According to Google's Security Network, Postini, 94% of all email sent through servers is considered spam and there are roughly 250 billion messages sent daily throughout the world! It's no wonder that large ISPs are taking the approach that mass mail senders are guilty until proven innocent.
Lasso works diligently to ensure that we have the functionality and tools required for our clients to create and deliver successful email marketing campaigns. In addition to the services Lasso provides to improve deliverability (e.g. domain authentication, email throttling, hard bounce suppression, etc.), last fall we reached out to each of the major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to begin participation in their Complaint Feedback Loop programs. We have signed up with the following ISPs: AOL, Comcast, Hotmail, and Yahoo.
What is a Complaint Feedback Loop?When a user receives an email that in their opinion is either unsolicited or unnecessary, they have the option of hitting the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of that email or hitting the Junk/Spam button provided by their ISP in their email application. For years, end users have been told not to trust email unsubscribe links, so many users hit the Junk/Spam button as a way of unsubscribing. Once the user hits the Junk/Spam button, information is relayed back to the ISP, who will then forward that email details to Lasso. These returned emails are referred to as complaints.
Once Lasso receives these complaint emails, we then Opt-Out the Registrant from the project from which they received the mass mail. Since October of 2008, we have manually Opted-Out over 18,000 Registrants across all of our clients' projects. Based on the overall volume of email sent, this number is actually fairly small as a percentage but many of the ISPs have a very low tolerance level when it comes to complaints. For example, AOL has an enhanced white list that has strict restrictions. Senders must keep complaints very low, as low as one complaint per 3,000 recipients and they must maintain this rate, without exception for a period of 30 days. To remain listed, senders must maintain this rate. If they exceed it only once, they are off the list and will not be added back until they have once again remained below the threshold for at least 30 days. Senders can not apply to be on this list.
Starting this month, Lasso has automated the process and updates are provided in each of the Registrants' History and in the Audit Logs.
What are the advantages of the Complaint Feedback Loop?- ISP - by providing this feedback to Lasso, they are assured that Lasso will Opt-Out the user and therefore their user will no longer be receiving unwanted emails from that project. Therefore, over time, they improve their end-user satisfaction levels and reduce the number of unsolicited emails.
- Lasso Clients - by reducing the number of Complaints over time, we improve the overall deliverability for all of our clients' mass mails.
Here are some results that you might find of interest:
As you can see from the results in October of last year, we've made significant progress in reducing the number of spam complaints with AOL, Comcast, and Yahoo.
Although we've not seen an appreciable improvement with Hotmail, we can however show that we've seen significant improvement in email being delivered to Hotmail users' inboxes. Hotmail provides an additional level of insight via their Smart Data Network Services web-based application, which provides a daily report on Lasso's deliverability. This daily report lists the number of emails sent, the percentage of complaints, and the number of trap hits. They also, provide a ‘scoring' system that is based on a color coded system incorporating three colors: red, yellow, and green, where the emails sent on that day from that IP address:
 | - RED - the emails are being delivered to the end-users' Junk box.
- YELLOW - the emails are either delivered to the end-users' Junk box or their Inbox (depends on the mailing history).
- GREEN - the emails are being delivered to the end-users' Inbox.
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Lasso recently introduced a second IP address from which to send mass mail. We did this to help improve deliverability. The two IP addresses are:
- Primary IP Address - this is the bulk of our clients' projects and is used specifically for those projects that have domain authentication in place.
- Secondary IP Address - this a limited subset of our clients' projects that are not domain authenticated and/or for those client's that are not following email best practices.
We're quite pleased to show you the following results for our Primary IP Address:
We only activated the Secondary IP Address last month, and not surprisingly the results are 100% red. The results for our Primary IP Address are showing tremendous improvement, and we hope to continue improving over the next few months.
Improving email deliverability may mean that you're not sending to the same huge, dated list from five years ago, but you will find better overall results and a happier, more engaged prospect when you send to those who are truly interested in learning more about your new home projects.
A few weeks ago, I posted a blog article about the importance of Domain Authentication. To-date this has been one of the most popular blog articles on our site. As much as I'd like to take credit for this, it's likely because email marketing is a pretty important component to a real estate sales & marketing strategy these days. It's not only inexpensive -- it's relatively easy and it can reach a large uniquely targeted audience quickly.
Making sure your domain is authenticated is definitely the first step to improving deliverability. But what else can you do?
There are several ways to improve deliverability to the inbox. First of all, let's talk about what the internet service providers (ISP's) do with your email. Think of them as body guards for your email recipients. They will do one of three things:
- Throw you aside - delete this email and not deliver it to the email address.
- Allow you through but search you first and possibly flag you as a troublemaker - deliver the email to the account, but mark it as spam and send it straight to the recipient's junk folder.
- Welcome you in - deliver the email straight to the inbox.
Obviously, we'd all like the third option! The reality is that it's not our decision and it can be pretty tough to get through that 250 pound guard at the door, especially considering that for some of the major ISPs, 95% of the email sent is considered junk! As a result, they have every right to be cautious. It's therefore important to play by the ISPs' rules.
Here are a few things you can do to improve your relationship with the ISPs and increase deliverability:
- Keep your lists clean - I'm sure we sound a bit like a broken record but it's important. What does this mean? Don't keep sending email after email to the same people who never open your email. Not only is this pointless, many ISPs will shut the door on you and none of the email will get through . . . even the ones who want to receive your email. ISPs are monitoring whether emails get opened or if there's activity within accounts. If you keep sending to an email address that is non-active, the ISP is going to assume you are junk and block all your email. Sounds drastic but when you consider the millions and millions of spam email that is blocked each day by ISPs, it's no wonder they consider you guilty until proven innocent!
- Watch for spam-type words - although this doesn't come into play as much in a business to consumer environment, choose your words carefully. We have had a client who used the words "mortgage rates" in their email and this was the root cause of the email going into some junk folders. Choosing your words carefully is important especially when you're sending to corporate email accounts like brokers. While you're at it, make sure that you have titles on images, and try to avoid using a lot of different fonts and colours and large text. A SUBJECT LINE ALL IN UPPER CASE LETTERS WON'T NECESSARILY GET MORE ATTENTION . . . and it can trigger going to junk. Test your email by sending it to yourself using different email accounts.
- Email Frequency - this is a tough one. Sometimes it may be okay to send email on a daily basis but most of the time it's not. In fact, often weekly is too often. When someone signs up to receive information from you, let them know at the same time how often they are going to receive emails. If you're sending too frequently they will either opt-out of email or worse, they will mark the email as spam and the ISPs may not allow you back in. The flip side to all this is don't go too long without sending an email. Your registrants could forget who you are and it's a common fact that email addresses change. Always be consistent with the "from" address - let the recipients become familiar with the sender and be able to identify your email easily.
Email Marketing can be really effective but it does take some work and creativity. You can't just keep sending to see what sticks. It takes work managing your lists and really developing a strategy, but the return on investment is extraordinary. It's important to work with and understand the ISPs, they are the ones who will determine which mail gets delivered. For more information refer to the following white paper on email deliverability.
Regardless of how many hours you spend on getting the copy just right and the care you put into your creative, it will all be wasted if your emails are not delivered.
Authenticating that an email was sent from a valid source has become the first step Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use in filtering spam. ISPs use authentication to verify the claimed domain name in the emails they receive.
Many sources will cite that on average 95% of email being sent to the major ISPs (Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail, etc) is spam. That means only 5% of email is considered legitimate! Because of the staggering volume of email being sent daily to these ISPs, they will treat you as "guilty until proven innocent". You need to work thoroughly and with diligence to prove that you are a legitimate sender. Domain Authentication is one of the first steps.
Before you send a mass mail using Lasso's email marketing functionality, check to make sure that your web developer or someone from your company has gone through the authentication process with Lasso Client Support (support@mylasso.com). Completing this step, means that Lasso has been approved to send emails on your behalf.
Authentication legitimizes email senders. It is the effort to equip messages of the email transport system with enough verifiable information that recipients can recognize the nature of each incoming message automatically; and it is the means for ISPs to establish the true identity of an email sender.
Lasso has incorporated performance and optimization technology which provides authentication that assists our clients with improved email deliverability.
There are a number of ways ISPs authenticate a sender's domain name:
- Sender Policy Framework (SPF): An authentication standard that specifies what IP addresses can send mail for a given domain.
- SenderID: An authentication standard that goes slightly beyond SPF by looking at the headers of the message to determine the PRA, or purported responsible address.
- DomainKeys: The most comprehensive authentication standard that signs each outgoing message with an encrypted key.
Click on image to see larger version
In addition to authentication, you must also have a solid sender reputation. I like this analogy that was brought up at the Authentication and Online Trust Alliance Summit in Boston 2007. "Think of authentication as your driver's license and reputation as your driver's record." The ISP may know who you are, but if your driving record stinks because of arrests or fines, the delivery cops won't allow your e-mail into the inbox.
Domain Authentication at one point was just an email marketing "best practice"; it now has become a mandatory measure to improve your email deliverability.
The diagram above shows the journey a marketing email travels to either get into the intended inbox, or find itself filtered into Junk Mail, or bounced back by the ISP.
Prove your innocence and get authenticated!