Thank you Apple, we L.O.V.E. MPP!
Apple delivered the email marketing community a gift at the WWDC this past week, and we at iPost cannot be more excited. In case you haven’t heard, Apple will be releasing “Mail Privacy Protection” MPP later this year with iOS15, iPadOS15, watchOS8, and macOS Monterey. Here is what we know so far about Mail Privacy Protection (MPP): IP addresses will be blocked. The opening times of emails will now no longer be accurate at all Email opens will be completely inaccurate - All emails will be marked as open whether a person reads them or not. Tracking Pixels (or “spy pixels”) will be opened by default All remote images will be preloaded before hitting the users [...]
Email delivery vs Email deliverability
In email marketing, email delivery and email deliverability are two entirely different things when it comes to running an email program. Unfortunately, they are often used interchangeably, and it causes some confusion amongst non-email people around your organization. So how do you distinguish email delivery and deliverability? Email Delivery Delivery simply means that the email you just sent was accepted by your recipient’s server and did not bounce. It doesn’t mean that the email was delivered to the inbox or a folder; it simply means that it wasn’t rejected. Email delivery rate is NOT a metric you want to use to gauge the success of your campaign or your program. Therefore, the email delivery rate is [...]
Emails From The Client Side – Levels of Engagement
As we continue to grow, we are constantly fielding questions around our solution and its ability to perform strategically no matter what vertical they are in. One common theme from our clients is "levels of engagement." A recent email from the client-side asked us this: My engagement levels have peaked in many of my programs, and I'm trying to determine if it would be a better use of time to build on these or if I should focus on creating new campaigns where I can start with a lower engagement rate but perhaps achieve a higher conversion rate as a result. What do you think? How do your subscribers compare across the various programs you manage? [...]
Purging Your Subscribers: How to Determine Who Needs To Be Purged
Check your marketing ego at the door, people, because at some point in your email career, you will be faced with the decision to purge subscribers from your email program. Purging your subscribers is a great way to maintain the legitimacy of your database. What does purging mean? Purging means that you take a pre-defined segment of subscribers and remove them from your sendable database. Here, the operative term is "pre-defined," which means that you need to agree on what parameters make up the need to kick the subscribers to the curb. There are almost always spam accounts lingering on your subscribers' list. DEFINING THE PURGING SEGMENT Let's be clear; there is no definitive definition or [...]
DMARC: what it is and why you need it now.
With the rise in email scams, it is more important than ever to be sure that your business's emails are authentic. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) is an email validation system designed to protect your organization's email domain from spoofing and phishing scams. It uses your existing email authentication protocols such as SPF (Sender Policy Framework) and DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail) to determine your email message's authenticity. It adds an essential piece of functionality of reports back to the domain owner, who can then decide who is sending email on their behalf. DMARC: what is it? The DMARC tool adds a level of certainty on whether an email is legit. In a nutshell, [...]
7 Hidden Costs of Switching Email Service Providers (ESP)
If you’re switching email service providers, one of the questions that’s likely top of mind is, what will it cost to move from one ESP to another? Although there are steps you can take to make the ESP migration easier, you still might not understand the real costs. Based on anecdotal evidence from watching—and helping—clients switch email service providers, both before and during their engagements with iPost, I’ve pulled together some hidden costs to consider to help you understand those real costs associated with switching ESPs. Please note: This is not a breakdown of the costs of switching email service providers, nor a guide to figuring out if the cost is worth it. It is, however, [...]
Avoid These 5 Bad Email Habits in 2023
It's fair to say that none of us in email marketing are in it to annoy our subscribers with our email newsletters. We have all read articles about why subscribers leave your email program. This article about five bad email practices to avoid in 2023 is no exception. In addition to frequency and lack of personalization in emails, some things just flat-out drive people nuts. They may be things that you don't intentionally do, but they are things nonetheless. I hope you will take inventory of your program and see if these five things impact your engagement in any way. #1 POOR SIGN-UP EXPERIENCE Imagine you have been invited to a fabulous party where tons of [...]
Doing an ESP Migration? Avoid These 7 Pitfalls
For Basic ESP Q & A, refer to this previous post for What is an ESP?. You thought going through the ESP selection process was hard? It might look like a walk in the park compared to the actual ESP migration. Moving from one ESP to another involves many different people and parts, and how well you do the migration affects how quickly you’ll be up and running with your new ESP. It’s worth doing it well! Yet it’s also fraught with potential pitfalls. At iPost, we see the after effects of ESP migration pitfalls when organizations come to us with issues such poor deliverability, inefficient processes, or lack of insight into how to take advantage [...]
5 reasons email copywriting is different
Email marketers & business owners usually assume email copywriting is easy. Or they assume it’s like writing any other kind of marketing copy. But they’re wrong. If you want to succeed with email marketing in 2022 and beyond, it’s time to start learning how to write killer emails. To really learn email copywriting, it takes a lot of experience, testing, trial, and error, etc. You might be wondering what makes email copywriting different? Here are five reasons email copywriting is different, and also learn how to write like an expert copywriter. Reason 1: Your email copywriting is showing up in someone’s email inbox. Showing up in your email subscribers' inbox or on their phone is much [...]
Gmail Inbox Deliverability – Prevent Gmail Spam
GMAIL IS EMAIL KING. Gmail is a big deal for B2C email marketers. Gmail email addresses can make up 40-80% of your list and cause headaches for marketers who need to have high inbox placement to be successful. Gmail has over 1.5 billion users, a vast email client market share, and is always innovating around the email experience while continuously improving its algorithms to determine inbox placement and delivery of your messages. They are demanding that marketers become better at email marketing, and we at iPost agree. We understand your goal is to prevent mail to Gmail users from being blocked or sent to spam. GMAIL ALGORITHM HACKS Let's be clear; there are no hacks or [...]
Email Trends: 13 Email Marketing Trends Predictions for 2021
2020 SUCKED (1 Star ⭐) 2020 was a year of consolidation and regurgitation in the email industry. Companies merged, were bought, and even changed names, while the industry managed to talk about the same stuff that we were talking about 10-15 years ago. The operative words in the industry were personalization, automation, and the "New Normal." While 2020 did suck, it quickly reminded us that pivoting our strategies was not a bad thing, and those that were quick and agile faired far better than those that just followed. Email Marketing Trends Predictions In 2021, more of the same will happen across the industry. Companies will consolidate, and "personalization" will be a hot topic of many posts [...]
Do Welcome Emails Need Unsubscribe Links?
At iPost, we get a lot of questions about welcome emails, the purpose of welcome emails, and whether you should include an unsubscribe link or not in your welcome email to make it easier for people to leave your email list. Some email marketers even say that if you don’t include an unsubscribe link, you’re killing your list. But do welcome emails need an unsubscribe link? And why does it matter? Let’s talk about it! What is required in my welcome emails? Pro-tip, one of the greatest misconceptions of welcome emails is that they are transactional and, therefore, not subject to Can-Spam compliance of having an email opt-out in them. While accurate in concept, treating a [...]
Get the latest updates, training, and industry news
