Verify and maintain your mailing list
It is important to manage a number of aspects well aspects of keeping a clean, up-to-date list in order to optimise to optimise results.
NPAI and bounce management
The management of NPAI (Does Not Exist At The Address Given, i.e. addresses that do not exist or no longer exist) is essential for reliability. If there are too many of these invalid addresses in a database, they can cause slowdowns during transmission and lead to the sender being blocked by certain ISPs and Webmails. Indeed, when a sender sends emails, it generates errors for each message not delivered, called "bounces". Bounces are inevitable and can be explained as follows:
- the emails you have collected contain errors (mostly typos);
- depending on the mode of collection, some people may have provided you with an invented address because they do not want to be disturbed;
- people change jobs and their old mailing address is removed.
When you send your message to non-existent addresses, this generates technical errors which are processed by the messaging systems. They can then block your messages if you clog up the servers with too many bounces. It is therefore advisable to take care of the hygiene of your database by cleaning up after each sending, because the higher the rate of NPAI, the greater the risk of blocking.
There are three types of errors:
- Hard bounces: these are definitive error messages, which indicate that the user on this domain name does not exist or no longer exists. It is therefore recommended to delete these addresses from the database the first time they are returned.
- Soft bounces: these are temporary error messages, such as "box full", for example. You must be able to write to this address again. It is advisable to regularly check for soft bounces, so as to ensure that one does not remain indefinitely.
- Spamfilter bounces: these are rejection errors for reputation problems of the sending IP address. The messages returned in this case are often very explicit: rejection for blacklisting for blacklisting, rejection for unsuitable content, rejection for complaints content, rejection for complaints... All these reasons show reasons that indicate problems of poor basic hygiene, messages that are as undesirable (either by the filtering system or by feedback from by the filtering system or by feedback from Internet users). This type of feedback identifying This type of feedback identifying problems must lead to actions to solve them.
It is important to note that delivery of the message to the folder is not considered a bounce.
It is very rare not to generate bounces when sending data. To minimise errors, action must be taken as soon as the data is collected. unlimitedmailscheck.com is a good solution to detect as many bounces as possible.
Management of unsubscriptions
Managing unsubscribes well is essential to increase the deliverability of your campaigns for several reasons. First of all, to avoid complaints. Indeed, if unsubscribing is ineffective or time-consuming, recipients who want to unsubscribe will look for other ways to stop receiving your emailings. For example, the "This is spam" button is often used if unsubscribing is not easy.
There are many reasons why recipients may wish to unsubscribe. It is very important to leave them free to do so through a simple, efficient and preferably automated unsubscribe process.
It should be possible to unsubscribe with a maximum of two clicks. If you have the possibility, take the opportunity to collect the reasons for unsubscribing via a multiple choice list on the confirmation page. You can also offer to reduce the frequency of sending if you are then able to manage this preference.
In addition, always check that the unsubscribe link works and unsubscribes those who want it. If you are not equipped with an automatic unsubscribe system, remember to clean up your database regularly following these requests. Otherwise, the "spam" button will be used as a last resort to stop receiving your messages. You may have already experienced it, nothing is more annoying than a wrong or ineffective unsubscribe link.
Complaint management
Email providers have empowered their users by providing a button to users by providing them with a button to report a message a message received as spam. This button allows providers to- to analyse and store complaints in order to improve their filtering service.
Some providers, including Yahoo! and Hotmail, have feedback loops in place. These are used to forward complaints to senders so that they can remove the addresses concerned from future mailings. To receive the complaint reports, the sender simply registers for free on a dedicated online space.
Feedback loops give senders the opportunity to improve the quality of their content and help identify potential problems with the content they send that cause dissatisfaction. Recipients are increasingly likely to click directly on this type of button, rather than looking for the unsubscribe link. It is therefore essential to take these feedback loops into account in order to avoid blacklisting. The role of the professional router is to manage these different feedback loops for its areas of dispatch, either by taking initiatives or by passing on the information to you.
recipients can complain in various ways, if they feel they are being spammed for example:
- by sending a message to the reply-to address. This box must therefore be identified in order to be able to unsubscribe the complainants;
- by sending a message to the anti-abuse addresses "[email protected]" or "[email protected]". Here, the router or webmail will take action against the sender. It may be useful to create an [email protected] address for yourself in order to collect any complaints.
Managing complaints well allows you to get feedback on your mailings. If you notice peaks in complaints, you will need to analyse the reasons for the dissatisfaction; increase in the frequency of sending, content unsuited to the target, import of new contacts into the database, etc.
Management of inactive persons
Some of your contacts may become inactive, that is to say not receptive to your sending (no opens, no clicks in your emails).
If you find that a large percentage of your contacts are not opening your campaigns, it may make sense to run a re-engagement campaign.
This is the sending of a targeted message (for example to users who have not opened any campaigns in the last three months). This message will be an opportunity to remind them why they joined your mailing list (context) and what kind of content is being sent. This can sometimes be enough to "wake up" certain contacts. You can also highlight unsubscribing in this email. The idea is to ask these inactive people if they still want to receive your email communications.
You can take this a step further by sending them a message that they will be removed from your list, unless they specifically indicate that they want to remain on your list (by clicking on a link).
It is essential to regularly clean up your database to have a maximum of active recipients. Your performance (opening statistics, clicks) will only be better, and so will your deliverability. Indeed, a reactive base reinforces your reputation as a legitimate sender with the messaging services.
Be careful, however, as the opening detection is based on the loading of a transparent image (one pixel), you should be aware that some recipients may appear to be inactive in the statistics if they never load the images when they open your messages. The loading of images is now blocked by default in several messaging systems. You should therefore be careful not to simply delete recipients who appear inactive without actually being so.