The haves and have nots

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on September 26, 2007

George Bilbrey wrote a post today expanding on Loren McDonald's Six Sigma approach to email deliverability.

George suggests that while many of us are now able to recognize and measure a problem with getting emails delivered, too few take the next step and do anything about it.

This idea resonates well with me and reflects a growing gulf in email marketing.

Here's the background. I've never had a troubling delivery problem with my double opt-in newsletter, which reached its 67th issue on Monday. Suddenly...

Open rate dropped to 30% (it's never dipped below 40% before)
My "soft bounces" went from near 0% to 5%
3% of emails came back as blocked, but the open rate drop tells me the real number is much higher

Clearly there are delivery issues here. A closer look reveals problems with hotmail.com addresses and "Spamcop administrator has prohibited delivery" messages.

I'm a small business. My desk is covered in to-do lists. I have a project to deliver by the end of the week. There is a growing list of people waiting for feedback, reviews, emails and notifications from me. It's already 11pm as I write this.

The prospect of devoting any significant time to sorting out a problem with what is just one of many ways I promote my business is, frankly, not a pleasant one. And I have a pretty good idea of how to set about it (most other small businesses don't.)

This is where the email marketing divide comes in. Medium and large businesses with sizable, active email address lists can afford to invest time, energy and resources in managing the email marketing challenge. Those who know the value of a successful email program will be prepared to invest in it.

But most of those with small lists, little understanding or who are simply pushed for time (like most small businesses) are poorly-equipped to meet that challenge. They are left with two choices:

1. Stay away from email marketing
2. Accept imperfection

Fortunately for those have nots, even imperfection can work out pretty well (I know many large companies who would sell an elderly relative for a 30% open rate.)

But this reinforces the point made in yesterday's post about what's preventing email from getting a wider role in supporting the brand or business as a whole. It's still too much of a challenge for many folk. The comfort factor isn't there yet...

More on deliverability | Tags: email deliverability, blocked email, email marketing

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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