Here are some
great tips to consider before you begin your next
email distribution effort.
1.) Check your Message Against Content Filters:
This is the first step BEFORE you send any mail.
Be sure to double check
your content against spam content filters to
make certain your content will not "trigger"
these filters. Most content
filters use a simple scoring system which
essentially "grades" the message for
potential spam content -- the higher
the score the more likely the message
may be spam -- the most popular
open-source spam scoring system is
"Spam Assassin."
Internet Marketer Dori Friend has developed
a nice program to help identify potential content
issues - you can visit her site at:
http://www.e-filtrate.com
There are also several free spam content
checking tools which can be used to
review your message content:
http://www.lyris.com/resources/contentchecker/
http://spamcheck.sitesell.com/
2.) Encourage
Whitelisting:
Another important consideration is to encourage
recipients to whitelist your domain and "from" address.
Most Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) have put some sort of blocking or
spam-filtering system in place in order to tell the good guys from
the bad. Whitelisting will allow your email to bypass
many of these ISP spam filters. It's
important to understand that every domain has slightly different
methods for whitelisting, so be sure to check over
this information before advising your recipients with
any specific instructions.
Here is a good location
to learn about whitelisting for any particular
domain (we recommend including the link in all your
outgoing messages to help improve the chances of you
becoming whitelisted by the recipient):
http://www.notbadmail.com/info/whitelist.html
3.) Monitor Your
Domain/IP Against RBL Databases:
It goes without saying that once you do
get started (with whatever solution
you choose), make sure to always check the
RBL lists for blacklisting. If you are listed, make certain
you visit the RBL list that you are on
in order to review their policy for delisting the
IP and domain that has been implicated.
Sometimes some simple correspondence like
"This person was on an opt-in list - I have
valid IP/TIME/DATE stamp on record
and they complained -- I removed them
from my list" will make the admin
of the RBL website delist you.
Also, remember that even if you are in
100% full CAN-SPAM compliance, that it
does not prevent you from being
blacklisted. The internet RBL admins tend to have their own
rules which are completely
different (and more strict) then the Federal
Laws.
For instance, some RBL lists will list entire subnets while other
lists will blacklist an IP
simply for mailing too much mail into
a particular domain within too short a period
of time (Yahoo does this if it encounters
"X" amount of undeliverable mail from
any one mail source within "X" amount
of time) -- the "X" values are changing
all the time.
So RBL lists are like trying to shoot moving targets. Each list
having slightly different "standards" to become
listed or reported to an RBL.
And of course each RBL list is changing and adding new
"rules" which need to be followed in order
to get mail through to them.
If you are conducting regular monthly email distributions, then its
almost impossible to avoid being listed at least on a few RBL lists
– not necessarily for getting a bunch of complaints (this is the
most likely reason most people think you get RBL'd - but its not
always true) – you actually can become RBL'd more easily by sending
mail improperly formatted email into a particular domain
Pay attention to the bigger RBL lists like
spamhaus.org, spews.org and spamcop.org. If you
get on these lists your mailing efforts are all
but dead (since these lists are used by many admins). Many of the smaller RBL
lists have a procedure to
become "delisted" - which can get your IP off their
list in under an hour.
4.) Honor Remove Requests Quickly:
Make sure you are
diligent in honoring removal requests and that you
are regularly comparing these removes against
outgoing email. A good rule of thumb is to make sure a
"scrub" is made every 24-48 hours against your outgoing
mail files.
Along the same lines, a
valid removal method should not only incorporate
the Federal standards of the CAN-SPAM law, but should also
alert your recipients how often you conduct removal
“scrubs” -- this way they understand how seriously you are
taking their privacy.
To review the
requirements for maintaining/conducting removals, be sure to
look over the CAN-SPAM law thoroughly prior to the start of
any email campaign:
http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/can-spam.shtml
5.) Track and Monitor Open Rates:
You also want to make sure you track each email list source
separately (with some sort of “key code” or alpha-numeric
identifier). This is especially important if
you have purchased multiple lists from different
vendors, as it will allow you to track
one list source against the other and help you in
planning future email campaigns more easily.
Looking for a
free email marketing consultation? Contact our
in-house sales team at
sales@persontopersondirect.com
Person to Person Direct's marketing and sales strategies
have
consistently delivered positive results for our clients -- for
over 25 years!
