Holiday Deliverability – Part 2

Repost from Pivotal IQ Blog

A little over 10 days ago I wrote about deliverability in the first 11 days of the holiday season and how it was reflected in industry wide benchmarks. It's time now to look at the next 11 some odd days as our run up to the all important Black Friday is no longer on the horizon but quite literally at our door steps.

I dare say that more and more email is arriving, rather I should say
that more and more email is being sent — and more of it is being
filtered by ISPs. The holidays are a difficult time for both sides of
the fence: senders (marketers, email service providers, *gasp*
spammers) and receivers; or more accurately: those people who run the
networks where email is directed.

So what have we seen in the run up to the holidays when it comes to
opt-in email marketers' deliverability? As expected, a downward trend.
Last week wasn't quite the same haphazard five days with numerous peaks
and valleys, but it wasn't as smooth as we would like it to be either.
The weekends have seen a rebound in terms of deliverability numbers as
volumes drop, but the weekdays are a veritable trench warfare of
offers, specials and hype about the coming Black Friday retail events.

What is significant to note is the all-time low of 72.40% that
happened on Friday the 20th and could well be the result of complaints
accumulating from higher traffic on Thursday. If last Friday's number
is a harbinger for this coming Friday, then we can assume marketer's
will make last ditch efforts to cram inboxes with email. Those who wish
to distinguish themselves from the mad dash to the finish line may want
to take into consideration that filters will be on high alert, queues
packed with messages, and attentions distracted from the screen to the
holiday feast. Instead of joining into the mass hysteria of the 11th
hour, focus on today and tomorrow as the finish line and leave the
inbox alone on Thursday – which appears poised to be a high volume,
high traffic day. Craft messages to relevant segments and customers
that are the most likely to act on them. Sending out a last minute
offer to someone who hasn't purchased anything in the last 5 years is
akin to shooting yourself in the foot rather than hitting a bullseye.

The rules of the game haven't changed—customer engagement will
separate the winners from the losers, the spam from the ham, and
success from failure. In a recent post on ExactTarget's Blog,
good sound marketing advice was aptly put into verse. Although this
little ditty might sound comic it is an accurate and cautionary tale
from one of the nation's leading mailbox providers, AOL.

Cheers!
-Len Shneyder
Director of Partner Relations
& Industry Communictions
www.pivotalveracity.com