Improving Bounce Management and Email Delivery!

Email marketing may be the golden ticket for your business. According to a 2014 report by McKinsey and Company, a global management consultant firm, email is almost 40 times more effective in helping businesses acquire new customers than Facebook and Twitter combined. Email marketing not only assists in building customer base, but also in retaining existing customers. The Marketing Sherpa states in a 2015 report that 91 percent of US adults like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with. Learning how to utilize this tool for your benefit takes strategy and a little research. Below we share the top 4 best practices of email marketing by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

1. Get Permission

The first rule of email marketing lies in obtaining permission from individuals with whom you have a current business relationship. The DMA states that marketers who gain permission accompanied by clear notices have a higher response rate and lower complaint rate. Inform your potential client with the nature of the email, frequency at which they will receive communication, and specific information regarding offers or products.

2. Content

With the increase of email spam, marketers need to carefully develop content to avoid being sent directly to the junk box. The subject line is the first that will be seen once received, so be sure the subject accurately reflects the message as briefly as possible and avoid all prefixes such as ‘RE’ or ‘FW’. Make brand prominent in subject heading if possible. Balance images and plain text in the body and pretest content with anti spam software to prevent words or phrases that are common to spam content. Always include a physical postal address, telephone and email contact in the email for customer service and mandatory opt-out options.

3. Delivery Assurance

Ensure delivery by following compliance guidelines and established protocols. Get the ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ document from mailbox providers—like Yahoo! or Gmail—that specifies the rules for sending email into and out of the network. Also check on the ‘whitelist’, which is a process some mailbox providers use for marketers to make for easier entrance into networks without being subjected to filters.

4. Email Hygiene

Email hygiene is just as critical as personal hygiene when it comes to email marketing. Email hygiene addresses procedures used with issues such as format, syntax, domain errors, reply/inbound handling, bounce backs and suppression of invalid addresses. The hygiene procedures should minimize bounce rates of non-deliverable emails, by eliminating outdated email addresses and domains. To hygiene and validate your email addresses today visit our hygiene partner NeverBounce.

For more information regarding email marketing or social media solutions, call Admail today at 1-800-479-6233.