200 Posts | the "Thank You" addition

Today I reach 200 posts, and with this milestone I wanted to just look back over the brief history of EmailKarma.net with some stats from the last nine months:

About you the readers:

• Averaging page views to 1,350+ (highest month January with 2,600)
• Averaging 900+ visits a month (highest month January with 1,650)
• Averaging Email Subscribers: 95
• Readers from over 88 Countries/territories
• Furthest visit from Australia, a distance of 15,045 Kilometers

Most popular articles read and linked to:

• SenderScore Blacklist Follow-up
• The tools you need...
• Best Day of the week...
• ISP blog roundup
• SenderScore Whitelist or Blacklist?
• MSFT Live Mail We ARE Listening

Thanks to all of the readers, for helping with the success of EmailKarma.net, and for your continued support, questions, comments and inbound links - Mark, Tamara, Laura (and all the others - too many to list).

Remember you can find EmailKarma.net on Facebook and Twitter.

Return Path | Feedback loop updates

I'm not sure how I missed this one...

Last month while Return Path was announcing the addition of the Comcast feedback loop to their hosted solutions they slipped in a small announcement for the addition for Mailtrust's addition to their hosted FBL solutions as well (4th paragraph from the bottom).

Bringing the total for Return Path hosted FBLs to three; Comcast, USA.net, and Mailtrust.

CAN-SPAM Rule Clarification

Recently the FTC clarified a number of rules within CAN-SPAM (pdf).

Here is my understanding of these changes (please note this is not legal advice).

There are two major changes to note within these clarifications:

• Changes to the definition of a "sender." The new rule enforces the idea of a single designated sender, for messages with multiple advertisers. The designated sender is defined as the entity in the "From" line of the communication, clarifying the need to have multiple opt-outs within each messages. It also clarifies that only that designated sender need to provide an opt-out link, a valid postal address to satisfying the usual requirements within the Act (ex: subject line, headers, etc).
• Changes to opt-out requirements. The new rule stipulates the amount of complexity and information needed to be supplied by the recipient during an opt-out request. Most importantly, the opt-out process need only require that the recipient provide only their email address to unsubscribe. The opt-out process must not consist of more than a single webpage or an email reply from the recipient.

Minor Clarifications from the FTC include the following;

• A P.O. box or private mailbox has been confirmed as acceptable under the "valid postal address" requirement.
• The definition of "person" has been clarified to include the legal definition of "person," and expanded to include; corporations, groups, partnerships, nonprofits, and associations.

An Act Concerning Unsolicated Comercial Electronic Messages | Bill S-235

The Senate of Canada is currently reviewing the Bill S-235, referred to as the Anti-Spam Act, presented to the senate by Senator Goldstein. This is somewhat similar to CAN-SPAM except for the fact that this is an OPT-IN email marketing law (PIPEDA also deals with opt-in for PII), and the US law is focused on opt-out.

The most important information about bill S-235 deals with how it would make the sending of Unsolicited commercial email (UCE) messages to Canadian subscribers illegal. Consent must be granted Prior to sending email communications to your subscribers.

Illegal activities under S-235:

• Sending UCE
  
• Address Harvesting
• Phishing
  
• Inaccurate subject lines

While the mandatory pieces of information that will be required are;

• Valid contact information
  
• and a functional unsubscribe facility

It is important to note that, S-235 also creates serious penalties for people caught spamming including; up to 5 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million for repeat offenders.

This bill also empowers ISPs to take the necessary actions to effectively block spam messages and allow Canadians to seek damages from spammers in court.

Monitor the status of this bill, LEGISinfo.

In a later post I'll discuss some of the exemptions and items I feel need to be reviewed by Senator Goldstein.

Habeas Study Confirms Strong, Ongoing Demand for Email

Yesterday Habeas and Ipsos, announced the finding of their 2008 email study which finds that there is still a very strong preference for email and the expectation that this will continue to be the case for several more years.

Some very interesting findings include that the majority of people trust companies that use opt-in email, have the ability to customize communications and can reliably get messages delivered. While having a strong privacy practice gets you bonus points, many people still believe that two-thirds of companies are still sharing their data with third parties.

Report Highlights include:

Email's Vitality

• 67% of respondents prefer email over other online vehicles
• Consumer opinion of the future importance of email registered far above future expectations for other online channels.
  

Consumer Concerns Regarding Online Threats Increasing

• 96% expressed concern about being victimized by email fraud, up from the 62 percent finding in the 2007 report.
• 43% of respondents voiced concern over mobile spam and virus threats.
  

Online Reputation Management Best Practices to Build Trust

• 88% of respondents said they would like organizations to give them more choices over the content and frequency of the emails they receive.
• 80% of participants favour doing business with organizations that use opt-in permission to send them email.
• 75% of participants prefer engaging with organizations that exhibit strong privacy practices.
  

Online Business Practices to Avoid

• 25% of respondents lose faith in an organization that is unable to deliver email reliably.
• Daily email messages ranked with pop-up advertisements as the most damaging online tactics to a company's online reputation.
• 80% of respondents are not comfortable with businesses sharing their email address.
• 80% feel that a business' reputation is negatively affected if it shares customer email addresses with third parties.
• Internet users believe that about two thirds of companies are likely to share their email addresses with third parties.

BusinessCast.ca | Email Marketing For Entrepreneurs

Last Friday I had the Pleasure of sitting with Robbert Gold (of bennettgold.ca) and Andrew Brown (of writeonthemoney.com) at the BusinessCast to discuss Email Marketing For Entrepreneurs as part of their ongoing Podcast series for Small and Medium size businesses.

Message from BusinessCast:

Here it is - the episode you've been waiting for!

This week on the BusinessCast we present the step-by-step to email marketing success featuring another BusinessCast Guest Guru! Great show!

Easy Archives: All shows right here, right now: BusinessCast.ca/archives.

Our Boring Commercial: Subscribe easily and for free in the iTunes Directory.

I'd encourage you to listen to this podcast regardless of the size of your business as it's always full of great information. Direct link to show.

I'm looking for feedback - be kind this was my first podcast ;) and hopefully not my last.

Q&A | Keeping Records?

Q:
Dear EmailKarma.net

How long should you keep paper based opt-in proof? We currently handle some opt-in's through offline joins and what is a recommended or required retention for keeping this data? How do other marketers handle this?

Thanks,
[Redacted]

A:

Hello,

I'm not actually aware of any hard and fast rules about the length of time that you should keep the paper copies of your subscribers, I'd like to say forever but I'm not sure that is realistic for everyone.

Here are some best practices I can recommend:

1. Keep the paper as long as you plan on keeping the subscriber in the program, or until they ask to be removed. Some promotions might only last 6 months and never be used again.
2. Keep electronic copies and recycle the paper - Scan and store each user as you transfer the data into your program. Remember to name files according to the user for easy record look up at a later time
3. Identify ways to have users enter the data electronically by your staff. Bring a laptop for the Trade show floor staff, Collect at your brick and mortar locations (POS), or point users to a web form.

#3 is probably the best recommendation as you will cut out a number of data entry errors commonly associated to offline data collection. I know many people have trouble reading my quickly scrawled email sometimes (and I know I'm not the only one out there - some people will do this intentionally)... Was that a 5 or an S, a 7 or a T?

Care to share any other tips for EmailKarma.net readers? Leave a comment or send me an email.

Transactional Email That Markets Effectively

Original Posting in May 2008, issue of ThinData's Email Strategies.

Question:
As a national retailer, we send out large volumes of email to our customers to confirm purchases or account modifications that they have made while using our online store. We want to make sure that we are respectful of our customers while using these emails as an opportunity for promotion. Can you provide any recommendations – particularly since we plan to dramatically increase our use of email over the next few months?

Our Expert's Answer:
Your issue is one that every business that conducts commerce online needs to address.

There are two major types of email – commercial and transactional. Commercial email has one purpose: promotion of brand and/or products. In contrast, transactional-focused emails are far more complex. Most commonly, transactional emails are used to: welcome new registrants or customers, confirm transactions, provide notification of shipment and outline return policies. In short, this type of email supports a critical part of your relationship with customers – they provide confidence and build trust in your brand.

There are guidelines for transactional email that you should follow – because it demonstrates a respect for your customers and for reasons of complying with industry legislation (e.g. CAN-SPAM). Here are the key rules for transactional emails:

1. 80% of the content, imagery and space of a transactional email should serve to support a previous or pending transaction – rather than be promotional.
   
   
2. Marketing content should be below the fold – and clearly set apart from the transactional information.
   
   
3. Marketing offers presented should be somehow related to the transaction. For example, if the transaction is a purchase of an iPod, the marketing content could highlight relevant guarantees, product support or iPod accessories.
   
   
4. Use subject lines that clearly identify the email as transactional. For example, "Confirming Your Purchase of..."
   
   
5. If more than 20% of the email’s content, imagery or space is used for promotional purposes, you must include an “unsubscribe” option that will be honoured. Keep in-mind that if you do this, you run the risk of losing contact with a purchasing customer.

Follow these rules and your transactional emails will serve your brand and marketing objectives well.

In the news...

Important news for Email Marketer's this week:

• FTC clarifies rules in CAN-SPAM
• Canadian Senate introduces Anti-spam Act (pfd)
• EEC reveals their success with non-profit program - The Women's Bean Project
• New blog from the UK DMA email marketing council launched
• Marketing Profs - Dueling Blacklists: Bloggers v. PR Firms - Beware the un-targeted PR pitch, you might get blacklisted
  

Tomorrow tomorrow - is only a day away

So the day is finally here - well tomorrow is almost here. I'll be presenting at the CMA National Trade Show in there education series (right in the middle of the trade show floor - scary).

Drop by I'm talking about the future of email marketing. I give an overview of where most email programs are now, the current trends in email, and what your program should be aiming for going forward from here.

Hope to see you there!

Canadian Anti-spam Law on the way

On May 7th, 2008 The Senate of Canada had the First reading of Bill S-235, to be known as the Anti-Spam Act. Once I have time to fully digest this I'll post my thoughts on this, but to get you started the bill deals with four key items of note:

• Form and content requirements for commercial electronic messages
• prohibits address harvesting
• dictionary attacks
• and phishing.

Here is a link to the bill (PFD) that you can ready yourself. Please share your thoughts on this.

EEC: Good Intentions Gone Bad

Before you read remember this - I like the EEC, I like the things they do, and I like the people involved with running the organization. But this story goes to show even leaders make mistakes from time to time.

It started with an article from the EEC explaining their Earth day exercise, and what their intent was when they were sending these electronic Magazine messages to their members. Ken Magill, then followed up with a post stating that the EEC had spammed its members. Truly a case of "Good Intentions Gone Bad".

Here is my take on how it should have gone down...

• It should have been branded EEC, with the Magazine Content in the body of the message.
• The messages should have been sent "From" for the EEC, not the Zinio system
• There should not have been three copies, with two different content pieces, if this was a one off mailing.
• Messages should have been Gender neutral, or better targeted... Women's Magazines are just not my favorite reading choices. ;)
• If these are for Earth day and on behalf of the EEC - you should mention that in the content of the message somewhere (see below).
• While the intentions were good the execution get an "F" - as leaders these things should be checked and double checked before letting the message out the door.

Over at BeRelevant!, Tamara had this to say.

View the messages here:

1. First message - lacking Personalization (Dear Reader)
2. Second Message - Same as first (personalized this time), sent 3 hrs after first.
3. Third Message - New content

Yahoo Ticketing systems update

Received notice today that Yahoo's postmaster teams ticket queues have begun to clear and that the average response time, that has been experience over the last couple months (2 weeks), has returned to the normal 24 to 48 hours.

Remember - Provide as many of the details up front when opening a ticket with Yahoo's (or any ISP's) Postmaster team... This will help reduce resolution times and will accelerate the postmaster support teams investigations and applications, without needing to ask additional questions about your issues.

NOTE: This does not effect Feedback loop applications, they are still on hold at this time.

Alltop.com

Today, Emailkarma.net was added to the Marketing.alltop.com list.

What is Alltop you ask? The about pages describe it as:

You can think of an Alltop site as a “dashboard,” “table of contents,” or even a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points — they are not destinations per se. The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed. In this way, our goal is the “cessation of Internet stagnation.”

Check out other topics on Alltop like; Career, Beauty, Movies, Gaming, Twitterati

CMA | E-mail marketing not sophisticated despite popularity

Source: The CMA Weekly Watching Brief

A report released on Tuesday by Alterian finds that nearly two-thirds of marketers are only operating at a basic-to-immediate e-mail marketing level.

• More specifically, 32% were found to be operating at an advanced user level, putting them in a position to expand e-mail beyond traditional marketing use and fully leverage the channel as a strategic business application.
• Most participants (59%), fell into the intermediate user category; although their e-mail marketing programs are more advanced than most, these marketers can make many improvements to increase ROI and improve the customer experience.
• Four percent have not surpassed the basic user level, where they have just begun experiencing the power of e-mail marketing.

On a side note - Dave Fowler (a good friend) joins Alterian as Vice President of Deliverability and Privacy. Congrats Dave!

Email Marketer's Club Milestone

Soooo soon (like tonight or tomorrow soon) the Email Marketer's Club will break ONE THOUSAND Members... All this in less than a year.

Come on out and join online marketers from around the world discussing things like:

Outlook 2007 testing and design, Putting Adverts in Email Marketing Campaigns and Forward to a Friend, e-cards, and other messages sent on behalf of user.

Network, connect and discuss...

View the Wiki, the job board and find others in your area (regional, local language discussion groups).

See you there!