Month: August 2024

Corina Leslie, PR Manager at ZeroBounce discusses why you must upgrade your email sending practices to build a robust marketing strategy.

Email marketing is a billion-dollar industry, but running successful email campaigns is getting more challenging. With data decaying faster than ever and email service providers enforcing stricter sending rules, your business may already be experiencing declining results. Here’s how you can quickly adapt to these critical industry updates.

Email marketing has come a long way since that historic day in May 1978, when Gary Thuerk sent the first email campaign. Although unsolicited, that mass email generated $12 million in sales. Nearly five decades later, email is still a revenue-generating powerhouse, with studies predicting it will be valued at $17.9 billion by 2027.

The promising ROI of email campaigns entices many businesses to build email marketing programs. For many, however, achieving success takes longer than they expect

Email marketing challenges your business could be facing

If you spend significant resources on email marketing, yet the results are disappointing, the reason could be that your company isn’t up-to-date with the latest email sending rules. In the past couple of years, the email industry has experienced critical updates that may have impacted your performance.

More emails are bouncing

Growing your business email database is smart, but while you add new contacts to it, older ones degrade every day. More than 25% of the average email list decays yearly, a higher percentage compared to previous patterns (22%). That means more of your emails may be bouncing and tarnishing your sender reputation with inbox providers – and thus, causing your subsequent campaigns to land in spam.

Spam filters are getting harder to bypass

For a marketing email to perform, it needs to reach its intended audience first, preferably in the inbox. However, even for legitimate senders like you, landing in the inbox—also known as email deliverability—is increasingly challenging. With spam and phishing attacks on the rise, spam filters are becoming more sophisticated, so it takes more effort to bypass them.

Consumer behaviors are changing

Gone are the days when a company could “spray and pray” an email “blast” to random contacts without getting penalized. Nowadays, email service providers punish you for that—and so would your audience—by reporting your email as spam. Many email users mark an email as spam even when they are subscribers. A spam complaint rate that exceeds 0.3% can also direct your future campaigns to the spam box.

How you can still get great email marketing results

So how can you deal effectively with these email marketing challenges?

Here are some steps you can begin taking today to expand your inbox reach, connect with real prospects, and get more out of the emails you send.

Follow the new email sending rules

In February 2024, Google and Yahoo announced they partnered to combat spoofing and spam by enforcing a set of rules for mass senders. Although not new, these rules are now a standard you must follow if you reach out to Gmail and Yahoo contacts. Shortly after, Microsoft stated it would adopt these rules as well, starting in the fall of 2024.

Email authentication. Google and Yahoo require email authentication to verify your identity as a sender. By authenticating your emails, you’re letting email service providers know that you – and not an impersonator – are the sender of those messages. If you’re not sure how to authenticate your emails, there are reliable platforms that can help you streamline the process.

One-click unsubscribe. Your audience should be able to leave your email list with just one click. To enable this option, you need to implement specific headers in your emails so that when a message pops into someone’s inbox, that person can unsubscribe without even clicking to open it. Equally important is that you honor all unsubscribes within two days, per Google and Yahoo’s requirements.

Low spam complaint rates. Spam complaints are an effective way for email service providers to differentiate between trustworthy senders and spammers. To maintain a good reputation with these providers and land your campaigns in the inbox, keep spam complaint rates under 0.3%. You can strive for even better results and keep reports under 0.1%, which has been the recommended threshold for years.

Verify your database like clockwork

To keep a good sender reputation, you must also maintain a low bounce rate—under the acceptable benchmark of 2%. With more than a quarter of your email list degrading every year, consider verifying your contacts at least quarterly. An email checker quickly isolates obsolete email addresses so you can remove them.

Steer away from purchasing lists

Purchasing a list of contacts for email marketing may seem tempting, but it’s a shortcut that will only hurt your business. Sending emails to people who never opted in to receive them can spike your spam complaint rate, hurting your chances of reaching the inbox. Instead of buying a list, continue to build your own database of customers who express consent to receive emails from you.

Stick to the content you promised

If subscribers sign up for your marketing newsletter, send them newsletters about marketing. If they opt in to get a discount, nurture them with more similar content. Sticking to the type of content you promised upon sign-up is how you keep your emails relevant. It’s also how you can increase engagement metrics, like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.

Reassess your content strategy

Sticking to your niche is a great way to keep your subscribers’ trust and gain brand authority. But it’s not enough to make your emails compelling – meaning, enjoyable and clickable. If your metrics have been stale, despite following all sending rules, it may be time to reassess your content. For starters, look into ways you can further personalize your campaigns. Also, consider running some A/B tests to determine the right approach. Test one element at a time, analyze your metrics, and double down on the best-performing tactics.

Avoid long breaks or sudden volume increases

Consistency in your sending behavior is another cornerstone of effective email marketing. Following a regular schedule and avoiding huge spikes in the number of emails you send helps email service providers understand you run a legitimate email marketing program. This steady approach also builds trust with your audience and will help you avoid spam complaints.

Adapt your sending frequency to serve your audience

The primary reason people unsubscribe from an email list is that they receive too many emails from that sender. Numerous studies have backed this up over the years. For email marketing to work for your business, it needs to serve your audience first. While you may think sending several weekly (or daily) emails keeps your company top of mind, this approach may have the opposite effect. People will disengage and unsubscribe. As they grow irritated, some may even report you as spam.

If you notice this trend in your email marketing reports, try to decrease the number of emails you send. Monitor your engagement metrics closely and find a balance in your sending schedule. What works best for your subscribers is what’s best for you.

Recap: how to make your email marketing work

Before you go, let’s recap the most important steps and good habits you can adopt in your email marketing strategy:

Remove invalid and outdated contacts to keep your bounce rate under 2% and maintain high email deliverability rates.

Avoid buying email databases or adding people to your list without consent so that your spam complaint rate can stay under 0.3%.

Never “spray and pray,” but instead, reach out to subscribers who have expressed clear consent to receive emails from you.

Authenticate your emails if you reach out to Gmail and Yahoo users.

Enable one-click unsubscribes and set up an automated process where unsubscribers are removed from your list within two days.

Send your audience the type of content they expect from you to cultivate great engagement rates.

Avoid taking long breaks and send emails regularly. If your unsubscribe rate is high, consider reducing the number of emails you send, as email fatigue is the number one reason people opt out.

All these email sending best practices and rules can feel overwhelming or downright intimidating. However, they all boil down to common sense in your approach. Using shady tactics to get quick results is not worth the risk. Instead, build your email marketing program thoughtfully—you’ll get more satisfaction in the long run.

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Tumblr will move its backend to WordPress in “one of the largest technical migrations in internet history.”

Tumblr is undergoing a major technical change after revealing it will soon be migrating its backend over to WordPress.

An announcement by parent company Automattic confirmed the popular blogging site will continue to operate as Tumblr, rather than be converted into WordPress, noting that only the back end will undergo the transition.

“We’re not talking about changing Tumblr,” it stated. “We’re not turning Tumblr into WordPress. That would defeat the purpose. We acquired Tumblr to benefit from its differences and strengths, not to water it down.”

Tumblr set to migrate over to WordPress

Since Automattic acquired Tumblr in 2019 for $3 million, the platform has seen several upgrades and revenue growth, so logically, the next step is for Tumblr to move over to the WordPress platform to simplify the company’s portfolio.

The migration is anticipated to bring several benefits, including the ease of sharing work across WordPress and Tumblr. Tumblr will also benefit from the ongoing open-source developments from WordPress.org, of which WordPress.com owner Automattic is a major contributor.

However, the migration is expected to be a monumental task, with Tumblr currently hosting an estimated half a billion blogs. Automattic described the change as “one of the largest technical migrations in internet history.”

The timeline for the transition has not been disclosed, and Automattic has not shared a detailed roadmap. Rather, the announcement serves as an initial disclosure of future plans to move Tumblr’s back end over to WordPress.

Moreover, with Tumblr losing millions annually in the run-up to its Automattic acquisition, it’s hoped that the migration will serve as an important cost-efficiency measure that will address profit margins going forward.

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There’s a lot of TV shows leaving Netflix in September, and even more movies – here’s everything you need to know about what we’re saying goodbye to.

As exciting as it is to find out everything new on Netflix in September 2024, it also means something not so exciting – there are tons of titles that are leaving. While the list of movies and shows leaving Netflix in August 2024 was fairly short and sweet, in September there’s an abundance of titles you’ll be sad to see go, so don’t miss them while they’re around.

Namely, the Back to the Future franchise will be leaving (Great Scott!), alongside cult classics The Breakfast Club and Clerks. Don’t worry, we’ve listed all the relevant dates below so that you can catch them before they go. 

As one of the best streaming services, Netflix will add a multitude of titles in September, as well as brand new original content. You can check out our list of new Netflix movies for even more dates to mark on your calendar, but we’d suggest heading to the list below first before you miss your opportunity.

Everything leaving Netflix in September 2024

Leaving on September 3

Beverly Hills Cop (movie)

Beverly Hills Cop II (movie)

Leaving on September 5

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend seasons 1-4 (TV show)

iZombie season 1-5 (TV show)

Jane The Virgin seasons 1-5 (TV show)

Leaving on September 8

Cuties (movie) 

Leaving September 19

Bodies Bodies Bodies (movie) 

Leaving September 24

A Walk to Remember (movie) 

Leaving September 27

Force of Nature (movie) 

Great News seasons 1-2 (TV show)

Inheritance (movie) 

Leaving September 29

Good Witch seasons 1-7 (TV show)

Leaving September 30

A Million Ways to Die in the West (movie) 

Back to the Future (movie) 

Back to the Future Part II (movie) 

Back to the Future Part III (movie) 

Big Fat Liar (movie) 

The Breakfast Club (movie) 

Clerks (movie) 

Conan the Barbarian (movie) 

The Conjuring (movie) 

The Conjuring 2 (movie) 

Divergent (movie) 

The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 1 (movie) 

The Divergent Series: Insurgent (movie) 

Dumb and Dumber (movie) 

Dune (movie) 

Fifty Shades Darker (movie) 

Fifty Shades Freed (movie) 

Fifty Shades of Grey (movie) 

Hacksaw Ridge (movie) 

Home (movie) 

Hot Tub Time Machine (movie) 

How to Get Away With Murder seasons 1-6 (TV show)

The Lego Movie (movie) 

Léon: The Professional (movie) 

Major League II (movie) 

Mr Bean’s Holiday (movie) 

Muriel’s Wedding (movie) 

My Girl 2 (movie) 

Natural Born Killers (movie) 

Pokémon Detective Pikachu (movie) 

Reality Bites (movie) 

S.W.A.T. (movie) 

Uncle Buck (movie) 

Wild Things (movie) 

The Wiz (movie) 

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