Deliverability Do’s & Don’ts Guide

Introduction 1. Clarify Desired Customer Engagement Level

Email marketing is good and spam (non-permission based or Before you even contemplate launching an email market-
unsolicited email) is bad. ing program, you have to determine the desired level of
Customer Engagement acceptable to your organization. In other
Whatever source you consult for getting the latest spam
words, how often will you be emailing prospects, customers or
statistics (and there are many entities that report this data), it
other subscribers, and with what types of communication? It is
is commonly accepted that much of the email flowing around
equally important to determine the degree of input the members
the Internet today can be defined as spam. The numbers are
of your audience will have in their interactions with your com-
staggering and continue to rise as it becomes easier and more
pany, and how they will communicate their preferences to you.
cost-efficient to send electronic communications. Imagine for a
moment that all the spam you receive started showing up as pa-
per mail on your curb - it would certainly be an astonishing sight. Do…

However, the fear of spam should not deter you from utiliz-
 …provide a clear and concise sign-up process, preferably
with a double opt-in approach
ing one of the most dynamic and targeted channels available
today for communicating with your customers. If you are  …let your customer decide when and how often they
willing to adopt industry best practices (the Do’s of Deliver- want to hear from you
ability) and avoid the most common pitfalls (the Don’ts), then
the percentage of your emails that reach the Inbox will increase  …set expectations around the frequency of mailings
and result in a more engaged and profitable customer base. - this will go a long way to ensure that your client
remains engaged with your brand
It’s a jungle in today’s email world. The good news
is that you have the information and trusted tools
Don’t…
available to help you navigate the challenges of the jungle.
 …assume instead of asking – Ask your subscribers
So how do brands compete with all the unwanted email what level of engagement they want and honor it.
messages and irrelevant content that contribute to the
spam landscape? It’s as simple as following a few Do’s  …make the sign-up, preference-setting or unsubscribe
and Don’ts. The results will speak for themselves, and process complex
your programs will benefit from the additional attention.  …delay the implementation of a regular process for
updating subscriber preferences

Lyris, Inc. | 5858 Horton Street, Suite 270 | Emeryville CA 94608 USA | www.lyris.com
Toll free 888.GO.LYRIS (465.9747) | International calls 510.844.1600 | Fax 510.844.1598 | Customer support 888.LYRIS.CS (597.4727) or 571.730.5259
2 Deliverability Do’s & Don’ts Guide

Once you have set the initial engagement level, confirm and re- • Website Reputation – This is the score associated with
affirm the wishes of your audience regularly. Relevance is the key your Website. Generally speaking, ‘bad’ scores are
for your customers, so provide them with the option to change assigned to those Websites that produce excessive
their preferences in every email you send, and allow them to pop-up windows or spam.
control the engagement and preference cycle any time they like.
• Consumer Perception – If your customers perceive your
brand or company negatively, it will be reflected in the
2. Establish & Maintain Your Brand (And Sender) way they engage with your emails. Unwanted messages
Reputation can result in spam complaints. And if email from your
Anything you do online can and will be tracked, and will company is frequently reported as spam, it will impact
establish your brand and sender reputation. Your online your deliverability.
reputation is a critical factor in any online marketing effort.
• Line of Business – Follow the permission standards
There are many factors that can contribute to your online associated with your line of business, and bear in mind
reputation including: that some industries are inherently more prone to being
perceived as spammers. For instance, medical services
• IP Reputation – Your reputation is associated with a or financial institutions tend to have more questionable
specific IP address, which indicates whether you are reputations even if their brands are well-known.
responsible for sending spam or Unwanted Bulk Email
(UBE). You can keep your IP reputation squeaky
clean by following some of the best practices listed in Do…
this guide.  …choose an email service provider (ESP) that provides
you with built-in assurance that your reputation will be
• Authentication and Identity – Authentication is the safeguarded through every means possible, and one that
method by which senders are identified. Such identifica- has positive working relationships with the major ISPs.
tion then allows for an immediate determination about
the legitimacy of a sender.You can ensure your company  ….develop email content that is relevant to your audience,
passes this test by following email best practices too. The and that clearly states a way for them to update their
fewer spam complaints you receive, the more likely you preferences or unsubscribe.
will be considered a legitimate sender.
 …establish and follow distinct email content and
• Link Domain Reputation – This score is assigned to delivery protocols within your company. For instance,
your domain based on a combination of factors including assign content approvers who know and can enforce
traffic, spam complaints, changes in email volume, age email content best practices and only allow email to
and validity of the domain, and incoming and outgoing be deployed by an assigned and qualified employee (or
links. Again, if you are following email best practices, small group of employees). These controls will provide
this is a score that you won’t have to worry about, but visibility into what is being sent.
it’s good to be aware of.

Lyris, Inc. | 5858 Horton Street, Suite 270 | Emeryville CA 94608 USA | www.lyris.com
Toll free 888.GO.LYRIS (465.9747) | International calls 510.844.1600 | Fax 510.844.1598 | Customer support 888.LYRIS.CS (597.4727) or 571.730.5259
3 Deliverability Do’s & Don’ts Guide

 …closely monitor the delivery rates of all outbound come from the address [email protected]
emails, paying close attention to unsubscribes, spam but you may need to assign different names depending
complaints and bounces. If any of these rates are high on the audience or the purpose of the email such as
or on the increase, adjustments need to made before “Your Company Newsletter” or “Your Company
your scores are negatively impacted. Customer Service.”
 ...Use a “From” name that creates familiarity and credibility.
Don’t…
 …choose ignorance. Not knowing or following industry Don’t…
best practices with regard to email content, email design,  …create complicated or misleading “From” names. For
subscription preferences, and permission standards will instance, don’t use the name “Customer Service” if your
work against your reputation, and the deliverability of email is not, in fact, a customer service-oriented message.
your email.
 …use many different “From” addresses.
It’s easier and quicker than ever for recipients of your email
to complain about your company and its products, policies  …repeat your company name in the subject line if you
used it in the “From” line. It wastes valuable real estate.
and procedures. The online actions of your company create a
trail that results in perceptions of both your brand and your
company as a sender. Your reputation can make or break your 4. Ensure Every Email is Wanted
deliverability and it sticks with you for a long time– so act wisely. If customers want your email, they are more likely to add you
to their address book or Safe Sender list, and they are less likely
3. Send from a Consistent, Recognizable, and to report emails from your company as spam. It should be a
Friendly “From” Address: fundamental (but very important) part of your overall email
strategy to send email only to those who want to receive it. It’s
Ensure you always send your email messages from the
also one of the best ways to ensure a high deliverability rate.
same “From” address. Customers are more likely to
open messages and enable links from companies they If customers don’t report your emails as spam, your email
recognize and with whom they have a direct relationship. reputation will remain intact. Emailers with good reputations
experience less aggressive filtering of their emails by the ISPs,
Do… and a higher overall deliverability rate for their email campaigns.

 …ask your customers and subscribers to add your

address to their Safe Sender list during the sign-up Do…
process, and reinforce this request when you send a  …regularly solicit your subscriber base for structured
welcome message feedback and for updates to their contact information
 …use a consistent “From” address, even if your “From” and preferences. This, in addition to creating an easy
way for subscribers to set their preferences at sign-up.
name needs to change. For instance, all emails should

Lyris, Inc. | 5858 Horton Street, Suite 270 | Emeryville CA 94608 USA | www.lyris.com
Toll free 888.GO.LYRIS (465.9747) | International calls 510.844.1600 | Fax 510.844.1598 | Customer support 888.LYRIS.CS (597.4727) or 571.730.5259
4 Deliverability Do’s & Don’ts Guide

Don’t… Don’t…
 …“spray & pray.” If you send mass emails to a large list …develop an email design that is beautiful to look at but
without targeting or following the best practices listed that has not been viewed for its rendering in the most
above, you are practicing a huge “don’t” that will result commonly-used email clients. That beautiful design
in a poor reputation score, high spam rates and a low could get most of your email caught in spam filters,
conversion rate. resulting in very poor deliverability.

…over-design. Test simple text-only versions of your

5. Create a Recognizable Corporate Brand emails against beautifully designed emails. It’s often the
Your brand is an important part of creating credibility and simple one that achieves the best results – if only because
familiarity with your email audience. It is important to ensure it wins in terms of its deliverability
that all mediums that represent your brand (including those
outside email) create a positive overall impression of the brand. 6. Validate and Test Your Email
Brand image is created by imagery and logos as well as the Rendering does not end with the email client. Most
type of service customers receive from your company, the rendering issues are due to poorly-constructed HTML. Some
“voice” you use in all messaging, and the way you fulfill on ISPs will filter mail into the spam folder purely because the
any promise you make to your prospects and customers. HTML is not coded properly.

Think of any major name brand. If the images were

stripped out of an email that company sent, would you Do…
still be able to identify the brand? If so, that company has  …always ensure your HTML is validated against current
created a recognizable corporate brand, and you can too. industry standards.

 …review the look of your emails across the top ISPs and
Do… Desktop clients.
 … develop HTML versions of your email that convey  …work with an HTML designer who is well-versed
your most important points without the use of back-
in the latest spam filters. Then, test your email code
ground images and be sure to always include a full link
and rendering.
to your site.

 …view how your HTML email design will render in Don’t…

the most commonly-used email clients such as Outlook
2007, gmail.com and yahoo.com. Keep in mind that …skip pre-deployment tests on text emails; they should
most ISPs have turned images “off” by default, so your be tested just as you would HTML emails. Just because
messages may render inappropriately. you sent email in a more viewable format (e.g. text ver-
sus HTML) does not mean it renders properly.
 …use your corporate “voice” when communicating
in email. This may include a tagline or other highly
recognizable messaging, but it may be as simple as
word choice.

Lyris, Inc. | 5858 Horton Street, Suite 270 | Emeryville CA 94608 USA | www.lyris.com
Toll free 888.GO.LYRIS (465.9747) | International calls 510.844.1600 | Fax 510.844.1598 | Customer support 888.LYRIS.CS (597.4727) or 571.730.5259
5 Deliverability Do’s & Don’ts Guide

7. Test Text vs. Rich Text vs. HTML Do…

Consider the implications of different email formats based on  …use the deliverability monitoring feature in your ESP
your customer preferences and behavior. (email service provider) to monitor every aspect of each
deployment. You’ll also want to monitor trends across
Text emails may outperform HTML. However, be sure to
different deployments to the same audience, with the
test various formats against different segments to find out
same offer and/or over a distinct period of time.
exactly which format works best with each segment of your
target audience.  …test variables to optimize deliverability. To help
determine the variable that causes changes in
deliverability, use only single-variable test cells, and
Do…
then read the deliverability results across cells. If you
 …test your content on a regular basis and ensure use of have truly isolated one variable, you’ll be able to
the most current standards in all of your communica- attribute that change in deliverability to something
tions. In some cases, sending emails in multi-part mime specific in the email. Over time, you’ll build up a
(MME) is enough – but not always. Multi-part emails factual knowledge base that can help you optimize
are sent in both text and HTML versions and, upon deliverability of future campaigns.
delivery, the email renders itself according to the setting
of the email client. Many believe that multi-part emails
can mitigate the risk of low deliverability. Don’t…
 …send text emails, when in doubt.  …get “too busy” to read the metrics. You can spend a
lot of time repeating avoidable mistakes if you skip the
analysis. If you don’t consistently monitor all aspects
Don’t…
of your email deliverability, you are missing out on data
 …forego testing your content on a regular basis. Test- that will help you be more efficient and effective with
ing allows you to determine how your emails will render your email marketing campaigns. And how else will you
and anticipate any deliverability issues before you deploy know if your email is reaching the Inbox or not?
your email. Thus, it is an important step and should not
be skipped.
9. Actively Manage your Database and your
8. Monitor the Delivery of Your Email Bounce Rate
Consistent monitoring of your campaigns for delivery to Active management of your database and your bounces can
the Inbox, spam and missing folders will provide you with reduce your email delivery costs and increase conversions.
valuable insight into the performance of your campaigns. A poorly managed database can quickly result in high bounce
rates, poor delivery rates and declining campaign perfor-
Over time you will begin to see trends that provide greater mance. Be sure to manage your datbase to avoid both soft and
insight into your overall performance and program metrics. And hard bounces.
you can develop new strategies with that information in hand.

Lyris, Inc. | 5858 Horton Street, Suite 270 | Emeryville CA 94608 USA | www.lyris.com
Toll free 888.GO.LYRIS (465.9747) | International calls 510.844.1600 | Fax 510.844.1598 | Customer support 888.LYRIS.CS (597.4727) or 571.730.5259
6 Deliverability Do’s & Don’ts Guide

A soft bounce is an email message that gets as far as the  …regularly monitor your hard and soft bounce rates -
recipient’s mail server (it recognizes the address) but is both soft & hard bounce notices can provide invaluable
bounced back undelivered before it gets to the intended information regarding the ISP’s treatment of your mail,
recipient. A soft bounce might occur because the recipi- and can illuminate important trends. For instance, if you
ent’s mailbox is full, the server is down or swamped with see that a large or growing number of your emails are be-
messages, the message is too large or the user has ing returned as a hard bounce that is a clue that there is a
abandoned the mailbox. Most email service providers will deliverability issue that needs to be investigated.
attempt to deliver the email regularly for a few days. If it is still
undelivered after several attempts, it becomes a hard bounce.  …track hard bounces by source so you can determine if
there is an issue with a specific domain or email client. If
A hard bounce is an email message that has been that’s the case you can make adjustments to your email
returned to the sender and is permanently undeliver- or your list accordingly.
able. Causes for a hard bounce include invalid addresses
(domain name doesn’t exist, typos, changed address, etc.)
Don’t…
or the email recipient’s mail server has blocked your server.
 …let your list grow stale or outdated. Lax management
Servers will also interpret bounces differently, meaning a of your list acquisition or maintenance process can result
soft bounce on one server may be classified as a hard bounce in sky high bounce rates in a hurry.
on another.
 …make opting out difficult. This is particularly critical
in B2B marketing. Opting out should be as simple as
Do… opting in; don’t be tempted to put in extra steps or to
 … keep your lists clean with regular maintenance and a send ‘just one more email’.
strict suppression/unsubscribe process - hygiene matters.

 …acquire and remove names responsibly to ensure your 10. Know & Obey the Law
URLs are not irreversibly damaged, and so deliverability Today, most countries have some form of online and email-
is not severely impacted by complaints and bad addresses. related legislation. You are required to follow and adopt these
laws when deploying an online marketing strategy or sending
 …be smart with appends, list rentals, blind/generic commercial email.
co-registration programs, affiliate programs and sponsor-
ships. Verify the name sources, vet source reputation and In the U.S., online markets are governed nationally by the
delivery, and verify addresses prior to adding them to CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which outlines the requirements that
your house-file. commercial email marketers must adopt in order to comply.

 …allow an “Unsubscribe from all” option – even if you

use specific campaign opt-outs.

Lyris, Inc. | 5858 Horton Street, Suite 270 | Emeryville CA 94608 USA | www.lyris.com
Toll free 888.GO.LYRIS (465.9747) | International calls 510.844.1600 | Fax 510.844.1598 | Customer support 888.LYRIS.CS (597.4727) or 571.730.5259
7 Deliverability Do’s & Don’ts Guide

Do… About Lyris

 …download and familiarize yourself with the CAN- Founded in 1994, Lyris Technologies provides easy-to-use,
SPAM Act of 2003: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/ advance software and services for email marketing and email
business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm delivery as well as other online marketing disciplines such
 …consult with your legal team or another qualified as search marketing and web analytics. Lyris’ solutions are
available as software or as hosted applications and are used by
resource to fully understand the legal requirements you
must adopt nationally - or internationally if your email agencies and more than 5,000 customers worldwide, from
is being deployed to addresses outside of the U.S Fortune 500 corporations to fast growing startups.

To find out more about Lyris’ products and services, please

Don’t… contact us at www.lyris.com.
 …ignore the law or think it doesn’t apply to you.
Ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense for
non-compliance. The law is rigorously enforced and
should be integrated into all campaign execution.

Summary
Email marketing still remains one of the most dynamic
and impactful marketing channels for reaching current and
potential customers. As we see the maturity of Web 2.0
initiatives, more and more companies will harness the
power of that medium because it’s quick to execute, relatively
inexpensive, highly segmentable against a ta get, and can result in
exceptional ROI.

Online marketers have only begun to scratch the

surface of the potential of email….and deliverability is a
major key to getting results from this important medium.

Lyris, Inc. | 5858 Horton Street, Suite 270 | Emeryville CA 94608 USA | www.lyris.com
Toll free 888.GO.LYRIS (465.9747) | International calls 510.844.1600 | Fax 510.844.1598 | Customer support 888.LYRIS.CS (597.4727) or 571.730.5259