Top tips for brands ‘going wide’ with email

First, implement better list management strategies

“One of the biggest risks with going wide is damaging your sender reputation, otherwise known as your Sender Score. People’s email addresses (and other data) change over time. Mailbox providers and others within the email ecosystem sometimes use these old, no-longer-valid email addresses as spam traps in order to catch bad actors. When you must send messages to people you haven’t interacted with via email recently–or ever–you run a big risk of causing low open rates, increased complaints, and getting caught in these spam traps. That’s why it’s vital to implement strong list management processes that include double checking email addresses before you send,” said Guy Hanson, VP of Customer Engagement, Validity.

Second, remember slow and steady wins the race

“When you must go wide, best practices include adopting a slow and steady approach, which is what Booking.com, also a guest at our recent Summit, did this year. As you would expect, at the beginning of the pandemic, many companies in the travel industry substantially reduced their email marketing efforts. The challenge they faced later was how to re-enter the inbox safely and effectively. During Summit, Booking.com’s Product Manager for Marketing Messaging Infrastructure, Sjoerd Engelblik, told us how the company slowly reintroduced itself to customers and prospects. One technique to warm up the inbox involved identifying which subscribers were most likely to be receptive to their messages and emailing them first,” said Hanson.

Third, segmentation is key

“Booking.com also segmented its audience and carefully crafted messages relevant to each. Additionally, the company tested messages with smaller audiences before doing larger mailings, while staggering delivery times. This helped avoid system overload from blasting messages to the entire list all at once,” said Hanson.

Tags: 2021 email marketing tips, email content tips, email marketing, email marketing tips, Validity