One of the many challenge of online marketing in this age is to communicate effectively with your customers without getting your business tagged with the word spammer.
At Mediumcbe, we take spam seriously. So we’ve compiled a list of items every business broadcasting newsletters or mass email to clients should keep in mind:
- High delivery failure is the number one reason legitimate mailing lists become spam lists. Make sure you have a script or process that will remove failed emails addresses from your mailing list. If not possible, then send out an email every 3-6 months requesting your clients to re-subscribe. This should keep your mailing list clean, and keep your site away from trouble. Many of the larger mail providers reject emails based on the number of failed delivery attempts. For example, If your list contains 10,000 users and 500 of these fail with mostly @yahoo.com addresses, there is good chance Yahoo will either block your emails, delay it or consider it Bulk Email.
- Provide easy removal option. What is worse than a failed address ? It is someone upset they’ve received your email and have no way to remove themselves! Irritated mail users annoyed by spam problems can actually begin sending complaints to your web host, their ISP and others about your mailing list. This may result in your domain or IP address being black listed. The solution is very simple, place a simple and clear removal link at the top and bottom of your email. Once the person click the link, they are taken to a confirmation page “Please click Yes to confirm your removal from our mailing list”. I’ve seen many mailing list require you to login and go through multiple menus to unsubscribe. Keep It Simple Stupid! You don’t want to market to people who don’t want to listen to you.
- This is usually the first step in any mailing list. Make sure your mailing list is VERIFIED. Either single or double opt-in. It is preferred to have double opt-in list because they indicate more than anything else that the user is interested in what you are sending them.
Single Opt-in : When a user is subscribed by simply entering their email address at your website
Double Opt-in: The user must enter their email address at your website, and then confirm an email subscription message
- Lastly, choose a mailer software that complies with general email RFCs. always lower the rate at which emails are sent out for two reasons. First, it will reduce the load on your outgoing mail server. Second, many ISPs use mail filters that block a mailer IP address temporarily if it attempted to send x number of recipients within x period of time. Also, it is important the mailer software can handle email bounces, subscription and removal.
If you are a commercial marketer and guaranteed email delivery is important to you. It will be wise to invest in GoodMail System from http://www.goodmailsystems.com/ . Mediumcube can work with you to ensure your e-Marketing Campaign is a success.
Mediumcube offers a great Mailing list solution called MailMan. It is designed for high volume mailing list and has extensive features suitable for variety of email broadcasting.