According to a recent Return Path study, in the second half of 2011, global inbox placement rates were at a record low - 76.5 percent. In other words, nearly a quarter of all commercial emails never arrived in the inbox. Yikes! Here is the final part of a two-part webinar series on email deliverability presented by James Thompson of Infusionsoft, Tom Sather of Return Path, and DJ Waldow of Waldow Social.

1. The Path to the Inbox
PART II: September 19th, 2012

2. Hosted by:

3. Today’s Presenters
James Thompson, Email Systems Manager at
Infusionsoft
Tom Sather, Sr. Director of Email Research at Return
Path
DJ Waldow, Founder & CEO of Waldow Social

4. "The only all-in-one sales and
marketing built for small business.
Infusionsoft helps you get more
customers, grow revenue and get
more done in the time you have. "

5. Return Path
Making Email Better on a Global Scale
Over a Decade of Email Expertise
 Leader in Email Sampling of our clients
monitoring, deliverability, certification,
and anti-phishing solutions
 300+ dedicated Email professionals
 Offices in New York, Denver, San
Francisco, London, Paris, Hamburg, Sydn
ey, and Sao Paolo
Proven Data Infrastructure
 Over 2 billion inboxes comprise our
certification program
 26 million IPs scored daily
 Nearly 300 ESP partners globally
Delivering Measurable ROI
 Over 12 years of shaping and driving the
Email ecosystem
 Serving over 2,000 leading brands
across
retail/eCommerce, publishing, social
media and financial services sectors

6. waldow
SOCIAL

7. In Case You
Missed
Part I

8. Email
is
(not)
Dead

9. How many times have you…?

10. 77% of consumers prefer email over any
other channel for permission-based
promotional messages.

13. 5 Steps…
1. Sign up for all
feedback loops
2. Authenticate
3. Segment and
email your active
subscribers
4. Monitor
5. Get certified

14. Your Sender Reputation is
Based on 5 Factors:
1.Volume/Frequency
2.Unknown Users
3.Complaints
4.Infrastructure
5.Spam Traps

15. What Volume and Frequency Means to Your
Reputation
80
70
60
50
high
low
40
med
zero
30
20
10
0

16. Unknown Users

17. Continuing where we left off...

18. Your Sender Reputation is
based on 5 factors:
1.Volume/Frequency
2.Unknown Users
3.Complaints
4.Infrastructure
5.Spam Traps

19. Complaints
MARK AS SPAM

20. Complaints – Where to Find in Infusionsoft

21. Complaints – Why it Matters.
What’s a high complaint rate? When should I start to be concerned?
Infusionsoft Complaint Rates & Deliverability Correlation
January 2011 - Present

22. Feedback Loops
“A mechanism for ISPs and other mailbox
providers to funnel spam complaints from their
customers back to the sender of the message.”
(Return Path)
Great article on Feedback Loops (Return Path)

23. Feedback Loops
Source: Wikipedia

24. Your Sender Reputation is
based on 5 factors:
1.Volume/Frequency
2.Unknown Users
3.Complaints
4.Infrastructure
5.Spam Traps

25. Infrastructure

26. Infrastructure
?????

27. Your Sender Reputation is
based on 5 factors:
1.Volume/Frequency
2.Unknown Users
3.Complaints
4.Infrastructure
5.Spam Traps

28. Spam Traps
“A spam trap is an email address that does not
belong to an actual person but still receives
unsolicited bulk / commercial email.”
- Laura Atkins (read more)

29. Spam Traps – Some Questions
Q: If I have spam trap email addresses on my
list, does it mean I’m a spammer?
Q: Where can I obtain a list of spam trap addresses?
Q: What’s the best way to avoid getting spam trap
addresses on my email list?

30. Spam Traps – How Did I Get One (Many)?
The #1 reason you have spam
traps addresses on your email list is:
Poor list hygiene
&/or maintenance.

31. Spam Traps – How Did I Get One (Many)?
Bots

32. Spam Traps – How Did I Get One (Many)?
Purchased Lists

33. Spam Traps – How Did I Get One (Many)?
Old/Inactive Addresses

34. Spam Traps – How Do I Get Rid of Them?
• Address the root cause first: how are you getting them on your list?
• Confirm (double opt-in) all off-line collected recipients
• Use CAPTCHA on opt-in web-forms to prevent against bot-submission
• If it’s been greater than 90 days since your last email to a particular list or
segment, it’s too late.
• Win-back and reactivation campaign
• Use email intelligence to monitor and pinpoint traps for removal
• Do not buy, borrow, trade, unearth, inherit, or simply “find” inorganic email
lists
• Continually remove inactive and unengaged recipients

35. Spam Traps – Why They Matter.
• Spam Traps hurt your
(and your ESP’s) email
reputation
• IP, rDNS and domain
blacklistings
• Affects your inbox vs.
spam folder
placement ratios
• ESP may terminate
your services
• Domain-level blocks
carry with you from
ESP to ESP

36. Sender Reputation is based on
Volume/Frequency, Unknown
Users, Complaints, Infrastructure ,&
Spam Traps #deliverability

37. Authenticate!
[Download Guide]

38. Authenticate!
ESPs
read
this
stuff so
you
don’t
have to!

39. Set Up a Reverse DNS
Definition: What a given IP address resolves to – it’s domain name
Gmail gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com 173.194.76.27
Yahoo! mta5.am0.yahoodns.net 66.196.118.34
Hotmail mx1.hotmail.com 65.55.37.104

40. Prevent Subscribers From Marking Your
Email as Spam
Send
timely, targeted, VALU
ABLE emails

41. Get Permission Before Mailing

42. Get Permission Before Mailing

43. Get Permission Before Mailing

44. Get Permission Before Mailing

45. Keep Complaint Rates Under .1%

46. Keep Complaint Rates Under .1%
To put that number into perspective …
• A list of 1,000 can get 1 complaint.
• A list of 10,000 can get 10 complaints.
• A list of 100,000 can get 100 complaints.

47. Remove Non-existent Email Addresses
Immediately

48. TARGET: Keep Unknown User Rates Under 2%

49. TARGET: Keep Unknown User Rates Under 2%
1.Good senders
have Unknown
User rates less
than 2%.
2.Bad things
happen when
Unknown User
rates go above
5%

51. Only email active, opt-in subscribers.
Mailbox providers remove inactive accounts from sender reputation calculations to
make measurements more accurate.
Mailbox providers also employ individual-level engagement filtering to help with
graymail:
1. Messages read, then deleted 1. Semantics
2. Messages deleted without being 2. Starred mail
read 3. How it’s addressed
3. Messages replied to 4. Importance

52. Monitor Your Reputation Before Each
and Every Send
Create a Sender Score Account (it‘s FREE)

53. GOAL: Sender Score > 90

54. If you do all of this…

55. Inbox
delivery
Opens Click-
throughs
$$
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5nRRB_F7F-Q/UBEONf2oC3I/AAAAAAAAAVs/2dxYM8OaNFo/s1600/click-through-rate.jpg

56. Flickr: stollerdos

57. Want to Know More About
Return Path?
Call: 1-866-362 4577
Website:
http://www.returnpath.com/contact-
us
Email: rpinfo@returnpath.com
#SMRefs | @Infusionsoft

58. DJ Waldow
WaldowSocial.com
@djwaldow
waldowsocial.com/email ar.gy/rebelsguide

59. Want to Know More About
Infusionsoft?
Call: 866.800.0004 ext. 1
Demo:
Sales Team:
www.infusionsoft.com/products/sales-teams
Service Provider:
www.infusionsoft.com/products/service-providers
Online Marketers:
www.infusionsoft.com/products/online-marketers

60. Questions?
Tweet to @Infusionsoft, @returnpath and
@djwaldow and include #Deliverability.