5 Tips for Increasing the Success of Your Next Email Campaign:

Here are some great tips to consider before you begin your next email distribution effort.

1.) Check your Message Against Content Filters:

This is the first step BEFORE you send any mail.

Be sure to double check your content against spam content filters to make certain your content will not “trigger” these filters. Most content
filters use a simple scoring system which essentially “grades” the message for potential spam content — the higher the score the more likely the message may be spam — the most popular open-source spam scoring system is “Spam Assassin”.

Internet Marketer Dori Friend has developed a nice program to help identify potential content issues - you can visit her site at:

http://www.e-filtrate.com

There are also several free spam content checking tools which can be used to review your message content:

http://www.lyris.com/resources/contentchecker/
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/

This tool will check delivery into major domains:

http://www.keywebdata.com/utilities/delivery-checker.asp

2.) Encourage Whitelisting:

Another important consideration is to encourage recipients to whitelist your domain and from address.
 
Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have put some sort of blocking or spam-filtering system in place in order to tell the good guys from the bad. Whitelisting will allow your email to bypass many of these ISP spam filters - It’s important to understand that every domain has slightly different methods for whitelisting, so be sure to check over this information before advising
your recipients with any specific instructions.
 
Here is a good location to learn about whitelisting for any particular domain (we recommend including the link in all your outgoing messages to help improve the chances of you becoming whitelisted by the
recipient):

http://www.notbadmail.com/info/whitelist.html

3.) Monitor Your Domain/IP Against RBL Databases:

It goes without saying that once you do get started (with whatever solution you choose), make sure to always check the RBL lists for blacklisting. If you are listed, make certain you visit the RBL list that you are on in order to review their policy for delisting the IP and domain that has been implicated.

Sometimes some simple correspondence like “This person was on an opt-in list - I have valid IP/TIME/DATE stamp on record and they complained — I removed them from my list” will make the admin of the RBL website delist you.

Also, remember that even if you are in 100% full CAN-SPAM compliance, that it does not prevent you from being blacklisted — The internet RBL admins tend to have their own rules which are completely
different (and more strict) then the Federal Law.

For instance, some RBL lists will list entire subnets while other lists will blacklist an IP simply for mailing too much mail into a particular domain within too short a period of time (Yahoo does this if it encounters “X” amount of undeliverable mail from any one mail source within “X” amount of time) — the “X” values are changing all the time.

So RBL lists are like trying to shoot moving targets - Each list having slightly different “standards” to become listed or reported to an RBL. And of course each RBL list is changing and adding new “rules” which need to be followed in order to get mail through to them.

Perhaps one of the best locations for RBL monitoring is available at http://openrbl.org — this RBL tool monitors an IP/domain’s exposure across multiple RBL lists.

If you are conducting regular monthly email distributions, then its almost impossible to avoid being listed at least on a few RBL lists - not necessarily for getting a bunch of complaints (this is the most likely reason most people think you get RBL’d - but its not always true) – you actually can become RBL’d more easily by sending mail improperly formatted email into a particular domain.

Pay attention to the bigger RBL lists like spamhaus.org, spews.org and spamcop.org - If you get on these lists your mailing effort is all but dead - (since these lists are used by many admins). Many of the smaller RBL lists have a procedure to become “delisted” - which can get your IP off their list in under an hour.

4.) Honor Remove Requests Quickly:
 
Make sure you are diligent in honoring removal requests and that you are regularly comparing these removes against outgoing email. A good rule of thumb is to make sure a “scrub” is made every 24-48 hours against your outgoing mail files.
 
Along the same lines, a valid removal method should not only incorporate the Federal standards of the CAN-SPAM law but should also alert your recipients how often you conduct removal “scrubs” — this way they understand how seriously you are taking their privacy.
 
To review the requirements for maintaining/conducting removals, be sure to look over the CAN-SPAM law thoroughly prior to the start of any email campaign:
 
http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/can-spam.shtml

5.) Track and Monitor Open Rates:

You also want to make sure you track each email list source separately (with some sort of “key code” or alpha-numeric identifier). This is especially important if you have purchased multiple lists from different vendors, as it will allow you to track one list source against the other and help you in planning future email campaigns more easily.
 
Looking for a free email marketing consultation?
Contact our in-house sales team at sales@persontopersondirect.com

Person to Person Direct’s marketing and sales strategies have consistently delivered positive results for our clients — for over 25 years!
 
copyright 2005 - Dynamitecopy.com - do not reprint without permission
admin@dynamitecopy.com