The From Line

Gold Lasso has launched a new eLoop feature to help you manage reader replies to your campaigns.  The multiple reply profile feature allows you to add several reply addresses to your account and select which one you want to use with each unique campaign.  Right now, the only reply address available is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. With this new feature, you can add different addresses based on the domains you have hosted with Gold Lasso and choose to forward replies to a specific email address.
 
To add a new reply address: 

• Mouse over Account Settings
• Select Reply Profile Settings
• Click on the Add New link
• Complete the boxes and click Save

When using the forward feature, please be aware that depending on the number of replies that you receive from a campaign, the mail server associated with your forwarding address has the potential of being overloaded.  In other words, caution is key. 

eLoop users can always check replies via the HORDE Webmail system or an IMAP connection using Outlook, Outlook Express, or other email clients.  If you would like instructions for connecting via IMAP, please contact support at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Images can enhance a message and draw attention to its key components. But, when they are blocked and appear as a big, red X in the recipient’s preview pane (often with the instruction to “right click to download”) they can lose their effectiveness. The reason images are often blocked is to enable users to prohibit unwanted (or inappropriate) images from loading automatically.  Blocking images also protects readers from spammers who use them to verify the email address is real. 

The impact of blocking images comes in multiple forms (such as lower open rates and disabled banner ads which can hurt advertiser supported material), but they all lead to lower deliverability. Like other delivery issues, email marketers can institute practices to help minimize this issue. 

• Get whitelisted and ask your readers to add your company to their “approved sender” or “safe list” to ensure email is allowed through with a minimum of filtering, image blocking included.
• Add a link to view the email online.  The “view Web version” links back to a version of the email hosted on your server where images are easy-to-view.
• Provide a prominent text link to the message at the very top of your message so recipients can always choose a text version.   
• Before sending check the appearance of your message in the preview pane.  Is there enough information to entice the reader to open the message? Or, is the preview pane filled with images and graphics that won’t download.   
• HTML is beneficial but don’t neglect the text version of your message. A strong, relevant text version ensures you still reach users, regardless of format preference.   
• Don’t ignore text links.  If your email includes several key linked images, consider adding text-based links as a caption to the image or in the copy of the message.

In March, the Email Experience Council held a webinar to discuss the results of its recent survey on the current state of e-mail metrics and bounce management. The survey of 400 email marketers and 29 email service providers revealed both positive and negative outcomes. It found that respondents knew delivery was an important, if not the most important, element to a successful campaign. Despite this knowledge, however, EEC’s study also confirms serious concerns about the apparent confusion and miscommunication on reporting and management of bounces.

The good news is that 83 percent of mailers and 88 percent of ESPs rate “email delivery” as high or above average in importance. The bad news is that the study also revealed there is “widespread industry disagreement on key bounce definitions” and inconsistent bounce data. Approximately 25 percent of ESPs reported that they didn’t break out hard and soft bounces for their clients and nearly 40 percent can’t isolate why an email bounced. The lack of detailed data leaves clients unable to distinguish bad addresses from other delivery issues, such as spam blockers or technical failures.

So, what is the email marketer to do? A few recommendations also came out of the study.  Most important is to be proactive and ask questions.  Find out how your ESP or company calculates bounces and other email metrics.  
eLoop has tools to help you.

First is a glossary of terms in the Help section.  If you don’t understand emarketing jargon refer to it or send us an email so we can explain the difference between terms like “hard” and “soft” bounces. Understanding the terms is the first step in effective bounce management.  The Reporting section of eLoop also breaks out the number of hard and soft bounces in addition to the total and unique opens and clicks.  The metrics are all there and we will work with you to understand it and customize it to your needs.

Gold Lasso considers bounce management as a priority to successful campaigns and you should too.

We all want to grow our distribution lists. The logic is simple. If more people see our messages then more people also have the opportunity to respond to them.  One of the most overlooked methods of increasing the number of recipients in a database is organic growth.

The concept of organic growth means that your list grows from within. In other words, current recipients might opt-in to receive additional communications or emails from you or they might refer other members to your list. Another, equally as important, way to look at organic growth is limiting list attrition. You want to keep the recipients that you have.

eLoop has two features that can help you grow your list organically and limit attrition. If you are not already incorporating them into your messages, start now. First is the opt-in form, which allows your readers to subscribe to your emails (thus complying with CAN SPAM requirements) and customize their preferences. For example, they can choose which of your email campaigns are most valuable to them as well as select the delivery form (i.e. HTML or text messages).

eLoop users can create opt-in forms in the Data Collection section of the platform. The forms can be customized in several different ways but the most popular are:

• Data points – you can add several different data points or information fields to your form so you gather the information most relevant to your needs. Most users use the first name, last name, and email address fields. But, you can ask other questions to help populate your database with information that will help personalize and target your campaigns.
• Communication categories – if you have different types of emails going out to your database you can set up your opt-in form to allow users to select what type of emails they receive. For example, they might choose to receive your monthly electronic newsletter, but not other announcements about events.
• Whitelists – readers don’t always understand the idea of the whitelist or how to add your organization to their “approved sender” list so your emails end up in their inbox and not their junk folder (or blocked entirely). Adding simple instructions to the bottom of your opt-in form increases the chance your emails are delivered and read.

The best way to use the opt-in form once it is created is to place it in a prominent section of your Web site where readers, and potential recipients, can easily see it and subscribe. eLoop makes it easy to create the form and copy the HTML source code directly into your Web management tool. How to Create an Opt-in Form in eLoop

Before you can create an Opt-In form a few things must be completed in eLoop.

1. Communication categories need to be established.  Please see Communication Category info below.
2. If you decide to link to the Opt-In page in eLoop instead of incorporating it into your website you will need to create an Opt-in page template.
3. eLoop is a double opt-in system so you will need to create a verification message in the message section of the Out-bound Messaging module.
4. If you would like to incorporate questions into your opt-in page such as “When is your birthday?” you will need to have them setup in the Q&A Section of the Data Collection module.

Creating an opt-in form for your Web site in eLoop is easy following the directions below.

1. Mouse over Data Collection
2. Select Opt-in Forms
3. Click the new icon (select the category from the tree first. If this is the first opt-in form you have created or you want it in the general folder, select “Top Level)
4. eLoop will lead you the eight steps to set up your form. You can access more detailed information from the HELP section.

You should also add Communication Categories to your account. Communication categories are just what they sound like—a categorization of the communications that you send out to your database.  For example, your e-newsletter (we’ll call it XYZ E-News) that goes out monthly could be classified as one category. Maybe you also have a weekly news blast called the XYZ E-Update that fits into another category.

Besides keeping your account organized, communication categories are beneficial because they give recipients an alternative to opting out of your list completely (i.e. attrition).  Instead, they can opt-out of receiving one category of communication. Here is an example using the two publications above.

John Smith finds value in XYZ E-Update because it gives him a quick snapshot of industry news. But, he doesn’t have time to read longer features in XYZ E-News and doesn’t want to receive it. He decides to opt out of all XYZ’s email because he sees no other option to keeping his inbox volume under control. When he gets to the opt-out form, he finds that he actually does have another option.  He can select to only receive the weekly E-Update.  So, instead of opting out of ALL of XYZ’s email, he chooses only to receive the email he finds valuable.

How to Set up Communication Categories

Setting up communication categories in eLoop is easy following the directions below. 

1. Mouse over Account Settings
2. Select Communication Categories
3. If you are creating a new Category select Top Level
4. Click on the New icon
5. Name the Category and provide a description
6. Select the folder to save the Category (if this is a new category select Top Level)
7. Click Save

Don’t forget to incorporate these two easy steps into your campaigns to reduce your list attrition and increase your organic growth.

Most blogs contain a ton of whiney complaints without a lot of kudos.  I always like to recognize personal achievement in the marketing industry.

Congrats to Colin Kinsella for his promotion at Ave A!

Avenue A|Razorfish is a great turnaround story from the dot bomb days and I'm sure Colin was instrumental during that process.

Congrats again!