So it came as no surprise to me then when I saw the latest study from the Congressional Management Foundation. CMF, which is totally nonpartisan, found that the majority of Congress embraces social media. According to the report, 64% of senior managers believe Facebook is an important tool for gauging the viewpoint of their constituents.

For politicians, social media isn’t just a place to be, it’s about conversations. It’s about sharing. This is what we tell our clients. Just having a presence in social media isn’t enough. You need a commitment to engagement. Social media is no different than anything else – you get out what you put into it.

If you get a chance, read #SocialCongress: Perceptions and Use of Social Media on Capitol Hill. If you’re in politics and you aren’t leveraging social media, it’s time to start.

One more thing. TweetCongress can help you keep track of Congress via social media. In addition to Twitter feeds, it has lists of members who use that social platform and their @names.

Worker No. 1 sends an email addressed to Worker No. 2 and cc:s Workers No. 3-6. (Or worse, No. 1 sends it to multiple addressees AND cc:s even more.)

So, who is responsible for responding? Just the primary addressee? Or all of the cc:s as well?

It’s an epidemic of CYA, for sure. As the email sender, if I don’t leave anyone out, no one can blame me for not seeking their input/informing them.

Well, all right, but who’s responsible for answering. (Generally, the more people listed, the fewer answers generated. Everyone assumes everyone else is taking care of it.)

I say, only addressees need to respond. If multiple addressees are listed, coordinate. Everyone can just ignore it.

What do you say?

-  Overall Campaigns – Ballot Initiative:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Direct Mail – Ballot Initiative:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Best Use of Negative Contrast:  No on 302 – Save First Things First
-  Website State:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety
-  Website State:  No on 302 – Save First Things First
-  Website Local:  Keep the Cubs – Yes on 420
-  Television Ballot Initiative – GOTV:  Yes on 100 – Protect Education and Public Safety

Being recognized for our work in TV, Direct Mail and Online is a testament to the integrated strategic approach we bring to our clients’ projects. It also reflects the many channels the world now uses to consume content.

We are pleased to give a big shout out to the steering committees of the campaigns and our strategic partners who deserve these awards as much as we do:  HighGround, Inc., Coleman Dahm and Associates, David Leibowitz, and Jay Heiler.

The Pollie Award is “a symbol of the ’Best of the Best’ in political and public affairs communication.”

Reed Award Recognizes Top Political and Public Affairs Talent in The World

On Friday, IWS continued its winning tradition by securing the Reed Award on behalf of the United States Chamber of Commerce and Governor Jan Brewer.

IWS congratulates our clients for their success and would like to say ‘thank you’ for the opportunity to work with them during this past year. We work with great teams at both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Governor Jan Brewer’s campaign, and are proud that everyone’s hard work paid off.

The United States Chamber of Commerce won a Reed Award for “Special Categories – Best GOTV Plan and Execution.”

Governor Jan Brewer’s campaign won a Reed Award for “Technology – Website: Statewide Races.”

“Winning a Reed Award is considered to be one of the most prestigious honors in the business of politics and Campaigns & Elections congratulates the finalists and winners,” said Publisher of Campaigns & Elections, Paul Plawin.

IWS has spent the past 11 years moving with ease between politics and commercial marketing. In either venue, IWS’ strength remains the same: The ability to use the full spectrum of digital marketing strategies and applications to change users’ behavior.

Avoiding Rate-Limit Schedules
Nobody ‘really knows’ what formula actually triggers an ISP to put a rate-limit on your bulk delivery. Sure you can put down a mix of a few variables that include volume, along with complaints, and of course sending attempts per instance or even per hour. But nobody really knows the formula, or for that matter, the time schedule in which those rate-limits are imposed. And anybody claiming that they do know, or that claims a perfect reputation will remedy this, is selling a tall tale of fantasy. I can’t imagine how a perfect sender reputation would hurt you in this situation; however, I can tell you that it has little to do with how and when you might be rate-limited. This is tricky because sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do. You might have all of your elements of deliverability in order, the stars are aligned perfect for your email and then – BANG!, you still get nailed by an ISP with rate-limits. I think that sometimes an ISP will impose rate-limit schedules simply because its cloudy outside.

There are a couple ways, among others, to try and remedy a problem with untimely and over the top rate-limit schedules that you may be incurring. First, you can call the ISP and ask about their schedules – LOL! I’ve actually tried that one, granted you are lucky enough to get a human on the phone that holds any power at the ISP. Information like this is highly sensitive and closely guarded by the engineers. A more realistic way would be to add or repurpose more IPs to your delivery structure in order to spread around your bulk delivery. It’s costly, and for those who have done it, can tell you that it helps immensely. Lastly, and above all else, better node management can also play a huge factor. You can try reducing the amount of sending attempts per minute/hour from your server. In time you can find what is a better fit, given the resources you have available.

More Inbox Placement
Sure your sender reputation is perfect, but are all of those messages you send actually hitting the inbox because of it? Having a perfect reputation score never hurts, but the answer is a resounding – NO! I have a couple years of delivery management under my belt.. not as much as some other experts in the industry, but certainly enough to tell you that inbox placement is bent around user engagement, more so than anything else. Their is no bible or industry certified manual that illustrates this as a fact(that I can find), you have to base these facts off of months and years of analyzing delivery results. In time, you will come up with this same conclusion.

What does user engagement mean? Well as an ESP, we aren’t necessarily the only ones counting opens and click traffic; ISPs do this as well. They use their own formulas that plug in their subscriber’s activity with messages coming from your domain(e.g. Opens, Clicks, Complaints, etc..). If someone opens your email for the first time, then participates by clicking on a link in your content(other then the unsubscribe), then I would bet the farm that their is a really good chance your next email correspondence, given a successful delivery, will land in that person’s inbox.

Isolate your Non Opens for Conversion

Now that we’ve stated the obvious, let’s face it… sending the same content to recipients who’ve previously opened with those who you would like to see open isn’t always the best idea. Yes, you can do that, and yes it works; however, depending on your client’s needs and the overall message you wish to convey, you might want to consider forming a particular impression on a recipient the first time they decide to open your email.

Take for instance if you are engaged in an ongoing dialog with recipients on a list going out to both Open and Non Open recipients. If one of those Non Open recipients decided to open your message, would they understand your ‘current’ communication, or will your message be lost in translation spanning over multiple unopened emails? Pursuing a strategy like this can, at times, be self serving – as you could be showing a disinterest in the fact that your Non Opens have yet to actually read one of your mails. Sure you will slowly, and I mean slowly, convert some of your Non Opens to the light of your Open list; however, email marketing in today’s universe requires as much personal detail as possible – even if it’s a small acknowledgment that someone is opening for the first time.

The goal is to take that extra step and make your new opens feel warm and fuzzy inside by letting them know.. ‘Hey, thanks for participating and opening our email for the first time.’ Now this is obviously a small minutia of personalization, but it can work and often only requires you to slightly modify your content in order to present your converting Non Opens a ‘welcome aboard’ friendly smile. Consider a simple click feature in your Non Open content that can allow your conversions(new opens) to select participation levels(e.g. How often they would like to receive mail, or points of interest). You might be surprised at the amount of information a participant is willing to forfeit when they are able to fill out a simple form. All of this information can be thrown into your statistical ‘Punnett square’ sort of speak.. or however you formulate your target marketing strategy. This will offer you an informational advantage with those who optionally choose to fill out the form. What better way to build a solid rapport with those newly converted recipients?

Show an Intriguing and Identifiable Inbox Presence

Let’s just say you sent your Non Open content and it somehow made it to the Holy of Holies – what I like to call the ‘Inbox’. Why would your targeted Non Open recipient choose to open your message? Assuming that you have sent to this particular Non Open recipient before, and that they still have not managed to be removed from your list via FBLs..etc.. – then you still have a chance at converting them! The problem here is to differentiate your inbox presence from messages that otherwise may appear to be ‘Junk’.

The first thing I notice when I open my inbox is ‘who the email is from’. Now if your resources(IPs) are dedicated to this one particular client whom on behalf you are sending this message, then you can set up your DomainKeys to feature any ‘From’ message that you wish – obviously this is the optimal choice. Otherwise, if you have multiple clients sharing your resources, then your ‘From’ may have restrictions, such as only displaying the list name..etc.. Whatever is shown, remember that you want to make it an obvious gentle reminder – ‘Hey! It’s me.. the email you opted in to way back when!’

Aside from the sender name in the ‘From’ of your emails, your subject line will be the other huge factor in getting those Non Opens to convert. You need to dazzle(if possible?) your recipients.. because remember that the goal we are seeking here is to convince those who have not participated, into opening your message – and not immediately clicking unsubscribe when they finally do. Let’s take for instance my own personal experience. I have found that putting ‘Nancy Pelosi’ on a subject line will convert on average around 15% more Non Opens than any other subject line. Why is this? Because love her or hate her, she IS an ‘intriguing’ and ‘identifiable’ figure head. The same can go with ‘Taxes’. Everybody, well.. most everybody, can identify with that plight as it is both ‘intriguing’ and ‘identifiable’ to many. Before you blast your next content, try including a little more ‘edge’ in the subject line going out to your Non Opens. And like Ron Burgundy, you want to ‘stay classy’ – but one thing is for sure, an overly sensitive subject line is typically over looked or dismissed by recipients, especially if you are looking to convert those Non Opens.

Maintain a Professional Presence

What happens after you convert that Non Open recipient? Assuming that they are still interested, and haven’t deemed it necessary to unsubscribe, ‘yet’. If this is the case, then you should maintain the highest form of ‘Professional Presence’ possible. What does this mean? Well, it’s probably going to mean different things to different people, but I would start off by keeping your converted recipients engaged. NO – this doesn’t mean pound emails down their throat until they choke and finally unsubscribe. More so, it means that you need to take the information you have, and use it accordingly in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Did you use a click form in your conversion content to Non Opens to gather information about this recipient? If so, then use it accordingly. If not or if they opted out of the optional form, then try corresponding every other week, or possibly twice a month at a minimum. Their click participation and your analysis thereof should give you the information you need to pursue any further attention or targeting. – And as always, and I cannot stress this enough.. ‘Review, Review and Review your content until you are blue in the face. Nothing spells out ‘Non-Professional’ like poorly worded or pieced together content. If your content is not making sense, or if you cannot convey your message in a clear and concise manner, then you will eventually suffer the repercussions. Focus on continuously improving your content and the way it is displayed and presented to your converted users.

Emails are obviously content driven. And although the quality and integrity of your content is a main ingredient to getting your message past those filters, your email’s life cycle is still dependent
on — the actual delivery of that content. So aside from how clean your content is or the quality of recipients on your targeted list, the goal is one in the same; which is to obtain the highest amount of success possible!

For instance, internal success like recipients delivered and better inbox placement or maybe a client’s success, such as advocacy turnout. Whatever metric you wish to improve, basic Deliverability Resource Management (DRM) has to be applied before, during and after all email campaigns.  Proper steps need to be taken in order to ensure that the bulk of your list recipients actually receive the message, regardless if it goes into their Bulk file folder or not. Certain practices can better position your available resources so that proper deliverability is present for your email blasts. Practices that would include setting up Feedback Loops (FBLs), monitoring and maintaining sender reputation scores, and consolidating a reliable set of black list filter detection and removal tools. Here are three things that anyone sending, or who is looking to send bulk email should know:

FBLs

Managing user complaints is a pivotal part to sending bulk email. There’s many reasons why an email recipient might hit that dreadful ‘Report Spam’ button at the top of their inbox. Maybe you’re sending them too many messages, maybe they’ve had a change of heart and no longer wish to receive your message, or maybe just by accident. Any number of reasons can exist why a user might be complaining about your content. This is why we require an inter-organizational system known as FBLs. After you set up your IP’s DomainKeys and publish your SPF records, you can then start registering with popular ISP’s and effectively manage user complaints through FBLs. This enables you to form a queue internally and start analyzing complaints and perhaps compare them with your business’s preferred expectations. How often you decide to remove those users who complain is totally up to you. However, please remember that washing your list of recipients who complain will enable you to avoid the probability of those same people sending additional complaints in the future. FBLs allow you to practice good list hygiene, and keep those complaints to a minimal. All of this formulates into a more organized and stable reputation for your IP’s. Keeping your complaint ratios low will enable your resources to successfully send more messages to the inbox, and avoid those pressing rate-limit schedules.

SenderScore

Your IP’s have a reputation to maintain! So be sure you keep them in the good graces of the ISP’s. Your sender reputation is just another way for you to develop and grow positive rapport with ISP’s and those filters that are looking for any reason to hinder your delivery. Your IP’s reputation is effected by conditions and factors in an equation that involves CANN-SPAM compliance, FBLs and white listing, complaint ratios, management of unsubs, mail frequency, and the quality average of recipients being delivered. Return Path is the industry baseline for identifying an IP’s reputation. It scores on a sliding scale, 1-100. And just like when you aced that 5^th grade spelling test, a score of 100 is the best!

I happen to believe that deliverability weighs heavily on sender reputation, more so than the actual content in the message itself. And that reputation will effect your delivery success in general, and not necessarily whether or not your message will be placed in the Inbox or Spam folder. Return Path is a good place to register at, as it provides simple reporting features and a free black list look up tool. However, the blacklist feature is nothing I would recommend for the ‘say all/be all’ in detecting blocked IPs, but it’s something else to throw in your toolbox. — So pay attention to your reputations! Doing so will result in better overall delivery to your lists!

Avoid the Black list

New filters are being installed as you read this. So format, test, and always review your results. Nearly 90% of emails today are considered spam(1), and in order to ‘attempt’ not to fall victim to this classification you will need to avoid the black list! Being the internet, there are many different resources available to check the status of your IPs. Among others, one of the lookup tools I like is MX Toolbox. It allows you to scan your IP’s over a vast array of filters being used by most of the prominent ISP’s today and also helps point you in the right direction for removing any triggered blocks that are detected.

You should consolidate any reliable sources for blacklist removal and tailor your bookmark manager accordingly for easy reference when the time is right. I would  also recommend at a minimal, doing an across the board sweep of your IP’s; checking each of them on more of a weekly basis, rather than every now and again or whenever you get around to it. I like to do this towards the end of the week, or sometimes more often if I know we are sending a heavier than normal volume of email. Simple methods like this need to be applied in order to help intercept messages lost in translation with ISP’s and perhaps combat those bounce back messages with those wacky codes denying your attempts at delivery due to being blacklisted.

Citation:

(1)    Barracuda Central Networks, “Spam Data”, 21 December 2010.

http://www.barracudacentral.org

As email marketing is constantly evolving, bigger is not necessarily better. You can have a list 5 million strong, but if you’re simply hitting send with the same message to everyone, you’re just wasting time and money. Sure, there are some instances where you have a message that is strong enough to send to your entire database, but this isn’t always the case.

Having a large list to communicate with your audience is a good thing. But knowing who is in that list is even more important. It’s about getting beyond the normal demographics such as age, location and gender. Your creative team can write and design a great email, but if it’s not getting to the right audience, then it’s not a great message.

Segmenting your database into smaller lists helps cut out the clutter and gets you to those who really want to interact with your message. With today’s technology, segmenting your email list is easier than ever. You just have to figure out what it is you’re looking for. The goal of this process is to improve your knowledge or your database.

Do you have a segment comprised of those who opened your email versus those who haven’t? You should. What about a segment of those who clicked on a link in your email? You should. Starting with these very basic segments, you can begin to drill down and understand that each person is unique from the millions of others in your database.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Once you have this basic data recorded, continue segmenting the list based on your actionable data as you continue to send your email messages. As more data comes in and more segments are defined, be sure to create different messages for these unique segments and watch your open rates and click rates climb.

One simple way to further define your list is by sending an easy survey email. Knowing what you want to find out about your list will determine what the survey is about. You can ask about email preferences, their thoughts on a particular issue or product, or anything else that will get your list to where you need it. Asking your audience what types of messaging they want to receive – and listening to their responses – goes a long way to achieving your goals.

Understanding your audience and their email tendencies is essential to delivering the right message every time. Yes, it takes time to figure out where everyone fits in to your database and yes, that database will be perpetually evolving. There will be many failures along the way as you continue to test and re-test using different messages to different segments, but this extra effort now will only help later.

So when you need to manipulate data using a fine point rather than the broad brush of database scripts, Microsoft Excel is a natural solution.  However it has its limitations in terms of sync-ing multiple lists.  Thankfully, DigDB is a useful Excel plug-in that allows you to do much of your data manipulation yourself.  Its website also features step-by-step instructions for common tasks like de-duping lists.  Check it out, it’s pretty cool and extremely useful.

1. What is the primary purpose of the emails that your company sends?

If your company is using emails to send out monthly newsletters consider expanding your message to action-oriented emails. Poll your readers to find out what messages and/or offers they would be interested in learning more about.

2. How are your company’s emails deployed?

Sending emails out manually through your Outlook or any individual email account can make you and your company look like amateurs, not to mention that you could even be sending your customers viruses. Use a third party online marketing tool specifically designed to send emails, such as Lyris, Activate Direct, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor. These systems offer features to track open rates, click throughs, and can even integrate other applications your company may be using like a customer relationship manager (CRM).

3. How does your company design and manage email assets?

Designing emails from scratch each time you want to deploy an email can be very time-consuming, utilize a template approach. Users may lose interest if you continue to use the same template over time so design a series of templates for your email campaign.

4. Does your company utilize landing pages for your email campaigns?

There is a balance of marketers that feel implementing individual landing pages is far too time consuming, but they could not be more wrong. Directing all traffic to one specific place eliminates the ability to effectively traffic the success of your campaign. It can also be frustrating for your user if they get to a page and the page is not specific to the email they received. The most effective landing page uses a combination of the offer, making the user feel the offer is unique to them and include a call to action.

5. Does your company test offers, lists, subject lines or creative?

Your company should constantly be testing email communications to your readers. This will allow you to refine your message(s) and get rid of poor performing campaigns or programs along with segmenting your list of users. Select a percentage of your database like 10-20% and test a two different messages or offers, even test the subject line within these messages.

6. Does your company test to optimize deliverability, as well as frequency, and days in which email deployment is most effective?

Deliverability is important information for every successful email program. The time and frequency of email deployment can also be a factor in the success of your deliverability. What works for one company may not work for yours. The only way to truly know what works for you is to test, after all isn’t email marketing a game of “trial and error”? Having conclusive results will help you refine your email campaign and build a more effective outcome.