The Definition of Spam Is Changing

Over the past year, email professionals have witnessed a fundamental shift in the way ISPs and email providers accept and filter incoming mail.  Today, the focus is on delivering email that subscribers want, rather than just blocking unsolicited or malicious messages as evident by the upcoming changes to Hotmail.  To accommodate this new model of filtering, ISPs are utilizing more data about subscriber response when determining inbox eligibility.  In addition to the traditional metrics of spam complaints and unknown users, ISPs incorporate open and click data, time spent viewing an email, and deleting without opening when calculating sender reputation.

With this increase in filtering intelligence, the definition of spam has now changed.  From an ISP perspective, spam has become any email message determined to be unwanted by the end user, regardless of whether or not the email sender obtained opt-in consent.  Even if your list is double opt-in, if the majority of your subscribers are not positively engaged with your brand, you run the risk of being filtered by the ISPs.

Focus On Customer Value

So as a permission-based marketer, how do you avoid having your mail misclassified by the ISPs?  First, it is important to develop a program that provides ongoing value to your subscribers.  Leverage customer data and history to send relevant messages at the right time and stay away from the batch and blast mentality where one email fits all.  In addition, a welcome series, original content newsletters, and ongoing transactional messages are a great way to reinforce your brand and increase positive engagement from subscribers.

Bottom line, if you focus on what your subscribers want out of your email program, then deliverability and revenue usually take care of themselves.

We only just met. Now we’re talking engagement? I know the mere thought of commitment makes some of you break out in a rash. Understandably, engagement can be a pretty scary prospect. But take it from me, there’s nothing to fear. Now is the time to embrace engagement in a big way because engagement is the new black, the way of the jungle, the bee’s knees, and the cat’s meow all rolled into one. Engagement will be the single most important buzzword you hear in email marketing this year.

Here’s the skinny on engagement. Every day, the path to your customer’s inbox gets more and more narrow. ISPs are now not only looking at your reputation, mailing history and content before deciding to deliver to the inbox or the bulk folder, they now want your recipients to actually engage with your messages. Engagement in its simplest form means that when an email arrives in an inbox, it is actually opened and clicked. If messages aren’t engaging to their recipients, ISPs have started to help recipients out with inbox maintenance. You read that right. Messages that don’t generate clicks and opens will be filtered to the bulk or spam folders.

So what does this mean for senders? It means we’ve got to make ourselves presentable very quickly. Our reputation still matters. Our identity and infrastructure still matter. But, now we also have to be charming. You can put your best foot forward in email by following some of these best practices:

• Only send messages with a clear purpose and message — all email should have a clear and identifiable call to action
• Email templates should resemble your Web site to help with visual identification
• “From” names should clearly identify your company and not change
• Subject lines should clearly explain what your message is about

Commitment is good once you take the first step to building a long lasting relationship with your customers. Go out and get engaged!