive accounts, also in
July
What are these changes, and how do they affect you?
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6. GMAIL TABBED INBOX
In June, Gmail announced the addition of tabs to the inbox
– Mail would be automatically sorted into tabs based on Gmail’s
recommendations
– Tabs included Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums
In late July, Google rolled out these changes to all Gmail users
– The mobile Gmail app was also updated to include tabs
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7. THE IMPACT OF TABBED INBOX
Tab placement is based on Google’s internal algorithm
– Most commercial email is routed to the Promotions tab
– Many marketers worried this would greatly decrease opens
Since the full rollout, reviews of the tabbed inbox have
been mixed
– Many sources report a slight decrease (1-3%) in overall open
rates of marketing emails
– A number of senders have reported increases in open rates
Do you need to take action?
– Some senders have taken action based on speculation
– Your open/conversion rates should be the driver, not industry
data
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8. DEALING WITH TABBED INBOX
Many marketers have sent dedicated campaigns asking users
to manually move their mailings to the Primary tab.
• Users can drag mail from
one tab to another
• A prompt allows for all
mail from that sender to
be rerouted
• This could impact delivery
to other users over time
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9. DEALING WITH TABBED INBOX
Starring a message or thread can also push it into the
Primary tab – for now.
• By default, Starred message threads display in the Primary tab
• This would likely not affect any future deliveries to this or other
recipients
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10. YAHOO MASS ACCOUNT DEACTIVATION
In June, Yahoo announced they would be deactivating
any account that had not been accessed within 12 months
– This included accounts both with and without Yahoo Mail
– Yahoo would also allow users to request the deactivated usernames,
which would be reactivated just one month later
Concerns about increased hard bounce and spam
complaints were raised
– Yahoo indicated a “very small” percentage of these accounts were
Mail users
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11. YAHOO DEACTIVATION IMPACT
On July 15th, Yahoo deactivated many accounts
– WhatCounts users saw no significant increase in hard bounces
– Many other sources report little or no change
Around August 15th, Yahoo began to reactivate usernames
that had been requested by others
– WhatCounts users saw no significant increase in spam complaints
– There have been scattered reports of new users receiving mail
intended for the old user of the account
– Yahoo indicates these are rare, but has worked with Facebook to
create a special header for senders with sensitive data who use email
address as a login key
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12. DEALING WITH YAHOO REACTIVATION
Most senders don’t need to take any action for these
reanimated email accounts.
If your system houses sensitive and/or personal data and you
send login details via email:
• You may want to implement the new
special “Require Recipient Valid Since”
header
• WhatCounts Support can help answer
questions and determine whether this
solution could be beneficial
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13. ENGAGEMENT: THE KEY TO THE
INBOX
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14. ENGAGE!
Nearly all major ISPs and email providers have recently
increased their focus on user engagement as a factor in
mail delivery.
To keep up, marketers must adapt
their practices to target engaged
users and foster engagement in
others:
•
•
•
•
Send relevant content to targeted users
Set clear expectations for new subscribers
Provide a prominent unsubscribe option
Clean subscriber lists regularly
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15. SMART MARKETING = PERSONALIZATION
Deliverability
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16. SMART DELIVERY = RELEVANCE + TARGETING
Provide content subscribers
want to read
•
•
•
Provide useful or informative content
in addition to promotions
Tailor mailings to segments of
subscribers based on demographic
data
Give a reason to keep opening your
email - instead of deleting it
Target engaged users
•
•
Use open, click, and purchase data
to target your most active and loyal
subscribers
Provide added value for your most
engaged users
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17. SET CLEAR EXPECTATIONS
When a new subscriber signs up for your mailings, they should know
exactly what to expect in their mailbox. This includes:
Who is sending the mail
•
The From Domain and company details should be
clear
What types of emails you’ll be sending
•
Promotional vs. informational, etc.
How often you’ll be sending
•
Daily vs. weekly vs. monthly
What topics or areas of interest will be covered
•
Preference centers provide customization options
Unclear expectations at the time of sign-up are often the driver of spam
complaints. Clearly outlining these items will help reduce complaints received.
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18. PROMOTE THE UNSUBSCRIBE LINK
Contrary to most marketers’ instincts, the Unsubscribe link
should be prominently placed within the message body
•
Unsubscribe links that are hidden or hard-to-find will generate spam
complaints from unhappy users who want to unsubscribe
•
Placing the link in the preheader has been shown to reduce spam
complaints in many cases
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19. SO LONG, FAREWELL…
For every email marketer, there comes a time when you must say
goodbye to the non-engaged users in your lists.
Depending on your sending frequency, it is generally recommended to
segment out users who haven’t opened your past 50+ emails.
A re-engagement campaign can
help capture some of those users:
•
Last chance to stay on the list
• Needs a strong call to action
• Subject line should grab attention
• Remove non-responsive contacts
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20. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE:
Q: Has Comcast had any recent changes? They seem to be blocking all of our
emails.
A: We have not seen any indication of changes at
Comcast. Typically, mail blocked at Comcast
indicates your volume of spam complaints and/or
spamtrap hits are too high. List cleaning is
usually the best option. You can contact our
Technical Support team for further assistance:
http://www.whatcounts.com/email-marketingcompany/contact-us/
Q: How can I determine a good open and
click-through rate?
A: This question is probably better suited for our
Strategy Team, but I can say what is considered
“good” for open and click rate varies widely by
industry and market. The “average” open rate
across all sectors is typically in the 10-20 percent
range.
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21. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE:
Q: Many companies are using the little graphics in subject lines. Does that
affect deliverability?
A: All of the testing we’ve done, along with data
from others in the industry, indicates most
symbols in the subject line do not affect delivery
rates – yet. In fact, many tests indicate they
increase open rates considerably. However,
there’s always the possibility spam senders may
start using these characters frequently, which
could lead to a delivery impact down the road.
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22. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE:
Q: I’m already following best practices, including using an unsubscribe link
at the top of my emails. Is it the end of my business if the ISPs won’t stop
blocking my emails as spam? The big providers are always going to allow
email from big players such as Amazon and Netflix and from each other. Is
there no way for smaller businesses to get the same treatment even if their
emails are just as clean or cleaner?
A: The size of the sender doesn’t actually matter
so much – I’ve seen multinational companies with
names you know very well who have had delivery
issues with the major ISPs. There’s always a
specific reason (or set of reasons) your messages
are being blocked, usually due to spam
complaints and/or spamtrap hits. In many cases,
the bounce response returned to the server will
give the reason for the block. I would suggest
contacting our Support Team for assistance:
http://www.whatcounts.com/email-marketingcompany/contact-us/
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23. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE:
Q: When we launch a campaign that includes thousands of emails to Google,
Yahoo, Outlook/Hotmail, and certain other services/ISPs, mail servers begin
to throttle the receipt of email and start bouncing mail once we reach a
certain limit/hour. Is this common, and is there a way to overcome this
problem?
A: ISPs and mail providers rarely block mail
based solely on volume. Any blocks are usually
based on reputation or engagement. While most
ISPs do have a connection limit or limit on
number of messages sent per connection,
WhatCounts’ mail software is already set up not
to exceed those thresholds. So any blocks you’re
seeing would likely not be based on the volume
of mail sent, but on other factors.
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24. THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!
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