Page 12 - Payout Magazine Online Volume 8.1

Your Spam Reports from

Microsoft Customers Have

Probably Increased Recently

f you send email communications to users of won’t help your spam complaint ratios look any Say Something Worthwhile
iMicrosoft email services — and chances are healthier.
you do — you’ll probably notice an increase in Second, review your content and make
spam reports coming from these contacts. This Now comes the hardest part of this news: sure it’s both valuable to recipients and that
trend will include Hotmail, MSN and Outlook There are no easy answers to how you might recipients understand who is sending them the
customers alike. address these changes. That’s why it’s message in the first place. Tie your emails back
important for your company to be absolutely to your company brand and be consistent in
A big challenge for YNOT Mail users — and committed to best email marketing practices. that approach when you send out messages to
for email marketers in general — is a constantly your customers. If they don’t understand that
shifting landscape. Engaging customers The Big Four are always looking for new ways they’re receiving the content they requested, or
with ongoing and effective email marketing to keep unwanted emails out of their customers’ they find your content lacking any value, your
requires contending with a few dominant inboxes, and if your messages are being spam report ratios will be high.
tech companies that wield a disproportionate classified as “spam” at a rate that exceeds what
impact on the end results, and who routinely these companies consider to be normal, your Don’t Be a Pest, Don’t Be a
affect the process needed to be successful. It’s “sender reputation” will take a hit. The lower ghost
a reality that isn’t unfamiliar to search engine your reputation, the more the chance that your
marketers, who have faced a similar reality for emails will arrive in the spam box instead of Third, manage your send frequency. Sending
decades. the in-box. You can try to move around to new too often, or too seldom, both tend to have
IPs or email services, but that tactic is getting a negative impact on spam ratios. It’s pretty
If you looked at the email list of any typical increasingly less fruitful, and — quite frankly — obvious that customers who feel badgered by
adult entertainment company you’d likely more dangerous to your bottom line than it has email campaigns are more likely to flag your
see that a significant portion of the email ever been before. content as spam; but it’s also true that if you
addresses are served by some combination of take too long between communications they
the “Big Four” providers: Google (Gmail), Yahoo, That said, let’s cover a few of those “best might forget they signed up for your emails in
Microsoft (Hotmail/Outlook/MSN) and Apple practices” that you can implement to keep your the first place.
(iCloud/Mac). Given the importance of these spam complaints low and your reputation solid.
companies to the success of email campaigns, If you’re struggling with email marketing in
it’s a good idea to stay alert to any changes No Sharing! general, a damaged send reputation due to
they make that might impact your ability to get honest mistakes, or just need a good partner
emails into your customers’ inboxes. First and foremost, don’t share, purchase that shares a commitment to your email
or trade email lists. The Big Four are pretty marketing success, take a look at YNOT Mail and
So, what has changed at Microsoft that could smart; you don’t get in position to dominate get in touch. As email becomes an increasingly
be driving an increase in spam complaints? To the world because you’re dumb. Accept that sophisticated endeavor it pays to have experts
be plain, Microsoft has made it a lot simpler they’re smarter than you, know more than on your side who care about your business, are
for their mobile users to classify your messages you, have more resources than you and have always accessible, know and love your industry,
as spam. This has come primarily through the algorithms they need to tell when you’re and want to help you achieve good returns on
changes to its mobile UI, where Microsoft has emailing people who didn’t ask to receive your your email marketing investments.
added prominent “Report Junk” buttons to its emails in the first place.
Reprinted courtesy of YNot
software clients. And just to pile on a bit, when
a user manually moves email from the inbox to This is perhaps the number one problem with
the junk mail folder, Microsoft is now treating email marketers from the adult industry. Many
that behavior the same as a spam report. have a hard time resisting the urge to reach
for the “quick sales boost” through a bought or
Given that mobile technologies are typically shared list. A week or two of new sales isn’t worth
responsible for more than half of a company’s an ongoing inability to get important messages
email engagements, the changes from Microsoft into the inboxes of those who want them.

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