After every bulk email marketing campaign, you get an unwelcome list of mails about those that have failed to reach the intended recipients. These are the e-mails that bounced.
Bounces are a part of email marketing, but if they are exceeding limits, they are draining away the effectiveness of your campaign. Apart from the bounces caused by wrong addresses, delivery failure of emails is compounded by the increase in sophisticated blocking rules, and other filtering mechanisms that ISPs have put in place to combat spam.
The first step in understanding email campaign bounce management is to distinguish between hard and soft bounces. Effective bounce management starts with handling hard and soft bounces differently. This series of blog posts starts with defining the hard and soft bounces.
Hard bounces are messages that return to the sender and are permanently undeliverable. The reasons for hard bounces are:
- Non-existent address
- Incorrectly spelled email addresses
Soft bounces are more of a temporary issue. It happens when the mail server confirms the recipient's email address, but cannot deliver the message. This happens when:
- Inbox is full or the quota exceeds limits
- ISP server is temporarily down
- The recipient is out of office
- The message is blacklisted or the content is filtered
Managing and reducing email bounces is crucial to the success of your email marketing campaigns. Your email deliverability is important because customer acquisition is expensive, and undeliverable emails could mean the loss of customers and prospects that you paid dearly to acquire.
Take time to analyze your bounces and take hard bounces off your list. Bounce processing protects the integrity of email lists by ensuring they are clean and current. The result is higher deliverability.
In Part 2 of our blog post series of Email Bounce Management, we will discuss how to remove hard bounces and the ways to find the right email addresses when misspelled ones are noticed. Stay tuned!
Earth Day or International Mother Earth Day is the day when countries around the world unite to demonstrate their support towards protection of the environment. Today, everything we do leaves a heavy footprint on the earth and its resources. Years of reckless modernization and increase in pollution to further the scope of the human race have put severe stress on natural resources. In spite of all this abuse, Mother Earth still stands. She is resilient, patient and beneficial.
Over millennia, we humans have learnt a tremendous lot from her. From the greatest thinkers of the ancient times such as Socrates and Aristotle, to the genius painter and maverick inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci, to the greatest genius of our times, Albert Einstein, nature has been the genesis for most of their inferences. We would not have been able to understand and learn so much of what we know, if we are not in tune with the nature around us. Everything we do is deeply rooted in nature and it’s just a matter of us looking around.
Take for example the infinite amounts of data that nature processes. Every process in nature requires a certain amount of data transfer and usage. One thing that stands out here is the precision with which these processes happen. There is a strange and totally rock solid foundation to these massive data transfers and they happen, endlessly, repeatedly without any delay or mistakes.
As a major B2B data organization, database management is a very important part of our business model. Master database management requires many time-consuming processes in place to ensure that it runs smoothly. Some of the key features we have incorporated into our system are as follows and as you will see, they reflect many processes in nature too.
- Streamlined management: There are no if's and but's with this type of management. It is precise, to the point and delivers results which are fine tuned.
- Dynamic relationship management: This process allows faster information gathering and easier creation of opportunities.
- Data integration: Easier and faster accumulation and integration of new data
- Enrichment: Systematic enrichment of data as and when required
- Accurate searches: This is one of the main strong points of our process, and with this, every data task is easier and faster.
- Flexibility: Provision for improving or expanding the domain beyond a single data domain.
For all this to happen, a strong and flexible model is required. It is not surprising that we find these processes already present and running in nature in some form or another. Nature is the biggest repository of data and the way she handles it is awe inspiring. We at B2Bdatapartners take inspiration from her, every time we design and handle projects of this type.
The human body in itself is an amazing machine where data processes happen every second. The rate of transfer of this data and execution is also very fast and effective. For any process to happen within our body, data processes happen which are very complex and hard to track. With such huge transactions happening, the body works perfectly.
As in a human being, master databases require a huge amount of processes to occur repeatedly for it to function normally.
Staying relevant in the email marketing sector is a challenge. Personalization has reached epic standards today, with customers looking for a personal experience. With restaurants, malls, stores, all offering personal solutions tailored to satisfy your needs, being on the same page as every prospect is essential. How do we introduce this level of relevance and personalization to email marketing? Here’s how.
You start your email marketing in all earnestness. One of the biggest tasks involved is the creation of a useful list. Whom you send to is as important as what you send. There are 3 critical questions you need to ask yourself before you start -
- Do you already have an in-house list?
- Have you narrowed down on your target audience?
- Do you want to rent or purchase a list?
If you already have an in-house list, append it, segment it and then make sure that it is tailored to help connect with your target audience. You can use a vast number of data solutions to ensure that this process goes on smoothly.
Market research on your target audience makes all the difference between you sending out mails to the right person and you failing to do so. Through professional research you can narrow down on whom you want to target and from thereon, plan out what type of list and email marketing campaign you will be commissioning.
Renting or purchasing a list is not just about funds. If you purchase a list, it comes with its own set of positives and negatives. Data licensing is a safe bet today. It ensures that you get exactly what you want, and your strike rate increases exponentially. Understand what you are looking for from your email campaigns, and then rent or purchase accordingly.
Now that you are ready with your list, the next step is emailing. This is where you have to be smart. You have to make sure that your text is designed specifically for the target audience you have already narrowed down on. Email messages today have to be designed with a lot of care and concern. Quiet literally, if your email is a prospecting one, it is an advertisement of the digital sort. Hence it has to be appealing, sensible and more importantly, it should be relevant. Copy should be crisp, specific and should be able to explain your point precisely.
While spam-prevention is a perpetual burden, the design and copy should always be spam-law compliant. Finally, when the reader opens your email, you better be talking value to them, because selling milk to the milkman is not really an option.
Here is a chart by Marketing Sherpa which you will find useful. It shows how marketers go about with their email marketing campaigns.
Over the years, businesses have used and abused the immense potential of email marketing. Today we stand at a point in time where email deliverability in itself has become a science! During the last decade, tactics which were bound to increase deliverability, have all but been obliterated today.
The connect between data and email deliverability still exists and cannot be taken lightly. In spite of this, reaching the right inbox at the right time seems to be an elusive objective.
According to a study on the email marketing arena by Royal Pingdom, as of 2012, the total number of emails sent per day was around 144 billion of which a massive 68.8% was classified as spam. The line between a spam email and a good email is blurring constantly. In an effort to cross it, email marketers are finding it difficult to cope with a huge amount of restrictions that have been put up by ISP’s and email clients. The general sentiment is that if your data is good, your email will be delivered and vice versa. Data does have a significant role to play in email deliverability but it is not in anyway, the be all and end all of email deliverability.
No Sir, it isn’t.
As a data provider, we understand that email deliverability is an issue of concern for you, and so we have gone ahead, and put up information for your understanding of the reasons of low email deliverability - and what you can do about them.
Sender Reputation:
Today, ISP’s are concerned and take action against email senders who have earned a bad reputation. Previously, the content of the email was taken as the principle indicator of whether the mail is spam or not. Now, sender information has become a parameter too. To circumstantiate this, a recent study has revealed that 80% of email deliverability issues arise from sender reputation concerns. Now that we are clear that your sender reputation needs to be top notch, what are the parameters taken into consideration before generating a reputation score.
Volume of mails sent out Bounce backsSpam complaints generated
Among these, the only one which the data provider is concerned about is the bounce back issue. If the data is verified and validated then the amount of bounce backs will surely be low. The sender has to ensure that emails are not sent in bulk. Spam complaints are usually generated when the body of the email contains spam related terms and so on. The email sender has to take these into consideration for better email deliverability.
Black List operators:
These are the senders who have been tagged as spam operators. A lot of websites online maintain black lists. These are populated according to user feedback and are backed up by the list keeper’s observations.
Inbox features:
Today many email clients come with in-built systems which are designed to stop the flow of spam. This can sometimes be detrimental to email deliverability. Most of the screening functions are not flexible and genuine emails find it difficult to get through. As the case may be, there are ways of ensuring that these do not affect email deliverability.
Spam Filtering:
With three different types of spam filters in widespread use today - desktop client filters, server filters and gateway filters, spam has never had it harder.
These filters use a variety of approaches to filter out spam. The most common approach is by eliminating those mails which have spam-trigger words. There are tougher spam filtering mechanisms which go into the technical aspects of an email, such as scores which are assigned to unique emails and so on. Whatever the means of filtering, emails need to be designed and developed in such a way that they can pass these effortlessly. Pre-designed spam compliant templates, effective subject lines, which are simple and do not use too many spam words and content, which is not heavy to load, minimal and appealing, are some of the proven methods.
Here is a quick checklist for you to run through every time you invest in email marketing:
- List hygiene
The list which you will be using has to be of top quality. It should always be verified, segmented and opted in. Purchase lists only from top vendors who have a good reputation and will provide you good deliverability rates.
- Watch your sender reputation
Keep a close watch on your sender reputation. There are many providers who will give you a detailed report on the reputation of your IP. Monitor it closely and make sure you take corrective measures when scores are slipping.
- Reduce spam complaints
This is easier said than done today, but that does not mean it is not possible. Indulge heavily in the creation of copy which is strictly spam compliant. There are a huge number of websites which offer you list on spam words and how spam traps operate. Comply to them religiously and your deliverability will rocket, that is a guarantee.
- Test your email before sending
Testing your email copy is always a good thing. There are many ways in which you can ensure that your email is delivered by testing it first. Multiple A/B split testing is a tried and tested method and it is the industry's best practice.
- Monitor black lists
These are updated periodically and you need to monitor them on a regular basis to ensure that your IP is not in it. This may look like a monotonous process but if not done diligently, you will end up paying a heavy price and damage control will take a lot of time and effort, not to mention lost revenue.
- Data collection
Always ensure that data collected is through legitimate means and has been done through transparent means. This allows for a stronger list, decreasing the chances of bounces and such other common issues.
For a rock solid email marketing process, adhering to these points will ensure that your emails are delivered to the right inboxes and you see good ROI.
It is all about the new solution. And it sounds a little similar to the advent of mainframes, interactive databases and mega-storage software. So what does MDM or Master Database Management for the unacquainted have that makes it sound much better than these, once thought to be the best all-rounder memory systems ever? REVENUE!
This is what most haven’t got it as yet.
While people today believe in the storage of corporate information in highly sophisticated manners, it can be difficult to understand its partitions the moment you hear about it. But that’s what it’s all about! PARTITIONS!
By now, you must be thinking is there a special REVENUE PARTITION? Damn Right!
MDM is different from its predecessors in the sense that it focuses on a new kind of data – customer data – typically non-transactional and descriptive in nature – so that you can develop the right strategies for the faces in your customer database.
You can imagine what the addition of non-transactional customer data can do to your business when you’re actually feeding on an outdated tank depleting away leads, customers and whatever little faint prospect you may have.
No offense intended
;-)
Data management, which has now proved to be a head-turner for marketers, more than it would appear for statisticians and math wizards, is essentially partitioned – for enabling insights and the use of each segment for the goals that you seek.
Master Data = All Data – Transactional Data
= Descriptive Business Intelligence
Master Data Management (MDM) is concerned with the management of it.
What does this management involve?
It involves the operations that go into maintaining, improving and using Descriptive BI to generate better revenue.
So here’s what it looks like:
The correct use of the MDM System involves tailoring the selectivity programs to comply with data leakage and data access laws as is applicable in different countries.
Ethical, efficient and enigmatic – that’s the way to use
Today is the day we recognize women, their achievements, power and most of all, their presence in the corporate side of life. Women have always been achievers when they set out to make a difference. With centuries of regressive elements working against women, the fight to be noticed, not for beauty, but also for brains has gotten stronger and more vocal. If statistics are anything to go by, today, the scene is changing dramatically. For starters, 1.2 million women professionals work in the United States with many of them raking in upwards of $120,000 annually!
Women own 40% of all American private businesses
It is foolhardy today to over look this segment of the population more so because they are increasingly becoming decision makers. Targeting women executive lists is a wise decision today. Gone are the days when women were sidelined and all major decision making responsibilities were left to the men. Today, women take an active part in decision making, be it at home or at the work place.
Serious Numbers
This infographic by Marketingzeus.com has brilliantly collated and showcased the massive spending power that women yield today. For example- $ 7 trillion is contributed by women in the United States alone towards consumer and business spending! The numbers are big to say the least and if you are not targeting specific women lists, you are missing out on a huge chunk of business.
Women account for more than 85% of brand purchases. That is a seriously big number. Women today have been able to break the glass ceiling effectively. They have been able to rise up through the corridors of power through consistent performance and keen ability to look at situations in a different perspective. Today the business world rewards performance oriented work and does not differentiate as to who it is coming from. Even though it will be a long time before we can actually talk about a level playing field, things have never looked better.
B2B marketing and the influence of women
One common issue that the B2B marketing sector notices is the lack of women marketers. B2B marketing has evolved. Women such as Hanne Tuomisto-Inch- industry head of B2B at Google, Marchai Bruchey-CMO of Thunderbird have been game changers, not just with respect to what women can achieve today, but how they are managing and driving massive business machines. Women have found a place within the echelons of power, politics and business all over the world.
On the internet too, women are showing far smarter approaches to search. They know exactly what they are looking for and view 40% lesser pages than men. 60% rate good design and ease of use as a very important factor in website design.
We at B2Bdatapartners would like to take this opportunity to wish all women a happy Women’s Day. We leave you with 25 Empowerment Quotations for Women. This is truly a wonderful time to be a woman.
We are writing this post hoping that you are one among the contributors for the success of Harlem Shake, the most bizarre viral video of 2013. If not, become one by having a look, laugh and then B2Bdatapartners will help you explore the secret behind Harlem Shake success and what a marketer can learn from it.
As of February 15, about 40,000 Harlem Shake videos had been uploaded, totaling 175 million views and has been recorded as the most viewed videos in the recent history.
So what went right for this video to go viral?
- The audio?
- The video?
- The heights of bizarreness?
- Or all of the above.
The Washington Post explained the meme's instant virality by referring to the jump cuts, hypnotic beat, quick setups and half minute routines. Whatever has worked for Harlem Shake, can any day work for your business and ours. Here are some obvious takeaways which you did not notice while grooving on this addictive music.
- Crisp and concise. The short length of the video is making them very accessible to watch. So the takeaway here is the crisp content. If you are a marketer, know that your customers are racing with time and no matter what you share with them, it better be short. This half a minute strategy worked for Harlem, plan what would work for you in less than a minute.
- Anticipation breakout - The success of the video is in part attributed to the anticipation of the breakout moment. Yes, Anticipation. In the video, the funny costumed men groove to an excerpt from the song "Harlem Shake" by electronic musician Baauer . There is an anticipation period of 15 seconds which does the trick. This is where you build the hype.
While marketing, before the final nail, ensure that you keep your customers up on their toes anticipating and when you say it, say it in a way to remember. This leads to our next learning of the power of being “YOU”.
- Originality - The video is original in its own way. Certainly while marketing, you cannot go to this extreme of bizarre uniqueness, but yes, being unique and different always sells. Now, who would have thought that we could derive some marketing mantras from such a crazy video. But we have!
- Humor - Humor always works. Yes, but how you place it is extremely important. The way you place your humor element in your marketing pitch, will work for you. But take this step, we repeat, take this step with much care. If you go wrong with humor, believe us when we say this, even Harlem Shake will not help you resolve.
- Connect and belong factor – The video connects with one and all. Don’t you agree? No matter how polished you are, you feel like breaking free someday! This video targets on that emotional element.
If you look into the marketing history, many commercials and advertisements have worked and connected better when the emotional element was included. Ensure, that your marketing pitch connects with your customer and make them belong to you and your service/product.
Little about Harlem - "Harlem is a large neighborhood within the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan and this form of dance was formed in 1981. It is said that the style came from kids who moved their body in order to keep themselves out of trouble and ward away the bad energy. However, the viral video of Harlem Shake (meme) has no connection with the original Harlem dance form."
These are the five marketing mantras, B2Bdatapartners learnt from Harlem Shake. If you have a different opinion, we will be glad to listen from you. Post a comment, like, share or write to us!
If interested in data services or data products, we can help the harlem way. Contact us Now!
A take on how little officialdom has to do with business profits. And rightly so!
You may be well spruced for a cutting-edge profession like big data, but are you exploring deep enough to know your customers inside out? That is hard to think of when your sales and marketing decisions lack personal passion. Remember that the biggest deals are made by swimming pools, on playgrounds and in clubs. The boardroom is just a facility for announcing what happened at the swimming pools and playgrounds.
This page is meant to take your mind away from trying to impress your customers – and tying yourself up with them unlike in a typical business scenario. So what is it that you do on a date? Do you try to sell your strenghts, or do you try to impress rather subtly? Isn’t trying to impress also redundant when it becomes self-evident? There is not much of a difference between a successful business proposal and a good romantic proposal. The following are common to both –
- Subtlety is necessary
- Being deliberate doesn’t work
- Assets/outstanding qualities are a must-have
- You need a plan
- And you need to execute it without actually letting out it is a plan
The idea of getting someone to listen to you doesn’t change. And you can hardly do it without hinting that there is something cooking. Besides, you have to make sure that you strike when the iron is hot, well before all the hotness fizzles out.
The right timing, a smart grasp on market developments and quality assurance – these are the factors that impress.
You must have heard about couples craving for ‘quality time’. As a marketer, that’s what you want with your audience. Make them love you, and you will be on the way to great business relationships. That’s nothing unfair!
Treating interactive business activities the same way as dating will help you –
- Impress at a human or personal level
- Communicate your strengths without soundlike salesy
- Introduce your prospect to diversity
- Make them focus on you
A word of age-old advice though –
Dating and prospecting are also similar in the manner that our parents would often express their doubts about matchmaking. Before you embark on a “loventure” in business, it is important you confirm certain parameters. BANT is a nice way to do that because before you start campaigning, you get to know the BUDGET, AUTHORITY level, the NEED for you and if the TIMING is right. Remember – mismatches can be as bad as heartbreaks if you are not careful!
This is the level of dexterity we really value in our marketing experts. For a training session in digital marketing, or a useful deal in entrepreneurship, feel social enough to click here!
The month of love is upon us, and we all know how the B2C market is abuzz with activity. All of us have families; friends and we have all been in love in one way or the other. The lack of emotion and excitement when it comes to B2B marketing is legendary to say the least, but why should it be that way is our question? Don’t B2B marketers have emotions? Are they in anyway not in love?
At B2Bdatapartners, we cherish the relationships we forge with our clients, and we feel that it is only right for us to extend that love on this month, not because it is a clique, it is because we ought to do it, so why not now! We would not be in business if it were not for these clients and since that is the truth, we would like you to know it. We Appreciate it.
How do we include love in our marketing? The very basis of the data industry has been a monotonous routine of calls, requirements and sales orders, so how do you translate that into the language of love. Here are a few tips for B2B marketers out there who would want to connect with their prospects/clients on a level far above the business.
Engage Cold Contacts:
The trend in the industry has been dangerously leaning towards that of a one-time business affair, much like a one night stand. There is no love in it, period. What you need to do otherwise is to talk to them on a regular basis, check on how your list is faring, what problems they are facing and try to solve it for them. Let them know you care and their business matters to you, no matter how insignificant it is. Building relationships is what makes a business grow.
Listen, and then react:
Don't get into the rut of just dishing out your sales pitch to whoever picks the phone, for all you know, he does not want to listen to it. Probe as to what he is looking for, look at the big picture, that is what separates the legends of sales from the mediocre. Opportunities multiply when you listen and learn, rather than limit yourself to what your job description tells you to do.
Spread the Love:
When you smile the world smiles with you, you know the rest. What we want to say here is that your enthusiasm and eager spirit rubs off on others, your prospect is no exception. For all you know, he may be on a dead beat job, trying to make things move. Help him along; you will be surprised with what you can achieve with a little motivation.
Do this today:
Send out a campaign to your existing client list, let them know they matter to you and extend your appreciation, sincerely.
See what you can offer them of value, take stock and then go out and do it, a little goodwill goes a long way.
Finally, for all the wonderful customers who have been with us for all these years, we have a special offer for you. CLICK here to unlock it. (Include Month of love offer in the comments section) This is from us, to you. THANK YOU.
Oh, the irony of data. What do you do with truck loads of it? How do you understand it? With marketers moving onto smarter podiums to get their word out, data has taken centre stage, almost uprooting anything and everything in its way. Traditionally, data has played a major role, then why the sudden surge in interest?
Outbound marketing has lived its life, a fruitful one nonetheless. From the very first days of blasting an audience with televised adverts spewing venom in the face of competitors to email blast campaigns pitching everything from a tooth brush to a piece of land on the moon, outbound has its way of getting to you. It doesn’t really matter where you are and what you do, you will be found. With marketing moving into hyper space with the big boys talking about automation and quantum physics principles used in marketing (jokes apart), a granular look at marketing is in. Inbound marketing, which was largely underrated uptil now, took some time to arrive. And as we speak, methods and techniques on how to use inbound marketing are being created. The one thing which has stayed common for both these forms of marketing has been data.
Data means a pile of garbage if you cannot manage it smartly, and by smartly we mean the opposite of stupidity. No measuring words. In one of our previous blog posts on data, Why Data Is the Fuel of the Digital Age, we spoke to you about how your data can make or break your marketing campaign. Today, we want to impress on how this is done and one of the most popular and profitable ways to do this is to incorporate data segmentation. Picture this - what makes more sense? An aisle full of clothes piled up in no particular order or a neatly segmented aisle which contains clothes neatly stacked according to their size, material and cost? Of course the latter!!
We use the same philosophy when it comes to data segmentation. The amount of time and resources you will be wasting on sifting though towers of data to get what you want and then choose them separately to send out is indeed a herculean task. We understand this pain all too well and hence have invested in data segmentation, designed just for your needs.
Data segmentation makes sure that your data stays neat, accessible and hence sensible to have. Every part of your data is analyzed and then put into segments where all you need to do is dive in and pick them out. It takes away lots of the worries that our predecessors have had with data management. Faster and better is the way forward.