Onboarding: Tips to Success

Before you begin sending

You likely did not make the decision to change Email Service Providers (ESPs) lightly. While it is true you now have a new email platform to send mail from, we all want to make sure that you are able to continue where you left off. You likely had good delivery on your previous system and by moving to your new chosen platform you should also be able to have good delivery for the foreseeable future. The trick with email is that when you do change systems, you have to build up your reputation once again so that the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can easily identify your mail. By following these tips you will be able to put yourself in pole position and get ahead of the competition.

Authenticate your mail

Authentication is an important foundational building block for establishing a positive reputation with the ISPs. The majority of ESPs automatically set up every client with the two most commonly utilized authentication methods: Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) which “signs” your emails and Sender Policy Frameworks (SPF) which checks your email is coming from an authorized address. There is also a third authentication called DMARC(Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) this technology allows senders to protect their customers by informing the ISPs how to handle the mail if the authentication fails and is possibly a phishing or spoofing message.

Move suppression data

One of the most often overlooked, but critical items in building a successful sending reputation is the transfer of all unsubscribes & bounce data from your old system/platform. Some senders decide to take the opportunity of changing platforms to try to reactivate addresses that have either bounced or unsubscribed while on their previous system. Other senders unintentionally don’t realize that they need to complete this action of migrating all of this data to their new system. If you don’t port this data across to the new system it can result in either high bounce or complaint rates, or both. These metrics will likely result in you generating a poor reputation day one, making it difficult to delivery your messages on your new IP.

Additional Advice: After 30 days of using the new system, export the suppression data from your previous vendor and update your new suppression list. This should remove any users who may have been missed during transition.

Check your data

Now is a great time for you to make sure that you fully understand all of the data that is available to you within your database. Do you know how active your data is and have you implemented any type of list hygiene programs? If the answer is either no, or I don’t know, then please reach out to your account manager or a deliverability specialist to review these items.

While the definition of “active” could vary from sender to sender, in this context we mean when was the last time the user either opened or clicked on an email campaign. This information is used to generate an IP warming plan as It is important to build a positive reputation from the moment you start sending off of your new system. As your IP warming plan continues to grow the volume you are sending off of your private IPs, you can continue to move the most recently active bar back to include more customers. Many ISPs focus on the engagement levels of users for senders on new IPs so it is increasingly important for you to focus on this as well.

Permission

Remember it’s important to only send to people who have opted in to receive your email communications. These individuals hold the keys to your inbox placement, if you send to people who haven’t asked to be sent communications from your brand, not only is it possible that you could be violating local laws, but the users will also likely complain and the ISP will then use this information to determine you aren’t a trustworthy sender—and possibly blocking or bulking your future mailings.

Don’t Buy Data

Simply put don’t do it. Countries like Canada only allow you to send to people who expressly consented to your mail stream. This means collection via third party or any data purchased can cause serious issues to your overall reputation. Regardless of how good the list is meant to be it will likely contain traps, unknown users and people who will mark your messages as SPAM.

Comply with the law

Every country you send to has its own laws and regulations that are designed to prevent the transmission of spam. These guidelines inform you on what communication is permitted in each given region. Knowing what countries you send too and complying with the rules they set will assist you in delivering your messages to the inbox of your customers.

To find out about different country laws click here or you can check out the Email Experience Council (eec) Global Email marketing Compliance Guide.

Start Slow

It’s tempting to send to all users day one but sending in small targeted segments to your most engaged customers with give you the best start on building a positive reputation with the ISPs. It allows you to show ISPs that people trust your mail causing your reputation to growly quickly. It recommended that all senders start by engaging their most active users first and follow a project plan provide by new provider during the on-boarding phase of your implementation.