Email Reputation and Engagement Is Content Dead… Email Reputation and Engagement

Presented by Tikit Ltd Jeff Hemming Product Manager, Marketing Solutions

Welcome Overview of how email reputation works and impacts your engagement efforts Traditionally something IT handles but with the growing adoption of email reputation metrics is something that marketers must be aware of Start the conversation at your firm

Why are we still talking about email? Gmail's recently announced change to support media queries Only a 9% sees email being redundant as a channel. (eConsultancy) MarketingSherpa (2015) - When asked “In which of the following ways, if any, would you prefer companies to communicate with you?” 72% of consumers chose email, by far the most popular response

Remains THE Communication Channel

… across all age groups

Does email reputation impact your engagement?

Yes! Low reputation means you email doesn’t get delivered Return Path stats show up to 25% of email does not reach the intended person’s inbox 83% of undelivered email is a result of poor email reputation Think about this in terms of effort spent vs content creation!

Email Reputation Email reputation is a scored rating (e.g., 85 out of 100) that applies to the email server sending the email. The scores is generated by a 3rd party organization.

What is Measured? Number of bounce backs Number of complaints Number of spam reports Number of times you send to ‘honey pots’ – email traps Technical - is you email server ‘valid’, i.e., does it properly present it self on the internet – technical consideration – SPF, DKIM/digital signature, reverse look ups

How is it Used? It is used by ISP’s – internet service providers They attempt, based on the score, to determine if the email is legitimate and if the score is above their thresholds then it gets passed on to the recipient.

3rd parties handle the scoring, and therefore, your reputation! How do you know? Measurement services Return Path ‘SenderScore’ (https://www.senderscore.org/) Marketing Sherpa (https://www.marketingsherpa.com) Sender Base (https://www.senderbase.org/) DYN (dyn.com/free-email-test/) MxToolBox (mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx) Remember 3rd parties handle the scoring, and therefore, your reputation!

We are Not in Control! IMPORTANT This is not something controlled by Marketing or even the firm. It is controlled by the ISP – those that run the internet.

What Do I Need to Do? Know and monitor your email reputation Get bounce backs emails off your lists It is no longer #11 on the top 10 things to do Give your contacts what they are interest in – only use opted in lists Send a consistent times and consistent volumes

MORE IMPORTANT THAN CONTENT Final Thoughts Email reputation is: a key factor in engagement Something that you can directly influence It takes time, so start today Most importantly- MORE IMPORTANT THAN CONTENT

Thank you Jeff Hemming Product Manager Tikit Limited Jeff.hemming@tikit.com @jeffahemming