One of the biggest topics in organizations today is the need and desire to grow their subscriber list.  Most companies believe that the bigger the list they have, the greater chance they have to sell more stuff.  More stuff sold + more revenue = happy companies.

Some organizations take the hard road and build their list organically and spend money and resources on properly activating and creating brand advocates in their subscriber base.  They recognize that the size of their list is not as important as the overall lifetime value of their subscriber.  These organizations often have pressure internally to grow faster by out of touch executives with unrealistic expectations on subscriber growth.  In most cases though, these companies follow the good path to growth and are prosperous in the long run.

Then, every once in awhile there are organizations that take the easy road.  They use so many different channels, spend a ton of money on third parties that promise the world who often are using the same 50 Million Opt In, Can-Spam compliant list to try and bring in as many subscribers as they can.  These organizations say they are interested in quality, but often mask that with a “yea butt” statement of “we still need to get to X million subscribers by X date”.  Activation, welcome and engagement strategies are thrown out the window and the focus becomes on getting their X subscribers to buy stuff so their investment is not wasted. 

Sit back for a minute and think of acquiring a single or 5 million new subscribers as a party that you are hosting.  You certainly would not invite anyone over to your party unless you had cleaned up your house, got the hors d'oeuvres, the drinks, music etc.   When your guests arrive, do you open the door and let them stand there or do you give the tour of where everything is so that they can enjoy themselves.  As more and more people hear about how great your party is, folks will want a piece of the action and convince you to invite their friends.  Eventually it will lead to a bunch of riff raffs wanting in which will eventually ruin it for everyone.

Before you put some super aggressive acquisition plan together, ensure that your house is in order and you are ready to greet your guests. One of my colleagues and fellow bloggers here, Matt Vernhount says is beautifully: “It’s not the size of your list, its what you do with it”

Invest time and money to the more important part of acquisition.  You and your subscribers will be glad you did.

Many of you will have heard the news already - AOL plans to layoff approximately 1,400 staff members in the next day or so, the process has already started in some locations... Grim news indeed.

But this could happen to any ISP, and in times like these it makes the importance of following the escalation and support process all that more important... Less bodies does not mean less work for people - in fact quite the opposite. The individuals that do end up making it past the latest round of layoffs and buyouts will now have a major increase in work load.

Here is what you can do to help the people that help you:

1. Review your mailing metrics before opening a ticket (bounces, low opens/clicks, etc...) and read the error codes being returned in your mail logs - generally the error codes will tell you what your issues are - see sample errors codes from AOL and Comcast. High bounces, low opens, poor coding can all easily be fixed on your own.
2. If your not able to resolve this alone and need help - Consider hiring an email delivery consultant to help you (I know several that are always looking for new clients). They have seen it all and can possibly identify and help resolve an issue you didn't even know you had.
3. Consultant not in the cards and your going to try it alone... Follow the escalation process detailed on the Postmaster pages for many ISPs, no postmaster page - then try sending an email to Postmaster@ISP. Word to the Wise has a great list to reference and bookmark. Be sure to include all the information you have when asking for help from an ISP - IPs, error codes, email samples (with headers), full contact information, trace routes, manual mail server connection tests. Confused yet? See #2
4. Possibly the most important part of this is Be patient and Understanding - The postmaster/abuse desk receiving your email is already working on a dozen other items ranging from; internal network abuse mitigation to bot nets to helping resolve false positive issues to name just a few of the things they are doing on a daily basis.
5. Give Respect, Get Respect - Give attitude, and you can wait at the bottom of the support queue. Don't flood the support queues with dozens of messages, most support systems work on a first in first out process - they will get to you when it's your turn.
   
   
6. Monitor your mail logs... as abuse desks get busier their ability to reply may decline, but you may see the issue suddenly resolve without receiving a confirmation message or without an explanation of the cause of the issue (this is frequently experienced now with some ISPs).

These are a few simple things that you can consider when looking at issue, and asking for help resolving these problems. Sound daunting and confusing... See #2 - it might just be the best thing you do this year to get your program back on track, even if your not currently experiencing any delivery issues.

Original Post on EmailKarma.net

As a Director with CAUCE I'm happy to share this news - Original source CAUCE NA

Cauce North America Inc.--The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (http://www.CAUCE.org)--Today announced at The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group meeting (MAAWG) that it has received additional financial support from Return Path Inc.

The viewpoint of computer end-users is often one missing from the anti-abuse discussions, CAUCE works to ensure they have a place at the table and these stakeholders' unique and vital perspective is considered when formulating policy to help stop Internet abuse. As well, CAUCE actively works to assist training law enforcement agents in the investigation of illegal spamming.

CAUCE, after a decade of purely volunteer ad-hoc operations, officially incorporated in 2007 and began to accept paid memberships from individuals and sponsoring companies and organizations to help defray operating costs.

"The ongoing, and generous financial support of Return Path by way of their renewed corporate membership in CAUCE will help us to continue to advance the interests of the true victims of Spam 2.0 (the blended threat of spyware, spam and viruses), the computer end-users" said CAUCE president Dr. John Levine

Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path inc. said, "Supporting the interests of consumers is vital to the health of the email ecosystem, and CAUCE is uniquely suited to work in this area. Return Path is delighted to support CAUCE in its ongoing efforts to create a clean, well-lighted place where consumers can feel safe and confident interacting through email."

"This renewed corporate membership will allow CAUCE to maintain a demanding travel and conference schedule in the coming months, including ongoing discussions with lawmakers and governments, The London Action Plan/EU Contact Network of Spam Authorities conference in Portugal, and of course, having representation at MAAWG" explained John Levine

Levine continued "CAUCE was actively involved in the Canadian government's Task Force on Spam in 2004-2005, the end-result of which was the recent tabling of Bill C-27 in the parliament of Canada; memberships such as that of Return Path Inc. allow us to continue to directly involve ourselves in the legislative process".

About CAUCE

The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email CAUCE North America was formed in March 2007 from a merger between the original CAUCE in the United States and CAUCE Canada, combining the strengths of the two sibling CAUCE organizations. CAUCE NA, as an all-volunteer consumer advocacy organization, has moved beyond its original mission of encouraging the creation and adoption of anti-spam laws to a broader stance of defending the interests of the average Internet user. CAUCE NA is led by a combined Board with a cumulative century of experience in the field of Internet advocacy.

CAUCE NA represents the interests of Internet end-users to the following organizations:

* The Anti-spyware Coalition (ASC)
* The Anti-phishing Working group (APWG)
* Digital Phishnet
* Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
* Internet Governance forum
* The London Action Plan / EU Contact Network of Spam Authorities
* The Stop Spam Alliance

About Return Path
Founded in 1999, Return Path helps commercial email senders get more email delivered to the inbox. Our tools and services give senders the insight and resources to diagnose and prevent email deliverability and rendering failures by improving and maintaining their email sending reputations. Our Professional Services division then helps our client improve ROI and response by creating consistent and compelling subscriber experiences across the email customer lifecycle. Return Path runs the internet's most widely used third-party whitelist, the Return Path Certification Program. Return Path also invented the Sender Score, an email reputation measure based on data contributed by ISPs and other receivers of large volume email into the Return Path Reputation Network. We offer free access to our Sender Score to any sender, receiver or consumer of email at our reputation portal: http://www.senderscore.org Information about Return Path can be found at http://www.returnpath.net

NOTE: This is NOT LEGAL ADVICE - just my own personal interpretation and understanding of the proposed law. Please read this law yourself and also have your council review it for your protection. Reposted with permission from EmailKarma.net

Recently the Canadian Government introduced the Electronic Commerce Protection Act [ECPA] (aka: Bill C-27), an Anti-spam act that covers; email communications, unauthorized installed applications and the alteration of data during transmission between senders and recipients. This post will only deal with the Email portions of the Electronic Commerce Protection Act, and does not include information on installed software or data alteration.

What is the Purpose of the ECPA?

The ECPA is a law designed to promote and protect electronic communications while discouraging the abuse of these resources that threaten to; impair the reliability, efficiency of electronic activities, prevent additional costs to businesses and consumers, protect the privacy and the security of confidential information and strengthen the confidence of Canadians in the use of electronic means of communication and commercial activities. This enactment also makes several amendments to related laws; the Competition Act, Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission Act and the Telecommunications Act.

What is considered a Commercial Electronic Message under ECPA?

The ECPA defines a commercial electronic message as an electronic messages that consists of: the content, the hyperlinks, the contact information, where the purpose is to encourage participation in a commercial activity that;

(a) offers to purchase, sell, barter or lease a product, goods, a service, land or an interest or right in land;
(b) offers to provide a business, investment or gaming opportunity;
(c) advertises or promotes anything referred to in (a) or (b);
(d) promotes a person, including the public image of a person, as being a person who does anything referred to in any of (a) to (c), or who intends to do so.

Also the ECPA clearly states that An electronic message that contains a request for consent (READ: Confirmed opt-in notices) are also considered to be a commercial electronic message. The ECPA also lists several types of excluded communications like; responses to customers service enquiries and applications, law enforcement, public safety, the protection of Canada, the conduct of international affairs or the defence of Canada and personal communications.

Who is governed by the ECPA?

After reading through the act, it looks like every corporation registered under a Federal or Provincial licence for the purposes of Commercial Activity are going to be effected by this law. I also understand this covers Non-profits, co-ops, sole proprietors and partnerships.

What are the Requirements for Marketers under the ECPA?

When sending commercial email you can only send to a recipient has consented to receiving it (express or implied - def'n below) and the message complies with the purpose of the ECPA described above. All messages being sent must;

• Clearly identify the person who sent the message and the person (if different) on whose behalf it is sent - Add your physical postal address and company name to all emails
• The messages must provide a method where the recipient can readily contact the person(s) responsible for sending the message (MUST be active for 60 days after the messages was sent) - Enable replies to go to your customer service and stop using No-Reply
• Provide a working unsubscribe mechanism (more below) that removes an address within 10 days - the faster the better.

An important thing to note is that the ECPA states that an electronic message is considered to have been sent once its transmission has been initiated (by the sender) and that it is irrelevant if the intended recipient address exists or if message reaches its intended destination. This reference makes bounce management even more important for mailers to monitor and clean from your list. When your working with your clients/members/subscribers and asking for their consent there are several things you should remember and incorporate into the process (I've talked about these types of things before);

(a) Clearly state the purpose(s) for which the consent is being sought
(b) Clearly identify the person(s) seeking consent
(c) Clearly define any other prescribed information about how data is collected and plans to be used.

How are express or implied consent different under the ECPA?

The definition of Implied Consent when the person(s) responsible for sending the messages has an existing business relationship or an existing non-business (def'n below) relationship with the recipient. While the “existing business relationship” means a business relationship (within the 18-month period preceding the day on which the message was sent) between the person to whom the message is sent arising from;

(a) the purchase or lease of a product, goods, a service, land or an interest or right in land
(b) the acceptance by the person to whom the message is sent of a business, investment or gaming opportunity
(c) the bartering of anything mentioned in paragraph (a) between the person to whom the message is sent
(d) a written contract entered into between the person to whom the message is sent and any of those other persons in respect of a matter not referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (c), if the contract is currently in existence or expired within the 18 month period
(e) an inquiry or application, within the six-month period immediately, made by the person to whom the message is sent

A non-business relation is clarified to include a person that made a donation, a gift or performed volunteer work with; a registered charity, a political party or organization, or a person who is a candidate for publicly elected office. This Non-business relationship also covers membership in a club, association or voluntary organization. These relationships must have occurred within an 18-month period preceding the day on which the message was sent.

What do I need to know about managing unsubscribes?

The unsubscribe mechanism must specify an electronic address to which the unsubscribe notice may be sent or provide a hyperlink by means of which the recipient can provide their opt-out notice. Providing both options an email unsubscribe and a landing page unsubscribe is highly recommended.

Are there penalties for Violating the ECPA?

Yes, significant monetary penalties have been set out within the act. The maximum penalty for a violation is $1,000,000 in the case of an individual, and $10,000,000 in the case of any other person.

Where can I get a copy of the Bill C-27?

You can find Bill C-27 here (pdf - I recommend you download the document - right click and save link as)

Recently one of my web contact addresses for a site I maintain, started to receive the occasional spam message from various sources, not unusual because in many cases a published address will be harvested.  But none the less I occasionally check the source of the message being that a tip to a fellow ESP might save a lot of trouble for them in the future and I'd like to think they do me the same courtesy... After all we are a fairly small community its hard not to get to know most of the players on some level. But I digress...

In this case I happened across a mailer sending to a web harvested address and alerted the ESP of this account.  I alerted the ESP of this because the content of the message was so far off topic that it obviously was not a forgotten subscription by one of the other member of our web contact address. 

This ESP during this investigation of the issue obviously discussed things over with the mailer as I received a sincere sounding apology from the marketing director about how I came to be on their list.

Here is the catch...

1 - They mentioned that we have at some point exchanged email or they had purchased from our site - possibility with their kids (We don't sell anything and have no record of any user at their domain contacting us)
2 - They Managed their marketing list within Outlook then uploaded their subscribers into their ESPs service (also many personal contacts are in their Outlook address book and these were all uploaded as well)

I would caution many of the mailers our there of a small to medium size that managing your contact and subscriber files in the same manor that you handle your Personal or business contacts will not simply not scale.

Find a better way, maintain two email profiles or two different logins completely on your PC.  Better yet work with an ESP, they come in many flavours specialized for small to large business, and can accommodate any budget.  ESPs are built to maintain lists and manage data in an easy to access and safe manor and prevent this kind of mistake.

The results are in... with a limited number of respondents I'm not sure how scientific this is, but the results did show a number of very strong trends.

1. Embedded video in email, Does it work?

89% of respondents selected a No response, with the leading result being attributed to Poor support in email clients (50%) and rendering issues (27%). Of the yes answers (11%) the trend showed only "OK" results. No one responded with having "great" results from Videos in email.

2. How do you get around video in email issues?

Another overwhelming result showing the 85.7% of respondents choose to sent static images with the look and feel of a video screen, the remainder indicated no issues related to sending videos.

3. Optimal Video format

73% of responders answered by indicating the choice to not send video in email. MPEGs (17%), AVI and Wav files were the next most popular with 5.6% each. Write in answered included Flash, QuickTime, SWF and YouTube embedded options.

4. Tips for sending video in email, reasons not to send video in email

User comments seems to indicate a strong distrust of the Marketing Sherpa tests and results. Recommendations to Avoid Flash and other scripting were also popular due to the high probability that an ISP will pop us warnings or disable these out right in the users inbox. Providing images (or animated gifs) and links to hosted video, on your site or even YouTube, seem to be the most popular recommendations occurring several times.

We even had comments from a couple of recipients that indicated a significant dislike of the idea and application of Videos in email.

Key findings:

1. Use images that point to hosted video
2. Understanding your recipients view of your services is important
3. ISPs and email clients do not support many of the formats used to manage video

Thank you all for answering.

Source: emailkarma.net

Based on the recent MarketingSherpa Article on Video in Email I thought I'd take a short survey (four questions) on how and if you use video in email.

Click Here to take survey

Please pass this along to your colleges, or clients - the more responses the better the results.

Thanks for participating - I'll share the results in about a weeks time.

Original post on - EmailKarma.net