Email Marketing RulesThe 7 Factors that Determine Email Deliverability
Posted on August 9, 2021
Poor email deliverability can be costly, causing a brand’s emails to end up in the spam folder or blocked entirely instead of reaching their subscribers. While deliverability can sometimes feel out of a business’s control, inbox placement is actually governed by seven factors, all of which are directly or indirectly under their control:
- Infrastructure
- Volume
- Content
- Bounces & Spam Traps
- Spam Complaints
- Engagement
- Reputation
For a discussion of each of these factors…
The Last Word on July 2021
Posted on August 6, 2021
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
The Real Impact of Email Tracking (Taxi for Email)
Screen Reader User Survey #9 Results (WebAIM)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Copy Experiment:
Don’t write a “call to action”
Write a “call to value” — Here’s what I mean…
[Get started] -> [Plan your finances]
[Sign up] -> [Grow your following]
[Try Now] -> [Launch your site]See the difference ?
Test it and see what works best for you.
— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) July 19, 2021
When you test your email in different email clients #emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/FnE7drUNjR
— Rodrigo Santander (@Ro_Santander) July 1, 2021
When you type ‘goo’ into the browser and the first result is https://t.co/9cQnZel2wr not Google – you know you’re an #EmailGeek – thanks @M_J_Robbins for this awesome resource!
— EmailJay (@emailjay_) July 2, 2021
I feel this in my soul#emailgeeks pic.twitter.com/zDJSzNHOla
— Avi Goldman (@theavigoldman) July 23, 2021
Noteworthy subject lines
Big Lots, 7/1 – We’re hiring part time! Check out the perks!
Williams Sonoma, 7/4 – 🎆 Let the cookout begin 🎆
Belk, 7/4 – No sparklers needed! ✨ Sparkle with 60% off fine jewelry
Tractor Supply Co., 7/1 – Get Ready for the 4th of July – Propane Refill Made Easy with the TSC App
Gap, 7/7 – Hours left! App users get HALF OFF sale
West Elm, 7/4 – Long weekend goal: Outdoor dining upgrade!
Belk, 7/3 – Who’s ready for vacay? 🙋 Pack up with 65% off luggage
Nordstrom, 7/ 4 – Easy + comfortable = these sandals
Big Lots, 7/16 – Save BIG on vacation must-haves!
MoMA Design Store, 7/14 – Going Somewhere?
Quiksilver, 7/8 – Win a trip to Hawaii
Saks Fifth Avenue, 7/25 – Our top 4 road trip hot spots & what to wear
Nordstrom Rack, 7/29 – The Wear to Work Shop: Up to 65% Off
Patagonia, 7/14 – Industrial hemp tees for a life outdoors
Eddie Bauer, 7/14 – Camping Made Easy 🏕️
Express, 7/26 – When it’s too hot to wear anything else 🌡️
Subway Restaurants, 7/26 – Introducing NEW Subway® Delivery.
Target, 7/8 – Get the kids ready for school early ✏️
T.J.MAXX, 7/8 – Send your students back in saving style 🎒
Gap, 7/28 – Backpacks that POP 💥✨
Uncommon Goods, 7/1 – ❤️We’ve given those high school history lessons an upgrade. 💙
Michaels, 7/14 – Clutter-free confirmed: You’ve got affordable classroom storage ideas!
Kohl’s, 7/14 – Get move-in ready with major back-to-college must-haves.
Burlington, 7/23 – Snag these deals on college campus essentials
Crate & Barrel, 7/14 – Lounge-worthy ways to reimagine your living room.
ModCloth, 7/22 – Houston, our 30% moon sale is ending! 🚀
Williams Sonoma, 7/12 – Five myths about cooking with cast iron
Williams Sonoma, 7/16 – Le Creuset or Staub: which one’s for you?
AutoZone, 7/12 – When should you replace your brakes?
Quiksilver, 7/28 – Sweat Is Just Salt Water
Express, 7/23 – Say 👋🏻 to ALOHAS vegan footwear
Wegmans, 7/20 – 5 Products on Our “Love It” List 😍
Gap Cyber, 7/29 – Babies in bear ears? Yes please!
Victoria’s Secret, 7/8 – Most loved on @vsbeauty
Lowe’s Home Improvement, 7/16 – Feel zen with Hannah – our latest curator.
IKEA, 7/26 – IKEA Family, be the first to crack the case 🔎
Uncommon Goods, 7/26 – ☠️ Pirates, puzzles, and you. An interactive experience awaits. ☠️
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Webbula: If You Could Only Use 2 Email Metrics
How to Optimize Web Modals and Boost Visitor Engagement
Drive Your Customer Loyalty Program with Automated Campaigns
The Advantages of Gender-Neutral Messaging
The 2 Social Contracts Being Broken by Apple’s New Privacy Protections
Posted on August 4, 2021
Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection will have broad implications for how brands operate their email marketing program. These changes are most disturbing because they disrupt norms that have been in place for more than a decade—norms that have served consumers well and kept marketers honest. I would go so far as to say that these norms amount to social contracts, which Apple is now putting marketers in danger of breaking.
The first social contract is between mailbox providers and marketers, and it is: “Send emails that recipients not only tolerate, but engage with—or your emails will be junked or blocked.”
The second social contract is between subscribers and marketers, and it is: “Send relevant emails at a reasonable cadence—or we’ll opt out.”
For a full discussion of each of these…
Dyspatch: 11 Quick Tips to Avoid the Email Spam Folder
Posted on August 3, 2021
There are no sneaky loopholes to trick the algorithms. But there are rules and tips you can use to hit the inbox and avoid the spam folder.
In this post, Dyspatch talks with me and three other email experts to assemble 11 quick, proven ways to send emails that always land in the inbox:
- Get permission
- Set expectations and follow through on them
- Send valuable emails
- Test and review your emails before sending
- Use confirmed opt-in (COI)
- Clean your email list
- Don’t believe the myth to avoid certain words
- Send emails regularly
- Remind subscribers of their subscription date
- Make it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe
- Ask subscribers to allowlist your email address
For details on accomplishing each of those and avoiding the spam folder…
Webbula: If You Could Only Use 2 Email Metrics
Posted on July 28, 2021
As part of their Ask the Experts series of video interviews, Webbula asked: “If you could only use two email metrics, which two would you use?”
I was happy to be among eight email experts selected to answer. I said return on investment (ROI) to help prove business justification, and subscriber lifetime value to help align email marketing with those that are being served. I explain in more detail in a 2-minute video that’s in the Webbula post.
The other experts said…
- Samantha Iodice: Read Rate, Click-to-Open Rate
- Andrew Kordek: Engagement Score, Link Level Reporting
- Gavin Laugenie: ROI, Click-Through Rate
- Randy Levy: ROI
- Chris Marriott: Clicks, Inbox Placement
- Kath Pay: Conversion Rate, Customer lifetime Value
- Tom Wozniak: Click Rate, Conversion Rate
To watch my video response, as well as theirs…
How to Optimize Web Modals and Boost Visitor Engagement
Posted on July 26, 2021
Popups, popovers, slide-ins, lightboxes, and other web modals are powerful because they demand attention. However, when they demand too much attention too loudly or especially too often, they can be incredibly annoying. That can lead to an increase in site abandonment, and even keep consumers from returning if they anticipate being harassed by modals every time they visit, says Oracle Maxymiser’s Chris De Marinis, Head of Website Optimization & Personalization Services at Oracle Marketing Consulting.
At Oracle, we optimize a lot of modals for a range of purposes—from promotional email signups to delivering discounts to promoting events. Always start by asking yourself: What goal am I trying to accomplish with my modal?
Once you have that question answered, determine how to best use the six aspects of web modals to accomplish your goal. These are the aspects that we focus our tests on:
- The Content of the Modal
- The Audience of the Modal
- What Triggers the Modal
- The Kind and Size of the Modal
- Dismissal Method
- The Trigger Frequency
For an exploration of each of those components…
Drive Your Customer Loyalty Program with Automated Campaigns
Posted on July 22, 2021
Just like email subscribers have their own distinct lifecycle that’s separate from the overall customer lifecycle, loyalty program members do too. They’re acquired by loyalty programs, get onboarded, need engagement as well as reengagement, and eventually transition out, usually passively.
Automated email, SMS, direct mail, and other marketing campaigns have a key role in ushering and supporting loyalty members through each of these stages to maximize the performance of a loyalty program. Oracle CrowdTwist’s Kunjisha Ahuja looks at how automated campaigns can help in several key stages, starting with…
The Advantages of Gender-Neutral Messaging
Posted on July 20, 2021
Gender-neutral marketing creates new possibilities for your customers, allowing them to view your products and services free of gender constraints. To put it plainly, gendered marketing reduces your addressable audience and alienates a growing number of consumers who prefer gender-neutral messaging, while gender-neutral marketing is more inclusive and more reflective of our changing society.
This is especially true for Generation Z, which are 40% of today’s consumers. For example, 48% of Gen Zers value brands that don’t classify items as male or female, according to McKinsey. And 25% of Gen Zers globally expect to change their gender at least once in their lifetimes, according to Reimagine Gender.
Don’t leave money on the table by marketing to outdated personas. More and more people are searching for gender neutral options. Increasingly, the future is non-binary and gender is a spectrum. This shift requires brands to evolve along with their customers. It also requires some soul searching to determine whether your marketing is falling into gender stereotypes.
To learn about six ways that you can avoid gender-limiting practices in your marketing efforts from Oracle Marketing Consulting’s Monica McClure…
Holiday Marketing Quarterly: Third Quarter 2021 Checklist
Posted on July 19, 2021
Oracle’s Holiday Marketing Quarterly gives B2C brands a quarter-by-quarter checklist for how to achieve more during the critical holiday season with their email marketing and other digital marketing channels. Along with guidance on planning, strategy, and prioritization, you’ll get advice and tips from some of Oracle Marketing Consulting’s more than 500 digital marketing experts.
The third quarter is focused on the final prep for the start of the holiday season. In this Holiday Marketing Quarterly, we’ll cover:
- Campaign Planning
- Workload Management
- Contingency Planning
- Audience Optimization
- Performance Monitoring Plans
- Solidifying Your MarTech Stack
For details on each of those areas…
>> Download the 17-page Third Quarter 2021 Holiday Marketing Quarterly
The Last Word on June 2021
Posted on July 6, 2021
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, and tweets you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & reports
Losing Open Tracking Will Not Kill Email (Martech Today)
BIMI: Images and Resolutions (The BIMI Group)
How the U.S. Got Boxed in on Privacy (Axios)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
Spotify is proof that people don’t care if you have their data when you use it to benefit THEM. https://t.co/6izsmb5Q3g pic.twitter.com/3Tgv6NoiVd
— Val Geisler (@lovevalgeisler) June 3, 2021
Ahhh email marketing, so close 🤦♀️ pic.twitter.com/VWyzaFUO6p
— Imogen Davies (@_ImogenDavies_) June 3, 2021
Driving brand loyalty comes down to using these classic drivers.
📚 are they learning something?
🌲 does your brand have a positive effect on health/wellbeing?
⛰️ can you help them overcome a challenge?
👪 can you make them feel like they belong?
💖 does it fit their values?— Kate Barrett eFocus (@eFocus_marketin) June 23, 2021
My kids school district emails are always just an email with a link to a web page that has a link to a pdf and I get angry EVERY TIME!
— 🅱🅴🆁🆃 (@bertlamb) June 4, 2021
Confession: Every time I write an email to say when I am available for a meeting, I always write “px” instead of “pm”. You can take the woman out of the code, but you can’t take the code out of the woman, I suppose. #emailgeeks
— Anne Tomlin (@pompeii79) June 23, 2021
Noteworthy subject lines
Neiman Marcus, 6/3 – Unique gifts for Dad
Bass Pro Shops, 6/10 – Let Dad know he’s oh-fish-ally the greatest with gear from Bass Pro Shops
Uncommon Goods, 6/13 – Father’s Day gifts for all kinds of fathers 🍺😂🚲
Kohl’s, 6/8 – The gifts every grad wants.
ModCloth, 6/6/ — Happy Pride Month! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
VS PINK, 6/7 – Meet Jari, our inspiration ✨
Crate & Barrel, 6/1 – Home is for comfort, acceptance and Pride
REI, 6/6 – Celebrate with Our Newest Pride Collection
West Elm, 6/16 – Pride Talk: People & places who inspire…
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/8 – Celebrate Pride: 3 leader on the power of love & community
Williams Sonoma, 6/1 – Williams Sonoma x The Trevor Project
West Elm, 6/15 – Obsessed! Our collab with REI Co-op
Bed Bath & Beyond, 6/2 – Backyard movie night? 🤩📽️ YESSS!!! Plus, your COUPON is inside.
VS PINK, 6/6 – Life’s a Beach
Express, 6/7 – Hit the coast in 🏖️-inspired looks
Neiman Marcus, 6/23 – Bright ideas for your summer wardrobe
Eddie Bauer, 6/6 – We’re Giving Away Camping Gear EVERY DAY This June 🏕️
Patagonia, 6/23 – The Untethered Kit—minimalist gear for the backcountry
Quiksilver, 6/6 – Help Save And Protect The Open Spaces You Love
Gap, 6/24 – Introducing the first ever Gap Home Collection
West Elm, 6/21 – Accents that make a statement
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/28 – Loungewear you can wear anywhere
Williams Sonoma, 6/15 – The office is open… Morning rush?
Burlington, 6/24 – Starting at $5.99: All your 4th of July party needs
Sears, 6/6 – Don’t pay all at once ⚠️ Quadpay lets you pay in 4 interest-free payments
Applebee’s Grill + Bar, 6/17 – Buy $50 gift card, get $10 bonus card
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/15 – Going to a wedding?
Victoria’s Secret, 6/8 – Matrimony Must-Haves
AutoZone, 6/7 – Want to wax your car? We’ll make it easy!
REI, 6/21 – What Gear Won Our Editors’ Choice Awards?
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Identifying ‘Real Opens’ Is Key to Adapting to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection
EEC: Apple’s Privacy Moves – Sky Falling or Time to Innovate?
Webbula: Promotional Tab vs. Primary Tab in Gmail
Webbula: The Industry’s Reaction to Apple’s New Privacy Protections
13 Ways Email Marketers Should Adapt to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection
Website Optimization Ideas to Explore: An Oracle Consulting Checklist
Pandemic Email Audience Changes: Managing the Risks and Opportunities
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week I’ll explore strategies and tactics, share tips and inspiration, and discuss industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Marketing Consulting
and
Author of the book
Email Marketing Rules
Features
