The MarCom Strategist: A Free B2B Marketing E-Newsletter
August, 2008
Published by Dianna Huff
Volume 8, Number 08
Welcome!
As you read this, I'm preparing for my annual "unplugged" vacation -- no email and no computer for nine days. It's a bit of a struggle to not "check in" to see what the online world is doing. But once I start to relax, I relish the downtime. Going "off the grid" even in a limited way is definitely beneficial. Enjoy the remainder of summer!Regards,
Dianna Huff
Are Your B2B Emails Reaching Your Customers' Inboxes?
By Dianna Huff
Email deliverability is a hot topic -- and one I've been trying to get my arms around for months now. However, while you can find a great deal of information about how to ensure business-to-consumer (B2C) email gets delivered, it's harder to find information about business-to-business (B2B) email deliverability.
That's because most email service providers (ESPs) focus on working with the major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) -- the AOLs and Yahoos of the world due to just the sheer volume of email subscribers -- versus corporate IT departments who manage email servers for their organizations.
Luckily, I met Altaf Shaikh, founder and CEO of ListEngage, a Framingham, Massachusetts-based e-marketing company who focuses on working with B2B companies. He took the time to answer my questions about B2B email deliverability.
Dianna Huff: Altaf, if the larger ESPs are focused on getting mail through the consumer-type email services, what can B2B companies do to help ensure their mail gets through?
Altaf Shaikh: Dianna, that's a very good question. First off, B2C companies have certain methods for checking email deliverability by setting up seed lists via service providers or directly at AOL, MSN, Yahoo, etc.
For B2B however, it's much more fragmented because email goes to a business domain where you have no control; you can't set-up a seed list with IT departments who are the gatekeepers at business locations. It's one thing if an email bounces back (you can take certain steps in correcting or purging that email). The more serious problem is "blackholing" -- this is, the emails often go unreported, and mail that is considered sp*m neither gets delivered nor bounces, it just seems to disappear.
The first step you can take to help ensure deliverability is to use the services of an email service provider or email verification services such as Email Exam, Delivery Monitor, Pivotal Veracity or Return Path (links listed below) to see if your IP address has been blacklisted. If it is blacklisted by some big blacklists, then most likely your emails will not reach B2B domains as well.
DH: But what if you use an ESP to send out your marketing emails and e-newsletters? How do you know if their IP addresses aren't being blocked?
AS: Another good question. It's an ESP's job to ensure their IP addresses are clean and to work with ISPs to ensure email deliverability. Good ESPs are very serious about email deliverability and will make sure clients follow best practices. Good ESPs also have feedback loops set-up with major ISPs.
For example, let's say I'm a client of ExactTarget. I send out 5,000 emails and 58 people with AOL addresses hit the "Spam" button. AOL has a feedback loop established with ExactTarget and will communicate with them directly about this issue -- this way you don't have to deal directly with the major ISPs which is huge advantage.
Exact Target in turn will send you a message or Report Card stating the specific problems, which you can resolve with your list or follow best practices to fix those issues.
DH: So it sounds like the "offending" company is not automatically blacklisted.
AS: That's correct. What a feedback loop does is put an ESP between you and the ISP.
DH: Can you talk briefly about Sender Score?
AS: Sender Score is an email reputation service like Habeas. These companies will work with you to review your email programs and then categorize senders based on their email reputation. They vouch for companies with good email reputation and these endorsements can help you get through some corporate firewalls.
DH: What are some of the things you see companies doing wrong that can hinder deliverability?
AS: Other than checking to see if your IP address is on some major blacklists which we have talked about, here are some other things that can help your emails delivered.
The one thing I still see is bad formatting -- such as the use of CSS (cascading style sheets) within emails and HTML tags that haven't been closed. Most email clients allow only the use of inline CSS, and bad code or incorrect use of CSS can get you to a junk folder.
Companies also don't test or verify their emails before sending. For example, it's very easy to run your email though a Content Detective to make sure the content doesn't include triggers -- such as the multiple or frequent use of the word "Fr*e," using "click here" too many times, etc.
And the other big problem is that companies don't authenticate their emails. This is a bit technical, but basically, you add the IP address from where you are deploying your emails or your ESP's IP address to the DNS file of your website domain. The three email authentication schemes are SPF, SenderID and DomainKeys.
When you deploy email that isn't authenticated, the B2B companies look at it and say, "DH Communications is sending email but the sending IP address doesn't match DH Communications' website IP address" -- and that is because you're using Constant Contact to send your e-newsletter.
But, if you were to put Constant Contact's IP address or range of IP addresses into your DNS file, then in conjunction with email reputation, this will help your emails get delivered at B2B domains.
This is a bit of a technical step, so I recommend you work with your ESP and your Web hosting company to help you make these changes to your DNS file.
And lastly, you can monitor your email bounces. If you see that all emails for a particular domain are bouncing back or not being read, then you know you have a problem. You can contact that company's IT department directly or have your client work on your behalf to have your From name and IP address white-listed.
DH: Altaf, thank you for this great information.
You can learn more about B2B email deliverability, and ListEngage, at www.listengage.com or by calling 508-935-2275.
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