Protect Your Reputation: Guard your IP Address like it’s gold!
Sender reputation is the most important asset you can have as an email marketer.
Below are our tips on how to maintain your sender reputation, and avoid being consigned to your reader’s spam folder. And there’s a special kind of SPAM hell for the worst offenders – ending up on ISP blacklists.
The D.I.Y. To Deliver Your Bulk Mail Is Not Clever
It’s all very well investing in a strong and reputable brand. But in the world of email marketing, your reputation is all tied up in a unique string of numbers – your IP address.
Your IP address is a bit like your driver’s license – unique to you and dangerous if it gets into the hands of someone unscrupulous.
If your IP address is misused to send out bulk email, then your credibility maybe on the line. Nowadays it is easy to be mistaken for a spammer, which ISPs will recognise and act to blacklist your IP address and then even your everyday work emails won’t get through.
Using a premium email service provider (ESP) like Mobilize Mail to deliver your bulk email greatly improves your delivery rate and you can also go one step further by securing one of their dedicated IP addresses which can further safeguard your sender reputation and potentially improve delivery rates.
Grow Your Own Email List – Quality Is Better Than Quantity
If your email database contains addresses that you haven’t contacted for 12 months or more, then it is best not to use them in your email campaigns. Email campaigns sending to lots of old, inactive email addresses are likely to end up in spam folder, and will negatively effect your sender reputation and delivery rates.
Buying lists off the Internet is also risky – not to mention illegal in many countries, including New Zealand. Many lists include ‘spam-trap addresses’ that are there to catch spammers and if you send a message to one then your IP might be blacklisted, and your messages go unread.
Do the ethical thing – use your own list and work hard at building it yourself, using a quality opt-in process. Your reputation will thank you for it in the long run. How to build up your list ethically…..use Mobilize Mail’s social media marketing solutions – see client case study
Are You Who You Say You Are?
To help in the battle against spam, IP addresses require authentication, for example when Mobilize Mail sends an email, the ISPs know it was actually Mobilize Mail who sent it. Use of different protocols like Domain Keys, SPF, Sender ID, and also employing webmasters to update DNS records is crucial for maintaining your sender reputation.
ISPs will block emails from a non-approved IP address, and without the authentication process you run the risk of having your emails interpreted as spam.
Hello, and Thank You for Subscribing
Sending a welcome email is more than just a common courtesy; it can also help to make sure your next email goes straight to the recipient’s inbox and not their spam box. It also reminds them who you are and shows them your brand, which they will recognize in the future.
Encouraging new subscribers to add your business email in their address book / safe sender list is also a good way to avoid the spam box. Knowing who you are makes all the difference.
If you stick to these rules then it’s easier to avoid ruining your email reputation: use consistent and dedicated email lists, a unique or privately managed IP address, authenticate your email address, and say hello to new subscribers.
Be smart and you will keep your good reputation.
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