Emailhead

Don't Piss Off the Customer

Good Email Insider article today that discusses the shift from simple systems centered on the "authentication" of email marketers' IP addresses to an email marketer's "reputation" now being the chief determinant of whether their emails will get through.

My favorite common sense opinion in the article comes from George Bilbrey, general manager of deliverability services for Return Path: "In the end, if you treat your customer right, you'll have a good reputation." And the requirements are pretty simple, he went on: "If you're using authentication and sender ID, and you keep your complaints low and you're not getting spam traffic queries... you'll be okay... Anyone who is using authentication and has developed a good reputation will have their mail delivered."

That about sums it up. We can complicate the issue with other declarations: ask for permission, authenticate, don’t send too many emails, give customers something of value, etc. But here’s the Business 101 point of view: don’t piss off your customers.

eROI: Email Open and Click Rates Soared in Q1, Peaked on Weekends

In the first quarter of 2006, the best email open and click rates were on weekends, according to online marketing firm eROI's most recent, Q1 2006 email study, reports MarketingVox. Moreover, open and click rates increased significantly in the first quarter (40 percent and 60 percent increases, respectively), compared with rates for Q4 2005, when open and click rates decreased 29 percent and 21 percent, respectively, from the previous quarter.

The highest click rates in the first quarter were on Sundays - 6.6 percent - when the open rates were 25.9 percent, the second-highest open rate for the week. Tuesdays had the highest open rates at 26.4 percent, and the second-highest click rate, at 6.2 percent.

According to eRoi's April 2006 survey of email marketers (a fairly even distribution of B2B, B2C and hybrid approach - 38, 28 and 34 percent, respectively), email marketing lists are growing. Some- 83 percent of marketers see a significant increase in their lists from this time last year. Only 34 percent of email marketers use behavioral data for segmentation and targeting, whereas 66 percent use demographic information to position their offers and newsletters.

The Q1 2006 study also breaks down the open and click rates by mailer size: Micro-mailers (fewer than 5,000 recipients); small senders (5,000 to 24,999 recipients); medium-sized (25,000-99,999); and large mailers (100,000+). Large mailers - unlike their polar opposite small mailers - see poor statistics on the weekend.

But eRoi points out that the "important takeaway here is not what day is best for both opens and reads but finding which day is best for the goal of your email."

Spammers Try Free-Verse Poetry - Or Vice Versa

Some interesting Spam came in over the transom today. It opened in the preview pane and I couldn't help but notice that instead of the usual long paragraphs of type, this one employs some sort of poetic free-verse form. Maybe it's an attempt to somehow beat the filters - or a jaded poet who's turned to more lucrative employment. The bet is that someone will take notice and we'll see a few permission-based free-verse email marketing messages. You know, just to test it out.

AOL Adopts Goodmail, 15 ESPs Follow

Goodmail Systems on Monday announced that 15 major email service providers have agreed to use its email accreditation service after AOL quietly launched Goodmail's CertifiedEmail last week after months of controversy, DM News reports (via MediaBuyerPlanner.com). More are likely to get on the bandwagon since 15 of the 25 major players, such as Epsilon Interactive and ExactTarget, have already signed up.

The ESPs that have signed up to offer Goodmail's CertifiedEmail to their corporate customers include BlueStreak, Acxiom Digital, e-Dialog, Epsilon Interactive, ExactTarget, Exmplar, Harte-Hanks Postfuture, Premiere Global Services, Responsys, Silverpop, SmartDM, TailoredMail, Yesmail, Whatcounts, and Zustek.

Those ESPs account for 50 billion email messages a year, according to John Ouren, SVP of sales and business development for Goodmail. "We've got what we estimate to be 70 percent of the leading full-service providers. And in terms of the top 25, we're in discussions with everyone else," he said.

The CertifiedEmail system consists of two components. First, an accreditation and reputation monitoring service validates that senders are legitimate corporations managing the best opt-in email practices with the lowest consumer complaint rates. Second, approved senders have their messages individually stamped with a unique cryptographically secure token that ensures consumers that the messages are from the represented sender.

Email Comes of Age, Officially

If you're a parent, you're probably familiar with the Nick Jr. show Blue's Clues. One of the main songs in the show happens at mail time when the host goes to the mailbox and gets a letter from a child. Having two young children who've watched the show for years, I know it by heart: "We just got a letter, we just got a letter, we just got a letter, I wonder who it's from!"

I haven't seen the show in a while, but today I walked in the room where they were watching and noticed that the words have changed: "We just got an email, we just got an email, we just got an email, I wonder who it's from!"

The show targets young kids, maybe three or four years old. Why the switch? I'm sure helping kids understand technology had something to do with it, but it also creates a pretty cool advertising tie-in for Nick Jr. When you visit the main page for Blue's Clues, there's a nifty little place to send an email card, just like in the show, to a friend. When you receive the email card, it has an advertisement : For great Games and Activities go to NickJr.