2016 was an exciting year for Voodoo. We released many new features and loads of new content for our customers use in their campaigns. Here is a quick recap of our most popular changes and additions:

Exclusive Voodoo Telecom Prospecting Videos

Your account gained value with new videos lovingly created by Voodoo's award-winning video production team. In 2016, we proudly announced 6 exclusive videos (+ companion email campaigns) to boost your VoIP, telecom and Unified Communications prospecting efforts.

All 6 videos are available in standard personal and Digital Business Card (DBC) frames. 
 

Install Your Own YouTube Videos 

Voodoo Business Builder users now can choose any YouTube video, then frame it, share it and track it. Add any YouTube video to your Video Library, then use your branded, personalized Voodoo version for prospecting and customer nurturing.

You can even record a video on your smartphone, then instantly frame it with your logo and contact information. Click the image above to see how this feature works. 

  
Thumbnail Images for High-Impact Social Posting 

To save time with your social posts and website galleries, we've created a standard set of images for our Exclusive Telecom Prospecting Videos. Use these images in your social media accounts to increase click-through rates.



Click here to access our dropbox folder and download the image thumbnails.

We've also created a set of thumbnail images for Mitel videos.  Click here to access these images. 


 

Automatic Bounceback Handling

Voodoo implemented a new, vital, time-saving behind-the-scenes feature in all user accounts called Automatic Bounceback Handling. This essential feature allows you to:

• keep your lists cleaner
• improve deliverability rates
• protect your sender reputation
• save time!

This new feature keeps all bounced emails out of your personal inbox. It also helps keep your lists clean and gives you more accurate statistics on how your campaigns are performing. 

To learn more about Automatic Bounceback Handling, check out our blog post here. 
 

We are now at work building out new features for 2017.  If there are features or improvements you'd like to see in Voodoo, please shoot us an email: support@voodooviral.com. 

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Here's a vital time-saving behind-the-scenes feature now active in all Voodoo user accounts: Automatic Bounceback Handling!

The Old Way

As you know, Voodoo sends emails directly from the address you enter in your Personal Settings. In the past, that meant that when an email “bounced,” you received an "undeliverable mail" message from postmaster@voodooviral.com or directly from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) that rejected the email.

These notifications usually contained system-generated error messages offering more information about why the mail has bounced.  These messages were helpful, but they could clog up your email inbox—especially for large campaigns. Voodoo has always recommended that our users use these bounceback notifications to clean their lists and keep things current. But it was a time-consuming pain!

The New Improved Way

Voodoo now includes Automatic Bounceback Handling, allowing you to:

• keep your lists cleaner
• improve deliverability rates
• protect your sender reputation
• save time!

Voodoo QuickTip #195 - Automatic Bounceback Handling

After sending a campaign, its a good practice to login to Voodoo and check your campaign statistics/reports. 

Business Builder users can access their reports by logging in and clicking the My Reports icon.

eVideo Launcher users can access their reports by logging in and clicking the View Tracking Statistics button.

Bounced Emails are now included in the Failed Count within the Campaign Report as well as the Funnel Statistics (for Business Builder Users). This gives you a more accurate view of  campaign performance.

To access the email addresses for contact records that have failed, simply access the Campaign Report and look at the Failed count located with the Total Contacts, Sent and Opt-Out counts).   Once you locate the Failed count in the report, click it to see each recipient email address that failed or bounced.
In the detail view, you will see specific contact email addresses that bounced. This view also includes an Error Code for each contact record. Hover your mouse over the Error Code for a description of the code.

Business Builder Users: for Funnels, go into the Funnel Report, either via My Reports, or from Funnel Statistics. Click the plus icon next to Failed to see detail on each failed contact. 



An email can bounce for many reasons. The most common is an invalid email address but you will encounter many other reasons, too.  Email bounces fall into two main categories:  soft- and hard-bounces.  

A soft-bounce is usually a temporary failure like a mailbox that is full or temporarily unavailable. When a soft-bounce occurs, Voodoo includes it in the Failed count, but the contact remains active and can keep being used in new campaigns.  

A hard-bounce is usually a permanent failure.  As previously mentioned, invalid email addresses are the most common hard-bounce. In the case of a hard-bounce, the contact record will be noted with an automatic opt-out and will not be sent any future emails. 

This new feature saves you time and frustration by keeping all bounced emails out of your personal inbox. It also helps keep your lists clean and gives you more accurate statistics on how your campaigns are performing! 

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One of your goals this year may be to clean up the contacts in your Voodoo account.  In our 3-part series on Deliverability we wrote about how you can use non-delivery email messages to clean your contact lists. There are many ways to clean up your databases and this QuickTip focuses on the best way to remove a contact.  You may wish to remove contacts because: 

• You've received a non-delivery (bounceback) message
• You no longer wish to send email to this contact (not a lead)
• The contact has informed you that you have the incorrect person at a company

Before you delete a Contact Record or remove a Contact from a Contact List, please learn about this important tip:

Voodoo QuickTip #488 - How to Delete a Contact Record without affecting Stats

Voodoo Reports and Statistics are compiled based on the Contact List a Campaign was sent to, compiling data for each individual Contact Record in that list.  If you remove a Contact Record from a Contact List, the statistics associated with that contact will be removed, permanently altering campaign stats.  In other words, the Reports and Statistics for the Campaign will not include that record in its counts anymore (sent, open, etc).  



For some users, having individual Contact Records drop out of Reports and Statistics for certain Email Campaigns doesn't much matter.  In those cases, they can delete the Contact if they wish to. But for other users, it may be important to maintain accurate statistics by keeping all Contacts in the Campaign Statistic counts.

One best practice that we recommend to Voodoo users is to create a separate Contact List for each and every Campaign and Funnel. For example, if you set up a campaign for January 2015 Promotions, it is best to create a Contact List specifically for that Campaign (and name it January 2015 Promotions Contacts). This will help keep your contacts and campaigns organized and allow for permanent and accurate stats.

Opt-out instead of Delete

Voodoo recommends that users opt-out individual Contact Records that they no longer wish to send email to. By opting-out instead of deleting, all Reports and Statistics will stay unaffected and the Contact will no longer receive email from you.

To opt-out a single Contact from your Voodoo system, follow these steps:

1.  Voodoo Business Builder users access My Contacts from the nav bar, eVideo Launcher users access Contact Lists from the Manage Contacts button.

2.  Search for the Contact's email address using the Search for A Contact button



3.  Click the Pencil icon to edit the Contact Record 

4.  On the Contact Info Tab select the box for Optout  

5.  Click Update to save your changes to the Contact.

Your Contact is now opted-out of receiving any further email from your Voodoo system.  

When a Contact is opted-out they will also appear in the automatically generated Opt-Out Contact List maintained by the Voodoo system.  You can view this list by accessing your Contact Lists.



To opt a Contact back into receiving email, simply access this Opt Out Contacts List, edit the Contact and uncheck the Optout box. 

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This is part 3 of a 3 part QuickTip series on email deliverability. In the series we've talked about: 

• What are undeliverable and bounceback emails
• Using undeliverable emails to clean your lists
• Other aspects of email that affect deliverability

What to Expect from Your First Campaigns:  
Part 3:  Other Aspects of Email that Affect Deliverability 
 
What other factors affect email deliverability?

In addition to people changing their email addresses, non-delivery of email can happen for a variety of reasons.  Here are some of the most common: 

Active Content embedded in the email.  Video links, trackable links, survey links and graphics are considered active content by receiving ISPs.  Most campaigns from Voodoo contain one or more links to active content—probably more than you otherwise send in your personal emails. Most ISPs allow active content within specific parameters, but if spam filters are set more aggressively, some messages may not get through.  If you have a problem with a specific recipient, we recommend asking them to add your email address to their safe-sender list.

The Destination Server is temporarily unavailable.  When this occurs, Voodoo automatically tries to resend your email—a total of three times over a 72-hour period.  Many such messages get through on the second or third attempt.

Unauthorized Sender.  If receiving ISPs check and find no record of SPF or other authorization on your outgoing email server allowing Voodoo to send on your behalf, the email may be rejected as potential spam.  Make sure you've followed Voodoo’s instructions to install Sender Policy Framework on YOUR company's outgoing email server. This authorizes Voodoo’s email servers to mimic your address and send on your behalf, and it improves your deliverability rates. See our QuickTip Blog post, The Quest for Email Deliverability:  Sender ID and Sender Policy Framework (SPF).

Sender reputation. Voodoo’s sender reputation and your own sender reputation (or lack of one) may jointly be factored into determining if a specific ISPs block delivery of your message. We often encounter new clients whose email domain has not yet sent enough bulk email to have a sender reputation ranking.  Be patient and stick to your plan.

We are constantly parsing and analyzing returned emails to determine the reasons for non-delivery to make additional improvements where possible.    

What about blacklists and whitelists?  
 
Voodoo is considered a “very high volume sender” of email. We stand alongside a legion of reputable third-party email providers who serve the purpose of email list management and bulk email broadcasting on behalf of thousands upon thousands of US companies. 

Our reputation metrics and blacklist status are monitored constantly through services such as ReturnPath and MX Toolbox.  We consistently rank among the top of companies that push the volume of emails from the variety of clients that we do. We monitor close to 100 blacklists and have appeared on no known blacklists in the past five years.  In addition, we take direct action to be whitelisted with many providers including Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast, Cox and others.
 
We rely on customers like you to install SPF so your emails are recognized as legitimate by receiving ISPs.  This further improves Voodoo's sender reputation, so we really appreciate it!
 
We also appreciate knowing if you have delivery problems with any particular email provider.  These sometimes occur as the result of a settings change or system upgrade at the provider, and can usually be rectified within 72 hours. 

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