Follow Us On...

Authors

Email Service Provider

ESPC Call: Cloudmark and Best/Worst Practices

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by Al Iverson
As part of Cloudmark's ongoing ESP outreach program, where they work to help spread knowledge and understanding of best practices and bad practices, Jamie Tomasello of Cloudmark spoke to the ESPC (Email Sender and Provider Coalition) group on March 2nd, 2010. ExactTarget is an ESPC member, so I listened in.

Cloudmark is a really big spam filterer, protecting over one billion mailboxes across 190 countries. Successful delivery of email to the inbox depends on passing successfully through Cloudmark filters at a lot of different receiving sites that matter, both B2C and B2B. That makes it important to understand what Cloudmark considers to be good practices and bad practices, as these perceptions are likely to drive their filtering decisions and affect your ability to get mail delivered (or not).

Jamie explained that in the eyes of end recipients of email, the definition of spam is changing. It's not so much just "do you have permission or not" as much as it is now "is the mail desired and wanted." The underlying statement there is that unclear permission, third-party permission, co-registration, etc. are not best practices, and are likely to cause deliverablity woes. As she indicated, these are mailing practices that have been defended in the past, but they're no longer defensible. ISPs and end recipients only want to let desired mail through. Is your mail desired?

Here are just a few of the Cloudmark-preferred best practices that Jamie mentioned on the call.
  • At a minimum, compliance with CAN-SPAM. (Keeping in mind that CAN-SPAM is a starting point, not the finish line.)
  • Following MAAWG Senders Best Communication Practices document.
  • Implementing confirmed opt-in, also known as double opt-in, obtaining explicit permission confirming that every recipient really wants to be on your email list.
  • Segmenting or segregating marketing mail from transactional mail. Making sure you're not trying to dilute stats or get away with something by mixing mail streams. (Spam filterers are smart and will figure you out.)
  • Using consistent branding in content, sending domains, call to action domains, and reverse DNS.
  • Sending from dedicated IP addresses.
  • Utilizing feedback loop data to identify and solve problems. (What intelligence can you gather from the recipient response to the campaign? Don't just listwash.)
On the bad side of the practices spectrum, a few of the things that she mentioned that can damage your reputation include things like third party co-registration, email append (which consumers hate), list purchasing and mailing to inactive subscribers. She also pointed out that you're very likely to look like one of the bad guys if you're doing things like gaming reputation systems, distributing mail volume over a large number of IP addresses (also called snowshoeing), sending your mail via multiple ESPs or affiliates, or mixing non-relevant third-party mail in with relevant, permissioned messages-- a practice termed "spamouflage."

A lot of what was discussed is stuff that savvy ESPs (and savvy marketers) should know already. But, it's never a bad idea to remind folks of what the rules are, as new people and new companies enter the email space every day. I'm very glad that Jamie and Cloudmark are helping to raise the level of understanding of best practices among email marketers and their email service providers.
Comments (0)

Distributed Email Marketing (Build vs. Partner series)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by Dennis Hall
The process of implementing or replacing an email marketing module that will be distrbuted to your customers (and even your customer's customers) can be a daunting exercise, not only due to the complexity of developing functions like list management, content editing and tracking, but also because of the importance of factors outside the bits and bytes.

For example, deliverability (the rate at which emails make it to the subscriber’s inbox) is affected by the reputation of the sender not the quality of the code. Without the right policies and people to work with the major ISPs, the value of email (no matter how beautiful) is diminished.

To help you assess the magnitude of becoming your own Email Service Provider on behalf of your customers, we’ve put together a "top-ten" list of high-level requirements that our Partners have shared with us along with a bit of color.

1.    Reliability System availability and uptime are critical issues for email. As email volume grows, so must the system behind it. System failures will occur whether the system is in-house or 3rd party so management and recovery processes are constants.
2.    Deliverability Reputation and remediation capabilities are critical to ensure consistent, timely email delivery. Managing this process is one of the most expensive elements of email. To maximize delivery, the system must support a permission based, strong opt-in model as well as private (dedicated) IPs or domains.
3.    Security In addition to data protection standards (e.g. encryption/SMTP) to keep customer data safely behind the firewall, the system must maintain data integrity across multiple hierarchies and parent-child relationships.
4.    Transactional, operational sending Many ESPs do not support this capability within the framework or API. These types of emails, from loyalty programs to notifications, have become as effective as mass marketing emails in terms of driving consumer behavior.
5.    Relevance The ability to use subscriber attributes and external data tables to deliver tailored messages, including HTML, text, hyperlinks and images, has grown as a key differentiator for email marketing systems. Dynamic content is an example of innovation in this area.
6.    Performance List processing, send execution and tracking response are key metrics to be optimized. In today’s world of social media and instant buzz, customers want to know that there emails will be delivered in near real-time.
7.    User experience This category includes usability, look and feel as well as integration with external systems. The extent of control desired often dictates the go to market approach. An open, flexible framework will allow for a phased deployment.
8.    Tracking  Access to opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, and conversion statistics are vital to measuring the impact of email programs. If this data is not available, it will become more difficult to justify cost from the user’s perspective.
9.    Unsubscribe options Support for campaign based or publication based management of unsubscribes is essential to building and sustaining subscriber lists. 
10.    Multi-channel Though Email remains a red-hot market and will continue to be a major channel of communication (despite the NY Times opinion, marketers expect to utilize other established and emerging channels, such as SMS (Text), Voice, Landing Pages and Social networks. Supporting such channels within a single platform will enable you to satisfy demand as it grows.

Your list will no doubt be unique - containing more granular requirements on what is needed to satisfy customer demand in your market. We'd love your feedback on what features, functions and/or factors are most important to you and why...

Stay tuned for the next part of the series...The Partner Paradox.

Comments (0)

Maine AG: State email lists are public data

Thursday, February 4, 2010 by Al Iverson
As mentioned on MediaPost's Email Insider and elsewhere, the Maine Attorney General's office recently ruled that email addresses of people who contacted various state departments are fair game, that they must be supplied to anybody who submits an inquiry via Maine's Freedom of Access Act.

This means that any sort of advocacy group can petition the state government to provide a list of all the email addresses of people who contacted them on a given topic; and then they would be able to spam those people, to further the advocacy group's goals. BAD NEWS.

Spamhaus blogged about this; click here to read their take on why this is a bad idea. We couldn't agree more with Spamhaus's take on this issue. For our part, we sent a letter to the Maine legislature, looking to explain why we prohibit third-party lists-- any list compiled via this method would clearly NOT be a permission-based email list and we'd clamp down hard on anybody who tried to use a list like that via ExactTarget.

As Morgan Stewart and I explained in our letter, "Allowing advocacy or other groups to obtain email addresses from the Maine state government via a Freedom of Access request allows these groups to build spam lists that will cause harm to internet service providers and end consumers. The owners of those email addresses did not consent to have their email addresses shared with third parties or added to other email lists. Further, recipients of such emails will have to take an affirmative step to unsubscribe from those lists, which adds to the burden of those recipients.

"There is no known legitimate use for email address data in this context other than to compile a non-permission email list and send spam to it. Whether or not the topic of the spam is related to advocacy of something under Maine law is irrelevant; spam is still spam. It is our opinion that there are ample alternate methodologies under which advocacy or other groups may identify and contact Maine residents, without resorting to the most unwanted of email scourges; spam. Please don't enable the sending of spam to Maine residents by allowing their email addresses to be obtained from government agencies."

How about it, dear readers? When you contact somebody in government to provide feedback on an issue or apply for some sort of permit, do you think it's fair that groups can query the government for your email address and be able to add you to a list? And if you're an email marketer, do you really think this is a winning email strategy? Blasting people who didn't sign up for your emails? I sure don't.
Comments (0)

ExactTarget at WebTrends Engage

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 by Colby Cavanaugh
Hello!

We’re here at the WebTrends Engage 2010 conference this week, located down South in the Big Easy. As a Gold sponsor of the conference, ExactTarget is excited to be present at this SOLD OUT event!

Later today, I’ll be speaking briefly at the general session on multichannel marketing and the importance of creating engagement across all channels – not just email. You’ll even see a quick demonstration on shortcode and text-in campaigns. Make sure to tune in, as you’ll have a chance to win a Starbucks gift card!

Plus, stop by Booth #7 at the conference to receive a complimentary copy of The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers, Q4 2009, where ExactTarget was named a LEADER in email marketing.

With all this great stuff in store, we can’t wait to see you there!

Comments (0)

Distributed Email Marketing (Build vs. Partner series)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 by Dennis Hall
“It’s not a problem until it’s a problem.” A great quote from a Product Manager at a leading SaaS provider who I met on the road last week. His company had invested significant man years of development to build their own email infrastructure back in 2006.

He pointed out, “At the time there weren’t any other viable options for us so we didn’t have a choice.” As their customer base expanded, the volume of email followed in an exponential way. Their email system had shifted from a competitive advantage to a liability with issues from system failures, constant maintenance, delivery problems and limited visibility to tracking data.

More and more technology driven companies are experiencing these kinds of pains with their in-house email systems. And the question rises once again, “should we build version 2.0 or leverage a 3rd party?” Working with hundreds of technology companies over the years, I’ve heard all sides of the debate. Underneath the market research, the gap analysis and financial models, the decision ultimately rests on time, money, resources and strategy.

Next week, I'll share a list of top level requirements we've gleaned over the years from our Partners. If you are thinking of becoming an email service provider on behalf of your customers, you'll want to stay tuned!

Maybe you’ve “been there done that” or perhaps you are just beginning your journey. Either way, we are interested in your perspective so please feel free to share your comments or contact me directly anytime.

Dennis - dhall@exacttarget.com (512) 423-0876 (24 x 7!)

Comments (0)

ExactTarget Named A Leader in Email Marketing by Forrester Research

Monday, December 28, 2009 by Scott Dorsey
Industry analyst Forrester Research released the “Forrester Wave: Email Marketing Service Providers Q4 2009” report Dec. 23 and named ExactTarget at the front of the email marketing leader pack.  While it’s a monumental achievement in our business and highlights our relentless pursuit of innovation and service, the real credit goes to you - our customers. ExactTarget was the only vendor evaluated to score a perfect 5 out of 5 in the customer category – an aggregate rating of customer satisfaction, customer diversity and number of customers.  I’m humbled by the resounding vote of confidence our customers shared, and I am energized to drive even greater levels of customer satisfaction and customer ROI in 2010.
 
When we founded ExactTarget, we set out on a clear mission – help companies build relationships with their clients.  Forrester’s report shows we’re well on our way to achieving that goal.  In fact, Forrester awarded ExactTarget perfect scores in 6 of the 14 categories evaluated.  What’s even more exciting is we out-performed or tied our closest competitor in 11 of the 14 categories, including current offering, technology platform, services and customer satisfaction.
 
Thank you again for your resounding confidence in ExactTarget.  I look forward to delivering new and exciting innovations in 2010 to help you further drive ROI from your ExactTarget partnership.
 
Best,
Scott
 
Comments (0)

Big Players in B2B Deliverability

Monday, December 28, 2009 by Al Iverson
A client was asking the other day about B2B deliverability, how it differs from B2C, who the big players are, etc.

This isn't the first time the topic of deliverability in the B2B (business-to-business) email realm. Back in June, I answer the question, "Is B2B Deliverability Different?" In a more recent blog post, I link to information from Google about how they've become a very large host of B2B mailboxes.

Clearly, Google is a big player in this space. Meaning, a lot of the B2B mailboxes you send to are going through spam filters run by Google; just as if your recipients were at Gmail.com. What that means to you is that the same rules apply to sends to both those Gmail.com users and any B2B domains hosted at Google.

As I mentioned before, Yahoo, Hotmail and Google host mail for more than 264,000 domains, Google making up approximately 106,000 of those domains. (All three of these guys probably host mail for very many more domains than this; this is just a snapshot based off of last year's client list data. Meaning, if a domain doesn't show up on an email list, I don't know about it.)

That means you've got a huge chunk of the B2B email space hosted by top consumer webmail providers. Meaning that the B2C rules significantly apply to B2B senders, by the fact that the same spam filters are involved.

In the more specific B2B realm, there are too many players to list. Postini, Cloudmark, Barracuda, Ironport, Symantec Brightmail and MessageLabs are just a few of them. There are hundreds, maybe thousands more.

The way these filterers work is very similar to how B2C ISP spam filters work. They build a reputational view of you based on spam complaints, engagement, bounce rates, etc. They're a bit more invisible to some senders, as it's not always easy for you to know exactly what % of your mailing list might be behind a Brightmail filter, for example. But they still matter, very much so. In this combination of hosted service providers and appliance developers, getting tagged as a bad guy means you end up with delivery problems far and wide.

If you end up with a bad reputation as measured by Barracuda, and your mail is going to be blocked or filtered at the more than 85,000 customers that use Barracuda spam-filtering devices.

If Cloudmark determines the mail you send merits a bad reputation, you'll probably find it hard to successfully get to the inbox at any mailbox protected by any of Cloudmark's anti-spam solutions -- that's over 850 million mailboxes in 190 countries!

That's why B2C and B2C are more similar than you might have thought. Filterers handling either type of mail both look at your sending reputation, and treat your mail acordingly. Blocked at any of these providers on either side of things means that you're going to have issues delivering mail to a whole bunch of different mailboxes.
Comments (1)

Ending the Spam

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by Al Iverson
A reader named Don posted a comment containing the following question: “I'd really like to end your spam. I do not trust the link on your spam because, just like all the other spam merchants out there, your e-mail appears to be poised to cause more problems than clicking is worth. How do I make you go away and stay out of my in box?”

Don, I'm sorry you're receiving spam from a client of ours. Our clients are only allowed to send mail to people that signed up for their lists. We don't buy or sell email lists, nor do we allow clients to do so. If you want us to investigate, and make the mail stop, feel free to send us a spam report at abuse AT exacttarget.com. Note in your email that the message is unwanted spam and be sure to include a copy of the message, including full headers, if possible. We will immediately investigate, and take action against our client if they are indeed out of compliance with our opt-in permission requirements and anti-spam policy.

Policy compliance (making sure our clients don't send spam) is occasionally a challenge for anybody providing email-related services to a large number of clients. We've got the tools and expertise to be able to nip a lot of these issues in the bud, before you ever see them. But, one of the many components to taking action against spammers is based on reports we receive from the outside world: ISPs, anti-spam groups, and end recipients like yourself.

As far as trusting the link in the email message -- all the unsubscribe link does is mark you as unsubscribed in that client's account. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't secretly sign you up for somebody else's email lists. It doesn't give the client permission to email you later (and if they do, they're breaking our rules). However, it doesn't tell us that you thought the message was spam. So if it was spam, feel free to report it to our abuse address, as well, as noted above.

As far as trusting us, the company, ExactTarget, I'm not sure what I can tell you to convince you that we're a legitimate email service provider and not spammers. But here's what I know. ET is a real company, based in Indianapolis (though I work from Chicago), and I've worked for them, helping to oversee and continually improve our anti-spam efforts, for more than three years now. (I have a long history of spam fighting, going back more than ten years.) As you can see here, we have a lot of legitimate, well-known companies as clients. Also, if we knowingly let our clients send spam, ISPs would get fed up with us and block all mail from all of our clients. So that's why it's in our best interest to prevent our clients from sending spam -- it's necessary for us to be able to succeed in the email industry. So it would be extremely unwise of us to do anything other than immediately respect your click on the unsubscribe link, and ensure that our client stops sending you mail.
Comments (1)

Does Authentication Improve Deliverability?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Al Iverson
There's been a lot of talk about email authentication and related things like domain reputation out in the deliverability blog-o-sphere of late. I'm not linking to anyone in particular, as I don't want to single anyone out, and a lot of people have made a lot of different points, both good and bad.

But if there is one meme that I keep stumbling across, one that I think is (perhaps) technically accurate, but missing the point, it is this: Email authentication doesn't improve your deliverability. That's not what it's for. It doesn't positively impact your ability to deliver mail.

Just for the record, let me point out that email authentication improves deliverability. A couple of rather large ISPs utilize authentication in a way where, directly or indirectly, it improves your sending reputation. Consider:

Hotmail: The 2007 Microsoft Whitepaper "Sender ID Framework: Protecting Brands and Enhancing Detection of Spam, Phishing, and Zero-Day Exploits" explains (among other things) how Hotmail uses Sender ID, one specific type of email authentication. They include a "hypothetical" chart on page 20 showing how Sender ID can add to results from content filtering and other reputation results. The "hypothetical" boils down to, in my opinion, that they don't want to tell you the exact impact any of these measures has on the ability to get mail delivered, but I do believe that this demonstrates that Sender ID is indeed one of the factors used as far as whether or not mail is delivered to the inbox at Hotmail, or if indeed it will be delivered anywhere at all. Hotmail has been known on occasion to discard mail, and also, Hotmail will very clearly decline to assist a sender or email service provider writing in about a delivery issue, if the from domain in use in the problematic sends lacks a Sender ID record.

Consider all of this, and I think you would agree with me: I very strongly believe that authentication has a significant, non-zero impact on the ability to deliver mail to the inbox of Hotmail users. Is it the only measure they use? No, not by a long shot. Does it mean you can send spam, as long as you authenticate? No, and that instance, you can hypothesize (based on the chart on page 20 of the whitepaper) that whatever modest positive reputational boost you may receive from authentication is going to be overwhelmed by the much stronger negative reputational hit you'll take due to other factors, such as high numbers of invalid users, spamtrap hits, and spam complaints. In other words, email authentication + spam = you get blocked.

Yahoo: If you're a list-based sender (like an ESP, ESP client, or self-sender managing your own marketing lists), it is necessary to authenticate your mail with DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) if you wish to participate in the Yahoo Feedback Loop (FBL). Feedback loop participation is important, and does have a significant, if indirect, connection to your sending reputation. Senders who don't participate in an ISP's feedback loop tend to have higher complaints than senders who do, if all other variables are equal. Why? Because if you have an FBL, when somebody complains about your mail, you are told about it. You receive a report back. You're able to unsubscribe the recipient. You're able to compile aggregate data that tells you which list segments are most problematic. Both the ability to unsubscribe those who complain, and the ability to adjust your marketing efforts based on aggregate FBL complaint data, have a positive impact on your ability to deliver email to the inbox successfully.

Maybe that's not why authentication was invented. Maybe that's not even its intended purpose. But as I stand here today, I see a very clear connection between email authentication and improved email deliverability. It's that simple.
Comments (2)

5 Tips for Mobile Coupon Success

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by Joel Book
5 Tips for Mobile Coupon SuccessThinking about using mobile coupons? If you are, here are 5 things you absolutely must know about planning and managing a successful mobile coupon strategy.

1. Make the Offer Relevant to the Consumer. “Opt-in mobile marketing has an enormous potential if done responsibly and is specifically focused on the stores/restaurants that matter to each consumer,” said Alistair Goodman CEO of 1020 Placecast.

A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive of more than 2,000 adults measured cell phone owner preference levels and receptivity for opt-in mobile marketing messages from brick-and-mortar businesses. The study revealed that 51% of cell phone-owning men ages 18-34, and 34% of women in the same age group were interested in receiving opt-in shopping alerts on their cell phones.

The ability to deliver mobile coupons that “personalize offers” to the profile, needs or purchase history of the consumer is a huge advantage for marketers because it drives traffic to stores. But like all things in database marketing, the key is having the right customer data and the right mobile marketing technology to deliver relevant and timely communications.


2. Integrate “Front End” and “Back End” Systems. One of the cardinal sins (and death traps) of any direct marketing campaign is not having your back-end systems and processes in place to properly redeem coupons and capture customer data.

Integrating your “front-end” POS coupon scanning technology with your “back-end” marketing database, CRM, call center, and customer communications software -- such as email -- is an absolute must.

One company on the leading edge of systems integration is Cellfire, a San Jose based mobile couponing service provider. Cellfire has begun matching store loyalty card numbers with mobile phone applications in an effort to solve some of the back- and front-end IT integration problems, according to August Trometer, co creator at Yowza, which provides location-based coupons for the iPhone.

Cellfire’s software application lets customers scan mobile coupons directly from their phones at checkout. The company is currently working with Kroger in Dallas, as well as JCPenney in the Houston area.

Starbucks has also announced that it has begun using Cellfire’s application to test a mobile payment option that lets people buy products by swiping an on-screen barcode that is scanned similar to a plastic Starbucks Card. Sixteen West Coast Starbucks stores are participating in the test.


3. Use Smart POS Technology. Today’s smart phones are wonderful tools for delivering mobile coupons to consumers. But everything can fall apart if your POS technology cannot read the barcode and accept the coupon.

JCPenney has begun testing a new system from Cellfire at Houston area stores that lets customers scan mobile coupons directly from their phones at checkout.

The program, launched in late September at 16 JCPenney locations, is enabled through new imaging scanners installed at registers that can read the "2D" barcode coupons and save sales clerks from having to manually enter promotional codes for coupons.

"These mobile coupons are the ultimate in customer convenience, because there's no need to clip or carry around a printed coupon, and they can be instantly scanned from a cell phone. It's another way we're innovating to enhance the customer's shopping experience," said Mike Boylson, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for JCPenney, in a statement.


4. Use Bar-coded Coupons to Track Customer Purchase Data.  Using bar-coded coupons to capture the identity of the customer making the purchase, the promotional code, and the amount of the transaction is smart marketing. And we are about to see an explosion in the use of bar-coded coupons in the US.

Barcodes save time and eliminate errors in data entry. And for marketers focused on using customer purchase data to model customer product preferences and predict future product interests, bar coded coupons provide an ideal method for capturing the data needed for predictive modeling and offer targeting.

The key to using bar-coded mobile coupons is to use standard, familiar SMS, MMS and WAP technologies to deliver a scanable bar-coded message to consumers’ mobile phones.

Water Wheel Car Wash in California, uses mobile coupon technology from OzNet Systems, is to provide mobile coupons for their customers. The company sends bar-coded coupons to their customer’s mobile phones eliminating the need for customers to print out paper coupons therefore reducing waste. To get their mobile coupon, all customers have to do is Text WATERWHEEL to 84045. Customers can choose which product and coupon they desire from any location.

“We are a small business and we have to be conservative about our marketing dollars. As a small business you always have to be looking for something different,” says second generation Water Wheel Car Wash Owner, Alex Naber.

Users of the system can also pull an electronic report showing exactly how effective their marketing campaign has been.


5. Use Mobile Email Rendering Software. According to Len Shneyder of Pivotal Veracity, "The mobile smart phone market is evolving at a rapid tempo. Because the cost of smart phones, the most robust and powerful of the mobile market, is falling almost as quickly as the companies are innovating, the rate of adoption is skyrocketing. More powerful handsets mean more people accessing email on their mobile devices. More varied devices means there are more challenges for email marketers than ever to getting email to render correctly. "

For mobile coupon campaigns to be successful, you must have the right software to ensure your coupon offer and barcode appear the same regardless of whether the consumer is receiving the mobile coupon on smart phones from Blackberry, iPhone, or Palm.

What should you do? Check out eDesign Optimizer and the Design Guide from Pivotal Veracity. These design tools and guidelines will enable you to verify that your links and images work, validate your code, and visually ensure that your mobile email and coupons appear the same regardless of the mobile phone your customer uses.

The Takeaway

Jordan Cohen from Pivotal Veracity says it best, "What we are witnessing in the mobile space is unprecedented. Having the web in the palm of your hand is in demand like no other technology in human history, and it is fueling the biggest revolution in computing in at least 15 years. I've said it before, and now will say it again: The time to adopt a mobile email marketing strategy is now. Blink one or two more times and your competitors might just leave you in the dust."

Comments (2)

Design Tip of the Week: Email Rendering in Yahoo!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Tana Babcock

Continuing with our Email Rendering series, let’s take a quick look at a few quirks that Yahoo! is known for. Much like Gmail, Yahoo provides two web based clients, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Classic Mail. To change versions of Yahoo!, select from the “Options” drop down on the far right side of the screen.  

Below are some great tips to consider when building your email campaign in order to create the best experience possible for Yahoo! subscribers.



Image Blocking - Alt Tags
Images are blocked by default in Yahoo!. However, Yahoo! does display stylized “alt” tags, so add those to your design when it makes sense to help create brand synergy.
 You can always edit this image-blocking feature in your Mail Options. There are a few choices, “Always show images…”, “Show images only from my contacts”, or “Initially block images”. Personally, I have them turned on by default – but many of your subscribers may not, or may not even know they can edit this feature.

While no Email Service Provider can enable your images to display in an email client that blocks display, services such as Goodmail or CertifiedEmail™ allow email marketers to pay a per-message fee to deliver emails with “images on” to AOL, BT and Yahoo!.

Avoid Paragraph Tags

Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Mail Classic do not support the use of HTML paragraph tags <p>. Paragraph tags are used primarily to create space between sections of text. If two sections of text are each contained within paragraph tags the space that normally appear between the paragraphs will not be seen. In order to avoid this, break tags <br> can be used. Two break tags in a row will create the same amount of space between text sections as a paragraph tag.  

Make sure to keep checking back for more useful rendering tips regarding other major email clients!

Related Posts:
Design Tip of the Week: Email Rendering in Gmail
Design Tip of the Week: Email Rendering in Outlook 2007
Design Tip of the Week: Email Rendering in Hotmail

Comments (2)

The Success of Behavioral Targeting: Earning Consumer Trust

Friday, October 9, 2009 by Caitilin Landrigan

A recent study performed by the Annenberg School for Communication, University of California Berkeley School of Law, and the Annenberg Public Policy Center reports that Americans believe marketers should not advertise to them based on preferences and behavioral data…But why?  In a marketplace of abundant information and almost innumerable and varied products, why don’t consumers desire some assistance to narrow down their selection?  Why don’t people appreciate that marketers want to provide them with relevant advertising?  If I am going to see advertisements on a website…and there is no question that I will…I would much rather see advertisements that pertain to my interests.  Wouldn’t you? 

The Annenberg/Berkeley study reports that 66% of Americans do not want to see website ads that are tailored to their interests.  This sounds discouraging, but I believe the information provided by this study offers valuable insight for marketers seeking to capitalize on relevant, 1 to 1 marketing efforts.  This study’s stats highlight consumers’ desire for control and trust—observations that can inform behavioral web and email marketing strategy.

Advertising preference is not the only metric this study provides, as eMarketer’s article “Behavioral Targeting Misses Mark” points-out.  There are several other, seemingly contradictory metrics this study reports that can help us solve this puzzle.  For example, close to 50% of Americans would like websites to give them discounts specific to their interests.  Hmmm…So you don’t want to see the ads, but you do want the coupons presented in those ads?  Puzzling…let’s dig deeper. 


eMarketer highlights another Annenberg/Berkeley metric: 67% of all Americans feel that they have “lost control over how their personal information is collected and used by companies,” and at the same time 54% of Americans believe that “existing laws and organizational practices provide a reasonable level of protection for consumer privacy.” 

This issue is one of trust, not necessarily the failure of behavioral marketing.  Consumers like discounts, but people feel as if they have lost control over their personal information, and no one likes to feel like they have lost control. As a Catapult at ExactTarget, I spent two days in Chicago with fellow Catapults, interviewing people on their marketing preferences. Overwhelmingly, people expressed that they felt their personal information was abused by spammers and companies they had no relationship with.  Yes, there are “reasonable” laws regarding consumer privacy, but consumers ask, “Why do I get so much spam?!”  “How did they get my email address?  My phone number?” 

When asked how they felt about tracking on “websites in general,” people stated that they felt behavioral tracking was creepy and “Big Brother-like.”  On the flipside, when given a concrete example, like Amazon.com’s personalized product recommendations that appear when browsing the website, interviewees’ tone changed: “Yes, I find that helpful, but they don’t send me a million emails after I buy something and pester me all the time. And, I have a relationship with them.”

Lesson learned: people want to feel safe, respected, and protected.  Amazon.com is not scary, because they have a trustworthy reputation.  As marketers, we cannot neglect that relationships are the foundation for business.  Leverage your landing pages, emails, voicemails, and SMS organically to build trust with clients, at point of sale, for example.  In your emails, provide a reminder of how clients signed-up.  Provide a link in your emails to a page on your website that explains how you use subscriber information.  Perhaps you should only advertise on trusted websites.  Finally, don’t be abusive: be cognizant of email frequency and content.

I encourage you to check out our whitepapers on building quality lists direct marketing channel preferences. Use our List Growth Advisor for custom recommendations on how to responsibly grow your subscriber lists so that you can leverage subscriber data respectfully and effectively. Behavioral tracking does not have to "miss the mark."

Comments (0)

Marketers Moving More Budget to Email Marketing

Friday, September 25, 2009 by Joel Book
Two recent studies provide compelling evidence that marketers are turning to digital marketing – and specifically email marketing – to improve marketing effectiveness.

According to the “2009 ANA/MMA Marketing Accountability Survey” from the Association of National Advertisers and Marketing Management Analytics, “The No. 1 strategy for marketers who wanted to improve effectiveness without spending more, according to the June 2009 poll, was shifting from traditional to digital media. More than one-half of respondents also reported shifting spending away from brand-building initiatives, and 38% were putting more spending into lower-cost media.”

Tactics Used by US Marketers to Improve Marketing Effectiveness

Change in Marketing Spending for Select Media in 2009

And as more marketers shift to digital media, the tactic that is seeing the largest increase in spending is email.

According to the “2009 Media Survey Results & Analysis” study conducted by Round2, “40% of US Marketers reported that they had increased spending on email marketing in 2009.

What This Means for Marketers

Increased dependency on email marketing means three things:

1. Email is no longer optional. It has firmly established itself as the #1 tactic for 1to1 marketing. And email has become the “go to” tactic for word-of-mouth marketing as brands empower email subscribers to “share” email messages and offers with their friends on Facebook, their followers on Twitter, and their connections on LinkedIn.

2. Email marketing will become more sophisticated as marketers move aggressively to integrate email with other tactics and technologies – like CRM, SMS, POS, Websites, and Social Networks -- that are used to keep customers connected to the brand. The cornerstones of effective email marketing will be Integration, Automation and Optimization.

3. ESP (Email Service Provider) selection will become a more strategic decision. Marketers must evaluate and select an ESP by their ability to provide “industrial strength” application functionality plus consulting services including 1to1 marketing strategy, email and landing page design, email deliverability, and application integration.
Comments (0)

What do you mean my tracking is phishing?

Monday, September 14, 2009 by Karen Balle

Click tracking.  We all do it.  It's a best email practice.  We all want to see who is following our links, what draws our subscribers in.  Was this targeted email marketing campaign effective?  What was the most interesting part of the email?  Where are my readers engaged?  Was this email campaign better targeted than last week's? 

But how you do it makes a huge difference with spam and virus filters.  What do I mean?  I'll tell you a secret.  Phishers and spammers like to use IP addresses and URIs of popular websites in the text of their emails and then put in HTML that makes it look like the recipient is clicking on http://www.bank.com.  But you don't do that, right?  What you might do is use http://www.partnercompany.com or even http://www.yourbusinesssite.com in the email that you're sending out through your favorite ESP, ExactTarget.

That's a no-no.  Definitely not an email deliverability best practice.  Why not?  Because you want us to track email clicks in those targeted emails.  You have a domain set aside just for us and that's the domain that we use for your email campaigns.  Your subscribers see http://www.yourbusinesssite.com, but they click on a link to http://email-yourbusinesssite.com. 

And that, my friends, looks like you're trying to be tricksy.
"So what do we do, email guru?" you cry in despair.  Let me give you a little email design tip that will make a huge difference with filters like Postini and MessageLabs (both of which are used frequently in B2B email), or email providers like Gmail and Hotmail. 

Use your words.  Wow your targeted opt-in audience with your awesome descriptive powers. 

What's more appealing to you anyway?  I know which one I'd click on.

Look how we've grown! or http://www.exacttarget.co.uk/
Come party with us! or http://www.connections09.com
Comments (0)

Email is Still Communication King, but Social Media is No Jester

Thursday, September 3, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

 

In 2003, with the introduction of MySpace, the way we communicate with one another drastically changed. 

 

Last year, MarketingSherpa ran a survey to help it better understand society’s perception of social media regarding its role in marketing communications. What did these marketing experts discover, you ask?  They found that 97 percent of respondents use social media platforms, like MySpace, Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook as complimentary marketing mediums to the current communication king – email. 
 


 

So why are email service providers like ExactTarget not threatened with the rise in social media usage?  The answer is simple.  Email, as a means of communication, allows social networking sites to send relevant information to its users.  Social media enterprises have realized the convenience and effectiveness of email – hence the reason you receive an automated email when someone posts on you Facebook wall or sends you a Linkedin connection request.  Essentially, your personal email account funnels all activity that occurs throughout your numerous social media accounts into one location.  For this reason, email isn't going anywhere – at least anytime soon.

So where does ExactTarget fit in this picture?  We fully understand the importance of social media and its ability to expand the reach of your email marketing campaign.  For example, another resource that should be added to your marketing arsenal, as a means of facilitating subscriber list growth, is the social forward feature. 

In the past few years social media has emerged as an effective tool in the marketing world, however, we agree with the 97 percent that still find email is the primary means of marketing communication.

Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed.  – Irene Peter
 


Comments (0)

Truly a One-to-One Marketing Company, Not Just an Email Service Provider

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by Kyle Schroeder

As I am looking back over the 14 weeks that I have been here this summer, one of the biggest things that has hit me is that ExactTarget is not just an email marketing company. They are not just an email service provider. They are truly a one to one marketing company that has a full line of products to help increase the marketing ROI for a company.

Yes, we do email. We actually send some of the most intelligent and customer-driven email through our dynamic content capabilities.

But what else is in our product line?

SMS: We have the ability to develop and execute powerful SMS text message campaigns to engage customers on the spot.

Voice: We have a product that can send targeted and specific messages to consumers by telephone. Adding this personal touch moves a company way beyond simple TV advertisements.

Landing Pages: These microsites enable users of ExactTarget’s already powerful email software platform the chance to call customers to action through a targeted website, designed specifically for the particular action.

When a company uses all four of these tools together, they have the ability to become a very sophisticated marketer that engages consumers in a relevant way.

Kyle Schroeder
Slingshot Summer Intern

Comments (0)

Email Marketing Software Integration Tool: Embedded

Friday, August 21, 2009 by Kyle Schroeder

One question I find that comes up all the time is: what is embedded?

ExactTarget Embedded PartnerTo begin to answer that question, you have to first know what ExactTarget’s software does. ExactTarget is not simply an email service provider, but a One-to-One Marketing software that services permission based email marketing, SMS marketing, and voice campaigns for companies throughout the world.

So what is embedded?

In the simplest form, ExactTarget Embedded is a product integration of the power of ExactTarget’s one-to-one marketing software with an external application. Companies then build their own tools and software on top of the platform ET has created.

Both independent software vendors (ISV) and web-based applications are prime candidates for embedding this platform into their list of tools.

Let’s say I sell a CRM tool and want an email component as well, ExactTarget can be embedded into that software and is then powered by ExactTarget.

If I am an eCommerce site that offers web-based services and want to offer email marketing in my product mix, then ExactTarget can be embedded into the platform I am already using.

In both of these examples, the end customer never knows that they are using ExactTarget because the company provides its own look and user interface on top of the ExactTarget software.

Kyle Schroeder

Comments (0)

Email + Social Media: The Future of B-to-B Marketing?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 by Joel Book

At the recent ANA/BtoB Magazine conference in Chicago, Paul Dunay, Global Managing Director for services marketing at Avaya, and Jason Ferrara, VP Corporate Marketing at CareerBuilder.com presented a terrific session titled "How B-to-B Marketers Are Using New Media," in which they discussed how they have increased spending on new media, especially in the past year. 

"We do search, email marketing and social media. That's the holy trinity of online marketing," said Dunay.  He also noted that – with no new money in the marketing budget – he has paid for his new media efforts by decreasing spending on print, TV, radio and other traditional media. Ferrara has done the same at CareerBuilder.com

Avaya and CareerBuilder.com are not alone in embracing new media. According to a recent survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers and BtoB Magazine, 20% of b-to-b marketers used social media in 2007. This year, 66% of b-to-b marketers are using social media.

My Take

I think it’s becoming more and more clear that email + social media is an effective strategy for business development. And there are three reasons:

1. Attracting Email Subscribers. One of the biggest benefits to social media is the ability to attract new email subscribers. Brands that provide a compelling reason for members of social networking sites to subscribe to their email communications are finding that these sites are an ideal venue for list growth. And as these people become new email subscribers and use Social Forward to share email content with those in their online social networks, they become powerful influencers.

2. Professional Networking. With more than 45 million users representing 150 industries around the world, LinkedIn is the biggest networking watering hole for business professionals. It’s just as effective for attracting talent as it is for generating referrals and product recommendations. But be on the lookout for WSJ Connect from The Wall Street Journal, a new networking site that’s in the works. It will also be aimed at professionals and its being billed as the “LinkedIn killer.”

3. Lead Generation.  Social networking sites provide a natural gathering location for people who are passionate about a particular brand or interest. Engaging these individuals with offers that are relevant is proving to be smart business. An excellent study from OneUpWeb shows that ads on social networking sites work. As the report states in its summary, “Repeated exposure through the synergy of sponsored ads and search results increases familiarity with the brand. This is vital for generating sales both online and offline.” And once these leads are generated, email provides the most effective tactic for lead nurturing and aiding the buyer’s decision-making process.

Comments (0)

Will Email Security Learn From SSL Certificates?

Thursday, July 16, 2009 by Kevin Nuest
In Al Iverson’s blog post, Gmail: Authentication icon for verified sender he talks about the new “Super-Trustworthy” icon that can be turned on in Gmail. Right now it only appears beside legitimate emails from Paypal and eBay.

This made me begin to wonder if email clients like Gmail and Yahoo would take a page out of the SSL certificate industry’s playbook. If you go to any of these sites you will notice when you click on “Login” that the address bar in the browser changes. Not only does it go to the https site, but the address bar also appears green with the company’s name and logo in it. Companies pay good money to provide this piece of mind to their customers.




What does the future hold for email deliverability? Will the Googles and Yahoos of the world start charging each company if they want to be put on the whitelist to ensure commercial email is delivered? With many email providers out there, it could get very costly and confusing if you had to work with each one individually to make sure your 1 to 1 Marketing campaign was a success.

Regardless of what the future holds, having a strong Email Service Provider will help alleviate many headaches. To learn more about working closely with you ESP to improve deliverability, check out another great post by Al Iverson, You Control Your Deliverability Reputation, but Your ESP is Critical to Ongoing Success.

Comments (0)

You Control Your Deliverability Reputation, but Your ESP is Critical to Ongoing Success

Thursday, July 16, 2009 by Al Iverson
Over on Email Insider, George Bilbrey of ReturnPath provides some very good advice on how senders are ultimately in control of their own ability to enjoy deliverability success. He writes, "From time to time we run into marketers who think that they have deliverability covered because they have signed up with an Email Service Provider (ESP). You've probably even seen some ESPs that are promoting their very high delivery rates. This is confusing and misleading, because the ESP fully controls only one of the five major drivers of deliverability failures."

Though there is a caveat or two, this is actually very solid advice. So much of deliverability is driven by your list hygiene and send practices. But, I do believe that an ESP brings a lot to the table; empowering you to get as much of your mail delivered as possible. ExactTarget is actually pretty darn good at doing this, if I do say so myself. George explained five different things that impact your deliverability, and explained that only one of them is controlled by the ESP.

True, but simplistic. What about proactive block and bounce monitoring? Customizable blacklist alerts. Specialized reporting to review and monitor your sending reputation. Active deliverability and strategy consultation. The Big Rolodex of every ISP we've ever dealt with. Active multi-client experience, helping you understand if the deliverability issue you're facing today is really aimed at you, or if you're only in the cross hairs accidentally due to an ISP issue.

We help you translate all of this crazy data and these complex issues into plain English terms that can be easily understood so that clients can apply our best practice guidance to their day-to-day email marketing campaigns.

On the flip side of that, there's a secret that ESPs rarely reveal: ESPs are very bad at getting bad mail delivered. If you're a spammer, ISPs want to block you. No amount of "ISP Relationship Management" on the part of ExactTarget or some other ESP is going to prevent that. What we do instead, is teach you how not to be a spammer. The ExactTarget application does some of the work there; it sets you on the right track to process bounces, feedback loops, authenticate mail, and so on. But none of these things can overcome a deliverability issue caused by poor permission practices.

In that way, George is absolutely right. People are very much mistaken if they think that they are all set just because they happen to be working with an ESP. You can't discount the fact that high complaint rates, bounce rates, spamtrap hits, and content issues all play a role in your deliverability. Get these things wrong and your deliverability is sure to suffer. To that end, these are things that we help ExactTarget clients address every day, but George is right: these are all data points that refer to what is being sent and whom it is being sent to, not which ESP platform it is being sent from.

The moral of the story? I think we're both right. What do you think?

Comments (2)