| Ensuring requested opt-in email is delivered | | | | URL appear in your newsletter could cause the |
| to subscriber inboxes is an increasingly | | | | entire message to be filtered. |
| difficult battle in the age of spam | | | | |
| filtering. Open and click thru response rates | | | | Words/phrases: |
| can be dramatically affected by as much as | | | | |
| 20-30% due to incorrect spam filter | | | | Choose your language carefully when crafting |
| classification. | | | | messages. Avoid hot button topics often found |
| | | | in spam such as medication, mortgages, making |
| Permission | | | | money, and pornography. If you do need to use |
| | | | words that might be filtered, don't attempt |
| Confirming that the people who ask for your | | | | to obfuscate words with extra characters or |
| information have actually requested to be on | | | | odd spelling, you'll just make your messages |
| your list is the number one step in the | | | | appear more spam like. |
| battle for deliverability. You should be | | | | |
| using a process called confirmed opt-in or | | | | Images: |
| verified opt-in to send a unique link to the | | | | |
| attempted subscriber when they request | | | | Avoid creating messages that are entirely |
| information. Before adding the person to your | | | | images. Use images sparingly, if at all. |
| list they must click that unique link | | | | Commonly used open rate tracking technology |
| verifying that they are indeed the same | | | | uses images to calculate opens. You may |
| person that owns the email address and | | | | choose to disable open rate tracking to avoid |
| requested to subscribe. | | | | being filtered based on image content. |
| | | | |
| Subscriber Addresses | | | | Attachments: |
| | | | |
| When requesting website visitors to opt-in | | | | With viruses running rampant and spreading |
| ask for their "real" or "primary" email | | | | thru the usage of malicious email attachments |
| address instead of a free email address like | | | | many users are wary of attached documents. |
| Yahoo or Hotmail. Free emails tend to be | | | | It's often better to link to files via a |
| throw away accounts and typically have a | | | | website URL to reduce recipient fear of |
| shorter lifetime than a primary ISP address. | | | | attachments and reduce the overall message |
| | | | size. |
| List Maintenance | | | | |
| | | | CAN-SPAM Compliance |
| Always promptly remove undeliverable | | | | |
| addresses that bounce when sending email to | | | | The January 2004 Federal CAN-SPAM law |
| them. An address that bounces with a | | | | introduced a number of rules regarding the |
| permanent error 2-3 times in a 30 day period | | | | delivery of email. It's important you have |
| should be removed from the list. ISP's track | | | | your legal counsel review your practices and |
| what percentage of your newsletters bounce | | | | ensure you are in compliance. The two most |
| and will block them if you attempt to | | | | important rules include having a valid postal |
| continually deliver messages to closed | | | | mail address listed in all commercial |
| subscriber mailboxes. | | | | messages and a working unsubscribe link that |
| | | | is promptly honored to remove the subscriber |
| Message Format | | | | from future messages. |
| | | | |
| Usage of HTML messages to allow for text | | | | Reputation |
| formatting, multiple columns, images, and | | | | |
| brand recognition is growing in popularity | | | | Reputation services are often used by large |
| and is widely supported by most email client | | | | ISP's as a way to vet email senders regarding |
| software. Most spam is also HTML formatted | | | | their email practices and policies. |
| and thus differentiating between requested | | | | Businesses listed with these services are |
| email and spam HTML messages can be | | | | then given less stringent filtering or no |
| difficult. A 2004 study by AWeber .com shows | | | | filtering at all. |
| that plain text messages are undeliverable | | | | |
| 1.15% of the time and HTML only messages were | | | | Relationships & Whitelisting |
| undeliverable 2.3%. If sending HTML it is | | | | |
| important to always send a plain text | | | | Contact with major ISP's and email providers |
| alternative message, also called text/HTML | | | | is essential in letting them know about your |
| multi-part mime format. | | | | requested subscriber email. Many large |
| | | | providers such as AOL and Yahoo have specific |
| Content | | | | whitelisting programs and postmaster website |
| | | | areas to ensure your email is delivered as |
| Many ISP's filter based on the content that | | | | long as you meet their policies and |
| appears within the message text. | | | | procedures in handling your opt-in list. |
| | | | |
| Website URL: | | | | Email deliverability is about ensuring |
| | | | requested opt-in email is delivered to the |
| Research potential newsletter advertisers | | | | intended recipient. While no single tip will |
| before allowing them to place ads in your | | | | enable you to get 100% of your email |
| newsletter issues. If they have used their | | | | delivered each one utilized as a group can go |
| website URL to send spam, just having their | | | | a long way to reaching that goal. |