We are rapidly approaching the busy holiday season.  With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, we will see a dramatic increase in the volume and frequency of e-mail programs.  In fact, whether you are a naughty or nice mailer you will probably be sending a lot more e-mail than usual between now and January.  The ISPs know this too.  Every year, around this time of the year, ISPs turn up their holiday filtering logic to eliminate as much spam, phishing, spoofing, and unwanted e-mail coming through their servers as they can. 

 

It is entirely possible that marketers who ordinarily don't have deliverability problems will over the next few weeks.   Building and maintaining a good IP reputation is particularly important this time of the year and directly correlates to inbox delivery, opens, clicks, and hitting revenue targets.  Here are a few suggestions for what you can do to maintain good IP reputation and subsequent delivery/deliverability metrics during the holiday season:

 

Address hygiene issues.  Make sure you are only mailing clean, deliverable e-mail addresses. High bounce rates and unknown users will destroy IP reputation.

 

Resist the temptation to mail to non-responsive customers.  People who have not opened, clicked, or responded in 12 or more months are probably no longer a relevant audience and are not buying anything you are selling.  They are also where complainers and spam traps are hiding.

 

Remember that most ISPs are now paying close attention to engagement metrics.  Mailing to non-responsive lists will hurt your IP reputation.

 

Reconfirm non-responsive list segments.  Don’t wait until Thanksgiving to speak to older segments of your lists for the first time since last Christmas.  Set up opt-in programs now to reconfirm your non-responders.  This will strengthen your list and safely remove people who no longer want your mail. 

 Any other tips you recommend? Share them with us in the comments!

 

Rick Buck, vice president, privacy/ISP relations, e-Dialog