Each day email marketing becomes increasingly sophisticated. From MTA throttling techniques to data marts, the email marketing space has changed tremendously over the past few years. There are still basic building blocks to email marketing that the customer controls and needs to ensure are setup. Role accounts are one of those basic items that every person who engages in email marketing needs to setup and actively monitor. A role account is nothing more than an abuse@ and postmaster@ email account for the domain you use in your “From” email addresses.

Some users will not use your unsubscribe links and just forward their unsubscribe request to one or both of the role accounts. It’s important that you setup these accounts and actively check them. Another best practice with your role accounts is to register them with Abuse.net. Many ISP’s and blacklisting organizations want to see legitimate mailers with listings in this database. It helps to show you are not trying to hide where complaints should be sent.

Adding role accounts is very easy. Make sure your domain has them and that someone is actively monitoring these accounts.

With all the social networking sites popping up lately, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.  However, we’ve found one that anyone in the email marketing world should join - the Email Marketer’s Club!

According to the site, the Email Marketer’s Club allows you to “network and share knowledge with email marketers across the globe.”  Create your own page with info about yourself and then connect with others in the email marketing space.  You can contribute to and learn from discussion forums, join groups specific to your areas of interest, read the club newsletter, catch up on the latest events, and even find your dream job on the job board.

Click here to sign up for the club.  Once you’re there, be sure to search for your Blue Sky Factory friends.  We’d love to chat!

Is your email marketing program a one way street? If you are sending emails to your subscribers but asking for no feedback, you are really missing an opportunity to gather valuable information.

I’ve used a certain mid-west bank for years. Every month I get an email from them with my statement balance, but nothing more. This morning I received an email from them with the subject line “How are we doing? We want to know.” The email was a link to a short survey on their site which asked for feedback of different natures, but one thing stood out: they asked me which types of mailings I want, and how often.

This is a little different from the article we posted recently about Subscriber Preferences, because this company is currently only sending emails with account and statement information. They sought to find what their users wanted before sending a single newsletter or offer. Once they have the collected desires of their customers, they can put that into practice. After that point it’s up to them to take it another step further with Subscriber Preferences, but the initial ask was well-planned and appreciated.

Ask your customers what they want, then deliver (no pun intended.)