Marketing Automation: Crawl, Walk, Run

marketing-automation-crawl-walk-run

From the moment they first touch a prospect to the time they (hopefully) retain a customer, there are countless ways companies can lose contact and allow prospects to fall out of the funnel. Marketing automation helps avoid this scenario by facilitating lead-nurturing programs that plug the leak and lead-scoring, routing and monitoring initiatives that close [...]

Goodmail Ceases Operations

goodmail-ceases-operations

Although an official press release has yet to be published, Silverpop received word early this morning from Goodmail that it will cease operations on Feb. 8, 2011, at 5 p.m. PST, giving its customers one week to find alternate suppliers. Goodmail is the creator of the “Postage Stamp” accreditation service, which offers improved delivery into [...]

Deliverability Loves Engagement

deliverability-loves-engagement

It’s true! Engagement marketing is one of the best things to ever happen to deliverability: Engaged users complain less, open more often and tend to stay engaged. And, ISPs and inbox providers love engaged recipients because engaged recipients are happy recipients.

I recently presented this point at our annual EMEA Client Summit in an effort to [...]

3 Words to Remember (and More) at Silverpop’s EMEA Client Conference

We just wrapped up our biggest conference yet for our EMEA clients this week in London. Nearly 200 attendees joined us this year, including some of the biggest brands in Europe and most sophisticated marketers I’ve ever met

The agenda was packed with presentations and networking opportunities designed around the needs of the greater European marketplace. [...]

How Bounces Affect Deliverability

how-bounces-affect-deliverability

Bounces can be an email marketer’s worst nightmare. Imagine a twisted version of the proverbial bad dream in which you’re trying to run but your feet won’t move, only in the email world you’re trying to send messages but they’re not going anywhere, victims of previous bounces that are now causing email deliverability issues for [...]

Taking a Closer Look at the New Hotmail Filters

taking-a-closer-look-at-the-new-hotmail-filters

In my prior post, “New Changes in Hotmail: What Every Marketer Should Know,” I promised to share more about what I believe is a huge update from Microsoft: the newest implementation of its SmartScreen spam-filtering technology.

SmartScreen has been around for a while, but the acknowledgement of its uses and capabilities can help marketers better understand [...]

Inactive Subscribers: What's Your Strategy?

inactive-subscribers-whats-your-strategy

Introduction: Why Bother?

Your email database might show big numbers, but 25 percent to 40 percent of your subscribers, or more, could be inactive without showing any obvious symptoms.

Their addresses are still valid. They simply aren’t acting on your email messages anymore. Essentially, your content no longer attracts enough interest to compel these subscribers to act [...]

New Changes in Microsoft Hotmail: What Every Marketer Should Know

new-changes-in-microsoft-hotmail-what-every-marketer-should-know

Microsoft has recently announced several changes and enhancements to its Hotmail Web-based email service. While some of the new enhancements appear to be part of Microsoft’s continuing effort to catch up to the tools offered by other Webmail services, some are truly unique and likely will significantly impact on the way marketers do business today. [...]

AOL Hard Bounces and Data Hygiene

aol-hard-bounces-and-data-hygiene

After looking at our email logs and ongoing discussions with our third-party partners, we’ve noticed that AOL has recently started disabling old and inactive email accounts with no activity for over 90 days and upwards of 6 months. Clients can expect to see a larger number of hard bounces if sending to AOL email accounts with [...]

The Risk of Disposable Email Addresses: Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater

the-risk-of-disposable-email-addresses-throwing-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater

While email continues to be a fantastic way for companies and consumers to maintain a dialogue, spammers also continue to flood inboxes—making the sea rough for both legitimate senders and recipients. Add the recent rise of “disposable email addresses” and the water becomes even more treacherous.

With large ISPs, like Yahoo, now advocating the practice of [...]