Question

Topic: E-Marketing

List Hygine - Nonparticipating Members

Posted by Anonymous on7/9/2007 at 1:00 PM ET 125 Points
Hello Marketing Guru's,

I need a little help. I frequently clean up our email marketing dBase, deleting the hard bounces etc. and decided to get a feel for how many people overall are participating in our campaigns.

Needless to say I was shocked. A very large % had not opened a single email from us at all this year. Now that I have this wonderful information, I need to do something with this list.

Do you have any info on how to reach out or what to do with this non participating group?

Put your thinking caps on it may not be as easy as you think.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted bymichaelon7/9/2007 at 1:06 PM Member
    If you're doing B2B e-mail, you'll often find that the Outlook "preview" will show up as unopened. I've called some of our customers about this and they say they have read it...eventhough it looks like it was deleted.

    Normally we want our e-mails to fit within the preview pane, but if you put something JUST below that (test, test, test...especially to your non-openers) you may get some to open it.

    Michael
  • Posted on7/9/2007 at 1:17 PM Author
    Hello Michael,

    Thanks for the quick response. We actually have done a fair amount of testing when it comes to Outlook. One of the things that wound up working really well for us was creating an HTML version. We included a short sentence at the top of the email explaining if they were having issues check out the online (newsletter) version.
  • Posted on7/9/2007 at 1:26 PM Author
    Hi Steve,

    So the email winds up in the junk folder, they no longer care and they did not opt out. I don't want to just delete them forever (even though this may wind up happening) and sending them another email may just be a waste of time.

    Do you know of any successful exit strategies?
  • Posted byInbox_Interactiveon7/9/2007 at 1:30 PM Member
    I'm a little confused by the last author response.

    当你说你创建一个HTML version, do you mean a Web version?

    I ask because, if you are tracking opens, you're obviously already pushing an HTML version in email.

    Are you currently sending HTML only, TEXT only (unlikely), or a multi-part message?

    至于你邮件的打开率,可悲的事实是,majority of emails do not get opened. Ony if you have a very small, super-targeted, super-passionate list will you get past 50% (at least in my experience). Heck, even a 20% or 30% open rate would be a wil success for many newsletters.

    You may not be tracking all of your opens because, as has been mentioned, some people are not opening their images. Also, I have seen some corporate email sytems that just remove the 1x1 tracking pixel from the email. In addition, some people may just be receiving the text version.
  • Posted on7/9/2007 at 1:59 PM Member
    Ivan - those email are being previewed and not being registered as opened. That's all. Around 30% of Outlook users use their preview pane to read messages.

    And unless they click to allow images they won't be recorded.

    I usually get around 28% of my messages being opened according to Aweber stats. But I know it's far higher.

    Peter
  • Posted on7/9/2007 at 2:06 PM Author
    Inbox,

    Sorry for the confusion. Yes, we send a multi-part email with a web based version they can view if they run into problems.

    Do you have a working email exit strategy?
  • Posted on7/9/2007 at 3:06 PM Member
    Ivan - I usually only contribute to the copywriting forum because that is my area of expertise - but I must say I am impressed with the quality of advice you are getting here!

    Magnificent!

    Open rates must be a very important measure for email marketers. And they are being misreported!

    That's why, with my Internet business hat on I must say that THE most important measure is the number of orders you receive. Nothing else really matters at the end of the day.

    I will post a link to all this on my marketing site.

    Peter
  • Posted byHarry Hallmanon7/9/2007 at 4:41 PM Member
    I was intrigued with the comments about Outlook not recording opens in the preview window so I tested it. I had always thought it did record as an open. And so it does. So, at least, for the software I use, Outlook previews do record as opens.

    That is why I am not as concerned with opens as with clicks assuming I am asking people to click. I email to both b 2 b and consumer lists and I get about the same open rates. About 12-15% depending on the subject. These are two separate lists and unrelated.

    That being said you can:

    1- Check the targeting of your email list to be sure you are sending relevant information.
    2- Check to be sure you are not breaking and spam filter issues.
    3 -检查以确保你正在eno“离谱”ugh to get opens.
    4- Check and see if you are getting any ROI from the list, if you can.

    Five years ago these same lists generated 30-50 % opens. Now 12-15%. So it goes with email effectiveness. Even so it is still the most effective tool for direct contact. The fact that you even no how many get opened is head and shoulders over printed materials.
  • Posted on7/10/2007 at 6:14 AM Member
    Hi, all -

    I made a mistake in my message above - around two thirds of users preview their messages in the preview pane, not 30%.

    I use Outlook Express 6 2004, and they have a bar above the preview pane that reads:

    'Some pictures have been blocked to help prevent the sender identifying your computer. Click here to download pictures.'

    I also use Eudora and they don't have a bar. I read all messages if I click on it, even to delete it.

    According to my friendly expert and Aweber, who handle my email broadcasts etc, unless the user clicks on that bar, the message is not recorded as opened as the HTML coding doesn't register.

    Therefore, open rates are higher than recorded.

    Peter
  • Posted byMarkon7/10/2007 at 6:22 AM Accepted
    In terms of exit strategies, I believe the general advice is to create a list segment containing all those who haven't opened or clicked within the last X issues (where you define X).

    Then send them an email (or series of emails) that attempts to rekindle their interest. This usually means trying a different strategy to your usual emails. A special offer or similar. Something to remind them of your value.

    Those that still don't open or click that email then get a polite email asking them to reconfirm their subscription.

    If they don't reconfirm, you remove them from your list (some choose to give people two or more chances to reconfirm their subscription). If they don't want your emails anymore, sending it to them runs the risk that they eventually report you as spam.

    The above is a rough approach, and I know people differ in how they implement this. The following articles suggest some options:

    https://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3624385
    https://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticl...
    https://directmag.com/disciplines/email/mailing_inactive/
    https://www.emaillabs.com/email_marketing_articles/managing_inactive_email_...
    https://www.email-marketing-reports.com/listmanagement/hygiene/

    If a lot of people are inactive, you might ask why. For example, what expectations are you setting at sign-up and do you match them?

    And the whole reconfirmation/rekindling interest thing needs to remember that some apparent non-openers are interested in your email content - they just don't show up because of open rate measurement issues.
  • Posted on7/10/2007 at 4:11 PM Author
    Mark,

    Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for. This solves my problem. I do not immediately dispose of the non participating members and it gives additional opportunities to rekindle the relationship.

    The links are a great resource. Thanks again for your help on this one.

    -Ivan
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