Tools and tips for data best practice

When sitting down to devise an email marketing strategy, it is always best to start from the very beginning. Review the core component of all emails: data; specifically the email address. Where has it come from? How did you get it? How clean is it?

Great quality data can act as rocket fuel to your email campaigns, which is no surprise when data sits at the core of all one-to-one marketing. But equally, bad data can severely affect your deliverability, particularly in light of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which is just around the corner.

Now would be the best time to review your data hygiene. Here are three dotmailer tools and tips to put you on the road to data best practice:

Watchdog

The Watchdog acts as the trusted guardian for your data when importing into dotmailer. Although the responsibility for the data very much remains with you (the data owner), the Watchdog screens all data imported into the platform and flags any questionable or risky content in order to protect your sender reputation.

It protects you on two levels:

1. The Watchdog protects you from sending emails to any questionable data that’s been uploaded, ensuring high inbox placement and deliverability nurture.
2. It also protects you from being affected by any other users sending to questionable data.

In summary, he’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A Dark Knight A Data Watchdog.

GSL

Data can and will decay if it’s not properly monitored, soiling your once pristine database; the recipient could have moved companies; perhaps they’re a B2B organisation and have changed name; it could even be that the recipient has abandoned their email addresses, due to the sheer volume of emails they receive.

Continuing to send to these email addresses is dangerous for your business. At best, you’re delivering emails that go unopened, or that are hard-bouncing. At worst, the email address is reclaimed and turned into a spam trap – and you could quite easily be blacklisted.

This is where the dotmailer’s Global Suppression List (GSL) comes into play. It scans your existing database against a list of known bad email addresses and can suppress these before they do any damage to your sending reputation. You can regularly use the GSL to clean up your data – find out how to do so by clicking here.

Sun Setting Policies

The last item on the agenda is implementing sun-setting policies for long-term un-engaged customers. In essence, what you are doing is filtering your database of all the contacts that have not opened your emails for a set period to answer the question: ‘Does the recipient still want to receive my emails?’

You could reach out and ask them the following:

• If they want to continue being a subscriber
• Ask them to manage their email preferences
• Show them some love with a discount or special incentive

If they still don’t open or respond the next question should be: ‘Are they really receiving any value from me?’ Your communications aren’t improving your relationship with this customer and, if anything, are probably having a negative impact. Maybe it is time to send a ‘We’ll miss you, but good bye for now’ email. This communication informs the customer that you’ll be removing them from your marketing communications to avoid any potential annoyance, which in turn, saves you sending any more emails that don’t add value to the customer (also a great way to avoid sending to a recycled spam trap). Be sure to include a link to your preference center and, perhaps, a direct newsletter signup box, so that the customer can reengage at any time.

Adopting these tools and tips demonstrates you take data hygiene seriously by keeping your data as clean as possible within dotmailer. Being pro-active and giving your recipients a choice demonstrates responsibility and builds trust. However, as laws and legislation concerning data evolve, so will the road to data best practice. It’s important to keep up to date with new rules and regulations.

Ultimately, keeping your customer at the heart of everything you do will ensure you stay above board and can continue to provide extraordinary brand experiences.

To find out more on deliverability best practice, take a look at our 5 minute cheatsheet!