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  &lt;p&gt;Deliverability problems are most commonly the failure of emails to be delivered to the inbox, and when received distortion of messages when received because of image blocking and more.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Charges of scare mongering have been levelled at the &lt;a href="http://www.dma.org.uk/content/home.asp"&gt;DMA&lt;/a&gt;, ESPs and deliverability firms such as &lt;a href="http://www.returnpath.net/"&gt;Return Path&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://www.goodmailsystems.com/"&gt;Goodmail &lt;/a&gt;and &lt;a href="http://www.habeas.com/"&gt;Habeas&lt;/a&gt;.&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;These organisations stand to gain the most from investments in deliverability, but the research finally shows how much marketers may gain too.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-industry-census-2008"&gt;E-consultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census &lt;/a&gt;shows some interesting findings.&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Deliverability is wasting many marketers' budgets&lt;/strong&gt;: email marketers estimated they were losing 11% of their budget and agencies put this figure higher at 14%.&#160; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;A blind spot for many&lt;/strong&gt;: 60% of online marketers say they don't need to improve deliverability, yet 80% cannot measure how much they are losing through poor deliverability.&#160;Without measurement techniques it is difficult to justify and quantify benefit or risk. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Adding to a sizeable sum&lt;/strong&gt;: the value of sales generated by direct marketing is&#160;running at &#163;125billion, and of this total online sales via the internet is reaching &#163;52billion (source: DMA Economic Impact Analysis 2006). Assuming email marketing contributes around 10% of the latter figure, the real monetary loss of poor delivery that this equates to is significant. &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;There are a number of proven methods to understand your deliverability rate - the first and most important step is to investigate your present sender reputation and the factors affecting it.&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;You also need to set your own benchmarks for open rates, click rates and conversions. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;It's a complex task.&#160;Deliverability strategies can lead to changes in data collection, targeting strategies, message design and campaign planning which is why we've built a team of &lt;a href="http://www.adestra.co.uk/deliverability"&gt;deliverability specialists &lt;/a&gt;who help both our clients and those email marketers broadcasting their emails through other means.&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Your sender reputation is influenced by the feedback from recipients who have received your communications before.&#160; If they have complained to either their web mail hosts or a blacklisting firm, this will count against you.&#160;&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Your complaint rates are affected by:&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Data Management&lt;/strong&gt;: Is the way in which you capture, clean and suppress your email contacts encouraging low complaint rates? &lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Campaign metrics&lt;/strong&gt;: what are your average bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates? &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/ul&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;There are also other factors that affect deliverability:&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Technical set-up&lt;/strong&gt;: is your sending server configured for bulk sending?&#160; Are appropriate accreditation and certification schemes in place?&#160; Is your IP address and domain strategy building you a positive reputation? &lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Campaigns&lt;/strong&gt;: how are the major spam companies handling your messages and how do the main email receivers display your designs? &lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Monitoring&lt;/strong&gt;: are you monitoring the major black lists and spam organisations to ensure any problems are picked up? &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;strong&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Conducting an audit helps you understand your deliverability situation, and build an action plan.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;One final thought.&#160; If you can achieve an uplift of 11% by preventing deliverability problems, it should be easy to estimate the maximum amount to spend.&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;If you take your revenue from email marketing (e.g. &#163;100k), and increase it by 11% (e.g. to &#163;111k) you'll have incremental revenue.&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Then, dependent on your business model, if you take the profit margin (e.g. 35%) from these incremental sales (e.g. &#163;11k), you'll have a maximum figure to invest on deliverability (35% * &#163;11k = &#163;3,850).&#160; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;As long as your investment is less than this figure, then it is a good commercial decision.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;
    &lt;em&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;Henry Hyder-Smith is Managing Director of &lt;/strong&gt;
    &lt;/em&gt;
    &lt;a href="http://www.adestra.co.uk"&gt;
      &lt;em&gt;
        &lt;strong&gt;Adestra&lt;/strong&gt;
      &lt;/em&gt;
    &lt;/a&gt;
    &lt;em&gt;
      &lt;strong&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;
    &lt;/em&gt;
  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;</body-formatted>
  <body-unformatted>&lt;FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;Deliverability problems are most commonly the failure of emails to be delivered to the inbox, and when received distortion of messages when received because of image blocking and more.&lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;Charges of scare mongering have been levelled at the &lt;Link URL="http://www.dma.org.uk/content/home.asp" Window="Self"&gt;DMA&lt;/Link&gt;, ESPs and deliverability firms such as &lt;Link URL="http://www.returnpath.net/" Window="Self"&gt;Return Path&lt;/Link&gt;, &lt;Link URL="http://www.goodmailsystems.com/" Window="Self"&gt;Goodmail &lt;/Link&gt;and &lt;Link URL="http://www.habeas.com/" Window="Self"&gt;Habeas&lt;/Link&gt;.&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;These organisations stand to gain the most from investments in deliverability, but the research finally shows how much marketers may gain too.&lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;The &lt;Link URL="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-industry-census-2008" Window="Self"&gt;E-consultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census &lt;/Link&gt;shows some interesting findings.&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;List Type="Disc"&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Deliverability is wasting many marketers' budgets&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: email marketers estimated they were losing 11% of their budget and agencies put this figure higher at 14%.&#160; &lt;LineBreak /&gt;&lt;LineBreak /&gt;&lt;/ListItem&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;A blind spot for many&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: 60% of online marketers say they don't need to improve deliverability, yet 80% cannot measure how much they are losing through poor deliverability.&#160;Without measurement techniques it is difficult to justify and quantify benefit or risk. &lt;LineBreak /&gt;&lt;LineBreak /&gt;&lt;/ListItem&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Adding to a sizeable sum&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: the value of sales generated by direct marketing is&#160;running at &#163;125billion, and of this total online sales via the internet is reaching &#163;52billion (source: DMA Economic Impact Analysis 2006). Assuming email marketing contributes around 10% of the latter figure, the real monetary loss of poor delivery that this equates to is significant. &lt;/ListItem&gt;
  &lt;/List&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;There are a number of proven methods to understand your deliverability rate - the first and most important step is to investigate your present sender reputation and the factors affecting it.&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;You also need to set your own benchmarks for open rates, click rates and conversions. &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;It's a complex task.&#160;Deliverability strategies can lead to changes in data collection, targeting strategies, message design and campaign planning which is why we've built a team of &lt;Link URL="http://www.adestra.co.uk/deliverability" Window="Self"&gt;deliverability specialists &lt;/Link&gt;who help both our clients and those email marketers broadcasting their emails through other means.&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;Your sender reputation is influenced by the feedback from recipients who have received your communications before.&#160; If they have complained to either their web mail hosts or a blacklisting firm, this will count against you.&#160;&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;Your complaint rates are affected by:&lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;List Type="Disc"&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Data Management&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: Is the way in which you capture, clean and suppress your email contacts encouraging low complaint rates? &lt;/ListItem&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Campaign metrics&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: what are your average bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates? &lt;/ListItem&gt;
  &lt;/List&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;There are also other factors that affect deliverability:&lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;List Type="Disc"&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Technical set-up&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: is your sending server configured for bulk sending?&#160; Are appropriate accreditation and certification schemes in place?&#160; Is your IP address and domain strategy building you a positive reputation? &lt;/ListItem&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Campaigns&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: how are the major spam companies handling your messages and how do the main email receivers display your designs? &lt;Emphasis&gt;&lt;/Emphasis&gt;&lt;/ListItem&gt;
    &lt;ListItem&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Monitoring&lt;/Emphasis&gt;: are you monitoring the major black lists and spam organisations to ensure any problems are picked up? &lt;/ListItem&gt;
  &lt;/List&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;Conducting an audit helps you understand your deliverability situation, and build an action plan.&lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;One final thought.&#160; If you can achieve an uplift of 11% by preventing deliverability problems, it should be easy to estimate the maximum amount to spend.&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;If you take your revenue from email marketing (e.g. &#163;100k), and increase it by 11% (e.g. to &#163;111k) you'll have incremental revenue.&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;Then, dependent on your business model, if you take the profit margin (e.g. 35%) from these incremental sales (e.g. &#163;11k), you'll have a maximum figure to invest on deliverability (35% * &#163;11k = &#163;3,850).&#160; &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;As long as your investment is less than this figure, then it is a good commercial decision.&lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;
    &lt;Quote&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;Henry Hyder-Smith is Managing Director of &lt;/Emphasis&gt;
    &lt;/Quote&gt;
    &lt;Link URL="http://www.adestra.co.uk" Window="Self"&gt;
      &lt;Quote&gt;
        &lt;Emphasis&gt;Adestra&lt;/Emphasis&gt;
      &lt;/Quote&gt;
    &lt;/Link&gt;
    &lt;Quote&gt;
      &lt;Emphasis&gt;.&lt;/Emphasis&gt;
    &lt;/Quote&gt;
  &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
&lt;/FormattedContent&gt;</body-unformatted>
  <created-at type="datetime">2008-03-27T17:27:00+00:00</created-at>
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  <extract-formatted>
  &lt;p&gt;
    &lt;strong&gt;The &lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-industry-census-2008"&gt;E-consultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census&lt;/a&gt; of over 600 email marketers highlights the real cost of deliverability for the first time - marketers are wasting around 11% of their budget.&#160; &lt;/strong&gt;
  &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;This entry investigates what they can do about it.&lt;/p&gt;
</extract-formatted>
  <extract-unformatted>&lt;FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;
    &lt;Emphasis&gt;The &lt;Link URL="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-industry-census-2008" Window="Self"&gt;E-consultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census&lt;/Link&gt; of over 600 email marketers highlights the real cost of deliverability for the first time - marketers are wasting around 11% of their budget.&#160; &lt;/Emphasis&gt;
  &lt;/Paragraph&gt;
  &lt;Paragraph&gt;This entry investigates what they can do about it.&lt;/Paragraph&gt;
&lt;/FormattedContent&gt;</extract-unformatted>
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  <learn-more-formatted>&lt;p&gt;For further information about email marketing, download Econsultancy's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-census"&gt;Email Census&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (based on a survey of digital marketers) and the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-buyers-guide"&gt;Email Marketing Platforms Buyer's Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (particularly relevant for the UK market). See also the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-statistics"&gt;Email Statistics Compendium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</learn-more-formatted>
  <learn-more-unformatted>&lt;p&gt;For further information about email marketing, download Econsultancy's &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-census"&gt;Email Census&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (based on a survey of digital marketers) and the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-buyers-guide"&gt;Email Marketing Platforms Buyer's Guide&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; (particularly relevant for the UK market). See also the &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://econsultancy.com/reports/email-marketing-statistics"&gt;Email Statistics Compendium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</learn-more-unformatted>
  <legacy-article-id type="integer">365330</legacy-article-id>
  <name>Deliverability is costing you money</name>
  <private type="boolean">false</private>
  <published-at type="datetime">2008-03-28T08:23:00+00:00</published-at>
  <slug>deliverability-is-costing-you-money</slug>
  <tweetbacks-updated-at type="datetime">2009-04-28T23:07:36+01:00</tweetbacks-updated-at>
  <unpublished-at type="datetime" nil="true"></unpublished-at>
  <updated-at type="datetime">2009-10-13T09:34:59+01:00</updated-at>
  <views-count type="integer">449</views-count>
</blog-post>
