The From Line
Sending, Managing & Monetizing Email
As you know, many ISPs include a "this is spam" button or link for a piece of email sent from a specific IP address. When clicked, it is considered a "complaint". A feedback loop (or complaint report) notes when a recipient clicks "this is spam" for one of your emails. In some cases the complaints are made directly to the hosting provider or ISP in which case Gold Lasso will alert you of these types of complaints.
These complaint reports track the feedback from your recipients and notify you when you are being flagged with SPAM or UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) complaints. These reports are extremely useful in the analysis of your lists and the content of your email communications as well as keeping up with compliancy and SPAM laws.
We have included three complaint reports listed under the Reporting Module in eLoop and will be adding more in the near future:
Windows Live Mail and MSN Hotmail:
This feedback loop called SNDS (Smart Network Data Services) measures the amount of mail sent to Windows Live Mail and MSN Hotmail and compares it to the number of SPAM complaints and SPAM traps to give you a score. Depending on your “Filter results” you may need to adjust your messages to help to bring your score down. These results do not necessarily mean that your messages were or were not delivered; it only gives an aggregate result on how it was scored in the Microsoft filtering.
For more information, please go to: https://postmaster.live.com/snds/FAQ.aspx
AOL/Netscape/AIM/MyeAddress:
This feedback loop tracks anytime a recipient hit’s the “this is spam” button within an AOL, Netscape, AOL Instant Messenger, or AOL My eAddress email message. In most cases the report will tell the recipient’s email address that complained so that it can be further investigated.
For more information, please go to: http://www.postmaster.aol.com/fbl/fblinfo.html
SpamCop:
This feedback loop is comprised of members that work with SpamCop to report IP addresses that are sending SPAM or UCE to recipient’s inboxes or to monitored spam traps. SpamCop helps to facilitate the submission of the complaints to the respective ISP’s or Web Hosts so that they can monitor the IP addresses that they own. SpamCop is run by IronPort Systems who is one of Gold Lasso’s primary MTA’s (Mail Transfer Agents.)
For more information, please go to: http://spamcop.net/help.shtml
As an added best practice, below are the instructions to setup an abuse@ email address for your email marketing efforts. An abuse account is important because a lot of times if a recipient wants to file a complaint about your correspondence or to be removed from your list, they may not bother with opting out and send a message to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . If the message bounces back as not existing when sent to your abuse@ account, it can sometime lead to the assumption that your marketing efforts are not legitimate and possibly SPAM. With the addition of an abuse@ address, it improves the legitimacy of your email marketing efforts as well as giving you another facet in the fight to healthier lists. This account should be checked regularly. Please make sure to respond promptly and courteously to your recipient and remove them from your list if applicable (in most cases it will be) to avoid any further issues.
* Choose “Account Settings” from the top navigation
* Choose “Reply Profile Settings” from the menu
* On the right hand side of the page click the “Add New” hyperlink
* Enter in the below information:
Name: Abuse
Is Default: False
Bounce to: abuse
Link URL: Keep this as the default
Password: Choose a password
Forward to: abuse@yourdomain (use the same domain as the Link URL above)
From Address: Use the same as the “Forward to” above
Reply to: Use the same as the “Forward to” above
**Click the “Save Button”**
To check your Abuse Mail, click the “Outbound Messaging” option on the top navigation menu and choose “Webmail.” Once the HORDE Webmail login comes up, use the information that you entered in above for the email address and password.
If you have any questions regarding SPAM complaints or the above instructions, please let us know at
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DomainKeys, OpenSPF and Sender ID – if you don’t know what these things are, find out fast! Mail server authentication, both from a marketing and corporate admin standpoint, will become a necessary defense in the spam war. It is estimated that only 30 percent of mail servers currently use these email authentication technologies, but this number will grow quickly as email marketers rush to take advantage of technology that will help distinguish actual email from spam.
Review and commit these terms and definitions to memory.
DomainKeys
DomainKeys is an e-mail authentication system designed to verify the domain of an email sender and evaluate the message integrity. Simply stated, it verifies the sender’s domain name, confirms the message hasn’t been altered somewhere along the line, matches the "from" address to the sender's domain name to sniff our forgeries, and traces the message back to the sender's domain name.
This particular form of email authentication is valuable because it positively identifies the sender’s domain, which makes domain-based blacklists and whitelists more effective. It also allows abusers to be identified more easily.
OpenSPF
A large problem in the complicated world of SPAM is the use of fake or forged sender addresses. The innocent marketers who fall victim to forgery pay heavy consequences for this stealthy activity. Sender Policy Framework (or SPF) protects the envelope sender address, which is used for the delivery of messages and is often not seen by the receiver.
Sender ID
Sender ID is another authentication tool that is built on the idea of verifying the domain name from which email messages are sent. It validates the origin of a message by checking the IP address of the sender against the owner of the sending domain. Using this tool requires that e-mail senders and domain owners publish or declare all of the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used by their outbound e-mail servers, or the IPs authorized to send e-mail on their behalf, in the Domain Name System (DNS).
Gold Lasso uses all three of these technologies already, but don’t be surprised if the FTC made these a mandatory practice as part of compliance with the CAN SPAM Act.
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Analyzing the results of an email campaign is an essential step of the marketing process. (We like to say that it closes the “loop” in the eLoop system.) Without looking at the number of successful transmissions, open rates, conversion rates, click-through rates, and other available metrics, it’s impossible to know what works and what doesn’t.
The mark of a successful campaign is the number of recipients that completed the action the message requested of them. The point of the message is to persuade them to buy a product or service, register for an event, or download an article. Linking the action requested to the number of people that completed gives the marketer a tangible result to measure.
The best place to start when evaluating a campaign is to look at a summary of metrics provided by the email service provider (ESP). These often include the metrics listed above. But, don’t rely only on these to give you a clear picture of the results because they can be misleading. Open rates, for example, don’t always translate into transactions. If the reader uses a preview pane, it will count as an “open” even though they may just delete the message.
One suggestion to analyze what readers respond to is to use the split campaigns feature available in eLoop. This feature allows marketers to split their audience and create different messages with unique subject lines, images, and content, but the same call to action. The results can help guide the development of future messages based on which message created the most significant results.
Another tip is to be wary of industry averages for metrics. The data may not come from a representative sample of industries and may only be a snapshot of one ESP’s client base. With that being said, here are some different statistics on email metrics from The EmailStatCenter (www.emailstatecenter.com). Please keep in mind that these stats are assuming a clean opt-in list.
Email marketing consultants consider an open rate of about 20% and a click-through rate of 4% to 5% to be a highly effective email campaign according to Internet Retailer (2006).
Nearly one-fifth of respondents reported that they do not know how their email marketing performs. (Internet Retailer, 2006)
18.7% don't know their open rates. (Internet Retailer, 2006)
16.7% don't know their click-through rates. (Internet Retailer, 2006)
23.3% don't know their conversion rates. (Internet Retailer, 2006)
29.6% don't know if their conversion rate has changed in the past year. (Internet Retailer, 2006)
Utilizing a professional company and/or their tools to test your image rendering across multiple email clients often helps to increase response up to as much as 87%. (Email Experience Council - Email Rendering Report, 2007)
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Email marketers have spent four years figuring out and complying with the CAN SPAM regulation of 2003 for their U.S. recipients. But, international laws also apply and some may have more reach than domestic laws. For example, the EU Privacy Directive specifies that you have a required opt-in for campaigns.
The best strategy is to understand the make up of your mailing database and educate your marketing team on the international laws.
Visit www.spamlaws.com for more information on international SPAM laws.
E-ssentials is brought to you by Gold Lasso Email Marketing
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Gold Lasso has enhanced your eLoop account with a new feature, the A/B/Z split campaign. A/B/Z split campaigns allow you to randomly split your list between two or more messages. The benefit of this new feature is that you can test the success of different elements of the campaign, such as subject lines, from lines, or other content, to find out which work best.
eLoop reports on each message and its respective portion of the list as a separate campaign. For example if you name your campaign Summer Vacation Specials and split your list between two messages; Warm Spots and Cool Spots, eLoop will report two separate campaigns.
Some other campaign elements that you might consider testing are:
- Layout, colors, or format - if your messages are usually text heavy, a message that is image heavy might inspire more click-throughs. If they are image heavy, you can test to see if a text message works better with recipients.
- The offer - if your email campaigns typically include a discount offer, A/B?Z split campaigns will allow you to change the offer to determine which draws the most response.
- Call to action - do your recipients respond better to a "buy now" link or a link that says, ?click here to learn more.? This new feature will allow you to find out.
- Landing page - landing pages are a key element to a campaign. Make the messages identical, but change the landing page for each recipient group to find out what content and design works best.
- Scheduling - Send the same message on different days and different times to determine which draws the best response.
To use A/B...Z Campaigns in eLoop mouse over Outbound Messaging, select Campaigns, and then select the tab titled, A/B/Z Campaigns.
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