Can You Really Trust a noreply@____.com Address?

You are a subscriber to many mailing lists; in fact, your company requires you to be a member of one list in particular; that subscription is important. But you cannot read everything all the time. Most likely some of the lists you receive, you delete as soon as they hit your inbox because the Subject Line does not interest you. One or two lists you mark to read later and a few you open, scan through and make a quick determination if the information is relevant then file as necessary. Can you relate to that scenario? I can.

Most mailing lists that you and I are subscribed too are as varied as you can get, but most seem to have something in common. If we have questions for the list author and hit reply, our reply is addressed to a donotreply@___.com email address. I know this isn’t true in all cases, but it is for most.

Sometimes newsletters contain a title, person or general email address to send your comment or inquiry, very helpful and appreciated. Nevertheless, the donotreply@ address remains popular. In fact, the list you’re required to be on uses one of these noncommittal reply addresses with no alternative contact information. And sometimes for this newsletter, you do have questions. It’s annoying.

That’s the consumer side, but you’re a list owner too.

From the list owners’ point of view, considering the volume of email being sent, the no reply address is a reasonable way to eliminate the need to monitor emails coming back as a reply. It’s a way to keep costs down, as no one is required to read and take action (if needed).

You as the email marketer know that it is wise to, always, have a way for your reader to get in touch with you. You know first-hand; giving your list members an avenue of contact is less frustrating and more considerate of your readers. You’ve been there.

For your list readers, give them a way to connect with the sender, if you are using a donotreply@___.com email address. Include phone numbers, calls to action, and alternative email address in the body of your message. Inform your readers that the person to contact about the newsletter is not the person who sent it (if that’s the case) or just don’t use a donotreply@___.com email address.

However, in those cases when you are working for a manager who insists on a no reply address, citing costs and labor, put the internet to work for you. Impress your boss by making replies more manageable; remove the SPAM (use filters), auto replies (Sorry I’m out of the office) bounces and manual unsubscribes to narrow your focus on the real replies. He may reconsider.

But if the manager doesn’t, tell them with a donotreply@___.com

The list may lose Subscribers as not many will not whitelist a noreply@ address
You can’t track auto replies
Recipients may mistake the messages as SPAM
Unable to respond or track certain errors like Request Timeout or Internal Server Error.
Ruin your reputation

Although you can’t reply to this message you can leave a comment. I’d appreciate the feedback. If you want to more contact me.

Can You Really Trust a noreply@____.com Address? Read More »

5 Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List, Easier Than Riding a Motorcycle.

Email Marketing / Pat

5 Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List, Easier Than Riding a Motorcycle.

Email marketing is atypical from most marketing channels. In an ideal world email does not invade a person’s universe unless invited. (Exclude the Spammers ) 🙂 Email is unique, with its best feature being the ability to send “information” to people who are actually interested in that “information”, at a time they are interested in it. Not true for those others advertising avenues known as mass media.

Mass media advertisers want everybody as an audience with the goal to increase consumption of their products and services. Mass media, (TV, radio and other innocuous vehicles such as newspapers, magazines and some social media) doesn’t care who their messages reach as long as they do. Email is so much different, it’s based on an audience that is opt-in to the message of the list.

An email group solely interested in motorcycles maybe more receptive to an ad from Progressive Insurance (as a list sponsor) then contacting Progressive after watching a Progressive ad unfold on TV. Alternately a list authored by an insurance company seeking motorcyclists may do well explaining the ins and outs of

Motorcycle list members

insurance (education) and offer monthly incentives and discounts for referrals. List membership is so flexible anyone with a product or service can do it and do it well with a reliable hosting company like Dundee Internet Services.

But how do you get people to join your list willingly?

Elicit help from your current members; by offering information that is so valuable or discounts that are too good to pass up, they will want to share your email with a friend.
Invite your online guests to get more out of your website when they subscribe to your email list. Place email opted in invites in conspicuous places such as, above the fold, in your blog or on the side of all your web pages. Offer a free guide, coupon or other incentive when they become list subscribers. And (also let them know they can unsubscribe at any time too)
If you have a Social Media Page, then, you probably have fans; potential dedicated list members. Hold a contest to lead them back to your website where, when they enter your contest they can opt into your mailing list for future contests and announcements.
Email address: subscribe to my list
for future contests
(optional) Your name:
Pop up boxes know as a Leadbox works well too. Experiment with placement for optimal results. For example, people coming from Facebook to your landing page will more likely sign up to your list if you use a pop up box or Leadbox.
Website content can bring in more subscribers. When you offer a sexy detailed list, 3 easy steps to The Best Grilled Cheese People Will Rave About, include a Leadbox that encourages the reader to join your list to get more information like this.

I know there’s a lot more on this subject so add your comments and join my blog list today! (The join box is on the right)

5 Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List, Easier Than Riding a Motorcycle. Read More »

Full Time Opportunity for Nonprofit Organizations

Non Profit and Personal Hosting / Pat

Full Time Opportunity for Nonprofit Organizations

Dundee Internet Services, Inc. (DBA mailing-list-services.com), located in Southeast Michigan is seeking Non Profit Organizations with the desire to take control of their email marking.

Candidates should be registered as a 501(c)3 whose leaders believe that their mission would benefit from using an email list hosting company.

Key to Success

No experience necessary.

Applicants should:

_Have a need to share news of achievements and goals with current supporters.

_Be committed to engage list members with news and organization updates.

_ Want to offer all their internal departments the ability to take control of their own email list and members

-Need to keep members in touch, regardless of their location.

_ Have a desire to dramatically improve efficiency with email list management online tools.

_Always want to save money and time.

This is a full time position, available 24/7 with free technical (live) support. To apply please fill out the application located at https://mailinglistservices.com/order/. Please feel free to contact us at 888-222-8485 if you have questions about this service.

Dundee Internet is an equal opportunity list-hosting provider.

Full Time Opportunity for Nonprofit Organizations Read More »

How to Say Hello the way Your New List Subscribers Will Love

Announcement Lists / Pat

How to Say Hello the way Your New List Subscribers Will Love

As soon as someone subscribes to your email newsletter, right after they confirm their membership, immediately Email a Welcome Letter:

Use this opportunity to set readers expectations
Tell them about your loyalty programs and the special benefits they will receive as a list subscriber
Consider including a special offer
Provide a link to their profile page
For more information visit: https://mailinglistservices.com/you-are-welcome//

How to Say Hello that your new List subscribers will love
Dundee Internet List Hosting “It’s just terrific, It is just what we need.” Jeff, Attorney at Law
– See more at:

https://mailinglistservices.com/testimonials/

How to Say Hello the way Your New List Subscribers Will Love Read More »

I’m Back but Never on A Monday…#email campaigns that is.

Email Marketing / Pat

I’m Back but Never on A Monday…#email campaigns that is.

Do you realize in one year, based on 365 24-hour days, there are 8,760 opportunities to email to your list? Most marketers don’t send out daily, hourly emails; they may mail once a week, twice a month, or some other schedule that suites their business.

Scheduling the right time to send email campaigns seem to have turned into a science. I’ve run across formulas, studies and wag’s. Even though everyone has an opinion, unfortunately, what works for one marketer may not work for another. Therefore, it’s best to develop your own sending schedule based on list demographics and common sense.

Take the marketer that mails twice of month. At first glance, they have up to 576 email opportunities in a year to reach their list base. However, like all of us, email list owners are practical, they enjoy sleep, time with the family and time to play with the dog. They don’t want be accused of spam or tire out their list members, so they narrow this number (576) down using a few assumptions, because marketing messages are only as good as the interest level of the recipients when they receive them.

The easiest way to begin is to categorize the list membership base. Are you mailing to B2B, homemaker’s, families with children, Jeep owners or Nurses . . . you get the idea. Segment the list then consider where the list members are located: East Coast, West Coast, overseas or, down the street. An email sent at 12 midnight that evening might not be worth one that has been sent at 9 am that morning when you are having a one-day sale – AND if the sale is in New York with a coupon you can’t use online, why are you sending this email to people in Ohio or England for that matter.

Now that you have some numbers to work with what can you do? The next step, decide when to mail and make the numbers work for you.

Ebay for example, makes the numbers work for their sellers suggesting to them that Sunday evening between the hours of 8:00 PM eastern time and 10:00 PM pacific time is the best time to end an auction. Why? Because they found this is the peak time for Ebay shoppers to be online. Wouldn’t it be great if someone could predict the peak time email recipients open and respond to marketing messages?

Unlike Ebay, who concentrates on one group of people, there are many different types of email messages hence many different groups of people. I’ll just pick one: B2B.

With Business-to-Business email marketing, is there an optimal time to email to this group? It’s probably safe to rule out night time email and narrow the mailing opportunity down to an 8 hour 5 day week, increasing your mailing opportunity to 80 hours (more concentrated): A very manageable number. (5 days a week (the day is still an unknown) x 2 (twice a month) x 8 hours a day). Increase the opportunities in your favor by selecting one or two days out of the 5-day week.

Monday: The consensus about Monday – most people are inundated with back-to-work emails, therefore they will not open marketing emails first: they may save them for later or just junk them. For example on a typical Monday morning, my in-box has anywhere from 300 to 500 pieces of email. I am concerned with company Sales so my mail filters discard the obvious SPAM subjects like “Spend 10 Minutes and Save on Car Insurance” or any Subject Line with specific words like Sex and Pills. The rest of my emails I review. Will I take the time to read all those remaining emails? No.The remaining emails are sorted by Subject, I delete emails with duplicate subjects and those with iffy subject lines (Help Grandma I’m stuck in Mexico). I also delete emails with attachments if not expecting one. On occasion I have missed sales inquiries and I’ve also “accidentally” deleted bills so I ask all vendors to postal mail bills.I am a subscriber to several email newsletters, and if the subject looks interesting, I’ll leave the message unopened in my in- box and get to it later on. But never on a Monday.I also have a Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail account. Gmail receives reports from Google and blog posts I’m following, Hotmail is for my XBox live account and I’m a member of Yahoo for competitive analysis.BTW it’s 9:16 Monday morning, my Gmail account has 30 messages and counting and my regular mail has 376 messages waiting.Am I alone in this, getting hundreds of emails, NO and neither are your recipients.
Tuesday: Tuesday time is spent on zeroing in what needs to be finished by Friday. With deadlines, meetings and presentations, there are still emails to be read, answered, saved or deleted. Tuesday afternoon is a good day to catch up on mail, and may be a good day to have your marketing email in their in-box.It’s been noted that early afternoon messages are read more often. I’ve read on several competitor sites, Tuesday and Thursday are the two most favored email campaign days. However the reality of the work week supposedly sets in on Tuesday, therefore in theory,Tuesday is the highest stress level day of the week.So who wants to read email when they’re stressed? And, if you’re in the retail business going after a different demographic there’s different stats for you too.As a consumer, I read my personal emails on my phone, I check them on my computer before bedtime or read them on my tablet while cooking. (We use an exchange server, which is a great way to manage emails on all devices) I want to see those Groupon Messages, sales from my favorite store, or the next blog chapter I was waiting for after 5 pm on weekdays. When these messages come in during working hours, they are not read, and if I haven’t filtered them to a folder they are history.We recommend, for people like me, allow your list members to tell you what day, time, or amount of email they would like to receive. Profile pages work great for this.
Wednesday: No issues that I’ve read about, one of the favorite days to send.
Thursday, like Tuesday, again, is one of the most favored email campaign days. Try sending early in the morning, 8 am, yours might be the first email they read that morning.
Friday. How many people seriously buckle down to read emails on Friday (besides business owners), but that’s the demographics you’re after, right?
Saturday and Sunday. Generally, weekends have the lowest open rates, mail at your own risk.

If everyone followed the same email schedule you will be facing a truck load of competition from others in the same boat. So should you make it up as you go along?

BEST ADVICE;

Know your audience, from the night owls who will read your midnight messages to the snowed-in technical writer who would enjoy your email on a Sunday afternoon.
Test for the best times, just as you test for anything else. Dundee Internet Inc., for example, gives you the ability to send different version of a message to a random subset of your mailing list, scheduled to be delivered at different times.
Look at other factors that may be hindering your open rates besides the hour and the day. This would include your Subject, graphics, frequency and message format.,
Best day and hour to email depends on your industry, audience, and message content: remember you want to send the right message at the right time.
Realize that the sending opportunities change with the hours and days in the week available. Increase your opportunity by decreasing the sending opportunities to a manageable number.
To figure out your ideal sending date and time TEST, TEST, TEST

I’m Back but Never on A Monday…#email campaigns that is. Read More »

Spring Cleaning, Its Time to Clean the Email Spam Filter

Email Marketing / Pat

Spring Cleaning, Its Time to Clean the Email Spam Filter

The Holidays are over. In most parts of the world, the winter doldrums have set in. People go to work daydreaming of warmth and vacations. The weather seems to be a tossup of sunny and cold or dreary and cold with no change in sight. Snowstorm predictions this time of year is as common as email marking. Did I say Common? Is your email as common as snowstorms in the month of February?

February, normally cold, not much to do, you would think everyone has more time to read your marketing emails. But the truth is, Email, like Snowflakes, are falling into our mail boxes in record numbers, so much is being sent all the time, including tons of SPAM; so, how do you make sure your subscribers continue to open and click on your messages and not shovel them away with the rest of the unwanted emails? There’s a lot of blocking going on out there, reaching your goal of getting your messages to the inbox and bypassing all those attempts to block it, may be hindered by something as common as a Spam Filter.

Why should you be concerned about Spam Filters? Because they are being used everywhere, and can affect your success as an email marketer. For example, when a list subscriber for whatever reason, stops opening your emails, their (non) action may signify to the Spam Filter, that this subscriber is not interested in what you have to say. Their (non) action effects your subscriber engagement percentage. As you probably know subscriber engagement, (the measurement of email recipients that are engaged with your email), is a significant measurement for email marketers. If your subscriber engagement is low compared to the number of subscribers you email, your deliverability rate may suffer. It’s all connected – and worse yet – low subscriber engagement may be your own fault.

Low subscriber engagement may be a symptom of “Identity Crises Syndrome” or ICS. You can find indications of ICS in the sporadic email marketer. When your mailings are infrequent, therefore unexpected, your subscriber may genuinely have forgot they signed up for your list. They have no idea who you are, therefore, in their eyes you could be a spammer and filtered as such. (if they don’t unsubscribe) To overcome ICS, mail regularly, on a schedule and give your recipients the opportunity to tell you how often they would like to hear from you with a preference page. Your goal is to always keep your subscribers engaged on some level.

Not a sporadic emailer and still find yourself fighting Spam Filters and Spam complaints, plus paying for email that’s never read, then, be proactive; prune your list of inactive addresses.

Spring Cleaning

Pruning your list comes with benefits. It will save money on list hosting fees, you will have a rise in subscriber engagements (more opens using an engaged list) which in turn will improve your deliverability with the ISPs who, by the way, monitor for positive subscriber engagement. As stated, its all connected.

Positive signs of engagement maybe:

Clicking links
Whitelist your address
Downloading images
Reading the message
Opening the message and scrolling though it
Flagging the message
Move the message from Spam box to your inbox
Forwarding the message

Signs of Negative engagement maybe:

Reporting you as spammer
Deleting your email
Trashing your email
Not engaging with multiple messages over long periods of time

Always review your email campaigns to identify your inactive subscribers, analyze them and decide who to delete and who you think you can keep (based on whatever criteria you are using). You do this by creating a re-engagement campaign that is simple, with the purpose of regaining your recipients interest in your emails. Monitor your response rate and activity in each mailing. Based on those results, you can permanently delete them from your list or identify them as a fully re-engaged subscriber.

In the meantime no re-engagement action means more Spam Filtering.

Even using a fully engaged list you will find that Spam Filters are not perfect. They can trap good emails just by the way they are configured. For example, most Spam Filters work on a number system or point system, where a value is assigned to certain factors in an email header. Phrases and words that are considered “spammy,” such as “Free or “Free Only Today” or content that appears with subjects like a mortgage pitch or get rich quick email, will be assigned higher numbers or points. If your emails or your total campaigns exceed a certain point threshold – your email doesn’t get to the inbox.

By the way, Spam Filters are used universally, configured by the individual, company or organization who use them. There isn’t a standard list of “spammy”criteria because it’s frequently growing and adapting, based on, what people identify as spam. Consider this: when your inactive email subscriber receives (your) unwanted email, with a click of their mouse they mark your message as spam” or Junk Mail , your now on the Spam Filter list. And strange as it may seem these innocuous filters synchronize with one another and share what they learn.

You may avoid the SPAM FILTER:

Avoid the cliché of the spammy subject lines
Keep punctuation @#*^$@_$*@_() out of your subject
Use both lower and UPPERCASE letters, not just UPPERCASE in the Subject Line
Create readable content
Careful with that HTML – code correctly, and if you use Microsoft Office and Dundee List hosting , follow the steps we outlined
Do not send email to your inactive lists – avoid ICS
Verify your links, make sure they are active and link only to legitimate trustworthy websites
Ask your recipient to add your email address to their ‘safe’ list

What are some Indicators your Email is being routed to a SPAM FILTER?

Decrease open rates
Higher bounce rates

So the bottom line – do some Spring Cleaning – Prune your list, keep it up to date, do re-engagement campaigns, and you may not get trapped in the Spam Filter.

Spring Cleaning, Its Time to Clean the Email Spam Filter Read More »

Email List Hosting, Cheap & Free

Email Lists / Pat

Email List Hosting, Cheap & Free

You are running a top notch well know nonprofit agency, in charge of projects from fund raising to membership drives. Most if not all your work is done online, so you pick and choose the products that will give you the most bang for your buck, and believe free is even better.

You wonder if free is always better recalling the saying “you get what you pay for” as opposed to “the best things in life are free”. You’re on a budget so you subscribe to the later and run things accordingly. For your current project you need to find a list hosting provider that offers discussion list hosting that accepts attachments and offers searchable archives. You start your search by looking for “free” and “cheap” list hosting services.

While free and next to nothing list-hosting services may work just fine, some free services are not using business class tools. These services should not always be trusted to keep the list secure, or to keep Spammers off their system, which may affect your deliverability. Some Free services are free up to a point, for example just adding one more list member will change your service from a Free List to a Fee list. The terms will usually change too, with promises of unlimited emails (until you read the small print conditions that define unlimited).

Even prior to that, always read the terms and conditions. You may discover that your free or next to nothing list hosting service is really a “light” version of the paid offered list hosting service minus some needed features; such as Spam Filter Diagnostics or A/B split testing.

Besides, the features you may be missing, what about their support staff? Is support free, available, in country, live or just guidelines? Do their customers answer the technical questions for customers? Can you talk to someone regardless of time zone or the Country you live in. Will they respond to your email in a timely manner or will you just receive an auto response? What about their online support and documentation. Is it current, do the links work, are there examples or tutorials if needed?

In the end paying for a list hosting service actually saves you time and money, by providing a complete set of list management tools designed just for that purpose. Features that may not be included in the free service

Features that offers you:

Marketing Calendar
Segment tools
Advanced Message Throttling
Domain Key Support
Archive mailings lists with quick search
TCP/IP security
Automated bounce handling
Suppression and/or banned lists compares
Custom Branding
Grievance handling
One-click confirm
Tiered encrypted password protection
Demographic data fields
Survey’s
Templates and template creation
Dynamic, conditional content and advanced content scripting
Easy way to create text, HTML, or multipart MIME messages.
Attachments support
Spam analysis
Clickthrough and clickstream segmentation
A/B split-testing
Triggered and sequential mailings
Online and Offline purchase tacking & reporting
Sales Cycle & abandonment tracking
Web Traffic analysis
Transactional Messaging
Multi-vendor Web analytics integration
Graphical Deliverability reports
Forward trackingSee https://mailinglistservices.com/features-for-mailing-list-services/ for more.Before you decide to host on a free service remember the saying “you get what you pay for”. Your list is a valuable commodity and should be treated as such so focus on quality; using a commercial trusted list-hosting provider, like Dundee Internet List hosting is a smart and worthwhile investment for your organization. After all your mailing list wasn’t free to compile (Consider the time, effort and expense to build it), treat it well and it will treat you well with the results you are looking for.

Email List Hosting, Cheap & Free Read More »

EXTRA – EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT “Email Service Provider Just Fired Their Number 1 Customer”

Email Marketing / Pat

EXTRA – EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT “Email Service Provider Just Fired Their Number 1 Customer”

As email became the marketing tool of this century, I often thought my fellow ESP’s (Email Service Providers) would benefit from a customer Black List. Most ESP’s, including Dundee Internet, vett prospects before we put our reputation on the line, so to speak; a customer Black List would make that process a whole lot easier.

With an industry specific Black List, we could know all about our new potential customers:those that didn’t pay their bills, reversed credit card payments or worst yet are SPAMMERS. But the SPAMMER of yesterday, with proper education and mailing experience, could become the exemplary mailer of today, so a Black List might not have been a good idea after all – but vetting prospects, it seems, will never go away.

While we all take care of whom we let use our list hosting services, on occasion we actually find ourselves firing customers, even customers who passed the vetting process.

These customers, unfortunately, are usually good paying customers, always pay on time, never need too much support and have longevity with our company: but these customers for one reason or another have forgot the rules for the best practices for email. And this takes us by surprise, how can someone forget the simple rules of good email marketing especially when they’ve been doing it for so long?

With a little investigation we have found this 90 degree turn around happens when a customer:

Rents a list – just to try it out.
For the first time, purchased a list, because it was too good to pass up the opportunity that boasts guaranteed opt in members – with testimonials!
Decided to trade lists with their friend, just this once, and not mention this “trade” to any of the list subscribers.
Decides to dig out their old list (from 2 years ago) just to see if they stirrup renewed interest instead of trying a re engagement campaign.
Hires a new marketing person who want results and believes the more emails sent the bigger the response, opted-in, opted-out or not.

All of the above causes a host of problems for any sending ESP. Just look at the customer who decides to buy or rent a list, depending on how the addresses were obtained, the list may be peppered with role accounts such as billing@, info@, president@ , support@), noreply@, addresses that normally have no business being on a mailing list.

Role accounts are not consider good addresses because, for one, they are clearly not permission based addresses. Role accounts typically have several people behind them, such as an entire billing department for billing@. It would be very unlikely that everyone in the billing department would confirm their list membership, but it’s very likely using this role account is vulnerable to Spam complaints.

ESP don’t like SPAM complaints , it’s bad for business and it’s bad for all our customers Most Email Service Providers have published Terms Of Service, Acceptable Use Policy and some, a SPAM policy to make it clear to prospects and customers what they can and cannot do. Contracts, if required, further clarifies what each party can expect from one another by adding clauses such as a section on Prohibited Content and Activity.

Aside from contracts and written rules our job as an Email Service Provider, is to make an email marketer successful, by:

Keeping Spammers off their service.
Making it easy to comply with the CAN SPAM Act regulations. (i.e. automatically include an unsubscribe link, require opted in addresses only and so forth)
Keep the customer data secure.
Allow customers full control of their marketing lists.
Offering a Private IP address.
Extend Customer support and training beyond the manual.
House our severs in a robust infrastructure with redundant Internet connections.

With software that:

Has advanced scripting functionality.
Provides ability to compose rich dynamic content.
Allows users to create triggered email messages.
Has built in Web analytics.
Offers extensive reports on mailings and memberships.
Gives customers the ability to send highly relevant, targeted, and timely digital marketing messages – and – offers Enterprise Connectors for integrating with any data source and application.

Sounds good doesn’t it. Feature rich list hosting software at your command. But while it sounds good, there are rules to play the game. So, when the next ESP asks questions about your mailing practices, don’t take offense. They are protecting their customers, themselves and you. So keep in mind we do fire customers, not often, only when necessary to keep the mail flowing

EXTRA – EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT “Email Service Provider Just Fired Their Number 1 Customer” Read More »

The Holiday Season Email Marketing Challenge Is Here*

Email Marketing / Pat

The Holiday Season Email Marketing Challenge Is Here*

What type of challenges will you face this season?

Delivering the right message at the right time?
Will unsubscribes be your top concern?
Are your subscribers even reading your newsletters?

Divert the challenges of the season using Lifecycle emails. Start by classifying the subscribers of your current email campaigns into different Lifecycle categories:

Engaged customers – they love your emails’
Potential or interested customers – they’re promising but not on board yet
Disinterested or lethargic customers – For the most part, they have lost interest in you.

Using specific categories will give you a better understanding of the mindset of your customers and allow you to tailor your campaigns accordingly. It’s a known fact that Lifecycle emails outdo traditional group email marketing, because Lifecycle emails allows the marketer to send the right message at the right time, increasing the probability of recipient engagement.

Subscriber engagement is effected by industry diversity, which demands variety in email type. What type of email works well for one company may not work so well for the next. Likewise, what type of email works for an engaged customer may not work for an interested one. The key is to identify the type of subscriber you’re dealing with and address their concerns, needs or wants – and remember, before you release any of your email campaigns test and test again.

There are many kinds of Lifecycle emails; triggered emails for example, are those that are sent automatically to your subscribers because of:

An Action Activated when a subscriber performs a specific act; the list member makes a purchase on your website, she receives a confirmation email. Someone signed up for your email list he receives a welcome letter.
An Event In this case, emails are sent in response to an occurrence which maybe in your calendar, or from data you have about your subscribers. Emails are triggered by date to automatically send Birthday Greetings, send a reminder that their coupon will expire soon or announce your 10-year anniversary sale.
An Announcement Emails are automatically sent out when there’s an important announcement to make such as a reminder to renew before the expiration date.
Time Base Drip Campaigns Emails that are sent over a set period of time in planned intervals in a progressive sequence. They are used to build and maintain customer awareness and systemically move the customer into an active sales cycle. Dundee Internet Services use drip campaigns when someone signs up for a list demo.

Lifecycle email marketing is ideal for assisting users to engage with your product or service.

Lifecycle email marketing may influence subscribers’ who had considered unsubscribing to stay, move interested customers to engaged customers and renew disinterested ones. But, there will always be unsubscribes.

It’s been shown that the highest number of unsubscribes from any list are from those sending too many of the wrong type of emails. If your subscriber’s inbox is inundated with seasonal solicitations from everywhere, response rate to your email (even with the right content) maybe lower than you expect. Your subscribers may even be one of the many using a secondary rarely checked email address for newsletters, including yours, or they might simply unsubscribe. What should you do then?

Offer your subscribers email options; from receiving fewer emails to the type of emails, they want to receive. Capture their preferences on topics, products and desired email frequency – no more unwanted Christmas in July email ads.

And more importantly consider where your subscribers are in the Lifecycle channel and capitalize on this by considering what type of emails you could optimize or add; create email segments to increase the relevancy of your messages.

But in the end if someone wants off your list, be a gracious host and say goodbye. You can always offer alternative way for your customer to keep in touch, such as a link to your business’s social media page and invite them back to join your list when they are ready.

What type of challenges will you face this season? World Peace and email delivery what else is there?

The Holiday Season Email Marketing Challenge Is Here* Read More »

SPAM for Fun and Profit

No Spam / Pat

SPAM for Fun and Profit

Sending SPAM for profit is a big business. SPAMMERS are notorious for getting their messages out no matter what the cost. They hop from ESP to ESP – burning bridges as they go. They are known to recruit anyone they can with a computer to send their SPAM for them. Haven’t you seen the offers to send mass email from your home computer for cash? This makes YOU a SPAMMER, which in the end, will get you kicked off your ISP.

Spammers know, not everyone is interested in the promise of Enhanced Sexual Prowess and the Secret to Enteral Life. Spammers think, what’s the big deal, it’s only email, and the recipient can easily delete unwanted messages or filter them out as junk mail. Even so, some SPAMMER try to stay “legal” by including a PO BOX or physical address and an unsubscribe link (working or not) in their messages – but that does not change the questionable, unwanted junk emails they send.

We get it; the bottom line, Spammers do not care if it is right or wrong, unwanted and unsolicited. It’s their business.

SPAMMERS believe SPAM works because there are always a few recipients that open, read and act on their messages. SPAM sells, and unfortunately, that encourages them to send more.

While they sell their magic cures and resell hanging tomato planters as I mentioned before , their mindset is, “it’s only email, it doesn’t cost anything to send and there’s little to none legal accountabilities associated with sending unsolicited mail” so why not?

It is interesting to note some SPAMMERS (cases) were fined for violation of Federal and in some cases a State law:

Failing to offer an opt-out method

Using “free” in your subject line which maybe seen as deceptive.

Failure to include a valid physical address

ISP’s also have their rules too, such as YAHOO (postmaster.yahoo.com) However, none of these measures has stopped SPAMMERS

When SPAMMERS manage to find an ESP (Email Service Provider) to work with, whether upfront with their intentions but most likely not, it’s the ESP’s sending reputation and black listing which causes havoc. The SPAMMER can just pick up and leave, the ESP, well has to work through all the damage done to their business.

Damage to their business includes the time it takes to parley with other ISP’s (anyone from AOL to Yahoo), working with the Black list companies, possibly losing some customers, and probably not getting paid from the SPAMMER in one way or another. To recoup losses, your ESP might raise their prices and in some cases have gone out of business because of lost revenues.

However, money isn’t everything – SPAMMERS may not have cost you anything but they have altered your online behavior.

SPAMMERS have caused loss of trust. How eager are you to click on an email invitation to download a free program or install a toolbar that may have some practical features, but can carry more “SPAMWEAR” than the emails you receive. Did several of your friends send you an email with a link that they think you’ll enjoy –Delete don’t Click: A SPAMMER obtained someone’s address book and you’re in it.

SPAMMERS steal our time. How many email addresses do you manage? You probably started with one, your primary address then maybe a second one for newsletters or company offers. You may have opened a third to keep those other boxes “clean” of SPAM, using your third and maybe fourth email address when you really don’t care about leaving your email address on a form or offer Have you noticed even if you never signed up for anything online, invariably you will start receiving those SPAMMY messages.

For example I have my company email, an AOL address that I rarely use, which is always riveted with SPAM a Gmail account and a Yahoo account which is bursting with SPAM. I don’t use any of those email boxes, just a member of convenience (for example) to use Yahoo Groups and Yahoo messenger. The aforementioned email accounts get so much SPAM they become unusable. So free does come with a price.

Spammers do not care.

Stamp out SPAM

As a legitimate email marketer, you should want to disassociate yourself with any inkling of being a SPAMMER. Follow the CANN-SPAM ACT and check local State Laws. Listen to your ESP, after all they should know the Best Email Practices, help you with your online email reputation and assist when someone complains.

Knowing your email’s spam score across receiving domains prior to each send gives you a view of how your emails will be filtered and routed, and provides you with the opportunity to adjust your content and maximize deliverability.

Lyris ListManager uses a ContentChecker for Email to test your email content against rules widely adopted by receiving domains to provide you with a spam score, which indicates whether your emails will arrive in your recipients’ inbox or junk folder. An important tool for any email marketer.

SPAM for Fun and Profit Read More »

Email address:		subscribe to my list for future contests
(optional) Your name: