There are a number of factors that effect your delivery on a daily basis, and I’m going to talk about five of them, surprisingly they all start with R. Over the next week I’ll be talking about each and how these can effect and enhance your programs.

ReputationWhat is reputation and how does it effect email?

Reputation is described in the dictionary as ‘A specific characteristic or trait ascribed to a person or thing’.

Many ISPs are building complex data reputation models based on your past email behaviour to predict future trends and response rates of their users. ISPs are tracking things like; Bounce rates, complaint rates and third party opinions (IP and URL Block lists) when building these indexes of mail. Over time many of these systems accuracy and predictions will be able to take formulated actions on your past behaviour and deliver mail to the inbox/bulk folder or block future communications from each IP.

Keeping an eye on these key indicators (bounces, complaints, unsubscribe, opens, clicks) of your program will help you monitor and avoid issues from occurring within your program. Watching for changes in any of these metrics can be an early warning sign of problems to come. Taking corrective actions early will lead to a strong and successful program.

Start by building a Positive First Impression when communicating with your users, by building Recognition, Relevance and a strong foundation for the Relationship your building with your subscribers.

Tomorrow I’ll be discussing ‘Recognition’, so don’t forget to check back.