At Experian CheetahMail, this Graymail announcement has left many of our clients asking how this change will affect their messages and more importantly their deliverability/Inbox performance. These enhancements go along with what CheetahMail Deliverability has always advised about mailing to your actives. Basically any mail that is sitting in a users’ Hotmail inbox untouched (not opened or clicked) after a while is considered Graymail. Hotmail is trying to reduce the burden of all sorts of offers, newsletters etc for the user and their own system.

We don’t have much insight into their filter algorithms but we can assume if too many people are allowing the clients emails to sit in their inboxes and end up as graymail, Hotmail’s filter will pick this up and can possibly start sending the emails to bulk. We have often seen a decrease in user engagement as a reason for Hotmail bulking. By mailing to your active and engaged Hotmail users this Graymail issue should become a non-issue. Additionally, consider asking users to add the client to their address book to ensure inbox delivery and avoid spam/junk foldering. Instructions can be found here: http://www.cheetahmail.com/deliverability/reach-the-inbox/

The two main features of Graymail that we DO know are:

One-click Unsubscribe

Hotmail has had an unsubscribe link in the user interface already, but how they handle these requests are changing and not complying could result in your email being sent to the spam folder. If a subscriber clicks on the unsubscribe link in the Hotmail interface now, and either the list-unsubscribe header isn’t present or doesn’t work, email from that sender will be permanently delivered to the spam folder. CheetahMail complies with this unsubscribe request.

Schedule Cleanup

Hotmail users can now decide how long they want messages from a particular sender, or all senders, in their inbox before they are deleted permanently or moved to a specified folder. This could be the best time to reach out to your subscribers and give them a choice to the frequency of emails they want to receive. This cleanup could also prove to be beneficial for senders as subscribers may not mark old, unwanted email as spam which can adversely drive up spam complaints.

Eighty-two percent more emails had Cyber Monday in the subject line this past Friday, November 18, to Saturday, November 26 as compared to the same dates last year, according to an Experian CheetahMail analysis.  

These subject lines didn’t just tout the day, they shouted out special deals and offers that were tough to refuse. Some of the subject lines that caught my eye included:

• Up to $50 off – it’s officially Cyber Monday!
• It’s Cyber Monday!  Don’t Miss Out! + Free Shipping Every Day
• 50% off Exclusive Cyber Monday Event Starts Now
• Bonus Event! 80% Off Cyber Fix Deal Starts Now

Keep the Cyber celebration going everyone – happy mailing (and shopping)!

Experian CheetahMail tracks the holiday mailing activity of 385 brands that also mailed in the 2010 Holiday Season. All metrics are based on results 3 days from send.

In this case, there was a road sign in Wales that needed to be written in both English and in Welsh. The sign maker got the English part right, but the Welsh part… well, maybe not so much.

The Welsh translation of the image above is, “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.”

Apparently, the official charged with creating the sign emailed a translator asking for the proper Welsh translation. When the translator’s out-of-office auto-reply message came back in Welsh, the sign maker assumed that the auto-reply was the actual translation. Alas, somewhere in Wales an automatic out of office message is now on a road sign.

• Are there any keywords that surprise you?
• Are there any that you think should be on the list that are not there?
• What about ones that you don’t think are as popular?

Share your thoughts with us!

Whatever the reason for the abandonment, the simple fact is that the vendor has let untapped revenue slip between their fingers.

Experian CheetahMail’s new white paper, The remarketing report: Benchmark data and analysis for connecting web behavior to email marketing explains the value in marketing to abandoners, reporting that sending reminder emails to abandoners who do not convert after the first abandoned cart email can boost campaign revenue by up to 33 percent.

But why do website visitors abandon their carts in the first place? A study by PayPal and comScore found that 45% of US online shoppers had abandoned shopping carts multiple times in just three weeks. The average cost of abandoned goods in those shopping carts was $109. In the same study, 46% of online shoppers said high shipping charges was a “very important reason” for ditching their carts.

Other reasons for abandonment included:

Wanted to comparison shop: 37%
Lack of money: 36%
Wanted to look for a coupon: 27%
Wanted to shop offline: 26%
Couldn’t find preferred pay option: 24%
Item unavailable at checkout: 23%
Couldn’t find customer support: 22%
Security concerns: 21%

What can online retailers do about curbing abandoned carts and making the sale?

1. Optimize the checkout process. Make the purchase process as simple and seamless as possible. This includes providing estimated shipping costs, delivery dates, and total costs early and obviously in the checkout process. Make it clear that the transaction is safe and secure. Offer an easy way to contact customer service. Post the return policy in an obvious location. Have a clear and easy to read progress bar throughout checkout. Pre-populate saved customer information. Provide multiple payment options.
2. Run an abandoned cart (remarketing) program. Abandoned cart programs are a great way to convert abandoners into purchasers. Remarketing programs send emails to abandoners enticing them to complete the purchase.
3. Consider providing an incentive to buy. This could be a frequent buyers program, wishlists, online coupons, free shipping offers, a “save your cart” feature, or special buyers clubs, to name a few. The incentive does not always have to be monetary, though, and our recent study has shown that not all businesses should offer incentives within their remarketing messages.

For more information on how to create successful remarketing campaigns, be sure to read our latest research, The remarketing report: Benchmark data and analysis for connecting web behavior to email marketing.