10 Holiday Email Deliverability Tips

As we roll into the holiday season, it's also the time the ISPs roll up their sleeves in their fight against spam. As marketers we enjoy this season of prosperity in online sales but unfortunately, so do the spammers. It becomes a fight and a mad dash to get to that inbox during a time where so many are grabbing for it. Here are some helpful hints to get to the inbox and once there rise above the crowd.

1. Getting to the inbox starts well before you hit the 'send' button and explicit permissions is where it all starts. Permissions get you relevancy and relevancy gets you to the inbox. You should always strive for explicit permissions and not passive permissions and there can be a huge difference in both positive and negative results. Explicit permission is when a subscriber actively makes a decision to sign up and they are expecting your communications, whereas passive permissions such as pre-checked boxes are going to be less engaged and less welcoming to something they may not have known they asked for.
2. Now that you have solid permissions, you must remain relevant in your offers. Don't stray or reach for relevancy by thinking what the subscriber may want based on what you feel. Know your consumers habits and interests to remain personal and keep them engaged. Sending emails with low engagement will get you noticed at some ISPs and create a flag that you are not a relevant marketer and get future campaigns into the bulk folder.  
3. How often you should send during this season is a tough call since you want to increase offers but at the same time you must be sensitive of the 'annoyance factor'. This can be different for each vertical and caution here is essential. Yes, each send can create additional sales, but it also increases the risk of unsubscribes and spam complaints by sending just 'one too many.' Which in turn, leads to higher attrition and the primary cause of blocks and filtering to bulk mail folders from a high amount of complaints.
4. Identify yourself with a well-known name in 'from name address' so that people recognize you among the mass.
5. Subject lines are never more important than now. With the huge volume of spikes in a subscriber's mailbox, identifying who you are is vital as subscribers scan their inboxes and decide which to open and which to delete, or worse report as spam. Use a subject line that reinforces your brand and brand identity.
6. Do not bury the offer or call to action in an image. Most email readers have images off by default and with so much sensitivity with viruses and malware, users are cautious about enabling images. Be conservative and use alt tags and more text to inform them on what your email is about and its offering. Using too many images can hurt.  The user is cautious and doesn't turn them on (so they don't see your offer) and also ISPs don't like large images since they cannot see what is in them or what words are in the image. A good rule is to keep the email 60% text and 40% image.  
7. Now is not a good time to go after the non-engaged/non-responders. You must differentiate yourself as you fight for the inbox. Trying to awaken non-responsive subscribers at this stage in the holiday season won't help at all. Focus on engaged subscribers, they are the ones who are going to help your reputation thrive with the ISPs and ultimately drive sales. Here is another Bronto Blog post with more information on why you should suppress these contacts. 
8. Be mindful of the domains you are using in the URLs. ISPs scan for domains that are on blacklists and one simple domain can destroy your campaign. Know who you are working with!
9. Get your subscribers to add you to their contact list via a friendly reminder in each email. When subscribers do this it bypasses most filtering by the ISPs and gets you to the inbox. This is an easy sell if you have the correct permissions and are sending what the subscribers want. A sample may be "In order that you do not miss out on the great discounts coming, please add us to your contact list."
10. Expect delays on your sends - since sending is at a peak, sending early and during off hours will help avoid the congestion. You must protect your deliverability by sending relevant emails to those who clearly opted in. 

Be a smart marketer and not a mass marketer and enjoy the rewards this holiday season!

Chris Kolbenschlag
Director of Deliverability at Bronto