Quick wins (and not so quick wins) to get into the Inbox

Last month we provided an overview of the changes in ISP email filtering techniques that are currently being rolled out by most of the main players (Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail). This month we’d like to give you a brief run through of the key strategies that will help your email land in full view of the end recipient. These include:

1. Save to safe senders

An oldie but a goodie. At every opportunity encourage subscribers to add your ‘from address’ to their address book/list of safe senders. Even with all the new engagement metrics this is still going to be a strong influencer in email filtering.

2. Cut out the haters

Remove any subscribers from your list that have hit the spam complaint button on your email. If you’re not sure how to do this check with your email service provider, they should have feedback loops set up to capture this information.

3. Keep a close eye on response at an individual level

Continually assess subscriber engagement – who is opening, clicking and purchasing, and who is not. Group those that have been inactive (no opens or clicks for a period of time) and target them with a multi-touch re-engagement campaign. If there is still no response, inform them that they will be removed from the subscriber database but can resubscribe at any time.

4. Optimum subscription process

If you haven't already, implement a best practice subscription process:

• Obtain clear permission – opt-in rather than opt-out
• Send a welcome email - detailing the value proposition of the program, include likely frequency (if there are no options) and links to opt-out and update details. More information on the importance of this is in point 5.
• Provide subscribers with a way to update their contact details and supply key preferences. This will mean that recipients can change their content and frequency requirements as needed, as well as updating their email so they remain on your list.
• Include clear links in each email to your profile manager and unsubscribe
• Make sure your unsubscribe takes no more than 2 clicks and is not behind a login page
• In the footer, note the email address that is subscribed to the list so the original recipient and recipients of forwarded emails can clearly see which address is subscribed. This should reduce spam complaints.

5. The importance of a welcome message

Including engagement metrics in email filtering techniques means that the first few emails need to be received in the inbox in order for engagement to be assessed. So take advantage of the high engagement seen in new subscribers by sending them a welcome email immediately after subscribing. Then don’t leave it too long before sending your first actual email, and please make sure its relevant!

6. The holy grail – third party certification

Getting certified by a third party such as Return Path basically puts you on an exclusive whitelist that will give you the green light into more than 1.8 billion mailboxes worldwide. This really is the holy grail of deliverability, however becoming certified is an involved process that requires every aspect of your program to be best practice. Want to find out more about this? Email jae@returnity.com.

7. Simply create engaging content...

And of course the hardest and most involved strategy is.. providing valuable content and keeping subscribers engaged, but that is a whole other topic!