4 Steps to Better E-mail Deliverability

By Charles Stiles, VP Worldwide Marketing, Goodmail Systems

December 5, 2008 - eMarketing and Commerce

In my live chat from the Nov. 13 All About eMail Virtual Conference & Expo presented by eM+C, I answered questions from listeners about e-mail deliverability. Here are some of the e-mail deliverability best practices that I shared with the audience.

With an estimated 80 percent of all Americans using e-mail, it's become the medium of choice for marketers. To be effective, however, e-mail marketing messages must get delivered. Delivery of e-mail requires a basic understanding of deliverability technologies, as well as the deployment of industry best practices that ensure marketers operate within the acceptable parameters of mailbox operators.

E-mail marketing success, however, goes beyond just technology and deliverability. Response is what matters most in an e-mail campaign. There are four critical things to keep in mind to be effective at driving response: relevancy, frequency, value and respect.
Relevancy. Consumers face limitless sources of information. Making sure the information you plan to share is relevant is key to keeping recipients engaged. If you're not providing meaningful and relevant information, your messages are simply falling on deaf ears. Make sure consumers know what you'll be sending them at the point of sign-up.

Frequency. How often you send e-mail is important to consumers and may be dependent on the type of content you send. The key here is to make sure the consumer knows how often you'll be mailing. Then stick to your schedule! If you offer daily deals, sending a monthly newsletter isn't appropriate. But sending too many messages can bombard consumers and clutter their inboxes, making your messages less valuable.
Value. Beyond relevancy, you have to consider value. If you don't offer consumers value in your messaging, they become less apt to remain engaged. The value might be special deals, excellent information or just engaging content, but consumers must find your message valuable to get the response you're looking for.

Respect. This last item is the most important, yet the one that's most often overlooked. Marketers don't have a right to message who they want. Consumers maintain that authority — and as a marketer who plans to communicate via e-mail, you need to recognize your audience. Senders often have the misconception that they're entitled to send e-mail to consumers because they're within legal bounds. Consumers, on the other hand, expect to be given what they were told they would get, at the frequency they were told it would come. They expect to receive messages when they sign up and stop receiving them when they unsubscribe. Value your customers, respect their wishes and recognize that you're competing for a moment of their time. Don't ever expect that consumers want to hear your message just because you have one to give.
These factors, combined with following technological best practices, allow you to maintain high deliverability. Snafus will happen; when they do, follow these practices to show mailbox providers that you're on the side of the consumer.

Charles Stiles is the vice president of worldwide business development at secure e-mail provider Goodmail Systems