Archive for the ‘Mail’ Category
These are the most common mistakes we see new email marketers make, which result in accidental spam filtering.
- Using spammy phrases, like “Click here!” or “Once in a lifetime opportunity!”
- Going crazy with exclamation points!!!!!!
- USING ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE YELLING IN EMAIL (especially in the subject)
- Coloring their fonts bright red, or green
- Coding sloppy HTML (usually from converting a Microsoft Word file to HTML)
- Creating an HTML email that’s nothing but one big image, with little or no text (since spam filters can’t read images, they assume you’re a spammer that’s trying to trick ‘em).
- Using the word “Test” in the subject line (agencies run into this all the time, when sending drafts to clients for approval)
- Sending a test to multiple recipients within the same company (that company’s email firewall can only assume it’s a spam attack)
- Designing HTML email in Microsoft Word, and exporting the code to HTML (that code is sloppy, and spam filters hate it)
Add us to your address book
Users can not download a vcard with your contact information directly from your email. A new link in the bottom of the email allows users to download the vcard into Outlook. The information from the vcard is taken directly from your profile information so make sure you have entered your information correctly in Beezilla-marketing.
This is one of the most simple and often overlooked tactics for improving email deliverability
When your subscribers add you to their address book, they are essentially telling their ISP that they want to receive email from you, and in some cases it can even get your correspondence to show up with images turned ‘on’ by default and rendering correctly.
| Type of Company | Open Rate |
Click Rate |
Soft Bounces |
Hard Bounces |
Abuse Complaints |
Unsubscribes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accounting | 27.36% | 4.13% | 3.91% | 10.67% | 0.04% | 0.35% |
| Advertising | 23.79% | 4.20% | 2.77% | 6.67% | 0.08% | 0.36% |
| Architecture | 32.05% | 1.52% | 6.16% | 8.04% | 0.00% | 0.25% |
| Art | 26.12% | 6.86% | 2.04% | 4.49% | 0.09% | 0.41% |
| Arts_Music | 16.22% | 2.09% | 0.97% | 1.86% | 0.08% | 0.26% |
| Beauty/Health | 29.88% | 6.94% | 2.63% | 8.54% | 0.15% | 0.85% |
| Church | 32.95% | 4.48% | 1.18% | 2.89% | 0.05% | 0.26% |
| Construction | 23.86% | 4.44% | 2.95% | 5.33% | 0.19% | 0.85% |
| Consulting | 22.34% | 3.30% | 4.29% | 6.57% | 0.03% | 0.29% |
| Creative Agency | 20.97% | 3.12% | 2.69% | 5.16% | 0.06% | 0.38% |
| Creative Other | 29.94% | 0.86% | 1.11% | 0.60% | 0.03% | 0.10% |
| E-commerce | 19.80% | 4.78% | 1.48% | 3.21% | 0.10% | 0.37% |
| Education | 25.86% | 4.72% | 2.11% | 4.39% | 0.05% | 0.26% |
| Entertainment | 15.42% | 3.27% | 1.10% | 5.59% | 0.12% | 0.25% |
| Entertainment/Events | 21.96% | 0.42% | 3.27% | 7.58% | 0.09% | 0.14% |
| Financial Services | 20.87% | 2.47% | 2.76% | 3.98% | 0.06% | 0.33% |
| Food | 36.62% | 7.90% | 0.84% | 2.02% | 0.09% | 0.63% |
| Freelancer | 32.95% | 6.33% | 3.16% | 7.15% | 0.07% | 0.50% |
| Government | 26.64% | 4.30% | 1.33% | 1.95% | 0.03% | 0.22% |
| Graphic Design | 25.35% | 4.34% | 2.49% | 11.71% | 0.12% | 0.41% |
| Hardware | 28.05% | 3.57% | 1.29% | 2.01% | 0.02% | 0.18% |
| Healthcare | 19.91% | 3.99% | 1.47% | 3.81% | 0.12% | 0.50% |
| Healthcare/Medical | 24.66% | 6.96% | 10.47% | 9.00% | 0.23% | 0.41% |
| Hotel | 27.50% | 7.17% | 2.90% | 5.31% | 0.08% | 0.49% |
| Insurance | 24.43% | 2.92% | 2.85% | 5.71% | 0.04% | 0.37% |
| Internet/Web Svc. | 20.34% | 5.65% | 1.46% | 3.18% | 0.06% | 0.27% |
| Janitorial | 27.82% | 0.10% | 10.18% | 16.26% | 0.05% | 0.00% |
| Legal Services | 25.48% | 3.97% | 4.14% | 4.60% | 0.04% | 0.35% |
| Manufacturing | 26.70% | 4.92% | 3.15% | 5.61% | 0.09% | 0.46% |
| Marketing | 20.52% | 2.97% | 3.32% | 8.29% | 0.16% | 0.40% |
| Multimedia | 19.46% | 3.54% | 1.24% | 1.60% | 0.06% | 0.25% |
| Music | 27.94% | 5.17% | 2.05% | 7.73% | 0.12% | 0.39% |
| Non-profit | 27.66% | 4.06% | 2.24% | 4.31% | 0.06% | 0.24% |
| Other | 15.29% | 2.36% | 1.74% | 3.19% | 0.07% | 0.29% |
| Other Groups | 27.66% | 6.83% | 1.72% | 13.16% | 0.08% | 0.34% |
| Other Marketing | 18.49% | 3.66% | 2.39% | 3.15% | 0.04% | 0.21% |
| Photography | 34.17% | 6.82% | 1.73% | 3.59% | 0.07% | 0.36% |
| Public Relations | 20.99% | 3.13% | 4.00% | 8.21% | 0.11% | 0.30% |
| Publishing | 21.05% | 1.60% | 1.11% | 3.22% | 0.03% | 0.18% |
| Real Estate | 22.84% | 4.24% | 2.02% | 4.31% | 0.08% | 0.30% |
| Recruitment/Staffing | 27.59% | 4.61% | 2.82% | 6.49% | 0.07% | 0.74% |
| Restaurant | 26.17% | 3.40% | 1.33% | 3.44% | 0.08% | 0.41% |
| Retail | 27.61% | 5.76% | 1.48% | 2.80% | 0.08% | 0.42% |
| Self-Explanatory | 34.80% | 6.02% | 6.14% | 17.33% | 0.04% | 0.20% |
| Software | 18.22% | 3.26% | 3.00% | 6.01% | 0.08% | 0.43% |
| Technology | 21.05% | 2.75% | 4.01% | 6.60% | 0.07% | 0.40% |
| Telecommunications | 29.77% | 5.46% | 2.98% | 9.35% | 0.10% | 0.53% |
| Travel | 24.97% | 4.96% | 2.17% | 3.74% | 0.10% | 0.39% |
| Video Production | 33.09% | 6.81% | 2.48% | 2.63% | 0.09% | 0.43% |
| Web Design | 27.42% | 6.90% | 2.45% | 5.05% | 0.09% | 0.37% |
We get asked a lot if it’s ok to add so and so contacts to your mailing lists, here’s a list of pointers to help you out in building your contact lists.
Your list is good if…
- People who have opted in to your list on your website
- People who have opted in to receive emails from you offline
- Your customers who have a prior business relationship with you (but if you haven’t contacted them in ages, be sure to send a re-introduction email)
- People who opted in to receive emails from you at a co-registration site
- You’re sending on behalf of your customer, and they comply with the above.
- People who purchased one of your products, or attended an event, and gave you their email address so they could receive updates from you.
- Your internal employee list (such as for company notices)
- Press releases sent to reporters who signed up at your website
Your list is bad if …
- Lists that you purchased from a 3rd party (even if it’s “opt-in”)
- Lists that you are renting from someone else
- Lexis-Nexis, Real Estate MLS databases, Advertising Redbooks, AdBase lists, D&B, Experian
- Lists from a local Chamber of Commerce or local club or organization.
- Do NOT export your entire email address book
- Emails that you “scraped” (either manually or automatically) from other websites
- You may not send personal resumes to potential employers. They did not opt in to receive emails from you.
- Recipients whose emails you collected without their permission, but you think they could really use your product or service, and you think they’d really want to hear from you.
- Members of a group/organization who never asked for your emails (even if you’re a member of the group)
- Unsolicited press releases to reporters
- Lists of customers who dropped their business cards in a fishbowl, but they had no idea they were going to receive emails (because you didn’t say that on the fishbowl).
- Lists of registered voters in your district obtained from your local government.
Abuse.net is a free service that allows people to find the contact information of a specific server / domain. This can be usefull if you want to contact the administrator of a mail server and get your complaint to the right place.
To update the information for your domain you must send an email message to update@abuse.net with the following information in your email body
example.com: abuse@example.com