I get asked about email opt-ins constantly—and the truth is, this post has everything you need to get your head around it. Different countries have different rules, and yes, it does matter how you collect emails. But before you spend money on another agency meeting that’ll leave you more confused than when you started, read this. You might just save yourself a headache—and a chunk of budget.
Here’s the Real Deal About Email Opt-ins in B2B Marketing
Put down the sales playbook and listen carefully because I’m only gonna say this once. You think you’re just gonna blast emails out to a bunch of B2B execs and magically generate leads? Pfft. That’s not how the universe works, pal. If you don’t want your email domain banished to the shadow realm of spam filters, you need to understand email opt-ins.
An email opt-in is like asking someone if you can crash on their couch before showing up uninvited with a bag of Cheetos and emotional baggage. You need permission, and guess what? Not all opt-ins are created equal.
Let’s take a trip through the fun of opt-ins—Single, Double, and the cursed Purchased List. Here’s how each one stacks up.
Single Opt-in
You slap a form on your site, someone throws in their email, and boom—you’re sending them newsletters before they even close the tab.
Double Opt-in
Someone signs up, then they gotta confirm via email before they’re officially on your list. It’s like the VIP club of email marketing.
Purchased List
Oh boy. This is when you buy a list of contacts from some shady vendor promising “targeted leads.” They never opted in. You just… show up in their inbox like a creep in the dark.
If you’re playing it safe and want to build a list that lasts, double opt-in is still the smart move. Fewer complaints, better engagement, and no nasty surprises from inbox providers, don’t come crawling to me because you are over your contact limit and you can only email 40% of the database.
Single opt-in? Sure, it’s quick and easy—just know the risks. If you go this route, keep your list squeaky clean and monitor engagement like it’s your full-time job. However [True Story, email me for more!] when the owner of a@a.de sends your legal department a letter claiming compensation my head won’t be won’t the block with yours.
But if you’re even thinking about buying a list… don’t. That’s the marketing equivalent of trying to clone yourself from leftover pizza crust—technically possible, but deeply disturbing and morally questionable.
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ❌ Not Allowed | ✅ Required | ❌ Nope | “Double opt-in or double off elsewhere!” — TKG |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ❌ Not Allowed | ✅ Required | ❌ Nein! | “These guys take consent more seriously than sausages.” — BDSG + UWG |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed | 🔄 Not required | ❌ Forbidden | “Oui to opt-in, non to buying lists.” — CNIL |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed | ✅ Optional | ⚠️ Risky | “Play it clean or the Dutch regulators might be popping up in your inbox.” — ACM / AVG |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed | ✅ Optional | ⚠️ Risky | “You can send, but tread carefully—especially with bought lists.” — IMY + GDPR |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ❌ Not Allowed | ✅ Needed | ❌ Forbidden | “Stick to clean lists or Poland’s UODO will be on your tail.” — UODO |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed | ✅ Optional | ⚠️ Watch out | “Si to sending, pero no to shady list-buying.” — LOPD + GDPR |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ If relevant | ✅ Optional | ⚠️ Risky | “As long as it’s job-relevant, you’re good. Just no funny business.” — Tietosuojavaltuutetun toimisto |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed | ✅ Optional | ⚠️ Be careful | “Czech it before you wreck it.” — GDPR + National eComms Act |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed if Legit Interest | ✅ Optional | ⚠️ Risky | You can single opt-in, just make sure your ‘Legitimate Interest’ doesn’t backfire!” — UK GDPR + PECR |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed | ❌ Not Required | ✅ Legal with disclosure | “Welcome to the Wild West! As long as you let ’em unsubscribe, you’re good!” — CAN-SPAM Act |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ❌ Not Allowed (Explicit Consent) | ✅ Preferred | ❌ Illegal without consent | “No shortcuts here, amigo Consent is king in snow Mexico.” — CASL |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed with Notice | 🔄 Optional | ⚠️ Allowed with consent | “Send it, but don’t be a sneaky snake — they got the Act on Specified Commercial Transactions.” |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ✅ Allowed with Consent | ✅ Optional | ❌ Nope, mate | “Aussies don’t mess around. No list buying unless you want the ACMA on your tail.” — Spam Act 2003 |
| Single Opt-In (B2B) | Double Opt-In (B2B) | Purchased Lists (B2B) | What you need to do |
| ❌ Not Allowed | ✅ Strongly Recommended | ❌ Forbidden | “LGPD’s got that Latin spice — treat data like gold, not garbage.” — Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados |
Schedule a call 📅
I get asked about email opt-ins constantly—and the truth is, this post has everything you need to get your head around it. Different countries have different rules, and yes, it does matter how you collect emails. But before you spend money on another agency meeting...
This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....It's completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of...
This is part 2 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to read Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....Three parties are required to get an Eloqua email into the recipient's inbox: senders...
Welcome to my series of articles about Eloqua email deliverability, whilst I reference Eloqua here this is applicable to all email platforms.... Anyhoo, I often get asks questions from clients about this topic so for both their use and yours I have put together this...
The post Agency Secrets: Types of Email Opt-ins for B2B Marketing appeared first on Eloqua Contractor - Greg Staunton.
]]>This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on….
It’s completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of them drastically affect Eloqua email deliverability, while others are less relevant.
Eloqua contact list or segment quality: You should always consider this, especially if you’re a new sender or your IP address is changing, since it’s the only information ISPs know about you.
Eloqua email frequency & relevance: Your ISP will be stricter with you if you send email every day. Segment your list accordingly. Is the same message sent to everyone? Do you personalize content? This will impact engagement and hence Eloqua email deliverability.
Eloqua email content & format: The reputation of a sender matters, but not as much as some people believe. Spammy messages sent by a reputable sender will generally perform better than valuable ones sent by a sender with poor reputation.
Sender score: It is extremely important, but may be harder to influence than any of the above factors. Pay attention to it more carefully.
You should know that it’s normal for a reputation to fluctuate between “good” and “average”. If you have a big campaign coming up and have to send a lot of emails to a segment that isn’t very engaged, this will lower your reputation.
IP reputation and domain reputation contribute to sender reputation. Each is calculated separately, but together they have a significant impact on Eloqua email deliverability.
Every email is sent from a computer or server that has a unique identifier (its IP address). An IP address makes it easy for ISPs to track senders.
Reputation is determined by the IP address from which an email is sent, not by the brand that’s sending it.
It is your reputation with your IP address that gets you into the recipient’s server. As a mail sender, you usually either have a dedicated IP address, or you use a shared IP pool.
A dedicated IP address means all your emails will be routed through a single IP address. This address cannot be used by anyone else, so all email sent from it will belong exclusively to you.
A dedicated IP address relies entirely on you for Eloqua email deliverability. If you follow best practices, this can be a benefit. But mistakes can have a major impact and can be difficult to undo.
An IP address that is dedicated makes it much easier to whitelist your IP address.
For large organizations that send high volumes of mail, dedicated IP addresses are a better option, since they usually have the resources necessary to ensure best delivery practices.
Shared IP pools consist of several companies sharing IP addresses in order to send email campaigns. Because of the shared nature of IP addresses, Eloqua email deliverability is a shared responsibility. If another company’s bad practices negatively affect your deliverability, then you also suffer. It does however give you uplift when it comes to send volume.
A shared IP pool allows smaller companies to increase their email volume by leveraging the email volumes sent by other companies, which boosts everyone’s sender reputation.
Smaller senders are also protected by the shared IP pool; if a small sender makes an error, their implications will be limited because there is so much more email coming from the shared IP pool.
Small and medium-sized businesses will typically use shared IP pools. A dedicated IP address is not necessary for firms that aren’t sending large volumes of email regularly.
When it comes to domain reputation, it’s all about the brand that sends the email, not what IP reputation looks like.
A good domain reputation can grow with your brand even when you switch IP addresses or email providers. If your reputation has been built over time, this can be helpful.
The reputation of a domain is affected by your business sector. ISPs generally have a more stringent policy for finance and banking companies and a more lenient policy for retail and travel companies.
Domain reputation is affected by your sending style. Do you segment your lists? Do you send messages to inactive accounts? Do less engaged audiences receive fewer emails? These are factors that affect your domain reputation.
A segmented mailing list is one of the best ways to maintain your reputation.
Schedule a call 📅
I get asked about email opt-ins constantly—and the truth is, this post has everything you need to get your head around it. Different countries have different rules, and yes, it does matter how you collect emails. But before you spend money on another agency meeting...
This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....It's completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of...
This is part 2 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to read Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....Three parties are required to get an Eloqua email into the recipient's inbox: senders...
Welcome to my series of articles about Eloqua email deliverability, whilst I reference Eloqua here this is applicable to all email platforms.... Anyhoo, I often get asks questions from clients about this topic so for both their use and yours I have put together this...
The post Part 3. Eloqua email deliverability factors that you control appeared first on Eloqua Contractor - Greg Staunton.
]]>This is part 2 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to read Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on….
Three parties are required to get an Eloqua email into the recipient’s inbox: senders (i.e. the company sending the email), gateways (the companies that enable the sending of email), and recipients (i.e. the customer).
Generally speaking, email senders fall into three categories: legitimate email senders, email certification providers, and spammers:
Generally, there are two types of gateways: major ISPs and smaller companies (including smaller regional providers). The gateways control whether your emails get delivered. Blacklisting systems and anti-spam systems will also be included here.
Your goal is to reach these people, and the ISPs want to protect those people from spam. If you want to get your Eloqua email delivered into their inbox, you need to understand the tools they use to fight spam.
In order to keep spammers away from your emails, your ISP employs a number of methods. However, because they must manage mass amounts of email, these methods can also affect your Eloqua email deliverability. Let’s look at which tools are available, and how you can use them to your advantage.
In order to determine how much email you may send in a set amount of time, ISPs establish sending limits. These limits are the total amount of Eloqua email you may send within a specified period. Upon reaching your daily sending limit, ISPs soft bounce all your emails afterward until the limit is reset. Depending on how frequently you send emails from Eloqua, you might have a daily or weekly sending limit. If you send emails once or twice a week, your weekly limit might be greater than your daily limit. It depends on your sender reputation how strict the limit is. If your sending volume spikes, your emails will get soft bounced, no matter how good your reputation is.
Soft bounces can be avoided by gradually increasing your Eloqua send volume.
You should get your email volume ramped up at least 30 days before a massive Eloqua campaign to your global list. This is done by gradually increasing the number of emails you send so you reach your goal as soon as possible. This can be achieved through Eloqua email throttling.
Blocks make it impossible to send emails. Not good. ISPs typically block senders after they receive too many spam complaints or after they hard bounce too many emails. In general, blocks last between two days and one week, although sometimes they are indefinite.
In some cases, you must contact an ISP and show them that your email sending practices have changed. For instance, you may need to show that you have reduced or added new audiences to your mailing list.
As a rule of thumb, it is better to prevent ISP blocks than to attempt to rectify them. To avoid spam complaints, make sure your mailing list is clean to prevent hard bounces, segment your mailing list so you’re only sending Eloqua emails to engaged customers, and make unsubscribing as easy as possible.
Bulking means that ISPs will automatically send your email to spam or junk folders. Because most people don’t regularly check their spam folders, your email may not be seen.
Eloqua doesn’t allow you to detect if an email is going to spam with Dashboards or Insights. However, you can analyze a 3rd party mail analytics report to find out if the email is going to spam. Create a report that shows open and click rates broken out by ISP. Next, check if you see a sudden drop in both rates for one ISP, but not for the rest. That’s strong evidence that your emails are going to spam folders.
An Eloqua ISP seed list is another option. This is a collection of hundreds to thousands of email addresses that you can verify get used by different ISPs, you could maybe even develop an Eloqua program that uses match rules which in turn will set ISP on a separate contact or custom object record field so it’s possible to see the way various ISPs are dealing with your emails.
In terms of implementation, Eloqua ISP seed lists shouldn’t be used to warm up new IPs. Because accounts on seed lists don’t show any engagement, they may negatively impact reputation and cause Eloqua email deliverability to decline.
It’s a more severe form of a block, which lasts until the blacklisting organization removes you from the list. IP addresses listed on blacklists cannot send Eloqua email to ISPs that filter mail by using that blacklist.
The best way to avoid winding up on a blacklist is to avoid being placed on one. If you find yourself on one, you should make it your number one priority to get off of it.
Eloqua email deliverability decision is binary ISPs. There negative behaviors and positive behaviors. If you minimize the negative while maximizing the positive, you’ll be able to deliver more Eloqua emails.
Eloqua email deliverability decision is binary ISPs. There negative behaviors and positive behaviors. If you minimize the negative while maximizing the positive, you’ll be able to deliver more Eloqua emails.
It’s important to avoid both hard and soft bounces. A hard bounce indicates that you don’t have a clean email list, while a soft bounce implies inconsistency in your send volume.
This is a big problem in the eyes of ISPs. They have a very low tolerance for spam complaints. Please set a threshold for spam complaints that is less than 0.1% and strictly adhere to it.
It’s a big negative signal to ISPs choosing to send Eloqua emails to spam trap addresses, which you shouldn’t be sending them. There are two types of spam trap addresses:
In terms of email addresses, pristine addresses are brand new accounts added by spambots to your list. Recycled addresses, on the other hand, were reclaimed by your ISP after 180-270 days of inactivity.
When your Eloqua email hits pristine spam traps, you have bad mail collection habits, and if you hit reclaimed addresses, you haven’t cleaned up your mailing list.
ISPs can observe when subscribers treat your Eloqua emails as read, or delete them without looking at them, so it indicates to them that the content is potentially spammy, as such, it will damage your reputation. It generally won’t be as bad as being marked as spam, but it won’t be as good as good either.
You should encourage this as it is a very notable action. It shows that the recipient wants your Eloqua emails, and it makes you look really good. It has a very low conversion rate (as little as 2%), but when you encourage it, it can greatly enhance your reputation.
The body of your email should include a line that says something like “Add our address book to stay updated with our latest whitepapers” This is especially effective when you send out really high value content.
We’ll discuss this more below. Good senders send emails that are opened and clicked on.
ISPs see this as a positive, as people forward content they find interesting.
Responses mean engagement, and engagement is good. In fact, ISPs look negatively on recipients not being able to reply, so avoid that at all costs.
You might experience delivery problems if you do not have good open rates, so how can you figure out what works well? We can think of open rates like online reviews; they can range from 5 stars (excellent) to 1 star (not ideal).
When your open rates fall below 20%, you’ll have problems. Open rates below 10% indicate fundamental issues with your mailing list or your content. If you’re in the 15-19% range, you may occasionally experience deliverability issues. From 10-14%, you may have lots of issues, and you’ll need to work hard to improve open rates.
In case you have a good open rate but are still experiencing deliverability issues, you can try adjusting some other elements.
Schedule a call 📅
I get asked about email opt-ins constantly—and the truth is, this post has everything you need to get your head around it. Different countries have different rules, and yes, it does matter how you collect emails. But before you spend money on another agency meeting...
This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....It's completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of...
This is part 2 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to read Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....Three parties are required to get an Eloqua email into the recipient's inbox: senders...
Welcome to my series of articles about Eloqua email deliverability, whilst I reference Eloqua here this is applicable to all email platforms.... Anyhoo, I often get asks questions from clients about this topic so for both their use and yours I have put together this...
The post Part 2: Eloqua email deliverability: Who is involved? appeared first on Eloqua Contractor - Greg Staunton.
]]>Welcome to my series of articles about Eloqua email deliverability, whilst I reference Eloqua here this is applicable to all email platforms…. Anyhoo, I often get asks questions from clients about this topic so for both their use and yours I have put together this series so you can learn all about email deliverability and I will share with you a load of tools to help you on this topic later in the series. It is important you read each article so you can get best use of these tools and know when and how to use them.
Despite the progress of technology and all the advancements in digital marketing, email remains one of the core channels in a marketer’s arsenal. This is one of the reasons why having Eloqua email deliverability is so important.
Here is a comprehensive guide to getting your emails into inboxes. I have put it together to make help you sure you’re maximizing the inbound opportunities coming from Eloqua email campaigns.
What is the best way to improve Eloqua email deliverability? Think like an ISP
You should approach Eloqua email deliverability the way Internet Service Providers (ISPs) do. In order to do so, you have to understand what ISPs deal with every day.
How many emails are sent globally each day? Can you guess?
There are between 270 and 300 billion emails sent every day — about half of them business-related, and about half are consumer-related.
I want you to think for a minute about that number. And then, think about the fact that it’s a daily number.
How many of those 270 billion emails are spam?
Did you know about half of them are spam? It’s true. Over 100 billion spam emails are sent daily.
ISPs do a great job of handling the never-ending flood of spam. They try to make sure the unwanted emails never reach the spam folder, much less the inbox. As a result, they’ve become heroes to email recipients.
To do their job effectively, they have to be ruthless. Punish bad sending habits. Let’s put ourselves in their shoes. They are dealing with massive volumes of emails from malicious senders. Would we act differently in their situation?
Try to think like an ISP to make sure your emails make it to the inbox. They know your mailing list history, they know which mails were clicked and which ones weren’t, they know when the last email was opened.
Deliverability means that your email will be delivered, of course. But it’s not as easy as that.
Imagine you have a 99% deliverability rate. That must be great, right? There is one important point missing from Eloqua email deliverability rate.
Getting your email to your customer’s inbox is more important than getting it delivered.
“Email deliverability is all about getting into inboxes.”
A customer’s spam or junk folder is still regarded as delivered. Delivery rate has no bearing on inbox placement. Don’t let delivery rates deceive you. Focus on inbox placement instead.
What is the best way to get good inbox placement I hear you say? To answer that question, you have to understand how emails move throughout their journey.
Let’s walk through how to send your Eloqua email campaign. You’ve created a new email. Who will you send it to?
This is your distribution list that you want to send your Eloqua email to.
Your email will most likely get sent. Some, however, will be suppressed. Why? There are a few potential reasons. The recipient might have unsubscribed or previously bounced back. When your Eloqua prepares to send the email, it reviews consent with bounceback status, and the email may not be sent.
Most of the emails that are successfully sent should be delivered (that is, they should arrive at their intended destination). Those that aren’t are either soft or hard bounced.
| Why was my email not delivered? | |
| Soft bounce | Hard bounce |
|
|
The hard bounce indicates that you attempted to send an email to an invalid address (one that doesn’t exist). If you get lots of hard bounces from ISPs, it indicates that your mailing list isn’t very clean. Email validation can help clean up your mailing list.
In the past, you might get soft bounced if your inbox was full. However, most email service providers now offer very large inboxes, so this rarely happens today.
ISPs prefer consistency, and don’t like sudden changes in email volume. If you send 500,000 emails per day, then send 700,000 one day, the additional 200,000 should be soft bounced. ISPs like consistency, and don’t like sudden changes in email sending volume.
Many of the Eloqua emails sent will be viewed in the inbox. Those that don’t often end up in the spam folder, are blocked by the recipient, or land in spam traps.
Spam traps are email addresses owned by an ISP. They could be old accounts that have been reclaimed by an ISP, or brand new accounts created just to be spam traps. In either case, they shouldn’t be on your mailing list.
If you’re not actively watching someone, how can you tell whether their email was opened? Most email services include a tracking pixel in every email they send. As soon as someone opens their Eloqua email, the image loads so that the Eloqua knows that the email has been opened (which requires a request to the server hosting the image).
There are several things that your contacts will do now that your Eloqua email is in their inbox:
So…. Now you know all about the objectives of email deliverability, it is time to proceed to Part 2. Who is involved in Eloqua email deliverability.
Schedule a call 📅
I get asked about email opt-ins constantly—and the truth is, this post has everything you need to get your head around it. Different countries have different rules, and yes, it does matter how you collect emails. But before you spend money on another agency meeting...
This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....It's completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of...
This is part 2 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to read Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....Three parties are required to get an Eloqua email into the recipient's inbox: senders...
Welcome to my series of articles about Eloqua email deliverability, whilst I reference Eloqua here this is applicable to all email platforms.... Anyhoo, I often get asks questions from clients about this topic so for both their use and yours I have put together this...
The post Part 1: What is the objective of Eloqua email deliverability? appeared first on Eloqua Contractor - Greg Staunton.
]]>Email marketing is great, the chances are if you are reading this you work in the field of email marketing. As you know things can go wrong and when they do go wrong they can go seriously wrong.
In this article I am going to give you 5 stories I have either done myself, someone else did it at a company I have worked for or another person in the same industry I have spoken to told me about it.
What you need to take away from this article is:
Schedule a call 📅
An Eloqua agency used a developer to do a fix on a button that the client wanted to have the design changed on. Simple, the program manager sent it to the developer but did not send over the URL for the button presuming that the developer would naturally use the link from the previous button in the email.
The developer picked up the ticket, changed the button, did their design checks in litmus. Knowing that the email had a flawless design sent it over the developer.
The program manager who had previously checked the email before the last minute change sent a test over to the client and awaited glowing feedback from a happy client.
The client came back to the program manager really angry asking “what the hell is this you pervert, what is wrong with you?”
What had happened is the developer had put in a placeholder for the URL. The anchor tag on the button pointed to xxx. When the client clicked through from the button the request was sent to the server, the server then ran a google search on xxx and it pulled up a load those type of websites in the search results.
Clients generally go to email agencies to have them build their emails because they are the experts. Or so that is what we are led to believe. The truth is you are more likely to get a graduate that has been recruited to build your emails, because it is a copy-paste job with a bit of dynamic content and some personalization.
When you have a client services director that is a manager and not an expert in email marketing that has risen from the ranks you are walking into a disaster area.
Idiocy is multiplactive. That is 2 half wits do not create a whole wit. They create a quarter wit. It is simple maths.
So a client gets assigned to a grad and they don’t have an email checklist and in fairness they don’t even know what they are looking for.
The email got built, a test sent, the client signed it off.
The graduate had a broken link on the main call to action so the email was pointless. The client had just read through the email to check the copy. After all, surely the email builder would not have missed something as important as the link on the call to action.
Broken, the client then gets the reply to emails asking where the link is. No link is worse than a link pointing in the wrong place. At least in Eloqua you can change the link after the email has been sent on the fly.
It was the second account manager who ended up in the HR office getting a warning. They had disobeyed protocol and we had all be warned about the implications of simply just signing the form. After that, all emails got properly Q/A’d twice. I would like to tell you that was the end of all mistakes at that Eloqua agency, but read on…….
He built out the email in very little time, sent himself a test, the links worked, alt tags, personalization, it all worked. What could possibly go wrong?
He had not checked the link tracking box so none of the links were tracked. This meant that it was not possible to send all contacts to a decision step to root them to another campaign based on if they had clicked or not. The campaign had been nearly year in development and spanned microsites, different campaigns, emails, forms, etc.
He had to eat some very humble pie, own up to his mistake and they sent out another email to kick start the campaign at a different point.
A very large Energy supplier was needing an email sent to their entire customer database which was to invite them to all login to their brand new online portal so they could provide their meter results, get given offers, etc. The previous one was rubbish, didn’t work, had loads of complaints so they decided to rebuild the whole thing. The project had lasted a year, UX, integration, front-end developer, back-end developer teams, everything.
As part of an integrated campaign including radio, TV, newspaper adverts, email, they were going to announce the launch of the new online system, what could possibly go wrong?
The account manager that had been assigned the account had holiday scheduled in the two weeks running up to the launch date. The account was handed over to another account manager he built the email. The email got built but placeholders were put in place for personalization and the dynamic content block that would display their electricity or gas account number or for those with both, both.
The place holders looked something like Dear %%first name%% and the dynamic content blocks something like %%placeholder for dynamic content block%%.
It was the end of the day and the account manager covering decided to come back the next day to send finish off the email and go into testing.
The next day he comes in and he can’t find it because the system was about 6 years old and a total mess so he rebuilt it and went through the full testing, using all the email check lists, double sign off, etc.
The other account manager came back from holiday and got handed it all back over.
On the day of the send the email contractor that was working on the energy companies end found the other email five minutes before the point of send in the system and then passed it over to the account manager saying he thought the wrong email had been set up send.
The account manager then panicked and decided to set up the wrong, lost email for send to the entire customer database.
Boom, the email fires and gets sent out. Yep – the one with the placeholders.
This thing hit the news, the email said something along the lines of:
Dear %%firstname%%,
We have listened to your concerns about your online experience with our client portal so we haave decided to completely revamp it.
%%Placeholder for Dynamic content%%
Etc, etc.
When something goes wrong with the marketing email you just sent, you should send an apology email. It’s your chance to make amends with your contacts and maintain a positive, long-term client relationship.
Email errors can be really quite bad, such as sending an email blast to 60K recipients with:
When this happens you risk causing damage to:
It’s important to address the problem, it isn’t going anywhere and the longer your leave it the worse it gets especially in the world of social.
First of all find out what went wrong, you will need to include it in your apology email and update your processes to ensure that this does not happen again.
Secondly you need to assess just how damaging this is. Think back to the mistakes you read earlier.
Consider categorising your errors into one of the following groups:
After you’ve done the first two stages, write your apologetic email response.
It’s critical to plan out the strategy for producing and delivering an apology, just as it is for any marketing email copy.
You shouldn’t send emails with subject lines that make recipients want to delete them. Words like “I’m sorry” and “Please forgive me” should be avoided. Instead, try framing the subject line of the email in a way that encourages people to open it.
As I said before, own your error and don’t try to conceal it. Maintain a light subject line to encourage readers to open your email, and own up to any errors in the email text.
Extreme words like “truly remorseful” or “terribly ashamed” might backfire. Instead, position your apologetic email in a positive way by highlighting what you did well and why recipients should be grateful to have this information.
Bad words frighten people away. You don’t want to come across as defensive or making excuses, since this will make your apology seem less genuine and more likely to be rejected. If possible, substitute a word with a positive connotation for the phrase with a negative connotation.
For example, “mistake” could become “error”.
| Negative example: | Positive example: |
| “The problem we have at hand is that the link we shared in our previous email is broken which caused your orders to fail. We’re unable to fix this problem before the end of the week. We’re deeply sorry.” | “The situation we have at hand is that the link we sent you in our previous email is broken which means your orders may not have made it through. Our tech team is working on fixing it so you’ll be able to place your orders by the end of the week. Thanks for understanding.” |
In your apologetic email, you don’t have to point fingers at anybody. Blaming others will simply exacerbate the problem. Never mention anything that accuses someone or a group of people.
“We lost because our Eloqua agency/intern/etc was not good enough,” that is something no one wants to hear. You just look pathetic.
Use humour to keep your apology email light-hearted. Even slight sarcasm might work if it’s acceptable, as long as it’s not insulting. This can be accomplished by making a joke about the circumstance or referring to something you both know that is amusing. People will enjoy hearing from someone who understands what makes them laugh, and humour is one method to relieve any stress your email may generate.
If you make a mistake you do not always need to send out an apology email. After all, it is email. People generally do understand and to be honest, a lot of people won’t even notice. Think about your open rate, how many people actually will have seen or be affected by the error. Here are some examples of when NOT to send an apology email:
One of the first things that I do with clients on an Eloqua implementation is understand the type of emails that they send out. Once we have those we can prebuild, TEST and approve apology emails so that if something does go wrong, the procedures and the mechanism is in place to deal with the situation calmly and with speed.
In part two of the “What to do when an email goes wrong” I will share with you a number of examples that I have done with clients.
I get asked about email opt-ins constantly—and the truth is, this post has everything you need to get your head around it. Different countries have different rules, and yes, it does matter how you collect emails. But before you spend money on another agency meeting...
This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....It's completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of...
This is part 2 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to read Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....Three parties are required to get an Eloqua email into the recipient's inbox: senders...
Welcome to my series of articles about Eloqua email deliverability, whilst I reference Eloqua here this is applicable to all email platforms.... Anyhoo, I often get asks questions from clients about this topic so for both their use and yours I have put together this...
The post Email Bloopers, 5 funny stories & what to do if it goes wrong appeared first on Eloqua Contractor - Greg Staunton.
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Apple have just announced that they are going to be introducing a number of new privacy features and for Eloqua users this means trouble!
Apple announced Mail Privacy Protection for their Mail app on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey devices. It’s set to launch this year sometime between September and November. According to Apple, “Mail Privacy Protection stops senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. [It prevents] senders from knowing when they open an email, and masks their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.”
This fall, senders will lose open, IP and location tracking for all Apple Mail users – regardless of the email service provider the app is connected to, including enterprise email.
Schedule a call 📅
The Mail app now has Mail Privacy Protection that stops sender from using tracking pixels that collect information as a user – which you currently use with Eloqua. The new feature will prevent email sent from Eloqua transmitting things like when a contact opens an Eloqua email and it masks their IP address so they cannot be linked to other online activities that use IP address or determine their location.
Do I have your attention yet? If I don’t check out what Litmus has to say about the use of Apple Mail accounts… 46% of global opens according to Litmus.
Since apple have done this, email privacy will no doubt be on the radar of many other email service providers and email clients so this means that you need to take a more effective route with Eloqua to your marketing approach.
Apple already showed that users will when they gave users the option to block unique ad identifiers for cross-app tracking in iOS 14.5. 96% of users in the US have declined to let apps track them in the click of a button.
Sending email from Eloqua will mean that you will lose the ability to track contacts opening emails using Apple Mail and in all probability other providers too on both mobile and desk top.
Simon Harper released an article on his blog that goes into great detail on the changes mean for Eloqua users:
This will affect all your Eloqua contacts that use Apple and probably in the future all the other email clients. It could get even worse for you… Email defence systems like Barracuda, Mimecast, etc might do the same. I think it is fair to say this problem is going nowhere.
All your Eloqua email opens and when they opened will be lost moving forward. The five major things that will change are:
Open rates cannot be used for Eloqua reporting as a measurement
This has been happening for years with email providers for years, have you changed your settings yet on outlook or do you still download images every time?
Automated programs, campaigns and functions segments that Eloqua uses open in a decision as filter will not work correctly
You will need to re-think many aspects of your Eloqua campaigns that utilize opens, namely:
Eloqua send to time optimization will not work
Eloqua send time optimization will not work unless it is updated to revolve around clicks, not opens, that goes for all send time optimization modules and providers.
Simple email send A/B split testing based on open rate will not work
Since you can no longer track opens and even worse, as Simon Harper eluded to, if the racking pixel fires when the email hits the user’s server then you metric will be based on Apple recipients.
Deliverability monitoring could be affected
You are just going to need to rethink your strategy a little bit. The email industry is big, it is not going anywhere and companies that are providing services that could be affected by will already be thinking about ways to get around this.
My advice – DO NOT BE A HEADLESS CHICKEN, MIDDLE MANAGEMENT, DOUCHEBAG
Saying that the new apple privacy feature will kill email marketing is the same as say “email marketing is dead horse weighs the same as a whales tongue”. It makes no sense – use the stats below to diffuse their argument.
Blocking email opens deprives senders of a key list health and subscriber engagement metric. It will lead to more unwanted email for subscribers and more deliverability problems for senders, because it makes inactivity management and engagement-based segmentation impossible. https://t.co/TgBEtBq2rk
— Chad S. White (@chadswhite) June 7, 2021
If you need help on getting ready for this please don’t hesitate to get contact me.
I get asked about email opt-ins constantly—and the truth is, this post has everything you need to get your head around it. Different countries have different rules, and yes, it does matter how you collect emails. But before you spend money on another agency meeting...
This is part 3 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to start from Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....It's completely within your control to experiment with these elements. Some of...
This is part 2 of my Eloqua email deliverability series. I strongly advise you to read Part1. What is the object of Eloqua email deliverability? if you already have then crack on....Three parties are required to get an Eloqua email into the recipient's inbox: senders...
Welcome to my series of articles about Eloqua email deliverability, whilst I reference Eloqua here this is applicable to all email platforms.... Anyhoo, I often get asks questions from clients about this topic so for both their use and yours I have put together this...
The post Eloqua Alert: Apple privacy update kills open rate appeared first on Eloqua Contractor - Greg Staunton.
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