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3. Follow Frequency Best Practices

Automated campaigns take the guess work out of email delivery schedules, thereby eliminating the frequency variable that can negatively affect your email campaigns. Emails are sent based on subscribers’ actions, not at the whim of the marketing department. The emails are created in advance to lead subscribers down specific paths at the right pace for each recipient. These campaigns outperform every other as they put subscribers in charge of what content they receive and when they receive it.

Automated drip campaigns that are scheduled in advance for deployment at a certain time regardless of subscriber action, and all other non-automated email campaigns, must follow strict frequency guidelines. Danielsii recommends testing message frequency for optimal cadence, developing customer-segmented frequency caps, communicating delivery schedules to the audience during the opt-in process, and allowing subscribers to opt-down in the number of emails they receive. These are extremely important tips for 2010 as they will protect your reputation from over-mailing to your lists.

However, irregular and infrequent mailings can be just as dangerous. Listrak recently released a case study on Turkey Hill Dairy ⁱⁱⁱ. Turkey Hill was sending one mass mailing to its list monthly. A deliverability audit conducted by Listrak found that the sending pattern had negatively impacted its reputation. Turkey Hill’s inbox placement rates at MSN and Hotmail were only 50%, which meant Turkey Hill was missing nearly 20,000 subscribers. Listrak helped Turkey Hill get on the Return Path Certification Program and recommended throttling the deployment schedule into segmented groups of 25,000 staggered through the month. These changes were immediately apparent and the emails were delivered to the inbox.