Broadway Eblast Deliverability - Marketing Broadway Shows using email blasts - How to have a successful email blast
So far in the Broadway Eblast Bible, we have discussed in detail how to make sure that your eblast has the right message and the right look. The final step to creating a great Broadway eblast is ensure that it gets to the right people in the right ways. In other words, we're talking about Deliverability.
Eblast Recipients - Use Organically Grown Email Lists
Always Use An Organically Grown Opt-In Client List
Resist the urge to buy email contact lists. They are usually poisoned, so your email service will quickly be flagged by anti-spam systems and will not achieve any success in terms of open-rate or sales conversions. The best way to grow your email contact list is using organic tools and techniques that bring value to your client - ideally social networking tools like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.
Don't Use An EBlast Service That Bombards Its Recipients Every Day
Many Broadway email blast services often send their subscribers up to 10 emails a week, which is clearly email overload. People switch off and will never read your email pitch. It's this type of email blast that ends in the junk mail folder, or the recipients write an Outlook rule that moves the emails into pre-assigned folders, where they never get read. The question is not how many people are in the list, but what is the open rate and what is the click-through rate (CTR).
Honor Opt Outs
Make sure anyone who opts out really gets opted out. Many services ignore the request, which is not only a violation of Can Spam Act of 2003, but is really bad business and can damage your brand.
Eblast SPAM Considerations
Avoiding Spam Filters False Positives
Obviously spam filters will block any email blast that appears to be spam. The spam filter works in two ways - it will not accept any email from known spam sources (see www.spamhaus.org), and it will analyze all other email to see if the content contains any trigger words, non-compliant code, viruses, trojans, or any payload that is not approved.
The task is to make sure that the the eblast does not get flagged in any of these ways, so sending the email from an established and trusted email source is critical. Fine tuning the content to reduce spam false positives is also very important. Spam filters will reject email that contains trigger words like "Cash, Bonus, Free, Investment, Dollars, Bucks, Money and Marketing". Overuse of any punctuation can also make a spam filter reject your email and get it dropped into the spam folder. Spam filters work by assigning points to "Hot" words that are deemed to be suspicious and punctuation and formatting that is questionable. As more points build up, the spam filter will take action, including putting the email into the recipient’s spam folder, never to see the light of day again.
Eblasts In Conclusion
And Now You Know How To Make a Great Broadway Eblast
We realize this is a lot of information to take in, but if you study this Broadway Eblast Bible carefully, you should be a lot closer to crafting the perfect emails for your customers. It's important now more than ever, in the age when so much communication is done via email, that the successful producer and marketer be able to create eblasts that have interesting content, good design, and pass the deliverability test.
Taking advantage of the marketing opportunities that eblasts afford is in the best interest of everyone in the Broadway industry. Obviously Broadway producers want to drive up revenue and forge customer relationships with Broadway ticket buyers that will last well into the future. Broadway marketing agencies want to create a good product that will make the producers happy. Broadway theater owners want to keep their theaters full. And the Broadway ticket buying public wants a good deal.
Who we are & OUR EXPERIENCE WITH EBLASTS
Since 1997 New York Show Tickets has been sending Broadway show email blasts to our vast list of opt-in clients of over 200,000 people, mostly located in the New York City metropolitan area. Nearly all Broadway shows are current clients and we are always happy to discuss new ideas and approaches to eblast marketing.
See our recent list of EMAIL MARKETING EBLASTS for more ideas on good email content and delivery.
