1. Dark Arts of Email Deliverability
Brett Schenker, Sr. Deliverability Specialist, EveryAction
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2. Agenda The State of Deliverability Data Why This Matters to Nonprofits
What You Need to Know and What Can You Do
The Future of Spam &
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3. So why are we here?
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4. The State of Email According to the Radicati group…
293.6 billion s a day
users will grow from billion users in 2019 to billion by 2023
3.4 million s a second
39 s per person a day (56.1% of the world has internet access)
I included this so it’s clear the immense task that spam filtering and providers are under
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5. What percentage
of is unwanted?
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6. 97% of all email sent over the internet is unwanted – Microsoft
85% of incoming mail is “abusive ” - MAAWG
is in the eye of the beholder. If they donated, if they volunteer, they can still see as spam
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7. Fun fact! The first spam message was sent May 3, 1978.
But how does spam
software work?
Fun fact! The first spam message was sent May 3, 1978.
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8. Email Filtering Has Evolved!
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9. Email Filtering Has Evolved
Key Words
Ex. Viagra, Millions, Oprah!
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10. Email Filtering Has Evolved
Key Words -> Context
Ex. Get Viagra for FREE!
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11. Email Filtering Has Evolved
Key Words -> Context -> Individual Behavior
Ex. Opens, Forward, Place in Folder
Shift by Hotmail, Gmail, AOL, and Yahoo in the last year
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12. Why does this matter to you?
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13. 20.18% of email was delivered to spam folders monthly in 2018
Down from about 4 percentage points from 2017
2017 was 24.16
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14. 24.67% and 33.59%, respectively went to spam during #GivingTuesday & EOY campaigns
Giving Tuesday % End of Year (day) % End of year (weeks) %, %
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15. Source: 2019 Nonprofit Email Deliverability Study
0% Spam
1% Spam
18.21% Spam
INBOX
2,400,000
2.400,000
OPEN RATE (14%)
336,000
332,640
268,195
CLICK RATE (0.44%)
10,560
10.454
8,429
PAGE COMPLETION (14%)
1478
1463
1180
TOTAL RAISED (AV. DONATION $70) $
$102,453
$82,604
M+R said donations were down 8%, we used that to calculate average donation compared to last year That’s a loss of close to $21,000 due to spam
Source: 2019 Nonprofit Deliverability Study
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16. Dollars Raised through Email in 2018 by Nonprofits
$459,868,181.50
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17. Potential Dollars Raised through Email in 2018
$552,669,580.53
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18. Dollars Potentially Lost through Email in 2018
$92,801,399.03
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19. What you need to know.
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20. The Technical Spam Software Spam Software Rules Blacklists
IP Reputation
Authentication
Manage bounces
Domain Reputation
Traffic
Speed of Delivery
Total Server Connections
….Constantly changing and updating!
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21. Phrases, Formatting, Links
Untrustworthy links
Odd formatting
Too little text
Poor HTML and CSS - Litmus/ on Acid
….Constantly changing and updating!
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22. What to do? Increased Engagement Improves Chances of Delivery
Get the basics down first
What’s your goal?
How does your program reflect your brand?
Don’t Focus on List Size
Focus on Engagement
Opt-In
Welcome Series/Ramp Up Volume
Measure Clicks, Opens, and Conversions
Engagement is key today. It should be your primary focus as far as metrics to ensure good inbox placement
Increased Engagement Improves Chances of Delivery
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23. What is considered “active” varies between services
What Really Matters - Interaction
Positive
Open
Reply
Read length
Negative
Click spam/unsubscribe
Delete
Don’t open
Open and quickly delete
….Clicks aren’t tracked...
What is considered “active” varies between services
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24. What Can You Measure? Opens Clicks Seed Accounts – Return Path
Spam Traps
Comcast – Pristine
AOL – Pristine, has recycled
Microsoft – Measures dead accounts
Google – Doesn’t use abandoned accounts
Example: 17k list % open rate 4,040 gmail % 18k list % open rate 4037 gmail % open rate
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25. What Gets Measured, Gets Done
Active List - 17,081
Open Rate %
Total Opens - 5,314
Unique Open Rate %
Unique Opens - 4,231
Inactive List - 159,622
Open Rate %
Total Opens - 3,026
Unique Open Rate %
Unique Opens - 2,491
Big list is 9.35x bigger 75.61% more total opens
69.85% more unique opens
Example: 17k list % open rate 4,040 gmail % 18k list % open rate 4037 gmail % open rate
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26. Smaller blasts open percent near equal to mistake’s large blast
AOL
Gmail
Hotmail
Yahoo
Volume
Open%
18053
25.31%
2773
8.94%
4367
45.80%
313
20.45%
2984
7.81%
18483
25.41%
2875
9.50%
4412
43.22%
317
22.71%
3089
10.29%
18682
28.53%
2928
14.04%
4392
41.67%
319
29.15%
3146
15.92%
17128
26.37%
2715
12.38%
4018
39.50%
267
23.22%
2905
13.25%
163,578
7.20%
17108
4.32%
52251
9.81%
11167
2.64%
28631
3.05%
18350
23.31%
3048
13.62%
4037
27.59%
342
34.50%
3248
14.90%
18352
24.77%
3049
19.09%
4032
22.32%
27.19%
3252
20.60%
18362
27.06%
3050
24.07%
4026
23.75%
28.95%
3254
23.08%
18407
26.67%
3058
24.53%
4036
21.63%
28.36%
3258
26.09%
22.70%
3057
20.09%
20.63%
23.98%
18.97%
18430
22.66%
3059
17.75%
4040
18.47%
26.90%
3260
17.61%
20784
20.36%
3301
1606%
5140
14.30%
400
27.50%
3552
17.43%
13,763
9.58%
2,151
6.60%
3,617
7.66%
244
7.79%
2,301
6.35%
15,956
18.66%
2,639
18.95%
3,761
8.69%
265
23.02%
2,818
19.48%
2,003
32.50%
321
22.12%
253
45.85% 71
32.39%
34.38%
1,861
1.83%
245
4.08%
788
0.13% 45 0%
335
3.28%
16,247
22.99%
2,660
28.31%
3,918
8.09%
24.34%
2,826
27.25%
2,118
39.90%
34.63%
275
47.27% 77
42.86%
329
36.78%
14,411
17.47%
2,587
14.61%
2,433
6.33%
25.84%
2,728
13.78%
246
33.74% 4
25.00%
235
34.47%
1,549
23.05%
10.57% 64
40.63%
272
9.56%
1,462
28.25%
202
25.74%
208
32.21% 38
47.37%
198
26.77%
54.55%
196
54.08%
16,715
18.49%
2,738
21.22%
3,855
4.12%
296
21.62%
2,907
21.98%
808
23.51%
128
28.91%
112
23.21% 28
35.71%
116
36.21%
1,495
31.37%
204
33.82%
224
28.57% 52
59.62%
197
38.07%
17,139
20.56%
2,786
4,040
4.38%
307
2,967
25.85%
Smaller blasts open percent near equal to mistake’s large blast
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27. Inactive emails are like zombies.
One or two are ok but when you get a hoard, you’ve got issues.
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28. More tips Include a single-click unsubscribe Don’t use old lists
Send relevant
Don’t send messages to unsubscribes
Work with your provider
Know the law
GDPR, CASL, California’s new law
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29. Confirm Opt-In! It’s a Security Issue More tips
It’s a security risk not to.
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30. The Future More tailored messages – Use Data Wearable/Mobile
Longer read time – Cable vs. On Demand
Greater emphasis on Authentication
Interactive s/Agile
Augmented Reality
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31. Questions?
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32. For questions, contact deliverability@everyaction.com
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