Email Deployment & Delivery

Delivering email seems pretty straightforward, right?  You upload a mailing list, create an email, hit send, and then mighty wizards transport that email to your recipients through the use of ancient, handcrafted cables and powerful laser beams.  What more could you possibly need to know about this process?  As it turns out, loads more, since things are not necessarily as simple as they seem.

No matter how compelling your offer happens to be, it’s all for nothing if your email doesn’t reach your recipients. Excellent delivery is key to successful email marketing, and no one understands this better than we do here at VerticalResponse.

What Does VerticalResponse Do to Ensure Excellent Delivery?

We’re Anti-Spam

Everyone says they’re anti-spam, but we really, really mean it.  We respond to and investigate every single complaint that comes in to our abuse desk, we quickly work to resolve issues with clients who receive complaints (before they start causing delivery problems), and we even look over every email launched through our system to make sure nothing suspicious or fraudulent can make it out the door.  This keeps complaints to a minimum, which is a big part of maintaining a strong reputation for our IP Addresses.

We Automate Bounce / Unsubscribe Processing

By automating this process (like many of our competitors), we ensure no users can abuse our IP Addresses by ignoring bounces and unsubscribes.  This also helps us keep an excellent reputation.

We Use Feedback Loops

We have feedback loops with every single ISP that is known to offer one (and maintain strong relationships even with those that don’t).  This means if someone clicks Report Spam at Hotmail, that Hotmail trusts us to take action on the complaint.  It also means that when someone clicks such a button at a participating an ISP (like Hotmail), VerticalResponse users don’t have to worry they’ll accidentally send mail to that person again as we automatically unsubscribe any trigger happy recipients who press the “Report Spam” button.

We Use Authentication Protocols

We authenticate client email through the use of the three currently major authentication protocols: SPF (Sender Policy Framework), Sender-ID and DomainKeys.  With SPF and Sender-ID we have published records that state our mail domains are allowed to send email on behalf of our own IP Addresses.  With DomainKeys we sign each email with a key that the recipient server can then use to verify that we actually sent the email.  These are a very important part of maintaining a good sending infrastructure.

We have a Dedicated Policy and Delivery Team

Our very experienced delivery management group is available to help with any questions regarding your specific emails (write them at delivery@verticalresponse.com).  They also work hard to ensure VerticalResponse’s reputation remains as strong as possible.

What Can You Do to Help Ensure Excellent Delivery and Response?

Keep a Clean Mailing List

Be sure everyone on the mailing list has specifically requested info from or about your company in one way or another.   Also make sure you’re not mailing previously unsubscribed or bounced addresses. That went out of style a long time ago.

Treat Subscribers with Respect

Don’t mail subscribers too often and clutter their inbox with mail they don’t want.  Set expectations at the time of sign-up: “This is what we’re going to send you.  And we’re going to send it to you this often.”  Also try to maintain a relationship with the subscriber.  Don’t mail them sporadically once or twice a year and expect them to take action with your emails.

How often is too often?  How sporadic is too sporadic?  I’d say once a week to once a month is a good range to keep in mind (though there are obviously situations where you may want to send more or less often), depending on your business type and what was promised at the time of sign-up. 

Design With Delivery in Mind

Don’t just put a big image together in Illustrator and think you’re good to go.  Make sure the email is easy to read (consider paragraph length and fonts), that images are being used only to enhance the HTML / text content (not as the sole content), and that the email is something that the subscriber would expect to receive based upon their sign-up with you.

An excellent resource for more information is the VR Marketing Blog.  You can also see more detail regarding email delivery in general by reading our whitepaper, VerticalResponse, Email Delivery, and You.

If you have any questions pertaining to our email delivery initiatives or policies please contact us at delivery@verticalresponse.com.