Deliverability is the key measurement of email marketing success. Without it, no other measurement can be made. If your online behavior sends your email reputation down the tubes, it will impact deliverability. Here are three elements that should be monitored closely that can negatively affect your email reputation, and thus your deliverability.

Spam complaint rate. This is the percentage of people that complain to their mail service provider (ISP, ESP, IT department) about an email message being spam. It doesn’t matter if they originally signed themselves up to receive the email message, have a business relationship with you, or received the email from a friend; the first instinct for many people when they see a message they don’t like or want anymore is to label it as spam. Your goal is to get keep this complaint rate under 1%.

Some keys to keeping the complaint rate low:

• Confirm subscriptions
• Ask subscribers to whitelist the From email address when signing up
• Remind subscribers that they did indeed sign up, and offer them an easy way to unsubscribe
• Identify yourself clearly in the message
• Sign up to all available feedback loops.

In the mind of most email recipients, spam equals unwanted messages and it’s easy for them to hit the “mark as spam” button. If the message is marked as spam, the ISP will automatically tally that against your sender reputation regardless of whether it is legitimate email or truly unacceptable. Many ISPs offer a feedback loop where you can track the number of complaints your email message receives. AOL and MSN are examples of ISPs that manage essential feedback loops.

Failed email attempts. This is the percentage of emails that do not exist on the recipient servers. The addresses may no longer exist, or are considered dead by the ISP. If a large percentage of the emails fail, then the sending server is flagged and may be blacklisted. You can verify recipient interest by using click through and opened email tracking. If they are no longer responding or reading your email message, remove them from the list.

Keys to keeping failed email addresses to a minimum:

• Do not send to addresses that bounced or failed previously
• Do not send to unconfirmed email addresses
• Monitor the responsiveness of the recipients.

Failed email addresses are also known as bounces. A hard bounce is a permanent delivery failure. If an address hard bounces, it should be removed from the list immediately and never sent to again. A soft bounce is a little more forgiving, but if an address continually soft bounces, it is best to just let it go. Remote servers track how many failed emails are attempted to their domain. If you reach a certain percentage, delivery can be temporarily or permanently blocked.

It is important to monitor recipient responsiveness because old email addresses that are no longer used can be turned into spam traps. This can be especially troublesome if one of them happens to be on your list.

Blacklist monitoring. After receiving complaints and evaluating the number of failed email attempts, many ISPs will report the sender’s IP address to a black hole list. ISPs and business networks often help in the fight against spam by sharing black hole lists. Unlike federal law, if you end up on a black hole list, you are guilty until proven innocent. Plenty of time and energy can be spent proving to the list managers that you are a legitimate email marketer.

Unfortunately, you can also be guilty by association. If your Internet neighbor engages in spam, he could ruin email sending for the whole block. It is imperative to monitor the common black lists to ensure that your IP block is not listed. If you do appear on one or more black hole lists, it is imperative to get off the list as soon as possible.

Many black hole lists also put out spam traps to snare unscrupulous email harvesters. Spam traps are email addresses sitting in the clear on the Internet. These emails are bait for email harvesters and need to be avoided at all costs. The best way to avoid them is to send only to subscribers who confirm their subscriptions.

Conclusion

Like politics, even the appearance of impropriety can sully your reputation. Due to the vigilante nature of spam policing, anybody engaging in email marketing is at risk for receiving a tarnished email reputation. Carefully maintain your email reputation by using only email marketing best practices. – Arial Software

Configure the Subscribe Autoresponder

Create a new autoresponder with only one event. This event should have a 0 day delay, meaning a response will go out as soon as the subscribe email is received. Set the reply to address to another email account, not the one monitored by this autoresponder. In the email message for this event, instruct the recipient to confirm by clicking Reply in their email client. That email address to which they reply will be monitored by a second autoresponder where your primary events, like newsletters, are managed.

Configure the Main Autoresponder

The main autoresponder should be configured to listen to the reply to address configured in the subscribe autoresponder. This will ensure that the subscriber list for the second autoresponder is only found by confirming the initial message. The second autoresponder can be configured to send an event immediately confirming that the subscription was successful. A reminder of when they can expect the next message is a good idea with instructions on how to opt-out of the list. Remember, to manage opt-out requests, no alternate reply address should be used; replies will go to the main account being monitored.

Collect Additional Subscribers

Hopefully, your email messages are so good, that others will want to subscribe too, this is known as going viral. In your messages, simply add a line at the bottom of the message asking people who received a forwarded message to subscribe themselves by sending an email to the subscribe autoresponder email account; beginning the cycle over again.

More about : subscribe email

The first thing to keep in mind is that people are getting more and more used to marketers asking them to fill in their name and email address. Therefore, it’s simply not enough to just put up your opt-in form and hope for the best. You really do need to “sell” the opt-in, and one of the top ways to do it is with an ethical “bribe” or giveaway. Put together a free downloadable report around your niche topic and give it away to everyone that fills in their name and email address. This is an effective way to persuade them to take the time and fill in your opt-in form.

Your bribe doesn’t have to be a report. It can be a video, an audio interview with someone respected in your industry, or maybe even exclusive access to some protected part of your website. Whatever you offer, the key is to ensure that your giveaway gives good value to the subscriber. This does two things:

1. The user will start to form trust with you, which means that promotions and recommendations are more likely to be accepted.
2. If the content is solid, there’s a good chance that the user will help you spread the word by telling their friends about it.

Essentially, this giveaway is really a first impression of sorts, and as we all know, first impressions are very important. Basically, ensure that your giveaway is well done and offers real value to your subscribers.

The second point may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people don’t do this. Make sure that your opt-in box is in a highly visible location above the fold. Above the fold is the part of the screen that is visible before you have to move downwards. Studies show that people are more likely to notice your opt-in box if they don’t have to scroll down to see it. To make your opt-in box more obvious, try a shade that stands out from the rest of your website. You can even try to add arrows or other graphics to draw eyeballs to the opt-in box. Also, be sure to show the visitor your fabulous giveaway for opting in.

Finally, in your subscription box, always remember to point to or summarize your privacy policy. SPAM (or junk email) is a big problem, and many people are adverse to email marketing in fear of getting their email addresses distributed or sold.  In order to get people to opt-in, you need to be able to convince them that you are worthy of trust and that you will not share their email without express permission. By doing so, your opt-in rate will noticeably increase, so take the time to ease the minds of your visitors.

As long as email exists, email marketing is not going away. By putting these techniques to use, you can also start growing a targeted list of subscribers that are receptive to your own promotions.

Email marketing works like gangbusters if you can build a list targeted around a particular niche. Alex Goad, an expert of email and niche marketing, shows you how it’s done with his blockbuster Conquest Authority system. This program, originally named Google Conquest, was released in December of 2008, and has been churning out cash for members behind closed doors. But on June 16th, Alex is opening the floodgates once again and accepting new members for a very limited time. Conquest Authority is akin to Google Conquest 2.0 – an extensive Internet marketing system for churning out huge profits online. Learn how to reserve your spot with this Conquest Authority review and incredible Conquest Authority bonus package.

That’s when it happens…

You think you know everything there’s to know in regard to  subscriber lists, have followed the experts advice to the T and, nevertheless, you still weren’t able to make a net profit.

In reality, you could be losing money. You may be hiring copywriters to help you out or you may have more costs incurred — it all adds up! Even if you have a large list, but only a small percentage actually buy from you, you are still losing profit.

Unless you’re careful, you may not know that you’re losing cash until after a few months when you see your logs and sales totals. By that time it could be too late!

So, what went wrong? Why did others have success while you have failed?

The most common mistake is that you jumped right in. You chose a topic YOU imagined would be very in demand and would generate a pile of money.

This isn’t how it works. Simply because YOU believed the world would want your product does not insure the world will want to buy it. It’s not about you. Don’t forget, your prospect — no matter who he or she is — is always tuned-in to the same station : WII.FM (What’s In It For Me?)

Take heed to some more advice, if you have started an subscriber list and not had success, you can breathe life back into your failed undertaking. Here’s three simple ways to build a profitable subscriber list.

1) Get your future customers to trust you and your products first. Just having an opt-in list doesn’t elevate you to an expert and a believable marketer. Publish several articles first before you start to create an subscriber list. Editorialize about topics you know. Post to and participate in forums to learn about your future marketplace and about their wants and needs. Zero in on those specific things.

Provide expert advice and recommendations on other forums, also. When you feel that people trust you, you can start your own opt-in list. You can build a subscriber base as well with others you’ve met in these various locations. You can ask them to join your list. Relatives are always good subscribers. Include a link to your web page so that they can see what your business is all about. You can create wealth from home if you do your homework first.

The fact is, the money will only come in when prospects get to know you. They want a product or service that will be a good exchange for their money. People won’t purchase something on your say so if they don’t believe in you.

2) Offer a product or service that prospects want and need. Even though it may not be your long suit, if you provide a service and product that you have researched and learned about, you can be successful.

3) Make friends with other subscriber list marketers. They have the experience in marketing to a list. Experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you on the internet, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you know.

Experienced subscriber list builders can tell you what to do and — just as importantly — what not to do because they have gone through it firsthand. While different circumstances occur for different people, the basic concepts can still be very helpful.

Creating a profitable subscriber list don’t happen automatically. The best opt-in lists are built from scratch. Get help if need be. Make sure that your list is happy and satisfied and they will allow you to create wealth from home!

I know that there are so many articles and methods out there on email marketing that many times the points that are brought up get convoluted or watered down through time.  However, this

eMail Marketing Tip #3

Give it away for free! Always have something for nothing in your emails!

You love it, I love it, everybody loves something for free.  It makes no difference what you are giving away in your email list as long as it has something to do with your mailing list topic and is something that will interest your audience.

Some people that run huge mailing lists actually will ship products out to members, some just have a free download or simple program to give away, or you may even offer a free promo spot on your site for members who “respond” to what ever your most recent promotion may be.

The answer to most all email campaign problem is that you must stop trying to “take” and start trying to “give”.  Even if you do not make money from giving something away for free you will start building a repore with your readers.  This is more important than getting one sale out of 500 emails you send out.  If you can build a relationship with your readers and they trust you and know that you are always bringing information of “Value” to your messages, when you do want to send out a sales letter, your response rate will go through the roof!

I want you to think hard about this one.

When was the last time you received an email from a mailing list that you are subscribed to that you were Happy to get?  I mean really exited and happy about reading, so happy it made you go back and check out the senders website?

Well for most people this does not happen very often and that is the problem with 90% of every email campaign out there today.  If you can send messages that readers are eager and excited to open because they know that you are going to give them something of value and maybe even something free, they will read every message you send for years to come.

To Success,

Nick Simpson

So, you have went out and built a huge mailing list and you are not getting response from your messages. If this is an email marketing problem you are currently having you are probably asking yourself, “What now?”

Writing Good Titles

Many people think that using exclamation points! or dollar sings $$$ are a good way to attract the readers attention, on the contrary these are only good ways to get your message marked as spam.

Writing an interesting title to your email is very crucial to the over all process of effectively marketing with email, but you must understand how to write a good title does not always have to do with all the bells and whistles, but honest and intriguing titles.

“How I lost 100 Dollars”
“Why My Wife Is Mad At Me”
“Do You Remember When”

or some other simple but luring titles like these will get you much more results than filling the title with characters that draw the eye to the message. There are also many phrases that are commonly chosen as a spam email message by spam filters like:

“Get Rich”
“Viagra”
“Make Money”
“Urgent!”
“Penis Enlargement”
“Sex Pills”
“Loose Weight”

and many other terms that we have all seen way to much.

Writing a title should be a way to lead into the actual message you are going to be sending out.  For example if you title to your email is, “My Wife Is So Mad” the message you send out may start off “Because she doesn’t know if she wants a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, because I told her she can only get one!”

Now, that is an interesting lead into an email and probably one that will at least get looked at by the reader.  You will always want to have something real to tell your readers so don’t make yourself or your business out to be bigger than it is, this can only lead to problems down the road.

Sending messages weekly or daily is fine, as long as the subscriber to your mailing list was made aware of the frequency that you plan on sending them messages.  If you send out messages daily and the subscriber was only planing on getting one a week, this can be another good way to find your message in the junk bin of a, could be prospect.

Most people think that they are simply not getting results from their email marketing campaign, when in most cases they are simply not getting their emails read by the prospects and future customers that the messages are sent to.

Another thing that I wanted to bring up is that you cannot send messages out to email accounts that you did not acquire by the person signing up for your emails. By this I mean, you need to build you own list, if you buy a list or send to random addresses, don’t expect any positive results.

Writing clean, concise and spam filter friendly email messages is a skill that is easy to learn and follow once you understand the methods.  I hope this article proves to be a positive change for your business and it’s continued growth.

To Success,

Nick Simpson

I have had some rather successful email marketing campaigns and I wanted to take a short minute to explain what I believe makes some email marketing campaigns more successful than others.

Email Marketing Tip #1

Use your own list! This sounds like a given, but to many new marketers out there, it is not.

Paid eMail Lists

There are many places where you can buy a email list of thousands if not millions of email addresses and these are not a good place to start. You do not know how these email addresses were collected or if they are even real email addresses. If you start with a list that is not your own, you have no idea if these email addresses are from buyers or sellers, or what they are looking for.

Most likely they will not know your email address and will not respond to an email from a suspicious email address that they do not know and are not familiar with. When you are building your own list, the folks who register for your email marketing list will be able to set your email address as safe email so there spam filter does not block your message and this is something that you cannot control when you are using a paid or borrowed email marketing list.

If you start building your own email list you will know exactly what the people on your list are interested in because you know what they signed up for on your mailing list originally. This knowledge can raise your response rates by almost 20%. So make sure that you are “preaching to the choir” when you write your marketing email message to be sent. If people signed up for information on web site traffic, make sure you put something in the title of your message about this, because you already “know” that they are interested in this.

Safelist Mailer

There are a whole new breed of “traffic exchange” type sites, that call themselves “Safe List” sites. This means that they will let you send to a large list of email addresses that they have collected for free, in exchange you agree to receive the same emails from other members of the site. To me this is nothing less than a bare bones traffic exchange with out the front end like most have. You can get some results from these sites, but you must understand that these are not qualified leads at all, you will only be sending you message to other advertisers and this may not be the best method to getting some real results.

Start For Free

Building your own list is a must and we suggest that everybody start one today, if they don’t already have one. If you are not sure how to do this, please contact me and I can help. Don’t go out there and spend $20.00/month at getresponse or awebber there are many free solutions for email marketing these days and I suggest you start off with a free service to build your mailing list.

If you have a wordpress blog there is a great plugin to start building your list called “GTA AutoResponder” and I highly suggest using it as a free option to start building your own powerful email marketing list!

To Success,

Nick Simpson