Email Marketing & Gmail’s promotions tab – How to overcome it?

Recently Google has introduced three kinds of tabs in Gmail. These are Primary, Social & Promotions. The Primary tab contains all the important communications (Google fetches this data from your email history), Social tab contains all the mails which come from social media platforms and Promotions tab contains all the mails that you receive regarding product promotions, discounts, offers etc.

These tabs are a great feature from the user's perspective as it helps us to move from a cluttered inbox to a neat & clean interface. Even if we are receiving promotional emails in primary tabs, we can simply drag and drop such mails in promotional tab and Gmail will make sure that emails from this sender are landed in to promotional tabs from next time. Simple!

But, this feature has created a lot of problems for email marketers. Earlier all the mails were delivered in to the inbox which resulted into more open rates and hence more click through rates. But now all such mails are shifted to promotional tab so users might not even notice your email! So, how to overcome this situation? Following are the few ways which were tried and tested by me and have given me good results post this policy change.

1. Inform your customer about Gmail’s policy change

Since you have been rolling out email campaigns to your customers at regular intervals, it’s a good idea to inform them about this policy change, the best way is to send them an email describing how to move your email from promotion tab to primary tab by using the drag & drop feature of gmail. This action will make sure that all your future communications lands in customer’s primary tab and not the promotion tab.

2. Try to use new Domain and IP address

If it’s possible then you must change your IP address and the domain name from which all the campaigns are blasted as Gmail has already figured out that most of your communication is promotional based and hence your emails are being put into promotional tab. For example, if Flipcart is sending the emails from abc@FlipcartPromotions.com , they might change it to xyz@FlipcartCommunication.com this might help them to put their emails in primary tabs for some time. If all other factors are also put into action this can result in great returns.

3.  Minimize the use of words like “free”, “offer”, “discount”, “hurry”

Gmail uses an algorithm to filter the promotions mail which includes Sender’s reputation score, SPF verification and also the Content. So if you are using too much of texts like buy now, get it free, last 2 days, huge discounts etc... Then Gmail might put that under promotions tab. So as a best practice minimize the usage of such words which might warn Gmail about the offer. However the email marketer should still be wary while using such words in subject line.

4.  Use pictures rather than texts

What if you can’t reduce the usage of offer texts? Well then best way is to use the image and display an offer in these images! We don’t have to worry about whether user will see the content or not as Gmail has already rolled out an update in which images are loaded automatically in user’s inbox!

We discussed about how various initiatives can help us to overcome the problems caused by new Gmail tabs but if we try to look more closely then we will realize that this is a good feature even for marketers as well as users. Now users know that all the promotional mails are in one tab so they know where to look for offers and discounts! Even if they plan to purchase something later they will surely tinker a little with this tab to find the best offer from the service providers.

Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Email Marketing

First of all, I couldn’t believe that I would be writing my second blog so soon. Believe me, I have tried this couple of times in the past and all I could do was write one blog and forget it for next one year. Let’s see how long am I gonna continue with this one. J

Now back to the topic, today we will talk about 5 common mistakes that an email marketer makes while rolling out the email campaigns. We will not go into the details about content part as it will be a different discussion altogether. (But we will cover that in my upcoming blogs!) We will talk about simple but important parameters that should be considered while sending out a campaign. We will also look at the email campaigns of companies like Bookmyshow, Inox, National geographic, ICICI bank and ICICI Lombard. So let’s get started! Point number 1 is...

1.Use of Proper links in CTA (Call-to-Action)

When we send an email to our prospects, we expect them to take certain action; it could be filling up a lead/enquiry form, sharing our email on social media platforms, to book a ticket or something else.  Now in order to make our customer take these actions we must help them to navigate with proper links. For example if we want our customer to fill up a lead form then we must have a link saying “enquire now” or “know more”. When a user clicks on that particular link he/she should be redirected to a proper landing page where in they can fill up the details like name, contact number, city etc...  we should avoid using generic links like our website’s homepage! 

Let’s try to understand this with the help of a live example from entertainment industry. Since I am a movie buff, I have subscribed myself to the newsletters of the two giants in online ticketing industry – Bookmyshow and Inox. First of all let me show you what I received from Inox.

Inox

This is a simple mailer informing me about the upcoming movies. For Inox, the desirable action from customer/me would be to book the tickets but when I tried to click on the image of “Sholay” poster I landed on the Inox homepage which is slightly complex and I had to find my way to book the ticket for “Sholay” by going through various links (approx 10).

Now let’s see how bookmyshow is doing this. I received following email from them, 

BookMyShow

Quite similar to what Inox had sent but, when I clicked on the image of “sholay” I landed directly on the show timings page! All I had to do was to select the show and book the ticket. So bookmyshow helped me to reduce my set of steps from approx 10 to 5, I still booked the show in Inox theatre as they have got awesome sound quality but I used bookmyshow’s platform!

One more point to be noted in here is that Inox is not doing something wrong (I mean you can book the tickets from their homepage) but the user experience is much simpler in bookmyshow case.

      2.Proper Identity of sender –Domain name

Whenever we receive an email, we expect that sender of the email is legitimate. We don’t want some spammer to send us any promotional campaigns or we would not like to get trapped in some spoofing activity. Now how do we make sure that sender is genuine? This can be done by checking the domain name of the sender. Let’s try to understand this with the help of an example. I had received the following email from the national geographic.

National Geographic

Now there is nothing wrong with the content but when I tried to find the sender of the emailer, it was some random third party (marked in red box). My first action was to unsubscribe myself from this list. I don’t have any problem if National Geographic is sending me emails but I do have problem with such random third parties who are completely alien to me. This could have been corrected while sending the campaign by altering the sender’s name and identity. So even though content was right it sends a wrong impression in customer’s mind that companies like National geography is using such irrelevant vendors to roll out their campaigns.  

3.SPF and DKIM entry

As we discussed in my last blog that most of the deliverability issues are caused by incorrect or missing SPF and DKIM entry. Each and every email marketer must take this in to consideration before rolling out any of the campaigns.

4.Proper sender’s (reply to) email id

There are many occasions where in we receive an email from a company about some offers & services and we have some doubts about it. So best practice would be to directly reply on that email id (I mean that’s exactly what we do when we receive an email from someone!). But still brands like ICICI are not doing this properly. For example I received the following email from the ICICI bank.

ICICI Bank

I was interested in the content but I had few queries so I thought to directly reply on that email. When I clicked on reply button, I saw this!

ICICI Bank

Now who the hell is this guy and why the hell is he sending me such emails? Later I had to visit their website, called customer executive and it took me a while to clarify my doubts but had a bad email experience. So to avoid confusion and facilitate better customer service an email marketer must use valid and proper reply to email address.

5.Sender’s IP Score/Reputation – this is BIG!

IP (Internet Protocol) is an identifier for a computer or device on a network. When an email marketer rolls out the campaign they send it from some specific set of IP addresses which works as their identity in Internet space.  All the ESP (Email service providers) and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) monitors the activity of various IPs all the time and basis which they score them. 

So it’s very important to monitor the score and reputation of your IPs. If your score is below 75 (out of 100) your emails might get flagged as spam.  There are many factors which are considered while measuring the reputation. Few of the important ones are

•         SPF and DKIM verification
•         Email volumes
•         Frequency at which  emails are sent
•        Spam reports by users and others

Let’s quickly look at the IP reputation and score of ICICI Lombard.

ICICI Lombard

Now if you will look closely, the first three IPS are safe in terms of SPF verification but rest all are under the scanner. Also the score of three of its IP (marked in RED) is below 20! So, all the emails that are being sent from this IPs will definitely land in junk folder. An email marketer must monitor this scores on a regular interval else we might end up sending a successful campaign but we may not get the desired results.

Do share your feedback! We will talk about the content part for email marketing in my next blog. Till then take care and happy reading!

Follow me on Twitter @mahinindia

Deliverability issues in email marketing

“Even a Billion Dollar scheme is of no use if your email doesn’t land up in the prospect’s inbox”

Yes, that’s true! No matter how effectively we have strategized the offer, no matter how effective is our creativity and content, it holds no stand if we don’t cross the barrier of various filters that are being placed by the ESPs (Email service providers) and the ISPs (Internet service providers). In this blog we will take a closer look at how an email travels from the sender to receiver’s inbox.

What is Deliverability in email marketing?

In simple terms, deliverability means the successful reach/landing/delivery of your email in customer’s inbox. The point or word to be noted in here is “inbox”, the email should get delivered in the inbox and not the spam or junk folder as nobody cares or reads an email that lands up in spam folders (Only ESP monitors it and deletes the content at regular intervals from junk folders).

How an email travels on Internet?

Email Architecture

Step 1

As soon as user hits the submit button, the email is sent from the sender’s inbox via SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). This protocol is responsible for the sending part and the receiving part is managed by IMAP or POP3.

Step 2

ESPs check for SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (Domain Key Indentified Mail).  SPF is responsible to prevent email spoofing & Spam by verifying the IP address of the sender. SPF allows administrators to specify which hosts are allowed to send mail from a given domain by creating a specific SPF record (or TXT record) in the Domain Name System (DNS).

For example, if Flipkart is sending an email via abc@flipkartpromotions.com then Flipkart needs to have SPF verification code embedded on www.flipkartpromotions.com  if the SPF code is absent then ESPs may flag an alert for emails originating from this domain as a spam. DKIM is similar verification process for Domains.

Step 3

Once the ESPs validate the SPF and DKIM of an email, it gets delivered safely in to the inbox of the recipient. If the email fails on this verification then it might land up in the Junk or Spam folder.

How to check the SPF and DKIM in an Email?

Step 1

Click on the “Show original” link in your Gmail inbox.

SPF and DKIM Check - 1

Step 2

Search for Received – SPF: pass and dkim=pass. 

SPF and DKIM Check - 2

If both of the above records are present then you have no reason to worry about the deliverability issues from technical perspective; however there are other issues/concerns which an email marketer faces. We will discuss about them in my next blog. Till then take care and happy new year!

Online marketing trends in 2012

1. Three screen marketing

Mobile-Tab-TV

There was a time when companies used to focus only on one screen and that is television.  Companies were right in their decision as it is one of the most influential media. People used television to get information about NEWS, entertainment, sports and many more. However, the trend is changing in last few months wherein consumers have started using other Media. Now, that’s my point of discussion, the multi screen or the three different screens that are being used by the consumers to gain information about all the topics under the sun and even above it.

Screen 1: Television

Television, according to the Business Standard, India is the third largest television house hold market in the world.  It has always been a primary media for any company to contact the end user; especially in India where they can target the entire family with an emotional touch! Ads like Cadbury’s (is Diwali aap kise khush karenge..?) no matter how smarter and faster phone or tablet you build, television is here to stay in Indian household for a long long time. So, television should be the first priority for companies who are targeting the average Indian households.

Screen 2: Tablets

Tablets, an innovative product launched by the great Steve jobs from the house of Apple changed the way people used electronic device and the internet. “Use it as you go”, a product between smart phone and the laptops/desktops with all of their functionality in a compact form helped the people in many ways. In India, the tablet market is growing at a CAGR of 71%. Near about 13 brands have already made their presence in the country with 30 different models among which Apple is leading the market with 52% share followed by Samsung and Blackberry with 21% and 10% market share respectively.

Screen 3: Smartphone

Smartphone, companies are changing their online strategy with a rapid growth in the Smartphone market. People of all generations have started using Smartphone for better features and an amazing internet experience. If you have been to Mumbai then you’ll find a lot of people using Smartphone to play angry birds or watching latest movies or chatting on whatsapp or checking their facebook updates during their journey in local train while going to and fro office. People find it a lot useful and it’s also economical. Today you can get a Smartphone anywhere in the range INR5,000 to INR60,000.

2. Proximity Marketing: FOURSQUARE

Proximity Marketing: Foursquare

How do you feel when you enter a shopping mall and suddenly receive a SMS giving you the discount of 40% or discount on movie tickets? Well, this is possible with the help of proximity marketing. Proximity marketing means marketing activities that are carried out by maintaining closeness to your customer.

In proximity marketing, marketer can send SMS via Bluetooth or WIFI in a particular area say a radius of 40-80 meters. This allows the company to target a specific set of customers.

For example, when you are watching your favorite television show and you find a break time then your first reaction would be to change the channel and watch another show for those 5 minutes. So, consumer may not see your advertisement but, think of the impact of discussion about say, beauty or fashion product in a fashion show? You are bound to get maximum conversion rates!!!

Now, how foursquare is going to help in achieving the same?

For those who don’t know about foursquare, it’s a free application which helps you and your friends make the most of where you are. When you're out, use foursquare to share and save the places you visit. And, when you're out looking for suggestions in a city like Mumbai or Delhi or any city, it’ll give you personalized recommendations and deals based on where you, your friends, and people with similar tastes have been.

With the help of foursquare, brands like Cadbury or Pepsi can feel the pulse of their consumer anywhere in the world.  Venue owners like say, Hotel Taj in Mumbai can see the reaction, reviews and feedback of their consumers when they check in on foursquare.

It helps you to say whether the place touched your heart by clicking on the heart symbol, similar to facebook like button and google+1 button but here it also allows you to select broken heart symbol which means the place did not meet the expectation.

Foursquare has crossed billion checkins by their users globally and that too in a very short span of time.

 So, companies should brand themselves effectively on social media like Foursquare which would allow them to market their place or brand when consumer is physically present at those places and help them to get the maximum conversion rates. Because over here, consumer is coming to you rather then you going after the consumer!!!

3. Content Marketing

Content Marketing

Content marketing should be the first choice for every marketer who is planning to go online. Without content, it’s very hard to generate traffic on your site. Even if you are successful in generating the traffic then you will find your conversion rates far below than your expectation. In short, your ROI will be very less.

For example, for a company who is providing online consulting on B-Schools in India, should also provide information on various streams of MBA like marketing, HR, Finance, Operation, IT etc… apart from the information about streams, they should provide a brief idea about the possible set of companies in which they would get placed and the work profile in which they would see themselves at the end of the course.

If a user sees meaningful content on the site, he/she is bound to take guidelines from you to know more about what you have put on your website.

On the other hand if you have not put useful content on your site, you may generate traffic by using various ad campaign on search engines and other sites, you may even increase the page views and the unique visitors, but the average time spent on your site and bounce rate will keep increasing which is of no use as this will decrease your conversion rate even after spending a huge of amount.

 So, in my opinion companies should spend a little budget on the content of the site rather than spending a big amount on ad campaign. Content marketing will not only help in increasing conversion rates, but it will also help in increasing word of mouth marketing which is the best approach in marketing world.

I had never heard of Google back in my school, but my seniors used to say “boss, internet pe kuchh bi information chahiye to google use karna, sab mil jayega”. Till today, I have never used any other search engine because; Google has helped me in giving me the content the best way I can imagine.

I will discuss about SEO, SMO and email marketing in my next post.