How to Delete Contacts Without Affecting Stats

27. January 2015

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 listsThere 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).  

Tracking Stats

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

Search for a Contact

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.

Opt Out Contact List

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

Contact / Database Lists, eVideo Launcher, Tracking Statistics, Business Builder , , , , , , , , , ,

Part 3: Other Aspects that Affect Deliverability

16. December 2014

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

 

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. 

Business Builder, Deliverability, eVideo Launcher, Quick Tip , , , , ,

Part 2: Using Undeliverable Emails to Clean Your Lists

17. November 2014

This is part 2 of a 3 part QuickTip email series that focuses on email deliverability. In this series we will talk about: 

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

 

Voodoo now uses Automatic Bounceback Handling. To learn about how this feature works please visit our blog post at http://voodooviral.com/Tips/post/Voodoos-Automatic-Bounceback-Handling.aspx

In part 3 of this email series we will talk about other aspects of email that affect deliverability.

Business Builder, Contact / Database Lists, Deliverability, eVideo Launcher, Quick Tip , , , ,

Part 1: What are Email Undeliverables & Bouncebacks

29. October 2014

This is part 1 of a 3 part QuickTip series that focuses on email deliverability. In this series we will talk about: 

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

 

Have you emailed to prospect and customer lists before?

Are you aware that about 30% of email addresses go bad each year?

 

Here’s how to be ready for undeliverables and bouncebacks. And how they can actually help you improve your sales and marketing efforts.

 


I’m launching my first Voodoo campaign. How many undeliverables and bouncebacks will happen?
 

 

Probably quite a few. 

Email lists go stale, and it happens surprisingly fast. Due to job changes, people signing up for new personal accounts and abandoning old accounts, it’s common for about 30% of email addresses to go bad each year! 

 
So BEFORE sending any campaigns, ask yourself:

• Do I have express permission to email these contacts or a transactional business relationship with them? 
• Has my contact list been cleaned and validated in the past year?
 

If the answer to either of these questions is no, you should expect a significant percentage of your emails to bounceback or not get delivered. Voodoo clients commonly report delivery failures representing between 5 and 30% of a Contact List the first time they broadcast to it.  It can be surprising…  

But keep some perspective.  While it can be disappointing to have delivery failures, always keep your marketing goals in mind.  Bulk email broadcasts are designed to leverage the efficiency of one-to-many outreach, which carries the highest ROI of any form of digital marketing*.  By sending these campaigns, you will generate far more opportunity than if you DON’T send them just for fear of non-delivery! 

*Source: Direct Marketing Association 

Why aren’t all my emails getting delivered?

Bad emails are a primary reason, but there’s more to it than that.  When you send a campaign from Voodoo, our system and servers mimic (the technical term is “spoof”) your email address. Unless you take precautions, some receiving Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will reject your email as suspicious.

 

Vital Tip: Follow Voodoo’s instructions to install Sender Policy Framework on YOUR outgoing email server. This will authorize Voodoo’s email servers to mimic your address and send on your behalf. This usually improves deliverability significantly.

 

Second Vital Tip: Spend a little extra to get your email list cleaned, validated and data-matched. Voodoo offers these services and you can find out more by clicking here.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but cleaning your list and removing inactive contacts often generates MORE opportunity. Your Sender Reputation improves and Open and Click-Through rates often increase, even though you’re sending to a smaller list. 

 

Voodoo automatically captures Undeliverables and interprets Error Codes.

 

Voodoo prevents your email in-box from getting flooded with non-delivery messages by capturing your undeliverable email. They are compiled under the Failed category in your Voodoo reports and statistics.

 

Clicking the word “Failed” opens the list of emails that failed to deliver. Each displays an associated Error Code. We constantly parse and analyze returned emails to determine the reasons for non-delivery and to make additional improvements where possible. 

 

Some failures occur due to improper email addressing or formatting. Error codes of 500 and above indicate a permanent failure. Hover your cursor over each number for a pop-up explanation.

 

 

How do my initial delivery results compare to others?

 

Once your campaign has been out the door for at least a week, take a moment to check your Voodoo Tracking Statistics and calculate your estimated non-delivery rate. Take the number of Failed emails with an error code of 500 and above and divide it into the number of emails you originally sent. For example, if you received 13 such Fails out of the 100 you sent, you likely have a 13% non-delivery rate. Remember, anywhere from 5-30% is normal.

 

Compare this to your campaign’s Open and Click-Through rates. As a general rule, if your open rate is 10% or more, you’re doing fine and your ongoing campaigns are likely to generate real opportunities for you.  If your Click-Through Rate is 5% or more of the number of Opens, you’re on the right track. 

 

Remember, digital marketing and Automated Video Communications are a process. You can work on improving these numbers over time in a variety of ways.

  

What else affects email deliverability?

In addition to email address changes, non-delivery of email can happen for a variety of reasons.  Some of the most common are: 

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. 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.

Sender reputation. Voodoo’s sender reputation and your own sender reputation (or lack of one) may jointly be factored into whether 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.  

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 monitor close to 100 blacklists and have appeared on no known blacklist services in the past five years or more. In addition, we take direct action to stay whitelisted with many internet service providers including Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast, Cox and others.

 

We rely on customers like you to install SPF so your emails are KNOWN to be legitimate by receiving ISPs. This helps further improve Voodoo's sender reputation, so we really appreciate it! 


We also appreciate you letting us know if you are having delivery problems with any particular email provider. This can sometimes occur as the result of a settings change or system upgrade at the provider, and can usually be rectified within 72 hours. 

 
Part 2 of this series will explain how to use bouncebacks & undeliverable email notices to clean your lists.

Business Builder, Deliverability, eVideo Launcher, Quick Tip , , ,

Easily Preview Videos in Your Custom Branded Video Frame

22. October 2014

Whether you're an eVideo Launcher or Voodoo Business Builder user, we've just made it easier for you to preview videos in your custom-branded and personalized video frame and share them anywhere you want. (Voodoo Business Builder users can preview the Digital Business Card feature, too.)  

You simply Preview each video, then copy the URL to share your branded and personalized videos "outside" Voodoo. You can create text and graphic links in Websites, Landing Pages, Social Media & Email Signatures.

Voodoo Feature #572 -
Leverage Videos in your Custom-Branded Personalized  Video Frame


Instructions for Voodoo Business Builder Users

1.  Login to your Voodoo account


2.  Access your Video Libary using the My Videos Icon

My Videos

3.  Click on the green arrow for the video you wish to preview or share. You can view the video link with a standard Personalized Frame or complete with your Digital Business Card. 


Preview Video  


4.  Once the video opens, copy the URL address from the top of your browser window and use it anyway you choose.  (Note: before sharing your link in social media, we recommend shortening the URL address with a link shortener like this one from Google.)

 Instructions for eVideo Launcher Users

1.  Login to your Voodoo account 

2.  Start a new campaign by selecting the Start New Campaign button



3.  In Step 1 of setting up a new campaign, where you choose your campaign, you will now see green play arrow icons that you can click to preview your video.  

eVideo Launcher Preview Video


4.  Once the video opens you can easily copy the URL from the top of your browser window and use it anyway you choose. (Note: before sharing your link in social media, we recommend shortening the URL address with a link shortener like this one from Google.)

Digital Business Card

 

Digital Business Card replaces the standard footer of your custom webframe. You can add a photo, name, office and mobile phone, email address and custom sales text. This personal touch improves response rates by 3-7% on most campaigns.

eVideo Launcher users: learn more about upgrading to get access to your own Digital Business Card.  
Find out more about the full-featured Voodoo Campaign Manager here.

A Digital Business Card helps prospects and customers remember you, feel more comfortable, and more likely to take action

 


Build Campaigns, Business Builder, eVideo Launcher, New Feature, Video Library & Trackable Links ,

Contact List Rules now available to ALL Business Builder users

30. September 2014

Voodoo is excited to announce that Contact List Rules are now available to all Voodoo Business Builder users.  

Contact List Rules offer unlimited opportunities to process and sort your data, and to automate the addition and removal of contacts to and from specific lists based on the most often used criteria.  You can run a rule one time to generate a targeted list, or you can leave a rule in place and running in the background ALWAYS moving and sorting contacts as required for your success. This QuickTip will walk you through the basic steps of creating a Contact Rule. 

Voodoo Feature #58 - Contact List Rules now available to ALL Voodoo Business Builder users


Voodoo Business Builder users, just follow these steps to set up a Contact Rule:

1.  Log into your Voodoo account and access My Contacts.

My Contacts
2.  Click the Manage Rules button

Manage Rules


3.  Click + Add New Rule.  Give your rule a name, for example, Segment by Region. In this example you can pull out all your contacts in Arizona and put them in another Contact List.  (You can add a Description if you'd like, so you can easily recall the purpose of the rule.)

Create New Rule

4.  Next, select a Contact List next to Apply Rule to contacts in this list.  Your rule will be applied only to contacts in this list—this will be true both now and in the future, if you leave the rule in place.

5.  You also must check the Enabled box, and Save Rule Info.  Once these steps are completed, your Conditions panel will open. 


Conditions

Ask yourself: What Condition(s) must be present for a desired action to take place?

6.  Click + Add New Condition to add the first condition.  Select a Field, such as State (assuming you have addresses for your contacts) from the pull-down list, then choose a Qualifier, such as <>, Contains, Starts With, Ends With or Doesn't Contain. For example, selecting State = AZ would result in every email address containg AZ in the state field to be selected.  

7.  From here, you can add one or more additional Conditions using AND or OR.  Using AND means BOTH conditions must be satisfied for an Action to be taken.  Using OR means that either condition will result in an action.


Finally, ask yourself: What Actions should take place if the required Conditions are met?

8.  Click + Add New Action and select whether to Add or Remove Contacts from one or more selected Contact Lists when the required conditions are met.


Actions


9.  IMPORTANT: Once your rule is all set up, always click Save Rule Info, then Run Rule Now.

There are many different ways you may want to segment your contacts, and Voodoo's Contact List Rules make it both easy and efficient. Start thinking about how you want to segment your contacts and target them with relevant content.

Voodoo Business Builder users, give this a try right now by logging into your Voodoo account.  And eVideo Launcher users, this is another important reason to upgrade to a full-featured version of Voodoo.

Business Builder, Contact / Database Lists, New Feature ,

Increase Click-Throughs using Thumbnail Images for your Videos

23. September 2014

It's well known that embedding graphics in your emails can increase your click-through rates.

When you insert a video link into a Voodoo email template, the default is set up to display text in place of the VideoLink tag. Did you know that you can also include a thumbnail image that links directly to your video? 

Take a look at this example: 

Using Thumbnail Image Example

Using an image as the click-through link for the video draws attention to it, and highlights that the link leads to an actual video.  This week's QuickTip walks you through the easy steps to use an image as your video link in an email template. 

Voodoo Feature #58 - Using a Thumbnail Image for your Video Link

Business Builder users, just follow these steps to Embed a Thumbnail Image that Links to Video in your email template:

1.  Create your thumbnail image. You can easily do this by taking a screen capture of your video, shrinking it down to a usable size.  I generally use a width of 250 pixels - but you can use any size you prefer. Place your play arrow on top of the main image from the video  (see example above). Note: Voodoo is not an image editing application. Do this step in an application like Photoshop or the equivalent.  

2.  Login to your Voodoo account and access the Email Template. 

3. Scroll to the bottom of the email to the Video Link Used in Message option and select the video link you wish to insert from the drop down menu. 

4. Once you have selected the video, you will see the Display Text for Video Link right below the Video.  This is the linkable text that will appear in your email template.  If you wish to change this text, or add and use a thumbnail image, click the Edit link to the right.  


Display Test for Video Link

5.  A window will open where you can edit the text.  To insert an image, click the Image icon.




6.  Select the image you want to use by clicking the Browse Server button. You can select an existing image from your Image Library or upload a new image during this step by clicking the Choose a File and then the Upload button.

7.  Click OK. Once you return to your Email Template, be sure to Save it. 

Send a test email to yourself so you can take a look at how the email displays with the image and how the click-through works. Now that you have that nice new thumbnail image, y
ou can reuse it on your website or social media platforms to promote your video. Check out our post, Using Customized Videos on Your Website.

Business Builder users, give this a try right now by logging into your Voodoo account.  And eVideo Launcher users, this is another important reason to upgrade to a full-featured version of Voodoo.  

Business Builder, Email Templates & Image Library, Quick Tip, Video Library & Trackable Links , ,