A large database of valid email addresses is the ultimate goal of email marketers because valid email information in conjunction with relevant customer data contributes to achieving an overall relevant email marketing program.
Many reasons exist for why email addresses are deemed invalid over the course of the customer life cycle, including excessive bounces, spam complaints, incorrect entry during registration or a changed email address. Improving email marketing deliverability ensures that communications are delivered to the highest percentage of recipients as possible.
A key part of deliverability is obtaining current and accurate email addresses. Here are two key steps to take.
Validation at registration
Offering a subscription management page to recipients, and a sign-up page for potential recipients, gives the user both a feeling of control over personal information and a sense of security. Any interface that relies on the end user's accuracy contends with an element of human error. To account for this variable, a wide variety of validations to profile management forms can be applied. These validations essentially let the user know if he is doing something wrong.
One simple validation tactic -- perhaps the most important tactic -- is the use of a "Confirm Email" text field in your form. Directing the user to enter their email address a second time, and then functionally validating it against the original email field, will simply double check that the user did type in the correct address twice: once in the "Email" field and once again in the "Confirm Email" field.
This simple tactic can avoid the pitfall that commonly plagues email marketers: the "fat fingers syndrome." Carelessness or "fat fingers" is a common mistake and happens when users accidentally type the wrong key, for example an "a" when they mean "s" or "ns" instead of "sn."
But wait. What if the customer mistyped in the "Email" field and then used the copy/paste function to insert the data into the "Confirm" field to save time? We are all guilty of using the copy/paste function to save a couple of seconds in our day. To protect ourselves against this timesaver, you may need to add some additional JavaScript to your form that will restrict the use of the copy/paste functionality. The end user may initially view the restriction as a nuisance although it will only sting for a minute. Typing an email twice is a straightforward request and well worth the mild inconvenience.
It is key to keep in mind that obtaining correct information enables email marketers to reach customers with information that those customers have opted-in to receive. This additional validation step helps ensure data is "clean," email addresses are correct and messages will be received.
Recapture invalid email addresses
If your organization manages profile pages or requires logins to other areas of your website, these pages can present a valuable opportunity to recapture valid email data. In particular, if information has been otherwise flagged as incorrect, by requesting validation on an interior page, a user is forced to confirm data.
Adding this functionality at all login entry points -- for example, at reservation retrieval -- enables you to point the customer to another page to provide a valid email address. After submitting a confirmed and accurate email, the customer is then taken to the originally requested interior page.
Companies that are serious about obtaining valid email addresses have many opportunities to double check information to get updated email data. Investing in additional script to confirm email addresses or building extra pages for users to re-enter data is well worth the effort when it means improved email marketing deliverability.
Mike Shoenig is the email production manager for Premiere Global Services. Read full bio.
