Today's Email is Changing Based on Behavior and Reputation.
Some Discussion and Solutions
What is different NOW?
Gmail USED TO BE, and still is to some extent, the defacto standard for Network Marketing emails. Well, now that has changed. Gmail had implemented QUOTAS, and now is using a "ranking" and "reputation" system. YOUR email behavior and the SENDER'S behavior are being fed into this highly protected, secret "algorithm", like the new Facebook ranking. It remains to be seen what this means to the Network Marketing industry.
What I've Been Doing
I've found out about Guaranteed Email Delivery services through WorldProfit, when George Kosch introduced a new integrated feature for Silver and Platinum VIP members called Email Commander. WorldProfit has many ways to send newsletters, emails, promos, and broadcasts. At one time, they were all being sent from WorldProfit's email servers. Each of these are now integrated, through Email Commander with one or more Guaranteed Delivery Services.
I had been using Sendgrid as a standalone mailing platform because my Rapidmailer autoresponder had a direct API integration. I have almost 12,000 subscribers in Rapidmailer, and my AES costs (Amazon cloud-based services) were getting pretty high but I was not seeing that much improvement in open rates, clicks, or conversions. SendGrid allowed me to send 40,000 emails per month for $10, the first month being free.
I was hooked. My DELIVERY RATES skyrocketed to 98% with SendGrid. I was ecstatic that I now could use SendGrid for my WorldProfit mailings, my "bread and butter" subscribers, with the new Email Commander integration. Email Commander allows me to turn Guaranteed Delivery on or off. Needless to say, I reserve SendGrid for important broadcasts and promotions. Routine messages and newsletters do not justify using a paid service.
So, What Does Guaranteed Delivery Mean?
In today's email environment, the MAJORITY of your emails are not being seen. With Email Services like Yahoo, MSN, and most ISPs, emails are being filtered so they never even make it to your inbox. I had been using and recommending Gmail because that filtering was not being done with Gmail.
Most email (depending on the source) runs between 11% and 14% DELIVERY RATE. That means that only 14 of every 100 messages are being RECEIVED by the recipient. With SendGrid, my DELIVERY RATE soared to 98%.
So let's do the math. If I am improving my DELIVERY RATE by 5 times (generous comparison):
- 5 times the number of emails are SEEN
- 5 times the number of emails SEEN are OPENED (subjective - the SUBJECT LINE quality factors in)
- 5 times the number of emails OPENED are being READ
- 5 times the number of emails READ are being CLICKED and VIEWED to see the lead capture or signup page
- 5 times the number of pages VIEWED are ACTED UPON
- 5 times the number of ACTIONS result in SIGNUPS
- 5 times the number of SIGNUPS result in CONVERSIONS and SALES
My SendGrid Stats
- We’ve been partners in email since 2017
- The number of emails I sent in 2018 609,777
- My highest volume day was 02/16/2018, when I sent 52,844 emails.
My Stats for 2018
- 98.7% delivery rate
- 0.04% bounce rate
- 0.00% unsubscribe rate
2018 vs 2017
- My email volume grew by over 500,000
- My overall delivery rate decreased by 0.08%
Best Times for Engagement
- My best day of the week was Monday
- Your best month was February
Insights from SendGrid Senders
SendGrid analyzed the metrics of all email sent through SendGrid last year, and found some particularly interesting results, like:
- The best day of the week for engagement was Sunday, and the best time is 12pm UTC. (7am Eastern)
- April was the best month for unique email open events.
- Nearly 60% of email included some type of personalized content.
- The most popular subject line length was 7 words.
Bottom Line
Email marketing still remains the highest used and most effective means of delivering your messages to your prospects. It's "wait and see". I'm hedging my bets that Guaranteed Delivery Services like SendGrid will STILL HAVE A POSITIVE EFFECT.
What can you do NOW without a paid service like SendGrid is to check out this week's launch of All Active Mailer, that will help your "reputation" by sending to only to ACTIVE MEMBERS.
Matthew Graves is launching the first safelist mailer which puts the "Super Clean List" strategy to work. It is called All Active Mailer and it officially goes live on Wednesday, January 30th at Noon.
All Active Mailer will only send your email to members who have joined in the last 30 days, opened an email in the last 90 days, or logged in to view emails in the last 90 days.
Rich Moyer
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