Permissions Rule!

Are you using effective methods to grow your list? Subscribers gathered through co-registrations, appends and auto opt-ins can be weaker in terms of engagement than subscribers who took the time to opt in by taking an action on your website or during checkout. ISPs want to see that you’re a relevant sender, so sending to your stronger contacts is top priority. If you don’t have the correct permissions, you could fail to engage your subscribers and ultimately fail to make it to the inbox.

Relevance Also Rules!

What good are opt-ins if you send irrelevant content to your subscribers? Personalization is a must right now. Know what to send out and to whom. Targeted marketing drives higher engagement which also helps with deliverability to the inbox. Relevance is key!

Don’t Spike Your Volume

Your engagement rates could suffer if you send more often to subscribers who are less engaged or may even be ignoring you altogether. While sending to those shoppers who only bought from you last holiday season can be a good marketing strategy – hopefully, they’re in the market to buy gifts from you again – it’s still a risk. Segment that group of buyers and measure the results to see if you need to back off. But be careful of annoying your engaged subscribers, too.

Focus on Engagement

Now’s a good time to segment your lists into engaged and non-engaged subscribers. You may want to send slightly more often to the engaged list since they have a record of interaction with your messages. Continue to focus on that group, and avoid trying to resurrect unengaged subscribers. If they weren’t interacting with your emails prior to the holiday season, they most likely aren’t going to now that their inboxes are full.

Watch Your Formatting

It can be tempting to get excited and incorporate a large image into your email. And while pictures do sell, remember that images are often turned off by default in many email readers; therefore, be sure to use alt tags to show the call to action (20% off, free shipping) in order to entice subscribers to display those pretty product images and continue on to your site.

The secret to the inbox this holiday season is simple. Email the subscribers that clearly signed up for your communications with very relevant messages. Ignore this rule, and you could be creating contacts who start ignoring you. Don’t be seen as a spammer! Be thoughtful, relevant and personalized with your approach. Smart sending this season will help you win your way into your subscribers’ hearts (and inboxes).