Do your email marketing messages come across as, "Spam I am," only to be filtered out and never reach the intended targets? Seventeen percent of permission-based email messages get incorrectly blocked or filtered by the top 12 Internet service providers, according to a study released in August by Return Path, Inc.'s Assurance Services division. Even email communications addressed to prospects who have indicated they want to receive your messages may never see the light of day.
What can marketers do to insure that people who want to receive emails from their companies, can? Understanding some of the tactics spammers use -- and avoiding them -- and grasping the technical aspects of filtering out spam are essential to avoid being perceived in a negative light.
A little sensitivity goes a long way
Central to the problem of receiving spam is that spammers don't respect recipients' privacy, time or wishes. To avoid being perceived as spam, legitimate marketers should be sensitive to all three. In particular, marketers should avoid coming across like spam by avoiding all caps and extensive hype and sales jargon in the subject and content -- like overusing the words "free," "limited time offer" and so on.
Simultaneously, legitimate email marketers need to put in place policies and procedures that respect recipients' rights. Marketers should:
- Ensure the security of customer data.
- Not over-send.
- Require double opt-in registration.
- Never send to non-validated lists.
- Put in place simple opt-out processes.
These steps will help to ensure that when the message does get through, it will less likely be perceived as spam.
Working within the parameters of the spam filters
To learn how to operate in a spam filter environment, marketers need to understand what types of filters are out there.
Spam filters aim to weed out unwanted emails. They typically reside in two locations: server-side -- on the mail server or ISP -- and client-side -- on the intended recipient's computer. Four categories of filters exist (each can reside on the server or the client side): white list, black list, content and hybrids.
White list filters
White list filters assume that all email is bad and check each message coming in against a list of senders that are "approved." Many white list filters have a challenge-response mechanism that sends an automated message to an unapproved sender that asks, in essence, "Why should I read this piece of email?" The sender, if it is an automated sending program, will not likely respond, therefore the mail remains filtered. However, people who choose to respond and indicate why the email should be received typically are sending legitimate one-to-one email and are let past the filter.
Getting on an email recipient's white list of approved email addresses can be simple -- just ask. When a prospect signs up to receive an email from you, send an email back to them to confirm their opt-in. At that time, ask the recipient to add your domain or address to their white list. Many times, it is as simple for them to add your email address as to add a contact in their address book. Other times, they may need to tell their systems administrator to add your email address or domain to the corporate white list. Either way, it requires a little effort on your prospects' part, but ensures that they will be able read your email messages when they arrive.
To handle the challenge-response mechanism, ensure that your email is coming from a legitimate email address that is managed by a human who can answer requests from software filters. That way, individuals can indicate that your messages should be received by the intended recipients.
Black list filters
Black list filters assume all email coming to it is good, and check email against a list of known spammers. If the email coming in matches a blacklisted provider, then the email remains filtered.
Black lists can be avoided by practicing good, safe email policies. Still, even the smartest, most sensitive email marketer can get on a black list. In some cases, all it takes is for one user to complain. Some black lists are difficult to get off of, but if you start building good relationships with the major ISPs you should have a way to get off those lists, provided that you can prove that you have up-front opt-out policies, have documented confirmed opt-in of your list entries and are protecting the rights of the ISPs' customers.
Hygiene is also essential in avoiding black lists. Marketers should keep email lists clean by removing bad or bounced addresses, typos and spam addresses. A common practice of spammers is to send mass email campaigns to made-up addresses (typically at the major email providers like AOL and Hotmail) to find those that are received and valid. Those ISPs pick up on the undeliverables and stop the remaining messages from going through. So, if you start sending to a lot of undeliverables at once to the same ISP, you can get blacklisted at that ISP.
Content filters
Content filters are often the most difficult for marketers to deal with because they are the most touchy and non-standard. Content filters deny email containing elements that the filter doesn't like. Sometimes that may be words, such as "free" or "win." Sometimes it may be formatting such as all capital letters or non-standard colors. And, some filters will look at header information to ensure that the email headers contain legitimate and accurate information, rather than forged message code.
To avoid being picked up by content filters, marketers must employ a middle ground between the usual promotional advertising-speak and unusual tactics, such as using images in place of text or non-standard characters. This requires that marketers be more creative in getting messages across. Using too many non-standard characters, images and advertising-speak may get messages filtered.
"To," "from" and "subject" line fields are important. Each of these needs to accurately match the content in the body of the message. Some content filters also check that the content and tone of the subject line matches that of the body.
Hybrid filters
There are all sorts of companies developing hybrids of the above, plus there are people that employ one type of filter on the server, with another on their client. Another popular, but less arbitrary content filter is Bayesian filtering that, like TiVo, learns over time what the user does and does not want to receive based on the actions he or she takes on the email received. Bayesian filtering builds a black list, plus identifies spam content that is unique to the user.
Both content and hybrid filters are more difficult to avoid due to the inconsistency among providers. The best way to avoid them is to be upfront about your intent and respectful of recipients' rights. With most filtering, it is up to the recipient to keep you our lose you. If you are providing valuable information, you will stay on their white list.
What does this all mean?
With all of the complexities and technical details of email filters, it is easy to get bogged down in the details. Keep in mind that, as a marketer, you are not in the business of avoiding spam filters -- that is what spammers are trying to do day in and day out.
However, you will need to understand them to get to the prospects and customers that want to receive what you are sending. The fact that they have signed up means that they are likely consumers of your product or service. And once the message does get there, prospects are more likely to pay attention. Data from DoubleClick show that open rates for permission-based email marketing rose to 38.8 percent, up from 37.6 percent for the same period a year earlier, and click-through rates increased to 8.3 percent, compared with 7.5 percent last year.
Besides filtering out unwanted email for your recipients, marketers can rest assured that the filters are out there eliminating some of the noise so you can speak clearly with your customer.
Reid Carr is the President and Strategy Director for Red Door Interactive in charge of helping organizations, such as Sharp Systems of America, San Diego Convention Center, The National Brain Tumor Foundation, Hawthorne, SkinMedica and others, to lay out strategies for their online Web presence and interactive marketing activities.
