Direct marketers may think they've heard it all and know it all about getting in the inbox. But that knowledge of email deliverability is so last month.
Now it's about staying in the inbox.
With email service providers (ESPs) paying close attention to whether recipients actually want the messages they're getting, marketers have to step up engagement and reputation in order for deliverability to remain high.
Kara Trivunovic, senior director of strategic services Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of online marketing solutions for email and social media
StrongMail, points out one direct marketer she believes is doing a great job of getting recipients to do what now needs to happen. "Southwest Airlines … created an email campaign enticing readers to enter a sweepstakes to win travel awards. Each and every time the customer opened an email (and rendered images), they were entered in the sweepstakes. This program not only resulted in customers opening the emails, but it also educated and trained readers on enabling the images," she says.
Information about the newest email deliverability issues and advice on what direct marketers can do about those developments comes from Trivunovic and:
- Heather Bonura, director of brand strategy for Lititz, Pa.-based email marketing firm Listrak;
- Dennis Dayman, chief privacy and deliverability officer at Vienna, Va.-based marketing automation software and service provider Eloqua;
- Ellen DePasquale, regional development director, New York Metro Northeast, for Waltham, Mass.-based email marketing software provider Constant Contact;
- Debra Ellis, president of Asheville, N.C.-based Wilson & Ellis Consulting;
- Dave Lewis, chief marketing officer of Columbia, Md.-based marketing software provider Message Systems;
- John Murphy, president of Chicago-based email marketing software and services provider ReachMail;
- Tom Sather, director of professional services at New York-based email performance management company Return Path;
- Barbara Ulmi, head of marketing at Cape Town, South Africa-based email marketing software and service provider GraphicMail, which also has a Miami office;
- Kathleen Waldvogel, vice president of client services at San Diego-based email service provider BlueHornet Networks; and
- Michael Ward, founder and president of Golden, Colo.-based sales and marketing automation provider Net-Results.
1. The old rules still matter. Direct marketers who have these down pat can move on to Step 2. "The standard metrics of complaints, invalids and bounces still apply when analyzing the deliverability of emails," Waldvogel says.
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