By Julia, Deliverability Expert

For those of you familiar with MySpace, you probably weren’t aware at the time but you were actually preparing for a future in email marketing.

HTML coding is one of the most commonly used methods to design and develop promotional email content. And, while we make it super easy to avoid here at Campaign Nucleus, it can’t hurt to learn the basics…

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and it is a type of coding that defines the structure of your content.

Rarely in this day and age do we have to start our HTML coding from scratch, but the basic commands can always come in handy for fundamental understanding even when we are just altering a previously-coded document.

First and foremost, it must be known that the entirety of the code is defined by opening and closing tabs:

Open tab: < >

Closed tab: < />

Our open tab begins a command and our closing tab completes a command.

Below are some commonly used commands to get you started:

Now, let’s put it all together…

HMTL coding = Formatted Content

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

Life: through the perspective of an email.

If you have sent a mass email through a marketing platform, you’ve probably wondered why the standards for “good” recipient engagement are so low.

That’s because there is a lot more involved in the life cycle of an email than just receiving and opening emails.

To get a better idea of the entire journey of an email, let’s review the phases of life your email goes through after you hit send…

First, we have the matter of deliverability. Domains and IPs that are blocked by a server will not deliver to that server, no matter the circumstances (referred to as hard blocks). It’s important to note that there can also be many temporary issues with deliverability (known as soft fails), that can randomly affect any email.

From there, we will encounter difficulties with inbox placement. Not every email will land in a recipient’s inbox; some will find their way into spam & promotional mailboxes, which are rarely checked by recipients.

Lastly, & seemingly most important, is the overall recipient engagement. This is, by far, the most broad phase of life as it is affected by so many factors. Should your email make it to the recipient’s inbox, there are countless elements that will determine whether or not & how the user engages with your email. For instance, your user may love your subject line & hate your content; they may hate your subject line so they never open to see your content, they may never check their inbox & didn’t even see your email, & numerous other scenarios that lead to more or less engagement in an email.

The majority of emails sent will actually never be seen by anyone & that’s just how the game of email marketing goes. BUT, for this reason, you should be proud to see a 15% open rate with a 2.5% click rate – those numbers are actually a lot better than you think!

For more resources, Nucleus users can visit the resource library! 

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By Julia, Deliverability Expert

In today’s blog, I would like to speak to the importance and value of collecting data from subscribers to improve overall recipient engagement.

The Campaign Nucleus platform offers many features that help you to collect and assign unique data to individual recipients & provides a variety of useful ways to utilize this information.

By locating specific details on recipients, you are able to:

1. Personalize emails to recipients
2. Effectively reach recipient interests

With regards to personalization, this data allows us to address the user in a more customized way to better grasp user attention.

In reference to utilizing specific interests, this data allows us to direct our emails to the most engaged audience possible.

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The easiest way to collect data from recipients is to combine the usage of Landing Pages & Amplify.

Landing Pages can be created to supply recipients with forms; the data pulled from these forms is then appended to each email profile. We utilize Amplify to send this landing page around in the most efficient manner to whichever recipient list we find appropriate.

Landing Pages offer many options that pull basic recipient information; this would be consistent with data along the lines of recipient name, age, gender, geographic location, and similar details.

In addition, by using our tagging feature in combination with our landing pages & emails, we are able to track specific user engagement and tag the content and interests that they are engaging most positively with.

For more information, please visit your Nucleus Resource Library!

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Disclaimer: We encourage “rolling” in the case of fire… Just not emails

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

Similar to the response time one may have to being engulfed in flames, I will make this insightful tidbit brief and to the point.

When it comes to block mitigation and server communication, we cannot control how the server responds… or even IF they respond. What we CAN control is how WE respond to the block.

To help make this as simple as possible, our email team has developed a memory tool from the simple and commonly-known (well, I hope it’s commonly known…) phrase “Stop, Drop and Roll.”

STOP

Stop sending completely

Pros – The issue will not progress/worsen; may help to refresh or recover IP/domain reputation

Cons – Domain/IP warming progress may be reversed (in some cases to the point of restarting)

DROP

Drop sending volume

Pros – Can halt a block or prevent further damage; may help to defend our sending practices in server communications

Cons – Can just prologue the inevitable (block) or prevent throttling limits from ever increasing

ROLL

Roll with it (proceed as you would if no issue occurred)

Pros – In rare cases, this issue resolves itself with no loss of volume or engagement for future sends

Cons – In many cases, this worsens the block, making it harder to resolve in this case and future cases for an indefinite amount of time

In contrast to one who may be caught on fire, our team actually discourages “rolling” in response to emailblocks and deliverability errors in most cases. As in the game of poker or the investment of stock, your risks should always be calculated.

Having reviewed that information, keep in mind that every case is different, and nothing is ever definite in the world of email marketing.

If you think you may have encountered a deliverability issue to any capacity and are considering how your team should respond, do not hesitate to reach out to your point of contact for further assistance.

For more information, contact our team for training or insight and visit your Nucleus Resource Library!