Top 3 b2b e-mail strategies for avoiding blacklists and filters

Once sent into cyberspace, an e-mail ad must navigate corporate e-mail filters, blacklists, authentication methods, and end-user scrutiny before it is successfully delivered. Here are three essential kernels of knowledge to help you avoid e-mail trouble and make sure your message reaches its destination.
8/12/2008 6:00:00 AM By: Brian Jackson

Long have we heard about the woes of the e-mail marketer piping their message out to consumers, but business-to-business e-mail marketers are often even more distraught.

Once sent into cyberspace, an e-mail must navigate corporate e-mail filters, blacklists, authentication methods, and end-user scrutiny before it is successfully delivered.

Despite the hardships, companies are not backing off b-to-b e-mail marketing. It is the third-most often used b-to-b communication after public relations channels and old-fashioned direct mailing, according to Forrester Research. There are some basic practices a company can follow to avoid e-mail trouble and make sure their message is received.

Here are three essential kernels of knowledge passed along by Fargo, N.D.-based marketing software vendor Vtrenz Inc.

We also picked the brain of Chad White, editor at large of the E-mail Experience Council based in New York.

"The trick for b-to-b marketers is there's the extra layer between the marketer and the inbox," he says.

1. Be consistent

Slow and steady wins the race. Basic marketing practices involve a regular mailing schedule at volumes that are predictable. Be aware of any volume restrictions of the corporate domains you're sending e-mails to and make sure you're under that limit.

Even the most casual e-mail marketer should be sending a message to its list of subscribers at least once every 90 days, Vtrenz recommends. Any longer than that, and recipients will forget they ever opted into an e-mail subscription service.

Sending messages regularly will help boost your chances of successful delivery with corporate servers and ISPs, White says.

"They all look for evenness in cadence and they like to see a predictable trend in send frequency and volume," he says. "I would recommend keeping an even schedule."

2. Always authenticate

Authentication simply allows ISPs to verify that an e-mail did originate from the domain address associated with it. Amongst e-mail marketers, 85 per cent have adopted a method of authentication, according to Vtrenz. More importantly, all ISPs now use these standards.

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