 How2 check your eMail campaign broadcast |  |
| |  | | It’s tempting for many organisations to consider carrying out the broadcast of eMail campaigns in-house. However, even with an eMail marketing system available to you, consider carefully whether you have the in-house resources and expertise to carry out all of the technical and project management tasks. | 
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| |  BROADCASTING eMAIL IN-HOUSE IS TOUGH | I consider every aspect of the following work to be essential for every eMail campaign whether for a few hundred eMails or tens of thousands.
First of all, you’ll need to have a specialist technician to understand the IT issues involved and you’ll also need a project manager to oversee the whole project.
You may have one individual in-house who’s able to carry out both tasks but many technical staff are good at IT but not at project management. Whether it’s one member of staff or two, all of the following tasks will need to be carried out.
I’m slightly biased here, but my experience has shown that only a specialist eMail marketing agency (like eMarket2) has the expertise to do this work thoroughly: |
| | | “Consider carefully whether you have the in-house resources and expertise to carry out all of the technical and project management tasks…” |  |
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| | the preparation of an HTML eMail |
| | First of all, it’s absolutely essential that these twenty tasks are completed by an IT marketing specialist before any eMail campaign is broadcast: | | 1. | Test the HTML code - the eMail HTML draft needs to be tested within the template. | | 2. | Manipulate the images (usually by reducing in size) so that the download times are minimised. | | 3. | Reference the image sources in the HTML message by including an absolute destination. | | 4. | Load the images to the server for hosting. | | 5. | Create text versions of the eMail - sometimes text modifications are required here. | | 6. | Check all messages for unsubscribe and subscribe copy. | | 7. | Create and test unsubscribe/subscribe links to ensure functionality. | | 8. | Check all messages across different eMail clients and browsers – test on as many as possible. | | 9. | Load and test the ‘From’ address so that bounces and ‘reply to' messages can be captured centrally. | | 10. | Create the ‘Subject’ line carefully as this is one of the major factors affecting whether the eMail is opened. | | 11. | Create each eMail link with unique tracking tags – a state-of-the-art eMail marketing system like our ePartner can track click-throughs to particular web pages. | | 12. | Insert HTML open tags and upload the mailing file into ‘Broadcast’. | | 13. | Create files/filters for segmentation criteria to be applied to the mailing list. | | 14. | Carry out general data checks to ensure that the correct mailing file is loaded. | | 15. | Test the message delivery system. | | 16. | Send messages to the project manager for internal proofing of grammar and spelling. | | 17. | Check by the technician for any personalisation uses. | | 18. | Check all links for functionality, as well as destination, and reporting routines for click-throughs. | | 19. | Create the final output files for proofing after they have been approved by the project manager. | | 20. | Deliver proofs for sign-off.
The final message is now ready for broadcasting, subject to change requests and subsequent retesting. |
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| | | “A ‘subject’ line is created – this needs to be very carefully considered as it is one of the major factors as to whether the eMail is opened or not…” | |
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| | the broadcast of an HTML eMail |
| | To enable the IT Technician to transmit the eMail campaign in minutes rather than days, detailed preparation is essential and includes: | | 1. | Configuring the eMail system to make up to five attempts to deliver each eMail. This reduces the number of soft bounce-backs and increases the potential for higher response rates. | | 2. | Standing by during every broadcast to ensure the servers, hosting the eMail’s graphics, video clips and micro-websites, do not impair the overall look and feel and deliverability of your messages. | | 3. | Ensuring contingencies are in place in the unlikely even of a server crash | | 4. | Maintaining the lease line connection so that broadcasts, of up to 100,000 eMails, can be sent at any time without compromising the business network. | | 5. | Scheduling out-of-hours eMail broadcasts to suit the local working hours of recipients | | 6. | Enabling simultaneous transmissions of plain text and HTML eMail versions to every addressee on the mailing list; ensuring that only one version (the most appropriate one) is received. | | 7. | Publishing status reports online by the technician. The project manager will determine whether the client is given access to these reports | | 8. | Managing and updating the original mailing file, where appropriate |
| | An investment of over £60,000 annually (for hardware & software) would be required to enable bulk eMail campaigns to be seamlessly transmitted; a very large investment if all you’re sending out is a few one-off campaigns. |
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| | | “An investment of over £60,000 annually (for hardware & software) is required to enable bulk eMail campaigns to be seamlessly transmitted…” | |
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| | the overall management of the project |
| | As I’ve said already, it’s unlikely that an IT technician will also be able to administer the project effectively. At eMarket2, our specialist project managers oversee these tasks: | | 1. | Ensure that the campaign is strategically planned and efficiently produce | | 2. | Advise on the specific do’s and don’ts of tactical eMail marketing. Good advice doesn’t come cheap – eMarket2’s experience has cost many years trading! | | 3. | Conduct copy proofing and therefore safeguard against incidental mistakes. | | 4. | Police production timescales to ensure that deadlines are met. | | 5. | Ensure the final output matches the brief and expectations are matched. | | 6. | Consult on “strategic eMail marketing” and provide specific recommendations to address problems with in-box noise, clutter, decay, etc. |
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| | potential pitfalls for ‘DIY’ eMail marketing |
| | Many marketers are still of the belief that eMail marketing is easy. eMail is an excellent tool but one that can damage your company's reputation and customer relationships with the click of a button! Here are a few common pitfalls: | | 1. | Using your desktop eMail client application to broadcast your messages is risky - any eMail you send from your desktop client is going to affect your corporate network and, depending on the volume and message size, you could be creating eMail problems for your entire company. | | 2. | Limited reporting and analysis - knowing past and present results of your opt-in campaigns is extremely important. Without the proper reports you can't analyse your mailings and you won't be able to judge the success of a campaign. | | 3. | Non-automated response management & tracking – DIY eMail marketing will very often mean that you’re unable to automate the management of: responses; bounce-backs; soft bounce-backs; subscribes; unsubscribes; and track opens and clicked-throughs to specific web pages. | | 4. | Insufficient Bandwidth - sending out bulk eMails requires high bandwidth to deliver and host the graphics for HTML files for when recipients open your eMails. This can quickly bring down an internal eMail system and overload the web servers. | | 5. | Limited testing - the only way to ensure that your prospects and customers are receiving exactly what you intended to send is by pre-testing on each major eMail client and browser.
In addition, to get the most out of your eMail campaigns you must test every aspect of your message: different subject lines; different offers; different graphics; different layouts; different segmentations of your list. | | 6. | Limited support of message formats - not everyone has the capability to receive HTML messages and sending HTML eMails only will make your message virtually incomprehensible to this section of recipients causing them to unsubscribe in droves.
When creating your opt-in eMail criteria, don’t forget to identify the types of message formats that your recipients would prefer to receive.
Your message formats will almost certainly include HTML and Plain Text. You may also require support for AOL, Multi-Part MIME alternative, rich media or wireless messages. | | 7. | No Auto-Sensing - Multi-Part MIME - Auto sensing is the ability to send a message that can automatically detect which type of format the recipient's eMail client is capable of displaying so providing them with the appropriate version of the message. Only sophisticated eMail marketing systems, like our ePartner, can do this. |
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| | | “eMail is an excellent tool but you can damage your company's reputation and customer relationships with the click of a button…” | |
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