March 2, 2007
Alert: Use Text-Only if You're Emailing BellSouth Names
This is a must-read if you are emailing to BellSouth addresses.
Just this week, we at MarketingSherpa learned that around 400
of our newsletter subscribers who use BellSouth haven't been
receiving our emails.
Evidently, the ISP modified its filtering system in January --
because, after suspecting something was fishy with our recent
open rates, we ran a series of tests with our ESP, ExactTarget,
and discovered that text-only messages were the ONLY types
getting through. In fact, not even emails being converted from
HTML to text with a multipart MIME detecting system will land
in a BellSouth inbox.
So, you need to immediately do what we did: get on the phone
with your ESP to segment your BellSouth customers and start
sending them text-only.
What else does this small-but-useful story tell us? First,
you cannot rely solely on your deliverability reports --
because they really only tell you about hard bounces. Click
this hotlink for charts chock full of deliverability info:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/images/bg-b2b-delivery.gif
(To make the charts larger, just click on the image)
Plus, marketers should regularly check their open rates for
unusual clusters of un-opens from the same ISP. Don't look at
only your Yahoos, AOLs and Gmails, but also addresses going
through regional providers, such as BellSouth, Cablevision,
Adelphia, Comcast, etc. It's worth noting that ExactTarget
informed us that we weren't their only client who has been
slowed by the BellSouth bug.
"You need to conduct inbox audits at least monthly to determine
if there are hidden issues below the surface, especially with
ISPs that make up a smaller percentage of your subscriber lists,"
says Chip House, VP, Email Optimization Services, ExactTarget.
Marketers who have geographically segmented files should know
that BellSouth provides Internet service in the
following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
And while BellSouth was recently acquired by AT&T, no indication
has been made whether one of their email systems will umbrella
customers for both brands. However, with AT&T's reach in critical
markets such as San Francisco/Oakland, it's worth keeping a close
eye on -- just in case the BellSouth filter all of the sudden
becomes the company standard.
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