Direct email marketing is known to be one of the most effective forms of marketing, over and above those of social media and website content campaigns. However, there is a dark underbelly in this sector who use email for spam content and even to send viruses. If you use Email Verification your emails are more likely to go into the inbox and less likely into Junk.
Email vs social media
The Optinmonster.com blog shows, “email marketing is more effective than social media across the board, with just one exception (sharing).”. The data the marketing information site used included the fact that 2.6 million people have email (as against 1.7bn on Facebook), 91% of whom check their emails daily (as against 57% on Facebook). 66% of those surveyed have made a purchase as a result of an email campaign, as against only 20% on Facebook.
Data like this shows just why marketers always look at ways of harvesting emails from potential clients and to get them on direct email campaigns – it can be a great way to make money.
Problematic email harvesting
Other research suggests that blatant data harvesting campaigns such as ‘free Wi-Fi’ and competitions that get large volumes of email addresses are not a reliable source of those addresses. Those whose emails are being harvested will often use abandoned or fake email addresses, and this can impact on your own standing in the world of email marketing. Instead it makes sense to try to harvest email addresses legitimately, such as through opt-ins for your campaigns in shopping carts and other ways in which you are facing the customer in a direct, honest way. If you’re being honest with them, so they will be with you.
DMARC – email security
The Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) scheme works hand in hand with the Domain Name System (DNS) and can end up labelling your email as spam. One of the measures DMARC uses is whether you have a high email bounce rate. If you have bought those email addresses or have used a competition / other non-genuine harvesting method you will often have a much higher bounce rate than from more direct sources. Not everyone has the time to organically gather such email addresses so the way forward may well be through an Email Verification system.
Email verification systems are where an algorithm is used to seek out and remove bad emails from your list. They may be fake, abandoned, or may have been closed down altogether. Systems such as Zero Bounce can go a step further and even identify the gender of the email recipient. In reducing your bounce rate, so you both know you are sending emails to the right people and won’t fall foul of things like DMARC. A good email verification system can both improve your relationships with your potential customers and may well keep your emails out of their Junk mailboxes for good. As such it is far more than just a case of saving a load of returned to sender emails coming in during each campaign…
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