There are many different eMarketing platforms available for the online marketer to choose from varying in; capabilities, integration, reporting and social media awareness. Be sure to do your homework to select the most appropriate platform for your business needs today, and as you evolve - so ensure it can grow with your online marketing requirements and the platform itself provides access to new features in a fast changing online landscape.
Many eMarketing platforms provide best practice guides, information and eMarketing tips relevant to what the platform can deliver and to ensure that your email newsletters meet deliverability, usability, functionality and marketability! (See: ExactTarget, MailChimp, CommuniGator)
Ensuring your email marketing meets legal compliance is also an important consideration and in an international context it is important to research the current CAN-SPAM legislation and similar requirements for each country. The provision of a double opt-in is but one part of the process and a must-have. Compliance also includes the provision of Privacy Policy, one-click unsubscribes, contact details of the company along with a few other items.
Associated to this category of consideration is the funcationality of your email template and how it renders for users with disabilities and screen reader applications.
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
The legislation in the UK that covers the rights of disabled people – the section of the act on the provision of goods and services includes the requirement that websites should be made accessible.
UK Law
It has been a legal requirement for UK websites to be accessible since 1999. Since then all websites have been expected to make "reasonable adjustments" to ensure their websites accommodate all users regardless of ability, disability.
Is your website legal?
http://www.douceandco.co.uk/website.html
The current information relating to web sites in the UK confirm that many are illegal. They do not include even basic information such as registered company address, VAT details and web site hosting for example.
Making sure your website meets all the current key UK legal requirements is vital to prevent you receiving fines or penalties. Ensure you are up to date with the necessary UK legislation or it could prove very costly to you and your business.
Disability Discrimination Act
UK websites must comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, which states that websites must be accessible to all – including users with visual impairments or disabilities.
Responsible business practice
In today's environment corporate and social responsibility have increasingly become fundamental in building trust and reputation with the people you do business with. However, experience of closed doors on your websites can have a negative influence on the way people perceive even the most reliable companies and the strongest brands.
I would also recommend prior to any go-live activity with a new eMarketing platform that you go through a careful process of deliverability and reputation testing on the email sends to ensure everything is in place. And once your email campaigns are active within your new eMarketing platform keep a good eye out for DNSBL black lists to ensure that the integrity of your IP and sender framework is retained.
Did you know?
About the UK Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008
http://www.douceandco.co.uk/website.html
Fines of up to £100 a day could face any registered business whose websites do not comply with these regulations, introduced in October 2008. Further information is available here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/495/contents/made
Limited companies must include company details on all electronic communications (website AND email) and this should include:
Your full company name
Where the company is registered
The companies registered address
The Companies Registered No e.g. 123456789
Website Hosting company details: address, postcode, hosting company website
Professional Memberships should be displayed on the website or freely provided upon request
VAT Registered number
Showing posts with label email marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label email marketing. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Cleaning an Email Bounce List
Implementing an appropriate double opt-in email system that conforms to all the necessary CAN-SPAM rules and similar email marketing legal compliance specifications around the world (if you run a global website), is a must in today's environment. Apart from compliance, and avoiding fines, it is the perfect solution for email subscriber list cleaning process that avoids consumer data entry errors.
But what if you have an old list that you are migrating into a new system, or a list that contains previous email subscribers that were merged across into a double opt-in system with running a reconfirm cleanse?
First steps with old list management requires a look at bounce messages (hard and soft bounce types), and this will determine what email accounts your content is not getting through to. This review process will then help to determine what can be done to recover these email addresses, reduce the level of bounced email, and increase your eNewsletter content visibility to users who had intended to receive your content but had unfortunately been careless during the registration process... and were missed because the site owner hadn't put in a validation check process (double entry), rule check, or double opt-in solution.
One of the easiest things to do is take a .csv dump of the email addresses from your bounce list, run a regular expression clense to filter .*@ and replace with @ to remove all the initial names leaving the TLDs (Top Level Domains), open in Excel and run an alpha sort. Then you can run a visual check over the list and see what errors users have made.
The following list is an example of Hotmail accounts that have been entered incorrectly.
You can then run a find/replace over the list to resolve these, and then reintroduce back into your operational email subscriber list.
But what if you have an old list that you are migrating into a new system, or a list that contains previous email subscribers that were merged across into a double opt-in system with running a reconfirm cleanse?
First steps with old list management requires a look at bounce messages (hard and soft bounce types), and this will determine what email accounts your content is not getting through to. This review process will then help to determine what can be done to recover these email addresses, reduce the level of bounced email, and increase your eNewsletter content visibility to users who had intended to receive your content but had unfortunately been careless during the registration process... and were missed because the site owner hadn't put in a validation check process (double entry), rule check, or double opt-in solution.
One of the easiest things to do is take a .csv dump of the email addresses from your bounce list, run a regular expression clense to filter .*@ and replace with @ to remove all the initial names leaving the TLDs (Top Level Domains), open in Excel and run an alpha sort. Then you can run a visual check over the list and see what errors users have made.
The following list is an example of Hotmail accounts that have been entered incorrectly.
@holmail.com = @hotmail.com |
| @homail.com = @hotmail.com |
| @homeail.com.au = @homemail.com.au |
| @hotail.com = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmai.com = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmail.au = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmail.co = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmail.co.uk = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmail.com.au = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmail.net.au = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmaill.com = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmal.com = @hotmail.com |
| @hotmall.com = @hotmail.com |
You can then run a find/replace over the list to resolve these, and then reintroduce back into your operational email subscriber list.
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