Steven O'Brien

Best Practices for High Volume Email Senders

Posted by Steven O'Brienon July 24, 2017in Email Delivery & Deliverability, Email List Maintenance, Email Marketing Best Practices, Sender Reputation

If you’re an email marketer who relies on email to generate most, or even all, of your organization’s revenue, chances are you’re sending a very large volume of email each month.

Below are the key best practices that we recommend to our clients. They might seem basic, but don’t be fooled. These practices are the foundation of the most successful high-volume email marketing programs we’ve seen in our 22 year history. Follow them, and you’ll put yourself on the road to generating even more sales and revenue for your organization.

How To Make Sure Your Emails Get Through To The Gmail Primary Tab

Posted by Steven O'Brienon April 27, 2017in Email Delivery & Deliverability, Email Engagement, Email Marketing Best Practices, Email Marketing Content, Email Marketing Testing, Email Marketing Tracking & Reporting, Sender Reputation

Okay, I’m just going to put this out there: the “Gmail issue” – that is, the ever increasing challenge of getting marketing emails to land in the Gmail Primary tab — is super frustrating! There. I said it! And I know I’m not alone on this. However…

Do you know who doesn’t hate the Gmail issue? Gmail, that’s who! And thank goodness for that, because they’ve given us all a reason to pause and consider how we think about our email campaigns, and what our subscribers want to know, receive and read.

That said, from a delivery and compliance perspective, senders can do a lot to ensure they get the best possible results in terms of where they want their mail to land at Gmail.

How to Get an A+ on Your Email Campaigns

Posted by Steven O'Brienon March 23, 2017in Design & Layout, Email Engagement, Email Marketing Best Practices, Email Marketing Content, Email Marketing Testing, Email Marketing Tracking & Reporting, Email Templates, Design & Layout, Marketing Strategy

With a few months’ worth of the new Net Atlantic Executive Summary report under your belt, you may be wondering how you can improve your grade.

We recommend studying and reviewing trends in your list(s) from month to month. Study your subscribers, list growth, sending habits, opens and clicks, and more. The better you understand each element of your email marketing program, the better chance you have of improving your grade.

Of course, studying is only the beginning; you have to apply what you learn. Below, I’ll take you through the main areas of the Executive Summary Report, and provide some tips on how to improve your results in each one.

How To Get Better Results From Your Email Campaigns

Posted by Steven O'Brienon March 23, 2017in Email Marketing Best Practices

One of the most common questions we receive from our customers is: How can I get better results from my email campaigns?

The answer is pretty straightforward. We recommend studying and reviewing trends in your list(s) from month to month. Study your subscribers, list growth, sending habits, opens and clicks, and more. The better you understand each element of your email marketing program, the better chance you have of improving your results.

Of course, studying is only the beginning; you have to apply what you learn. Below, I’ll take you through the areas you’ll want to focus on, and provide some tips on how to improve your results in each one.

Prohibited Content: The Shark in the Email Marketing Waters

Posted by Steven O'Brienon August 4, 2016August 4, 2016in Email Delivery & Deliverability, Email Engagement, Email Marketing Best Practices, Email Marketing Content, Sender Reputation

As you dip your toes into the waters of email marketing, you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that some of your email might contain content that people don’t want to receive. This is what ESP’s refer to as prohibited content. When you send a message with content like this — snap! — you’ll feel the jaws of compliance bite down on your email program!

Stop Me If You Think You’ve Been Mailed by Me Before…

Posted by Steven O'Brienon July 28, 2016in Email List Maintenance, Email Marketing Best Practices, Sender Reputation, Subscription Management

Have you ever received mail from a company or organization, even after you thought you unsubscribed? Are you just having a déjà vu moment, or has there been a “glitch in the matrix”?

When this happens to one of your email recipients, they might think that your organization didn’t honor their unsubscribe request, which can result in your email being marked as spam, or even a direct abuse desk complaint being made against you. Trust me, legitimate direct abuse desk complaints are taken very seriously, and carry a lot of weight.

Are these continued mailings really the result of senders or ESPs not honoring an unsubscribe request? Yes and no! Let me explain…

Hello…Is it my email you’re looking for?

Posted by Steven O'Brienon June 30, 2016July 14, 2016in Email Delivery & Deliverability, Email Engagement, Email List Maintenance, Email Marketing Best Practices, Subscription Management

Lionel Richie asked this question (well sort of) back in the ’80s, with his heartstring-tugging hit song Hello.

And you could ask the same question of your subscribers. You know, the ones who haven’t opened one of your mailings in a while. Or the ones who haven’t engaged with you in a way that shows they’re still interested.

Missing Image? Lancelot Link to the Rescue!

Posted by Steven O'Brienon June 2, 2016in Design & Layout, Email Marketing Best Practices, Email Marketing Content, Email Marketing Testing, Email Templates, Design & Layout

You want to include that beautiful photo you took, or that gorgeous artwork you created, in your latest mailing. Your image is so good, you can’t wait for everyone to see it. But there’s a problem: when your email goes out, all your subscribers see is a blank space where your image was supposed to be, along with this message:

So what happened??

Fear the Walking Dead…DOMAINS

Posted by Steven O'Brienon May 19, 2016in Email Delivery & Deliverability, Email Engagement, Email List Maintenance, Email Marketing Best Practices, Sender Reputation

Addresses from dead domains are like zombies. They exist in your list and look kind of like the real thing (i.e., valid addresses that you can send to). They may have been on your list for a long time, maybe since you started collecting addresses way back when. But, like zombies, they are mere shadows of their former selves.

When compliance folks like me talk about dead domains, we are referring to addresses within a sender’s list that are from domains which are no longer in business, or are no longer providing mail client services. Having addresses from these domains on a mailing list is an indication to any good compliance specialist that the list is in dire need of clean-up, or that the list owner may have purchased addresses. Neither of these scenarios is good for the client’s sender reputation, nor the ESP’s overall reputation.

The Key To Email Marketing Isn’t What You Think

Posted by Steven O'Brienon May 12, 2016in Email Engagement, Email Marketing Best Practices, Marketing Strategy

What’s the most important part of any email marketing program?

CONSISTENCY!

Huh? Wha-? Not what you expected? Well, think about this:

Your subscribers joined your mailing list because they love your products, they’re crazy about your service, and they want to hear what you have to say. Setting expectations around how often your subscribers will hear from you, and then fulfilling those expectations, is the key to keeping them happy and getting the best results from your email marketing efforts.

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