Reach Inboxes with Email Deliverability Best Practices

Deliverability
Jenny Lassi
eMarketing Consultant
HighRoad Solution
@highroadjenny

DELIVERABILITY BREAK DOWN
Why the bleeeeeeep #$%@! bleeeeeeep are they not getting the email?

Today’s Content
www.highroadsolution.com
• Why is monitoring your deliverability beneficial to your organization?
• What contributes to email deliverability?
• The 5 C’s
• What are the different reasons your organization’s emails could be filtered
or blocked from reaching recipient inboxes?
• How can you overcome deliverability obstacles to optimize your email
programs?
• Best practices
• Resources takeaways

Why is continually monitoring
deliverability important for
your organization?

Wasted eMail Spend
Invalid email Addresses
+
Excessive email Bounces
+
Emails Filtered to Junk/SPAM
Folders
=
Wasted $$

Do you know if your eMails
are reaching an inbox?

When a Domain
Delivery Report is
enabled when
sending a Live
message, you will
see the Domain
Delivery tab on
the email stats

What contributes to your
deliverability or ability to
reach an inbox?

The sum of all parts of a
solid email strategy plan.
Do you have one of those?
No? Get in line…

Where should you start to
build your email strategy
plan?

eMail Strategy Plan

The 5 C’s of Email
Marketing Strategy
• Configuration
• Content
• Create
• Criticize
• Continue

The 5 C’s: Configuration
• Firewall Settings
• IP Address (Dedicated or
Shared)
• DKIM (Domain Keys)
• Sender ID (SPF Record)

The 5 C’s: Content
• Content recipients find value in
• Content recipients asked for
• Content recipients expect
• Clear call-to-action
• Content delivered when recipients want it
• Content that renders correctly on
whichever desktop or device recipients
are using

The 5 C’s: Create
• Clean html email template
• Clean layout using “Read More” links to
keep most exciting content above the fold
• Newsletters should have a table of contents
(TOC)
• Template that renders correctly on
whichever desktop or device recipients
are using.
• Create automated recurring message type
emails to free up resources who can put
more energy into strategy & analysis

The 5 C’s: Criticize
• Analyze delivery metrics (bounces, opens & clicks)
• Use bounce logs to address deliverability issues 24-48
hours post deployment (not a month later)
• Isolate subscribers who are not engaged with your
emails (no opens/click throughs)
• Create a Win-Back campaign for non-engaged
subscribers with an incentive to respond
• Suppress non-engaged subscribers until they respond
to your Win-Back campaign
• Analyze how many subscribers opt-down or
unsubscribe from particular messages (maybe the
perceived value of content is low)

The 5 C’s: Continue
Use what you have
learned and apply it to
future deployments

What are the different
reasons your organization’s
eMails could be filtered or
blocked from reaching
recipient inboxes?

eMail Filtering
Email
Filtering
Layers

Trouble Shoot Filtering Issues
Firewall Issues:
Your organization’s firewall needs to be configured to allow in email traffic originating
from outside of your firewall if you are using any email system hosted outside of your
organization.
Configuration Issues:
Email authentication like DKIM (Domain Keys) and Sender ID (SPF Record)
Blacklisting Issues:
RBL listing resulting from SPAM traps or recipient complaints

Engagement Issues:
Web-based ESPs (Example: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!) are looking at metrics
like messages deleted without being read, percentage of email opens
from any one specific sender to only inbox “wanted” mail and the
rest are routed to spam folders.
Email Server Filtering Software Issues:
Email server filtering software (Example: Postini, Message Labs) use a complex mixture
of engagement, keywords, IP blocks, and DNSBL/RBL (Real-time Blackhole Lists) that
may route your email to SPAM or Junk folders
Email Client Issues:
Email clients like Outlook, MAC mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc. all have junk folders
that the Email recipient needs to “train” over time to inbox what is considered a
“wanted” email.

What filtering hoops can
you jump through to
reach inboxes?

Firewall Hoops:
Have your IT department whitelist the IP block or IP address your email account is sending mail
from. Not every email service handles IP addresses the same way so speak to your provider on
best next steps.
Configuration Hoops:
Ask your provider for instructions on how to implement DKIM (Domain Keys) and Sender ID
(SPF Record) for your organization’s domain DNS. Usually this is only possible if your email
service has a dedicated IP address for your organization.
If you have a dedicated IP and implement DKIM and Sender ID, always warm the IP address
first by sending small and consistent bursts of email traffic daily.
Blacklist Hoops:
Look up your organization’s domain or IP address with an RBL tool (Example:
http://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx, http://whatismyipaddress.com/blacklist-check)
to see if you are on any blacklists. If so, follow instructions on how to be removed
as each RBL will have it’s own way of being removed.

Engagement Hoops:
Web-based ESPs (Example: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!) are looking heavily at engagement metrics. Try
A/B testing to know what content, email type or call-to-action is getting the best lift in engagement
and response.
Email Server Filtering Software Hoops:
Reach out to postmaster@ or abuse@ at the domain using the email filtering software (Example:
Postini, Message Labs). Ask them to whitelist the IP address or IP block associated with your email
service.
Email Client Filtering Hoops:
Ask your email recipients to add you to their safelist or as a trusted sender in the preheader of your
email. Engagement hoops also play into this so try A/B testing to know what type of content
resonates with your audience and will elicit the best open/click through rates.

High Level View: DKIM/Sender ID (it’s not a scary term or complicated at all… I promise)
• You tell us what domain(s) you send from
• We supply you with 3 snippets of text that you add to your domain’s DNS and instructions
• You add the txt records to your DNS and tell us when you’re done
• We test/validate the keys and enable on your account

Dedicated IP
• Sender Rejected
• Message Filtered
• Unknown Users
• Infrastructure
• Volume
• Spam Traps
• Blacklists
• Complaints
• FBL Compaints (Routed to your
Opt-Outs)

Shared IP
• Spam Traps
• Blacklists
• Complaints

Think you’re doing everything right?
Still eMoody from Delivery Issues?
“Go WITH the flow” - @highroadjenny

Best Practices Takeaways
• Be more strategic with your email sends with a 5-C strategy.
• Only send to good email addresses.
• If you don’t know if an email address is good, run a test using an email
validation service. A good service is http://www.briteverify.com/
• Only send to recipients who asked for it. If they didn’t and you want to
send to them, ask for permission in a permission pass email first.
• Never purchase an email list. If you do a reverse append process to get an
email address of a record you already “own”, don’t assume it’s ok to send
to it. Do a permission pass email first.
• Don’t swim upstream. Go WITH the flow for better delivery

Permission Pass
• Briefly explain the reason for asking
permission
• Have clear Yes or No call-to-action
buttons
• You can have minimal marketing
messaging, but the main point to
the email is asking them Yes or No
you can email them.
• This can be used when reaching out
to prospects or for asking existing
members if you can send a new
type of email message to them.

Shortcuts
Control what you CAN control about deliverability:
• DKIM/Sender ID Authentication
• List Hygiene
• Having an Email Preference Center
• Deliver content members or registrants want, when they want it, how
frequently they want it and looks good where they read it
Analyze and learn from past deployments to adjust how you send future
emails:
• Use A/B split testing to learn about what has the best engagement
• Review creative/content that had the best engagement and do more of
that
• Review bounce logs daily to see if any domains may be blocking you and
reach out to postmaster@ and abuse@ those domains to ask them to
whitelist you

34
Need Campaign Help?
HighRoad has expanded their already large
pool of resources with content developers
who will work with you to craft your
campaigns for optimal engagement success.
Email Sales@highroadsolution.com to learn more!

Content Leader
Jenny Lassi
eMarketing Consultant
HighRoad Solution
@highroadjenny

Reach Inboxes with Email Deliverability Best Practices

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