Deliverability.com

Abracadabra: Is Email Metrics Standardization Real, or Merely an Illusion?

2010-07-12T09:18:07-05:00

I’m a lover of magic. When illusions appear creative, bold, and clever, they seem worthy of being shared with everyone. On the other hand, if it’s a trick that everyone knows—one that has been around for decades—the “magic” becomes cheap and hollow, unlikely to fool anyone. When it comes to the standardization of email metrics, the question arises: is this truly noteworthy, or simply another case of “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain?” Smoke and mirrors won’t work in this case; complete transparency is necessary to address this issue. It’s time to put all of our cards on the table and examine various aspects of the argument surrounding standardization.

Independent email consultants Luke Glaser and John Caldwell, as co-chairs of the DMA/Email Experience Council’s Measurement Accuracy Roundtable, have marshaled a group of industry players to launch an email standardization project. For what it’s worth, that project is gaining momentum and earning some serious ink within the industry. This is not the same old dog and pony show we’ve seen in the past; these guys really have their act together. Think of them as Siegfried and Roy of the email industry. Their “S.A.M.E” project (Support Adoptions of Metrics for Email) has bent the ears of industry pundits, and their formula for encouraging ESPs to adopt the standards seems to be fooling everyone. And in this context, deception is a good thing. Learn more about the S.A.M.E project here .

Sleeveless in Seattle

As with any new industry related project, many challenges surface, but without early adopters, we’d be left sleeveless, a nightmare for any magician. Two ESPs, MassTransmit/EmailTransmit and AllWebMail have already committed to adopting the industry standard for metrics which was released by the DMA/eec in March 2010. Since then, a dozen other high profile ESPs claim that they will allegedly adopt the standards in the next six months or so, including, but not limited to, BlueHornet, Silverpop, Blue Sky Factory, Bronto, SubscriberMail, and YesMail. When you think about early adopters, companies like these help pave the road for the rest of the industry to benefit. As interested ESPs begin to track the progress and milestones achieved by the S.A.M.E project, momentum will build and the benefits will galvanize the industry.

“Adoption is not just a semantics game,” says Stephanie Miller, Vice Chair of the DMA/eec and an active member of the Roundtable (her day job is at inbox deliverability solution provider Return Path). “Marketers usually find out that there are no standards when they go to benchmark their performance, or when they change vendors and realize that all those numbers they’ve been betting their bonus on – they don’t mean what they thought they meant!

“It’s about time our industry stepped up and supported standard metrics just like any other direct marketing discipline,” she says.

Deliverability Will No Longer be a Selling Point for ESPs

Once the implementation of email standards leads to congruency across the industry, ESPs and marketers will find themselves on a level playing field. This means marketers will spend more time searching for the right ESP, but once a match is made, marketers will be less likely to move from one ESP to another due to inconsistency in metrics. This means attrition rates for switching ESPs will fall, which will direct ESPs to focus on supplementary services that will help customers achieve a higher ROI. Examples of such services include compelling creative copy and perhaps a monthly or quarterly SWOT analysis provided by the ESP to each marketer. Higher performance of the channel benefits all of us.

S.A.M.E Project Goals

Once a magician takes his oath, he must never reveal his secrets. However, if aspiring participants are willing to learn magic, they, too, can join the “magic club.” ESPs face a similar choice. They can remain on the outside looking in, simply observing the progression of the S.A.M.E project, or they can choose to be an active part of the club. John and Luke’s first goal is 10-15% of the ESP market adopt the standards.

Nowadays, when an ESP reports on the “state of the industry,” they analyze metrics only of their own campaigns, like a magician who looks in the mirror and declares himself successful. Industry standardization will introduce accountability to the industry, providing the digital marketing community with sterilized benchmarking and consistent reporting. The spotlight now shines bright on Luke and John, along with other industry veterans and aspiring ESPs involved with the S.A.M.E project. It is their mission to deliver what the email industry yearns for: a final levitation act that will wow the crowd and inspire mass adoption. They hope to prove that they are master magicians—if they perform their act well enough, even the skeptics will believe.

Here’s How to Get Involved:

Marketers: Send this article to your ESP and encourage them to adopt the standards.

ESPs: Study the new standard definitions and set a goal for yourself to adopt them. Be part of the program here:

Now, where did all the Rabbits go? J

Fred Tabsharani

Port25 Solutions, Inc.

@tabsharani

Email List Growth: An Economic Indicator for the Email Industry

2010-07-01T14:59:45-05:00

When healthy discussions take place in the Email Industry, they tend to give birth to new ideas. Collectively, we reinforce these ideas by sharing them with our peers through blogs and commentary. One such discussion covered the collection process of email addresses. Specifically, the topic was discovering more efficient ways to streamline the collection process among disparate legacy collections systems (many of which have been in place for years). Morgan Stewart of ExactTarget delivered an excellent piece recently, aptly Three Rules for Email List Growth and Simms Jenkins of Brightwave Marketing penned two articles on ClickZ that may interest you. Those articles inspired me to share a few thoughts on “future” list growth strategies; enhanced and accelerated through financial institutions.

The size of your list matters, but so does the quality. And as your budget to grow your list increases or decreases, finding ways to replace unsubscribed addresses becomes more important than ever, because you run the risk of lower returns from your email channel. To potentially erase these deficits, we must create ways to replenish lists with sterile data and accelerate list growth. Economically speaking, with respect to list sizes, a sustained upward/downward trend in list sizes may be a key economic indicator of the overall health of the email industry.

That said, financial institutions carry vast amounts of data on users’ purchase behavior. Your institution knows how often you travel, which retail stores you frequent, and how much you spend annually at your favorite restaurants. Additionally, they keep track of your verified email address. Because financial institutions collect this type of data, the list growth challenge may be overcome by forward-looking credit card companies, who in my opinion will eventually become chief suppliers for approved merchants who seek to build a permission based opt-in list of highly relevant verified email addresses.

Financial Institutions, key to buoyant List-Growth

The term co-registration makes me want to cringe, given that sometimes the collection process may not often deliver the desired results for the merchant in terms of relevancy. The challenge here is often that new subscribers generated through co-registration agreements; are not as engaged with your site/brand/products/services as someone who signed up at your own site. But if you are fueled by enhanced engagement, automation, clean data and profound relevancy, then imagine this:

When you receive your credit card statement via email, you will immediately link to a list of approved merchants with whom you have conducted business. These merchants have already applied, were approved, and gave explicit permission to the credit card company to collect and confirm opt-in email addresses on their behalf. When subscribers receive their monthly transactional statement, they can navigate to a dedicated landing page that is devoted to approved merchants based on past purchase behavior. The list of approved merchants will be featured, and subscribers will be asked to indicate whether they wish to receive incentives and/or immediate benefits from any or all of them. When you check a box next to a certain merchant, you give your financial institution the right to send your email address directly to your selected merchant to begin a welcome series, confirming the original incentive.

This type of list growth strategy is advantageous because of its relevancy, engagement potential, high credibility, and verifiably clean data. By registering people through an established, credible online identity (financial institutions), this method not only propels the email collection process, but ensures highly relevant and actively engaged subscribers. Merchants will be able to better assess cadence if their delivery messages resonate with subscribers, because subscribers generally respond favorably from merchants they’ve recently conducted business with.

Application Process for Merchants

Invitations will be sent to pre-approved merchants by Financial Institutions. These approved merchants will enter into a partnership with the credit card company and will pay the credit card companies a fee, either for each email address collected, or perhaps a performance based annual fee. Approved merchants may also be given the option for priority placement on the master merchant opt-in preference page during the collection process.

Whenever a subscriber checks a box, the financial institution will forward the email address to the merchant. If the consumer chooses to use a different email address, a verification of that email address will the responsibility of the financial institution, thereby ensuring that the merchant receives clean data. For example, let’s say you shopped at Nordstrom three times last month, and also purchased an airline ticket with the same credit card. Assuming Nordstrom and the airline are approved merchants, and based on your activity with the card over the past month, you may see a list of these merchants organized either by how often you shopped, or by the amount that you spent. If you don’t already receive email newsletters from your preferred merchants, the option will be made available to subscribe by merely checking a box. I envision that some financial institutions may have several approved merchants for you to select. If, for some reason, you have previously opted-in to receive newsletters from your desired merchants, the option to subscribe will be unavailable (“grayed out”) and the next most relevant merchant will be accentuated.

Of course the consumer will have the option to “opt-in/out” of the entire process. For instance, consumers may be able to choose an option like “don’t offer me any information on 3^rd party email.” In addition, policies for “safeguarding” merchant applications will vary among financial institutions. Financial institutions will need to exercise diplomacy in their efforts not to disregard merchants who operate purely as brick and mortar businesses. By the same token, institutions must not exclude merchants who conduct all their business online.

Merchants, Financial Institutions, and Consumers Benefit

As is often true in life, all the parties involved with email list growth wonder, “What’s in it for me?”

For approved merchants, along with faster list growth, verifiable data, and higher subscriber engagement, various elements provide the potential for optimal relevancy. Clean data and better engagement lead to higher inbox placement rates, which links to better ROI. In addition, with list attrition hovering at 30 percent, this method of email address collection is a great way to accelerate list growth for high profile merchants.

For financial institutions, this is one more level of data that they can harness to profile consumers. Additionally, it offers a significant revenue stream, based on any number of revenue models, regardless of whether financial institutions charge an annual fee or a “per email address” fee. The question that credit card companies must consider is “Which financial model will merchants feel most comfortable with?”

For consumers who don’t yet receive emails from merchants that they frequent, these emails can become a great way for them to capitalize on incentives. I think incentives can come in a couple of different formats. Wouldn’t it be great if merchants offered an immediate rebate on their portion of the bill? So, upon signing up, you’ll receive an immediate credit of $10.00, for example. Or better yet, give the consumer the option on incentives. For example, receive an immediate rebate of $10.00 now or get 20% off your next purchase. Whichever option the consumer chooses, the merchant will send a welcome message confirming that the subscriber has opted in and to receive the chosen incentive. Being informed of special offers from their favorite merchants will entice subscribers to “opt-in.”

The performance of any list growth and retention strategy depends on the quality of data. The better the data is organized, and the more closely it aligns with the content generated by the merchant, the better any retention marketing program will perform. Fine tuning your lists and using “reputable” co-registration techniques will generate more revenue from segments. Using sophisticated list growth strategies such as these prevents email delivery from deteriorating and will have a dramatic lift on engagement.

Questions: What about joint accounts? Credit Card legislation? Is the concept too reminiscent of Big Brother? Which merchants get invited first? Which financial institutions will step forward? These are the questions that will need to be addressed as advancements in email list growth processes mature.

Further acknowledgements to Matt Vernhout of Thin Data for his “smackdown” before publication.

As always Terms and Conditions may applyJ

Fred Tabsharani

Port25 Solutions

@tabsharani

What Would You Tell your CEO?

2010-07-01T09:42:29-05:00

Imagine yourself sitting down for coffee with the CEO and CMO of your company. Now, assuming you had just a few minutes of their undivided attention, what would you try to convey to them about deliverability? In addition to ensuring they learn just how smart you are, what one or two things would you leave them with? What things does your C-Suite most need to know and take action on to improve not only the deliverability of the email programs your company sends, but could also revolutionize how your brand is perceived in the marketplace?

That is the question I posed recently to several thought leaders in the email space. The result is a great document we call “Letters to the C-Suite: Getting Serious about Permission & Deliverability.” A few of the contributors also contribute to Deliverability.com, such as Carlo Catajan from Yahoo, Andrew Kordek from Groupon, and George Bilbrey from Return Path. Others from Earthlink, McAfee, Email Marketer’s Club, Pivotal Veracity, Goodmail and the Online Trust Alliance also weighed in from “where they sit” as part of the email community. I think the advice they provided is spot-on accurate and a must read for any marketer needing to optimize their deliverability.

The main takeaways of this paper are:

Permission Matters. In fact, Permission Comes First.
As Andrew Kordek put it, “Remember, everything you do in email marketing is a reflection of your brand. It starts with permission—and everything your subscribers experience until they unsubscribe can—and will—impact complaints, deliverability, and the willingness of others to join and become engaged in your program. Your subscribers are in charge. The rest is up to you.”

The ISPs’ responsibility is to their users, not to marketers.
To the CEO, I’d summarize it as follows: ISPs are businesses too and they like customers as much as the rest of us, so they want to keep them happy. Your unsolicited email/spam (or the “bacon” your legit email has become) is annoying subscribers, and so it in turn annoys the ISPs as it can cause them to lose that user to another mail provider.

Geralmy Swint from Earthlink talks about it this way. He says, “To the Executive: A single spam report doesn’t mean you’re a spammer, but it’s important to remember that better senders get fewer spam reports. If your mail gets more spam reports than the next guy, you might be doing something wrong.

Here are a few of the things I would recommend to keep your spam complaints as low as possible:
• Remind subscribers that they signed up, and offer them an easy way to unsubscribe
• Identify yourself clearly in the message
• Honor the recipient’s request to be removed from your list
• Respond quickly to unsubscribe requests
• Don’t buy lists or send email to people who didn’t opt-in”

ISPs are now tracking metrics like opens and clicks, so marketers need to optimize on these items to continue to achieve good results.
Marketers should already be optimizing on subscriber actions and engagement anyway, though the stats show many are not. At ExactTarget we analyzed lists where the retailer was seeing below average response rates and showed that nearly 40% of a typical list was unengaged – meaning subscribers that had not opened or clicked on a message in 90 days. Another 30 - 45% of the list had just a few actions in 90 days. This is truly the 80/20 rule in action. We've found with the appropriate frequency and relevancy you can engage a much larger segment of your audience. That's why user-defined frequency and content preferences are key.

So, what would you tell your CEO about permission and deliverability? Let me know here or tweet me at @cehouse.

One example of how email open/render rates are distributed over time at @OtherInbox

2010-06-30T14:44:08-05:00

At OtherInbox, we help hundreds of thousands of users to manage email overload by automatically identifying commercial email and organizing it into folders. We send out a daily digest to our users showing all of the email that we organized for them the day before. We get a great open rate on these emails and monitor it closely as an indication of user activity.

Recently, we introduce a bug that prevented us from tracking opens (started on Thursday). The bug only affected new digests, but old digests that we had sent were still working. This chart shows how our open rate declined over time, providing a view that you don't get to see very often - how do the opens trickle in over time?

As you can see, 60% of the opens happen within the first 3 days. But 4-5 days later we're still getting a significant number of opens from old digests. Then on Tuesday we fixed the bug and the number jumped back up again.

There is probably going to be a slightly different distribution for different types of messages that are sent, but I bet the shape of the curve looks very similar for most email.

Article 29 Working Party Clarifies Online Ad Rules and Tracking

2010-06-28T14:35:10-05:00

Many of you know I just returned from a long month visit to the European Union. In that trip I attended MAAWG in Spain, Eloqua's office in the UK, and visited many additional cities (Berlin, Brussels, and Paris) where I was a U.S. IAPP privacy delegate and where we meet with many EU privacy advocates, experts, and many of the countries privacy commissioners.

During the last half of my trip, I attended a Digital Europe breakfast meeting and a Privacy Platform meeting in European Parliament (Brussels).

The Privacy Platform brings together different stakeholders on privacy related topics. During our visit, over 100 representatives from industry, privacy activists, EU institutions, governments, and European data protection supervisors discussed the privacy aspects of behavioral advertising. Behavioral advertising is the tracking of consumers on the internet, mainly with the use of cookies. The data are used for advertising targeted to the individual consumer's specific interests, based on his profile.

While in Parliament, we were a bit surprised, but glad when Mrs. Sophie In 't Veld, Member of European Parliament and chair of the Privacy Platform and Belgian Data Protection Supervisor Mr. Willem Debeuckelaere presented their official opinion at our meeting expressing the Article 29 Working Party's concern about the implications for privacy and data protection of the widespread practice of behavioral targeting. Mr. Debeuckelaere commented "that what is at stake is that many consumers are not aware that their surfing behavior is being monitored and data are being stored for advertising purposes".

Additionally in their release, the European Data Protection Authorities stated that when online behavioral advertising providers use cookies to build profiles on individuals and to server up targeted ads based on those profiles, they are bound by the new EU ePrivacy Directive, which "introduces the obligation for informed consent of users before tracking devices such as cookies are installed on users' computers." and goes on further to state that the data protection authorities call for "simple and effective mechanisms for users to affirmatively give and withdraw their consent for online behavioral advertising"

The opinion states that although online behavioural advertising may bring advantages to online business and users alike, its implications for personal data protection and privacy are significant.

Also in their opinion, they clarified the use of browsers as a method of consent when it comes to cookies acceptance. Originally when we blogged about this in "Me want cookie!, Me eat cookie!, Om Nom nom nom", Recital 66 of the amended ePrivacy Directive indicated that the user's consent may be expressed by using the appropriate settings of a browser or other application, but in this opinion, it doesn't.

Based on the definition and requirements for valid consent, generally speaking data subjects cannot be deemed to have consented simply because they acquired/used a browser or other application which by default enables the collection and processing of their information. Average data subjects are not aware of the tracking of their online behaviour, the purposes of the tracking, etc. They are not always aware of how to use browser settings to reject cookies, even if this is included in privacy policies."
For browsers settings to be able to deliver informed consent, it should not be possible to "bypass" the choice made by the user in setting the browser. However, in practice deleted cookies may be easily "respawned" by so-called flash cookies, enabling the ad network provider to continue monitoring the user. The availability and increasing use of such technology challenges the ability of browser settings to deliver informed, valid and effective consent."
Consent by browser setting to receive cookies in bulk implies that users will accept future processing, possibly without any knowledge of the purposes or uses of the cookie. Consent in bulk for any future processing without knowing the circumstances surrounding the processing cannot be valid consent."

Currently, of the four major browsers, only one browser blocks 3d party cookies by default from the moment the browser is installed. The other three major browsers have as a default setting to allow all cookies. In these cases, cookies are being sent and information is collected prior to obtaining consent, thus clashing with the need for prior consent.

In order for browsers or any other application to be able to 'deliver' valid consent, they must overcome the above problems.

So, what this means is that in the EU you will STILL need to get informed consent from a visitor to place a tracking cookie on their systems and begin to provide valid and easy ways for them to withdraw that consent and tracking when they want.

For consent in terms of time, you should need to re-obtain consent for a tracking cookie vs. setting the cookie expire date to "forever". In this published opinion, the Article 29 Working Party feels that most individuals who agree to be tracked using a cookie that would last forever could and would perhaps forget they agreed to tracking a year ago when in the future they may not want to be tracked anymore. Consent to be monitored should not be 'forever' but it should be valid for a limited period of time, for example, to one year.

In their conclusion they state this:

Behavioral advertising techniques enable advertisers, mainly ad providers, to track individuals when they surf the internet, to build profiles and to use them to serve tailored advertising. In most cases, individuals are simply unaware that this is happening.
The Article 29 Working Party is deeply concerned about the privacy and data protection implications of this increasingly widespread practice. Whilst data protection legislation requires, among other things, obtaining informed consent from individuals to engage in this practice, in reality it is very doubtful whether average individuals are aware of, much less that they consent to, being monitored to receive tailored advertising.
So far, the ways in which the industry has provided information and facilitated individuals to control whether they want to be monitored have failed. Notices provided in general terms and conditions and/or privacy policies, often drafted in rather obscure ways fall short of the requirements of data protection legislation. In some Member States industry has made some efforts to complement existing law with self-regulation. Such efforts are welcome as they specify the general principles contained in the regulatory framework. However, the Article 29 Working Party considers that there is a long way to go. Industry should step up efforts to comply with the reinvigorated applicable laws.

If your feeling up to it, you can see video's of each speaker during the Privacy Platform by visting here and can read all the LONG details of this opinion by visiting here Download WP 171 Opinion 2:2010 on online behavioural advertising

Hope this give you some insight into what you will need to comply with by middle part of 2011 in the EU. Feel free to post questions, concerns, and opinions to us here. Would love to hear from you on this.

-Dennis (glad to be home) Dayman
Eloqua

Don't Just Send, Deliver

Opt In vs. Opt Out: What's Fair and What's Legal

2010-06-18T07:03:16-05:00

REPOSTED from E-Mail Precisley

You are in complete control of how long customers should and will maintain their online relationship with you.

Some marketers stack the deck by pre-checking fields that sign a customer up to receive e-mail, such as during the purchase process. Some prefer to make customers check a box to opt-in. Others acquire names and just add them to their mailing list with without any advance notice or consent from the consumer. So what's the right thing to do?

The first thing to consider is legal compliance. Remember though, just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it's right. Think about this for a moment, would you stand in the middle of Times Square and yell insults at people? Expressing your opinion in that way is legal, but it won't garner you any friends. In the US opt-in is not required. It is legal to make people opt out, but is it the right thing to do?

The answer to that question is philosophically steeped in the definition of the relationship the marketer wants to have with their customers. The relationship needs to be about mutual respect and a reciprocal value proposition. For example:

IF, the marker clearly and conspicuously discloses that by entering an e-mail address the customer will begin to get relevant and targeted information about their respective services, opt-out might be fair.

IF, the marketer does a good job explaining what the benefits are of the e-mail and then honors them, opt-out might be fair.

IF, the registration form clearly states that the customer needs to uncheck a box, opt-out might be fair.

IF, there is a link to the privacy policy that explains what happens to their PII and how they can change that information or limit who it is shared with is next to the registration form, opt-out might be fair.

On the other hand, in the EU and many other countries, opt-out is not legal. Permission is required to send commercial e-mail. But, if the marketer doesn’t adhere to the principles above, their customers will probably opt-out or stop responding anyway.

Whether names are acquired via opt-out, opt-in, or double opt-in really don’t matter (assuming you are legally compliant). Regardless of what type of permission you have the responsibility to maintain the trust and respect of your customers ultimately falls on your shoulders. It is critical to be:

Transparent about your data collection/use

Respectful of your customers’ preferences

Timely and relevant with the content you send them

The fallacy of the opt-out strategy is that it will yield a larger customer database. The myth of an opt-in policy is that the customer is willingly expecting your next e-mail. The reality is that the customer gets the final say. They will flourish, become dormant, complain or just leave if you don’t live up to your end of the bargain.

Rick Buck

VP privacy and ISP relations, CIPP

e-Dialog

Ready! Acquire! Aim?

2010-06-17T10:16:00-05:00

One of the biggest topics in organizations today is the need and desire to grow their subscriber list. Most companies believe that the bigger the list they have, the greater chance they have to sell more stuff. More stuff sold + more revenue = happy companies.

Some organizations take the hard road and build their list organically and spend money and resources on properly activating and creating brand advocates in their subscriber base. They recognize that the size of their list is not as important as the overall lifetime value of their subscriber. These organizations often have pressure internally to grow faster by out of touch executives with unrealistic expectations on subscriber growth. In most cases though, these companies follow the good path to growth and are prosperous in the long run.

Then, every once in awhile there are organizations that take the easy road. They use so many different channels, spend a ton of money on third parties that promise the world who often are using the same 50 Million Opt In, Can-Spam compliant list to try and bring in as many subscribers as they can. These organizations say they are interested in quality, but often mask that with a “yea butt” statement of “we still need to get to X million subscribers by X date”. Activation, welcome and engagement strategies are thrown out the window and the focus becomes on getting their X subscribers to buy stuff so their investment is not wasted.

Sit back for a minute and think of acquiring a single or 5 million new subscribers as a party that you are hosting. You certainly would not invite anyone over to your party unless you had cleaned up your house, got the hors d'oeuvres, the drinks, music etc. When your guests arrive, do you open the door and let them stand there or do you give the tour of where everything is so that they can enjoy themselves. As more and more people hear about how great your party is, folks will want a piece of the action and convince you to invite their friends. Eventually it will lead to a bunch of riff raffs wanting in which will eventually ruin it for everyone.

Before you put some super aggressive acquisition plan together, ensure that your house is in order and you are ready to greet your guests. One of my colleagues and fellow bloggers here, Matt Vernhount says is beautifully: “It’s not the size of your list, its what you do with it”

Invest time and money to the more important part of acquisition. You and your subscribers will be glad you did.

Help us find the secret of writing effective/engaging/compelling/successful subject lines

2010-06-08T06:21:37-05:00

The question "How do I write effective subject lines?" with all its variants is the No1 FAQ in email marketing, despite the fact that subject lines are probably the most frequently A/B tested variables in email marketing. Most email marketers A/B split test subject lines on a regular basis so why hasn't anyone come up with the answer yet?

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
I think it's because most email marketing departments do not have enough resource to test more than 2 or 3 subject lines at a time. At that rate it could take several years to gather enough results to develop a truly effective methodology for subject line writing. Which leaves no other option but to keep A/B split testing.

But relying on relying on A/B split testing to tell you which of the 2, 3 or more subject lines you come up with is like expecting someone to give you a fish every day for the rest of your life. we think it's time to learn to fish; so we're launching a unique new research project.

Our aim is to conduct the first ever subject line study to evaluate the impact on ROI of language - grammar, syntax and word choice. In association with digital copywriting agency Sticky Content, we're analysing the results of hundreds of subject line split-tests conducted by us and participating clients over the last 18 months to find answers to such questions as:

Which work better in subject lines - questions or instructions?

What are the most effective words to use in subject lines - and what are the words to avoid?

Does mentioning your brand name in a subject line really make a difference?

Does personalisation in the subject lines improve performance?

Send us your subject lines - get a FREE advance report

Have you run A/B subject line tests in the last 18 months? If so, we would like to invite you to pool your test data with ours to create the largest collaborative subject line study ever run (and get a free copy advance copy).

Send us your subject line test results by Friday 2nd July and get a free advance copy of our whitepaper.

Find out more >>

Privacy Updates & Regulation Ahead for Digital Marketers

2010-06-04T09:14:34-05:00

The recession has made citizens more attentive to scams, especially those that promise easy money or frighten people about the banking system. This accelerates the already large regulatory agenda of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), whose role as a “civil prosecutor” includes regulating and enforcing protections from online offers, advertising and email marketing. Congress is also stepping up, and two major initiatives around privacy protection and the role of the FTC are in active play.

Partnering with all of us in the email industry, and watching to make sure we self-regulate well, remains a key component of the FTC’s plans, says Lois Greisman, Director, Division of Marketing Practices for the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, who joined the second annual DMA/Email Experience Council legislative update webinar on May 19th. “Our goal is to stop fraud and scams as quickly as possible, to shut down offenders, and, where appropriate, seize assets and reimburse consumers,” she said in the webinar.

The recording of the full event isfree for DMA/eec members:

The US CAN SPAM Act of 2003, which regulates permission practices for email marketing, continues to be a key anti-fraud tool for the FTC. Greisman noted several successes in prosecuting spammers and other deceptive practices and said enforcement continues to be a major priority. “CAN SPAM has worked well to level the playing field among legitimate online marketers,” she said. She also added that she was not aware of any active proposal by the FTC or Congress to expand or change the law.

However, there are two active proposals of new legislation that could have significant impact on email marketing and the email industry as a whole.

1. Online Privacy Protection Bill:

A “Discussion Draft” of a bill to require notice and consent to any individual PRIOR to collecting or using personal information was released in early May in the US House of Representatives from Representatives Rick Boucher (D-VA)and Cliff Stearns (R-FL). Industry and consumer groups alike are not happy with the draft, including the DMA. Although it may seem at first that the so-called Boucher Bill was just about online behavioral advertising conducted by large marketers; it turns out that it’s very broad and far-reaching on privacy and data security.   In the webinar, Jerry Cerasale, VP, Government Relations for the DMA, gave a very good overview of coverage, exceptions and terms of notice. Basically, it impacts nearly all kinds of “first party” senders as well as any other company that has access to that data as a “third party.” It proposes coverage of an extensive list of “unique and persistent” personal data on consumers.

“One potentially bad impact this could have on the email industry concerns the scope of covered data, including email address, IP address, and other unique, persistent identifiers,” says Tom Bartel, CIPP, vice president, Receiver Services at Return Path, a panelist in the webinar. “If the exceptions for transactional and operational purposes and for service providers are not effective and clear, this bill could interfere with many industry collaborations. This includes IP-based reputation systems – data that determines if email messages reach the inbox or not. It may also impact the operation of Feedback Loops provided to email senders by mailbox providers like Yahoo! and Hotmail. These feedback loops are a key component in how the industry keeps bad actors out of the email ecosystem.”

Both Representatives Boucher and Stearns have indicated a willingness to work with industry and have requested comments on the bill, The DMA has already commented, Cerasale said.

2. Expansion of FTC Powers:

Congress is also considering significantly expanding the powers of the FTC as part of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (HR 4173).    There is not a corresponding bill in the Senate, although Cerasale said in the webinar that one may be introduced later this year.

Part of the proposed regulation would give the FTC “unbridled authority” to create rules around “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” for many industry sectors. Cerasale expressed concern about this, and said that more checks and balances are needed. It is also unclear how this expansion will impact emerging technologies like social or mobile, he said.

Another part of the proposed bill increases the FTC’s enforcement powers to seek civil penalties. “That may be helpful in catching spammers and other abusers of email marketing,” said Rick Buck, CIPP and VP, ISP Relations and Privacy at e-Dialog in the webinar.   “Marketers who feel they are exempt from prosecution because they are legal under CAN SPAM may be following the letter of the law, but not the spirit. I encourage everyone to go beyond the legal requirements and aim to provide email experiences that are welcome and engaging to subscribers.”

The FTC’s Greisman said only that, “We welcome any support from Congress that helps the agency be more effective and efficient.” There are some “tools that we lack which Congress may grant us the power to use,” she said.

A third element to this proposed legislation is on responsibility/liability of the delivery provider (broadcast vendor, ESP, MTA Vendor) if their clients do not follow CAN SPAM or other regulations. “This aiding and abetting aspect is very concerning,” said Dennis Dayman, VP, Privacy & Online Security at Eloqua,another panelist in the webinar.   “Blurring the lines between purveyor and sender may place an undue penalty on others in the ‘chain of responsibility’ for all brands involved in online advertising or other online acquisition efforts, like third party email senders and publishers,” Dayman said.

Greisman also reported in the webinar that there is no significant update on the behavioral targeting protection guidelines that the FTC has had out for comment for over a year. “Nothing will happen without input from industry,” she said. Since the mandate from the FTC has been, “self regulate or else,” the webinar panelists gave a number of suggestions for marketers to follow best practices, including:

1. Ensure transparency in disclosure and notice of permission and use of data
2. Be very clear about opt out vs. opt in. CAN SPAM requires only an opt-out, but that is the “bare minimum,” Buck advises.
3. Update your Privacy policy and provide prominent links
4. Audit your data usage practices
5. Be clear on use of data in all web forms and at the point of collection/sign up.

Marketers and everyone in the email industry can support the FTC, Greisman said. She suggests:

1. File a complaint. When those complaints are also referred by the DMA, they are particularly helpful, Greisman said.
2. Make sure your opt out mechanisms are working. (E-dialog’s Buck recommends checking this at least annually, and preferably monthly.)
3. Be clear about the sender and the advertiser relationships. (Return Path’s Bartel recommends first party senders consider “framing” the content from third parties or advertisers and clearly distinguish between editorial (original content) and advertising.)
4. Keep data clean, particularly around new sources. (Eloqua’s Dayman also recommends care around affiliates’ use of data.)

The legislative update webinar was sponsored by Eloqua, E-Dialog and Return Path, with technology sponsor GoToMeeting. The recording of the full event is free for DMA/eec members. More details on these and other legislative issues important to digital and direct marketers is in the DMA’s quarterly government affairs newsletter, Politically Direct.

Emails' Lone Ranger: The Deliverability Consultant

2010-06-02T09:55:30-05:00

There is a growing subculture emerging in the Email Industry.   This narrow subculture is built around the role of the Email Deliverability consultant. These email folk heroes often hold “silver bullets” that dramatically alleviate problems caused by poor email deliverability. Whether it’s resolving sender reputation issues, aligning sectors of your email program to meet legal compliance, or ensuring that all technical considerations are met, these masked magicians with assistants named Tonto can help.

There seems to be a critical knowledge gap that needs to be addressed. Often the requests to hire an industry “folk hero” (consultant) originate from a marketer who wants to fully optimize the organization’s email program. Factors that optimize programs include, but are not limited to, list quality and data collection, increased open rates, better ROI tracking, and achieving optimal inbox placement rates. As much as marketers might want an optimized program, they often do not fully recognize the technology challenges of getting email delivered to achieve these desired results.   When that happens, for certain organizations, it’s time for The Email Deliverability Consultant: Email’s Lone Ranger.

A Marksman who gets his hands Dirty

Depending on the scope of the project, these consultants offer a wide range of deliverability services, including, but not limited to a deep understanding of list quality and data collection, email authentication best practices, setting up FBLs, bounce handling and infrastructure. Consultants also commonly help with sourcing, installing and configuring optimal specs for both commercial and open source MTAs. Frequently, the scope of the project grows into in-depth consulting on email engagement, response or retention campaigns or designing strategies that integrate complimentary marketing channels such as mobile platforms and social media.

Masters of Disguise

As we know, consulting by nature is a feast or famine type career. And often, email deliverability consultants are positioned in precarious situations and exploited by bad actors. Suspect senders often pump consultants for information on where to find responsive email lists or, even worse, ask about revealing key contacts at Yahoo, or other ISPs. Deliverability consultants’ clients largely come from referrals and word-of-mouth. That said, they live by a strict moral code of conduct, because they sometimes face important ethical decisions; at times, they must choose between a paycheck and literally firing a client.

The Audit Process

The Audit Process is a “state of play” snapshot of the deliverability climate within the organization.

Usually, deliverability consultants will require answers to a set of detailed questions and an analysis of overall infrastructure (technical setup) before any type of contract is in place. During the audit, clients may seed consultants on different types of emails (marketing, transactional, etc) where they could begin reporting on items such as blacklist status, reputation, authentication tests, content, and inbox placement rates, etc. Consultants will then try to identify trends within the email list, such as attrition rates, opens, clicks, and sign up rates.   Some feedback is then given to the client, but deliverability consultants generally need to access additional data, such as bounce handling, FBL monitoring, send rates, and identifying email streams.

Contracts

A typical contract is somewhere between 30-90 days, with ongoing support in place. However, most organizations are likely to add to the scope of services and have other goals in mind beyond deliverability. These days, organizations that have prevalent stakeholders will go to great lengths to gain an edge over their competitors. So, in many cases, an ongoing contract can grow out of the original short-term agreement.

The behemoths in our industry are companies like ReturnPath , Pivotal Veracity (Unica) and Goodmail which is widely known for certified inbox placement. These companies collaborate extensively with established ESPs and large enterprises. However, below I’ve listed a few other respected industry resources, the majority of which have over a decade of email deliverability experience.   Each has experience with organizations that range in size from ESP startups to F500 corporations.

In their work as Email’s Lone Rangers, these consultants can most often revive a company’s deliverability afflictions, so that key members of the organization can hop back in the saddle without too much damage done to its sender reputation.

This article was inspired by:

· Jaren Angerbauer, DeliveryVision

· Andrew Bonar,Emailexpert

· Micky Chandler, Whizardries

· Greg Kraios, Den of Deliverability

· Laura and Steve Atkins, Word to the Wise

"Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

Fred Tabsharani

Port25 Solutions, Inc.

@tabsharani