Campaign optimization

DESCRIPTION

Below are suggestions from our Deliverability team for optimizing your email marketing program to enhance overall deliverability and reputation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Opt-in/Welcome Messages

• Detailed opt-in/subscribe forms that let the user know exactly what they’re signing up for
• Send a welcome message to the user. This not only verifies the opt-in but it also gives them once last chance to opt-out. It also confirms the e-mail address is valid
• Offer recipients preference center that easily allows them to opt-out or opt-down (selecting only certain types of messages or reduced frequency).
• In subscribe forms, do not use pre-checked boxes

2. Subscriber Maintenance

• Promptly change the status of undeliverable addresses especially if it’s being rejected by the server stating it’s not a valid address
• Have feedback loops set up. When a campaign is reported as spam by a recipient, the e-mail client notifies our server and the member is immediately changed to an unsubscribed status
• Keep in mind that old email addresses tend to go bad and also remember that people’s interests change over time

3. Email Content

• Create email designs with balanced images and text. The use of one large image in your campaign is a great example of what not to do.
• Be careful of the links that you include in your design. Make sure they are valid links that take the recipient to a legitimate website
• Include a clear Call to Action in the message
• Include the ability to unsubscribe from the mailing and make it extremely visible
• Clean HTML code
• If you’re using a hyperlink, don’t use the URL for the text of the link. Use something like “click here.” This is what will appear when you hover your mouse over the link
• Make sure design sent reflects what the subscriber signed up to receive

4. Campaigns

• Include a subject line that lets the recipient know exactly what the campaign entails
• Make sure your from line represents the company name

5. Authentication

• SPF – Stands for Sender Policy Framework. Publishing an SPF record tells the receiving server that the sending server has permission to send on behalf of your domain.
• DKIM is also another available form of authentication. It stands for DomainKeys Identified Mail. This is a digital signature included in all mailing headers that tells the receiving server that the sending server is authorized and that the original message has not been altered.