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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A tale of how hard work (eventually) pays off

By Julia, Deliverability Expert

When we are in a court of law, we are hopefully paying regards to the phrase “innocent until proven guilty.”

Well… when it comes to servers responding to your sending domains and IPs, it is quite the opposite. You must prove your domain to be worthy of delivering to your recipients without an existing precedent… sometimes before you can effectively deliver at all.

Now that the campaigning cycle is coming to another end, this is a great opportunity to work toward preparing your domains and IPs for the most success when the cycle begins picking up again. I think the most important take-away here is: PREPARE your sending domain BEFORE YOU NEED to send with it.

I want to take a few minutes to review how pre-emptively preparing your sending domains can be beneficial to you in months to come.

It takes TIME to scale your domain up to your full sending volume. By getting an early start you are able to avoid rushing the warming process, which could cause you to have blocks and trouble with deliverability.

Even after you’ve scaled to full sending volume, it takes TIME for a server to trust you. Servers are constantly watching how their recipients are engaging with your emails & designated a reputation to your domain/IP based off that response. The only way to continuously improve your reputation, especially on Google and similar servers, is for your audience to be consistently positively engaging with your emails. This means the same users repeatedly engaging with your emails, so sending to only new recipients constantly is actually very poor practice.

And it takes TIME for your audience to recognize and engage with your content. This is a great opportunity to focus less on ads and asks, and more on branding and informational content. It can be extremely valuable to produce very non-controversial content that includes little to no ‘call to actions.’ This type of content generally performs much better in the eyes of the server so it can help you to build your reputation up a bit so you have a buffer when you do want to send more hard-hitting content.

Many of the questions I regularly receive are concerning how quickly we can fully scale a domain & the truth is… there are so many things at play when you are preparing a new domain/IP for sending that the best thing you can do is get a head start. There are very few issues I’ve seen not be able to solved with a little time and persistence.

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

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August feature Update

August has been a busy month for Campaign Nucleus, bringing a host of new features and enhancements designed to elevate your campaign management experience. Whether you're looking to fine-tune your email strategies, streamline event communications, or ensure compliance with industry standards, our latest updates are here to help. Let’s dive into the details of what's new this month!

Besides helping fuel your 2024 election endeavors, our team has been busy innovating our cutting-edge platform for you and your team. We have achieved so much this year, and we can't wait to see how we can help you accomplish your future operations.

Default for State Merge Tags

Features big or small, we’ve thought of it all! We understand how important it is to personalize your email campaigns. That’s why we’ve introduced a new override variable in the email settings for the state merge tag. Now, you can create default text to display whenever a subscriber’s state information is missing, ensuring your emails stay polished and professional.

Refresh & Report Stats in P2P

We understand how crucial stats are for tracking your team’s growth. That’s why we’ve made it easier than ever to refresh stats within your P2P campaigns. Quickly access real-time insights on sent messages, deliveries, clicks, replies, and more!

Additional Audiences In Event Communications

Effective communication is key to a successful event! That’s why we’ve expanded the audience options for event communications. Now, you can ensure your staff, attendees, and others stay informed and up-to-date throughout your event.

New Filter in Email for Identities and Domains

Managing multiple email domains and identities just got easier. You can now quickly filter your email campaigns to find messages sent from specific domains or identities, streamlining your search and organization.

Stay tuned for more features soon!