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Sunday, September 19 2010 23:00 |
 It's that time of year again – when marketers start looking ahead to the fall/holiday retail season. For email marketers - especially in industries like travel, online retail, hospitality, education, sports and tourism - this is when email sending volumes spike.
And this year, to boost sales and the sluggish economy, we may see an even more aggressive push with email marketing. At the same time, however, it has become apparent that Internet service providers (ISPs) are tightening the gates to inbox delivery, focusing even more on user activity to determine email sender reputation. How can email marketers prevent their messages from getting lost in seasonal email traffic?
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Relevancy. Start collecting more information about your email subscribers now so you can send them targeted and compelling messages or offers that will stand out in their inbox. You can collect information by creating a preference or profile update page where subscribers can proactively choose the type of messages they want to receive.
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Timing. Frequency of messages sent will help you maintain a relationship with your email subscribers. Be careful to not over-send, annoy and potentially ruin your relationship with them. Consider implementing a welcome program if you don’t have one already.
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Double Opt-In. Maintaining a double opt-in process in your email program will ensure that your subscribers have confirmed that they want to hear from you. Though your opt-in rate may not be as high, the quality of your email list will increase and you can expect these subscribers to be more engaged.
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Authentication. Always authenticate your email. More ISPs are determining inbox deliverability by taking into account whether senders are implementing SPF/Domain Keys/DKIM.
Though there is no such thing as guaranteed inbox delivery, implementing any or all of these email marketing best practices can make all the difference during the upcoming retail season.
For more holiday email marketing tips read:
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