• by Stephanie Miller , August 3, 2006

In last week’s column, Andy Goldman talked about the critical role that the sender's reputation plays in initiating a viral e-mail campaign. Whether you actively manage it or not, you have a "sender reputation"--and it's central to consistently reaching the inbox. The content you send also impacts your reputation.

Consumers are fickle. They sign up for an e-mail program, then ignore it, delete it unread, unsubscribe from it--or worse, complain about it. In fact, a recent poll found that 49 percent of consumers say they discover later (like when they get the first few e-mails) that they really are not interested in what they signed up to receive. A full 36 percent say they click their ISP's "This is Spam" button when they don't find the e-mail interesting. (Note to marketers everywhere: subscribers define spam much more liberally than we do!)

Consumers clicking those "spam" buttons register as a complaint with ISPs. An above-average complaint rate can depress or block your inbox deliverability. The good news is that many consumers do seek out an alternative--in the survey, 70 percent of consumers say they trust the unsubscribe process, and use it to manage their inbox clutter.

When your program generates above-average complaints your e-mail will get blocked. Return Path analysis of industry data shows that 97 percent of e-mail senders have terrible reputations, and only 1 percent have sending reputations high enough to consistently ensure deliverability at ISPs and corporate systems.

But reaching the inbox is only stage one. To protect e-mail channel revenue, marketers must do more than manage complaints. We must actively optimize relevancy.

Consider these four scenarios, to help you create relevancy, reduce complaints, and improve response.

1. Sourcing sweeps vs. sales. Analyze the source where both high-response subscribers and high complainers registered. Adjusting expectations at sign-up to better clarify what you will send and when, can dramatically reduce complaints. One CPG marketer found that sweepstakes were great at building a large file, but those subscribers generated a disproportionate number of complaints, as well as low response. Instead of abandoning that acquisition strategy, the company adjusted the content strategy to these subscribers, better aligning expectations at sign-up with the actual value of the program.
   
2. Varied interests. Complaints often spike in a particular month, which can reflect a burn-out rate, a high volume sent that month, or a variance in the balance between promotions and newsletter/content. Adjust segmentation accordingly. For example, you may find that prospects burn out after two to three e-mails, but customers do not. Gender, age of subscriber or customer, how many products they have purchased--all these could all be important differentiation factors for your file.
   
   
3. Too much of a good thing still sours. Consistently high complaint rates over the past 12 months indicate that subscribers are consistently burning out on your program. This is why even a little bit of content that shows not just what your products are but how your products benefit the subscriber can make your promotional e-mails much more relevant, even for active customers.
   
   
4. First impressions count. If complaints are high in the first few months of the relationship, then likely the data capture process is unclear, or your confirmation page and welcome message are not working hard enough. One retailer customized the welcome message to include both past articles tailored to each subscribers' registration selections, and a coupon. The coupon may have gotten their attention, but the relevant content sets the tone for a good relationship--reducing complaints early in the program cycle and improving overall response rates.

Relevancy is ever more a 1:1 proposition, and consumers tell us what they think (and penalize our revenue and deliverability) by ether ignoring our e-mails, unsubscribing or complaining. Your content strategy can make a difference.

For a more detailed version of this article, visit the Email Experience Council at http://www.emailexperience.org.