Why do you not know?

First, let’s look at the number of emails going around – while exact figures vary, it’s easy to say that this is going to number somewhere in the billions, if not more. For example, according to Gmail, in 2019 there are 1.5 billion active Gmail users worldwide and this is just Gmail alone. If each of those active users sent an email on any given day, that’s 1.5 billion emails on that day alone. That’s a lot of emails.

Second, let’s look at the spam problem. M³AAWG, an industry body group on senders and receivers conducted a study in 2007 and considers approximately 85% of given email traffic is most likely spam. This means that if those 1.5 billion active Gmail users receive a message each, 1.275 billion of those messages would most likely be spam.

Furthermore, At Gmail, by utilizing TensorFlow, a filter already on top of their existing protection, they blocked an additional 100 million additional spam messages each day on top of what they are already receiving. Given the volume, the complexity becomes exponential and fighting spam becomes a massive challenge – and any such clues that may render a filter useless to the protection already in place equate to an opportunity to be exploited by spammers.

Filters and spammers: marketers caught in the crossfire

Whilst this sounds difficult, there is good news, and that is usually these spam filters are very accurate. At Gmail for example, their existing filters block 99.9% of the spam. So this means that it is the sender’s responsibility to follow best practices, as, in turn, it proves to mailbox providers that your messages are legitimate.

As a sender, you may have experienced this occasionally, usually in the form of a drop in metrics such as delivered and engagement rates. But there is no need to panic, and while a tiny portion of this is an actual false positive, most of the time marketers just need to do a bit of work to revise and differentiate themselves from spammers as legitimate senders.

Getting out of the spam folder

The short answer is to revise your email marketing program. You can do so by starting with content, code, followed by how you manage your mailing list, as well as how well you are complying with deliverability best practices.

Content, for example, means creating content that is relevant and engaging for the recipient. Specifically, remember what expectations you set for the recipient when they were signing up. If the recipient engages in a positive way such as Opens, Clicks, Marks the message as Not Spam, mailbox providers will respect that decision. Even better if the recipient adds your address to their safe list.

From a coding perspective, if you have any 3rd party links within your email that do not link to a reputable source (i.e. the destination domain is not regionally/globally recognized by a typical recipient)- best to remove them, as filters may think of it as a phishing attempt.

As for list management, revise how you are managing it from acquisition to exit. Are you acquiring email addresses via a proper opt-in process such as a sign-up form on your website, not purchasing lists? Is your sign-up source secure so it does not get abused by spammers? Are you segmenting and suppressing those who do not engage with your email? While it does not sound pleasant when you want to grow your list and/or want to reach a wider audience, proper list management is essential to any email marketing program.

Finally, for deliverability best practices, these guidelines provide the best chances of your messages going to the inbox. Double-check how compliant your email marketing program is to the guidelines available. Are you going above and beyond? Are you honoring unsubscribe requests promptly? How are you handling complaints? All these factors add up and will influence the destination of your email.

Conclusion

Mailbox providers’ focus is on protecting their customers and their infrastructure from spam whilst letting legitimate messages through. Given the volume and the complexity, there are false positives on rare occasions but nearly all of the time, the cause of spam folder placement lies with the sender. Whilst it is confusing and frustrating, this is yet another perfect opportunity to revise your email marketing program, especially if you start noticing your messages being sent to the spam folder.

One such unique email ecosystem exists in Japan and a lack of guidance in how to succeed at delivering email, due to various factors such as culture and language, can cause inbox placement issues for senders.  I would like to share our insights into what you can do now to improve deliverability in Japan.

What should we expect?

Our research has identified that a typical B2C mailing list is made up of Gmail, Yahoo JP (a separate entity, not part of Verizon Media Group) and Docomo (the biggest local provider of telecommunications in Japan) with the remainder made up of various mailbox providers ranging from global ones all the way to those provided by local cable network carriers. We know that Gmail and Yahoo JP especially rely on user engagement when it comes to inbox placement, so this reinforces the importance of an active recipient database as the key to a high-performing email marketing program.

In addition to the above breakdown of mailbox providers, we also found there were a lot of mobile phone based addresses. This means not only should your email be friendly to view on popular mobile devices, but your marketing strategy should also cater for standard mobile or cellular phones which have limited capabilities compared to smartphones.

Demographic considerations and the importance of segment targeting

About a quarter of the population in Japan is considered elderly (over 65 years of age). As such, many email addresses will likely belong to an older demographic. It is important to segment based on age and then design content to be accessible so that your messages are given the best chances for engagement and conversion.

As for the non-older demographic, from our own experience as well as knowledge gained from others in the industry, we have some indications of how email is used as a tool in Japan compared with other countries around the world. To summarize, we believe that Japanese recipients are more likely to:

• Spend a lot less time on both work and personal email
• Engage a lot less and felt a lot less value from the email received
• Have a lot less interest/incentive to open promotional messages
• Prefer email as a channel, especially for work

Setting up authentication to protect your brand and customers

Japanese mailbox providers are slow in email authentication uptake. We still strongly recommend authenticating emails as it is already a prerequisite for global mailbox providers (such as DKIM for Gmail), not to mention that by setting it up now, you remain ahead of the curve as more of the existing authentication methods are implemented by regional receivers.

Anything else we can do aside from segmentation and authentication?

Absolutely! For example, with Gmail and Yahoo JP as the top domain destinations for a typical B2C email list, you can definitely setup BIMI (which is still an invite-only beta at this stage at Gmail) and Brand Icon respectively, and reap the benefits once they have been enabled for you. BIMI stands for Brand Indicators for Message Identification, and Brand Icon is a similar feature but limited to Yahoo JP.

Both show your company logo instead of a generic icon, allowing your messages to easily stand out compared to others. What’s more, a requirement for the logo to be displayed is to prove yourself as a reputable sender. So if the mailbox providers are displaying your logo it means that, from their point of view, you are a sender in good standing. In addition to this, as mentioned previously a typical mailing list will contain a number of email addresses that are provided by mobile phone carriers. The recommendation we have is to throttle sends to begin with, as they are known to have more limited resource constraints compared to major mailbox providers.

Finally, avoid sending at the top of the hour (e.g. 8:00, 13:00, etc). Mailbox providers often request that senders adjust their send time to avoid the congestion so they can be delivered in a more timely manner – and this especially applies when you are sending content that is time-sensitive.

Conclusion

Whilst Japan has its own unique email ecosystem, the fundamentals are the same, and following the best practices will lead to a successful email marketing program.

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今から出来る、日本へのメール配信改善策