Archives – May, 2010
ESPs will also automatically remove anyone from your list who makes spam complaints via the Mark As Spam button in their email software. If you’re not using an ESP you usually won’t know who is making spam complaints against you until it’s too late. ESPs will also provide you with reporting for each campaign sent on the dead email addresses. Be sure to remove all hard bounces immediately. Give emails who soft bounce a second or third try. If they still come back as undeliverable then remove them from your database.
Yet another reason to use Email Service Providers is they have great email reputations. Consequently, using them gives your emails a far better chance of reaching recipient inboxes and getting read. (more…)
May 31, 2010
An email sender’s reputation is built through time by the number of spam complaints they get from their recipients, their email open rates and click through rates and especially by the number of bad email addresses in their database. Opt-in lists are usually easy to differentiate from spam lists over time. Opt-in lists get relatively few spam complaints compared to spam lists. Opt-in lists typically get 30% or better open rates, whereas spam lists often only get 1%-3% open rates.
The biggest difference between opt-in lists and purchased or harvested spam lists is the number of bad email addresses in them. By bad email addresses I mean no longer existing addresses and spam trap addresses (these will be explained later in this article series). People who have opt-in, permission based lists typically have a high percentage of currently existing emails in their database (90%-100% good, existing emails). Spammers often have old purchased lists with upwards of 25%-50% dead emails in their list. (more…)
May 28, 2010
As with the read receipt, this is not a foolproof feature since it relies on the recipient’s consent to work, and most people will be unfamiliar with the feature. If you need to use the Recall Message feature you should swallow your pride and call your recipient, explaining to them what you’re trying to do.
Reply-To: Address: this option allows you to specify a different email address than your sending email address for people to send replies to. I can’t think of any reason you should use this feature with any of your communications. You don’t want to confuse your recipients by providing more than one email address for them to reach you at. (more…)
May 27, 2010
POP Email – an acronym for Post Office Protocol (POP), this is the type of email used by the email software installed on your computer (eg. Outlook) to send and retrieve e-mail from your internet or email provider’s mail server. Your mail server receives and then holds all of your incoming mail. When prompted, your email software connects to the mail server, retrieves all new messages, and puts them in your inbox. You can also have this incoming email automatically routed to a designated folder if you have setup filters for this (use Outlook’s Rules Wizard for this). For instance, you can have all emails from mailings lists you’re on automatically go into a specified folder. This helps keep your inbox free of clutter, allowing you to focus on client and prospect emails. (more…)
May 26, 2010
It’s important you only add people who have opt-ed in to your database to prevent problems with your internet or email service provider as discussed earlier in this article series. It’s critical you honor opt-out requests (and do so within 10 days) as this is a legal requirement of doing email marketing within both the US and Canada. (more…)
May 25, 2010
Mail Server – this is basically the ‘souped up’ computer in your office or at your brokerage’s hosting company which handles all the incoming and outgoing mail for all the people in your company. It’s sort of like having a receptionist with a PHD handling your email. Today’s mail servers have very sophisticated abilities to screen spam emails from ‘legitimate’ emails.
It’s certainly not necessary to use your brokerage’s mail server for sending or receiving single emails. Your brokerage’s technical person may have configured the company’s email server to have a high sensitivity towards spam email. In other words, the email server may be blocking a lot of emails you’d benefit from receiving such as emails from companies who service real estate professionals. (more…)
May 24, 2010
2) User Opens Email – this is where the recipient has voluntarily gone in and opened the email themselves. This is very important data to have! When you look at your campaign reporting for opened emails you can use this as a prospect funneling tool. Most people will only have opened the email once, but frequently you’ll find people that have opened the email 3, 4 or 5 times – sometimes even more. These are people you definitely want to follow up with via telephone to find out where they’re at currently. Since they signed up for your mailing list they may have gone from ‘research’ mode to ‘actively seeking to buy or sell mode.
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May 21, 2010
Also, some people have setup their email software to display text based messages only, especially if they’re using a Blackberry for receiving messages. So if you don’t send a text-based equivalent of your email along your email may come up as blank or get outright rejected by their PDA. Mailing lists and forums often insist that all posts sent to them via email be made in plain-text for all the above reasons. (more…)
May 20, 2010
For instance, your email or internet provider may want to see proof of opt-in if they get a spam complaint from a particular user that’s supposedly part of your double opt-in database. They will want you to send any emails you have proving this person opt-ed in with you with the header included. This allows them to verify this was an actual email by providing detailed information on the sender, receiver and internet provider. (more…)
May 19, 2010
A spam bot is one of the latest ways spammers get their emails delivered. When you get a spam bot virus your PC turns into a “zombie” PC wherein it will begin sending large quantities of spam email through your PC and internet connection, causing your PC to slow considerably. Even more dangerous are viruses that monitor your keystrokes for any passwords and financial information such as credit cards or bank account numbers. I have known people whose chequing accounts were ‘compromised’ more than once (one person I know had $1000 taken from their account) and this may have been due to them doing online banking and hackers picking up on their financial information through viruses on their computer. (more…)
May 18, 2010
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