In the world of email marketing delivering your email to your subscribers is paramount. There are many deliverability points to cover in order to maximise your inbox placement and resultant open rates but one of the most fundamental is publishing an SPF record. We strongly recommend that an SPF record is published by any gCast client with a privately-held domain name.

Having an SPF record validates you (and your third party email service provider – such as gCast) as an authorised sender of any email using your domain or subdomain as the sending domain, much like a signature stamp.

An SPF record should be created and published for each domain name that your organisation owns and intends to use with gCast. This will help to ensure that gCast is authenticated to send email on your domain’s behalf, therefore raising the deliverability of your emails via gCast.

Creating Your SPF Record

Your domain administrator should be able to create an SPF record. The following steps should help with the creation process.

Useful Links

You can find more information on SPF records and their creation via the following links:

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/technologies/senderid/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/senderid/wizard/

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Here’s a list of new and enhanced gCast features, coming to you in May 2013. Hold onto your hats kids, you’re in for a ride…

New User Interface

gCast now has a new user interface (internally dubbed “gCast Mark II”) available any time you want to switch.

It is a modern and much friendlier interface to use featuring large menu items and quick links to the most popular parts of gCast.

New Dashboard

In addition to having a new look, the Dashboard now has several new tiles that give you direct access to more areas of gCast. This includes the ability to edit draft campaigns, view campaign results, add and import members, and more.

The new gCast dashboard

Read more about the new gCast dashboard and its features…

Campaign Summary Report

The campaign summary report is available via the campaign manager page.

Every campaign now has a matching “campaign report” that provides an in-depth analysis of the campaign’s performance including open rates and times, social activity and click throughs.

Effortless access to all critical campaign results allows you to monitor each campaign and track your results.

For a break down on the report go here.

New Importing method

The Import feature has been overhauled to make it quicker and simpler to import your client data into gCast. Mapping has always been easy – now it’s also fast!

You can access this via the Import member’s icon from your dashboard. The previous method of importing is still available via the administration area. You can also add a “tag” to your data upload.

Read more about the new importing method here

Demographic tags on Manual Import Lists

Want to send a campaign only to a specific list without fiddling around with demographics?

Now you can by putting a demographic tag on your import list.

Find out more

Selecting Demographics within a Campaign

When creating campaigns, you can now select all demographic options and surveys from a drop-down menu making for an even faster and easier experience.

Read more about selecting demographics within a campaign

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In ‘View Recent Campaigns’, you’ll see a link titled ‘Summary’ next to the data for each campaign. Clicking this will take you to a separate page titled ‘Campaign Summary Report’. Here’s the lowdown:

The campaign summary report includes all of the data for each campaign compiled in a delightfully easy-to-view assortment of graphs. These graphs will make it THAT much easier for you to see the data from your sent campaign and compare it to previous campaigns.

The campaign information area gives you a snapshot of your campaign, and includes other data such as your campaign name (for your reference), the subject line used, campaign create, send and report generated date along with any demographics used in your send.

The campaign overview will show you all the usual statistics in your campaign along with a breakdown of Opens per hour which tells you what time your campaign registered the most opens.

Further down you’ll see an assortment of graphs displaying your delivered, opened, opt out and bounce rate based on emails sent, open rate based on emails delivered, click through and opt out rate based on emails opened.

And at the very bottom, you’ll see any registered activity on Social Media (ie. Likes, shares, re-tweets, comments) and a summary of all of the registered clicks within your email.

It’s a pretty neat feature – seriously, the only thing missing is a pie chart (we thought that might be a little distracting because who doesn’t like pie?).

For more information on what’s new check out the gCast release 03 May 2013 blog entry.

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To do this, you need to be in the ‘Demographics’ tab of the campaign you’re sending. Select the demographics with your account name from the drop-down box titled ‘Add a demographic’ (the title might look something like – “<account name> demographic: Demographics”. The browser will then load up the options (ie. Survey questions and other demographics you’ve created). Select the question you’d like to base your send on and click “<– add”.

The question and possible answers will then be added to the main demographic area. From here you can select the criteria you wish to use for your send.

It’s that easy!

For more information on what’s new check out the gCast release 03 May 2013 blog entry.

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The tiled homepage is the first change you’ll notice – it’s designed to provide the same easy access (maybe even easier access) and functionality as the previous version of gCast, but with a few new bits and pieces.

From the home page you now have access to

• - Create, edit and view campaign results
• - Search, import and add members
• - Create surveys
• - Access reports and templates
• - Access your profile, site settings and help

These options were always available before, but we’ve gone and made it even simpler for you so that you can get things done…and fast.

Here’s a brief overview of the magic on the other side of each tile:

Create a new campaign

This box is exactly what it sounds like. You can create a new campaign in the form of an email, SMS or fax by clicking here. You also have template options (including the option to upload your own) and the ability to copy a previous campaign to edit.

Edit a draft campaign

Started a campaign but haven’t had the chance to finish and activate it? This is where it’ll stay until you’re ready to push the big green button. Within this section, you also have the option to create a new campaign (if you should feel the need).

View recent campaigns

Here you can access the basic statistics for all your completed campaigns. The overview will show you statistics for campaigns sent, delivered, opened, number of senders who unsubscribed, number of delivery failures (bounce-backs), open rates, click rates and interactions on Social Media. For a detailed and illustrated version of these numbers, click ‘Summary’ to view the Campaign Summary Report.

Search for members

Need to update an individual profile or check information for a member? Just click on Search for members, enter the relevant fields and you’ll find who you’re looking for in no time! You can also search for staff members using the same tool.

Import Members

When importing a large quantity of members, you’ll definitely want to use this feature. Simply compile your list of members (including name, email address, street address and whatever other identifying information you have) into a spreadsheet in Excel and upload to gCast!

Add Members

This box is for when you need to input a small number of members (we’re talking single digits – trust us). You can input them manually by clicking ‘Add Members’ and entering their details in the relevant fields. You can also access demographics via the tab at the top of the form and enter the relevant info and it will be added to the member’s profile as a demographic.

Survey Builder

The survey builder helps you create surveys quickly and easily. Simply click on ‘New Survey’ to get started! – Just remember, it doesn’t generate polls.

Reports and statistics

Using this feature, you can pull specific information and export it to a variety of different mediums including excel spreadsheets, CSV, TAB, TXT documents or simply view it on the screen (as long as their isn’t too much data to load).

Template Library

Not a HTML wiz? No problem! Just choose one of the templates from our library for your email campaign and customise it to suit your needs. It’s that easy!

If you do have your own HTML template, simply save it into a zip folder with all the relevant images and upload it to gCast.

Getting onto the new look

“gCast mark II” (not to be confused with Iron Man mark II) will be progressively rolled out the next few weeks. If you are currently on the old look one of our client services staff will be in contact advising you of when you will be switched over.

This is almost as cool as gCast mark II…almost… Image source: http://ironman.wikia.com/wiki/Mark_II

For more information on what’s new check out the gCast release 03 May 2013 blog entry.

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Want to send a campaign only to a specific list without fiddling around with demographics?

Now you can by putting a demographic tag on your import list.

It’s not as complicated as it sounds. When uploading a file just browse, select and upload as you would normally. Then in the Map and Import tab, match your column headings to those provided in the drop-down selection menus.

When you’ve completed this step, you can move along to the text field underneath, next to the title ‘Add a demographic tag to this import list’. Like gCast mentions, this is only optional and is only really relevant if you want to keep separate lists for certain campaigns. In the box, type the name you want to use as a tag for your list, eg. “myGOTlist”. Then click ‘Import/update now’ to complete your import.

The next step is entering the send list into your campaign’s demographic settings. If you haven’t created your campaign yet, do so now via Home > Create a new campaign > and then select from Email (Blank)/Template, SMS or Fax and continue from there.

To add the list to an existing draft campaign’s demographic settings, simply open your campaign via Home > Edit a draft campaign > your campaign. Click on the tab labelled ‘Demographics and then click on the drop-down selection menu labelled ‘Add a demographic’ and then select the option called ‘<Your account name> demographic: Demographics’.

A list of checkboxes will appear beneath the drop-down selection menu. Tick the box labelled ‘Manual Import Lists’ and then click ‘<– add’. You will then see a section appear in the Demographics area with the same heading, next to it will be the tag labels for your import list uploads.

Simply select the title that you entered for the list intended for your campaign and then save and continue!

For more information on what’s new check out the gCast release 03 May 2013 blog entry.

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The importing method has been upgraded to a simple 3 step process.

Simply click on ‘Import members’ from the Dashboard to get started

Step 1) Select data file

Choose the data file you wish to upload. Format of CSV, TXT or TAB.

Step 2) Map the fields

If it’s fairly obvious gCast will recognise the fields and map them automatically – you can still add demographics on the fly (see the “Do you own dragons?” field).

Optional – Add a demographic tag to the upload – this will allow you to assign a reference to your upload.

More about that here.

Step 3) Press Import/Update

It’s that easy.

Post Import/Error Reporting

After import you will be told how many records were successfully imported/updated.

If you have any errors you will be presented with a report giving you the option to download all errors or ignore them. We suggest you download them as we don’t store them!

The particular error in this upload was the email address incorrectly formatted kingbowtome.co.uk (there was no @ in the email address). When you download the error you’ll be presented with a file reflecting the one you uploaded with an additional column displaying the error.

For more information on what’s new check out the gCast release 03 May 2013 blog entry.

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1) Why did my email get marked as spam?

2) How do I avoid being being marked as spam?

3) Why is my email not getting through to this person when I’m receiving the email?

We’ll cover the answers to these questions in more detail. However, before reading on remember this fact…

1 in 5 emails will not make it to the inbox.

Yep, that’s right. Almost 20% of your emails won’t make it through to the inbox.

Return Path, the global market leader in email deliverability solutions, reviewed data from 149 ISPs in North America, Central and Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Asia Pacific
territories from January through June of 2011. Results show that worldwide on 81% of all permission based emails make it to the world’s inbox.

One out of every five emails end up in a spam or junk folder (7%) or simply go missing (blocked by ISP-level filtering). Read the document in full here. The good news is (according to this study) Australia has a higher inbox placement rate of 89% – so (on average) we’re doing better than the rest of the world.

So now you know the fact, let’s get into answering the following questions:

Why did my email get marked as spam?

How long is a piece of string? There are so many factors as to why your email could be marked as spam. Whilst we do everything that we can to optimise deliverability for you, many of these factors are out of our control.

Some common factors are:

• “Spammy” content and/or subject lines
• Sending to rubbish lists (eg. old or bought)
• Sender details
• High image to text ratio
• Business rules (on the recipients end)

How do I avoid being being marked as spam?

I forgot to pack my mystical formula today that will make your email reach every inbox, every time (disclaimer: that formula does not exist) – but here’s a few things to help you avoid being spammed.

• - SPAM – What is it, and some tips on how to avoid sending ‘spammy’ communications
• - List Hygiene – Keeping Your Subscriber Database Current and Relevant
• - Have a good text to image ratio. A good rule is 7 parts text, 3 parts image.
• - Check out these hints and tips here from Spam Assassin.

Even if you do all of what we have recommended, will that help break through that extra 20%?

Possibly, but I wouldn’t count on it. There are other factors out of your control and out of ours. This brings us to the third (and final) question for this article…

Why is my email not getting through to this person when I’m receiving the email?

You’ve sent out your email, and you’ve received it with no issues at all. The problem is a stakeholder who was on the sent list for this particular send has not received the same email. So why am I getting it and they’re not you ask?

There can be a couple of reasons:

• - It’s been junked (meaning the email has gone to their junk folder).
• - It has been “held” or “moderated” on the ISPs end.
• - Other factors such as ISPs with temporary downtime, inbox rules, filters and Gremlins.

Whilst we’re on feedback loops with most of the major ISPs, delivery to smaller businesses can still be difficult. If you do run into an issue with a particular domain – you might want to contact their ISP .

Here’s an extract from the deliverability benchmark report regarding business addresses…

Reaching business addresses is still difficult because these inboxes are protected by systems like Postini, Symantec and MessageLabs. Only 80% of email is delivered to the inbox through these enterprise systems. While this is a 5% improvement from 2009 when just 75.2% made it to the inbox, the multiple company-level filtering methods used for business email addresses mean that deliverability is still a major concern. At the default setting, a lot of mail remains undelivered. As the adoption of new inbox technologies grows, the benefits are clear: for subscribers, it means more control of their inbox. For the ISPs, it means keeping subscribers in their environment longer. However, the challenge for marketers is to consider how these new user filtering applications will impact their inbox placement.

- The Global Email Deliverability Benchmark Report, 1H 2011 Return Path 

Remember, there are many different email services providers (Yahoo!, Gmail, and other businesses) with many different email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple Mail etc) with different rules (virus protectors, spam filters etc). Following the best practices will definitely help get your message through – but not necessarily break into that 20%.

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Our office at Red Hill backs onto Ithaca Creek. Generally its pretty calm. Last Sunday the 27th it wasn’t so, it had clearly had enough of the rain and decided to overflow.

Meyrick received the call around 4pm that afternoon and thought it would be best to get everything in the office up of the floors, it wasn’t long until the water started to climb….

After that video he high-tailed it out of there, and that’s when it got real.

It looked like we were going to have a nice day (or few) of cleanup in the office but thankfully it just fell short of getting in – that didn’t mean it stopped though. It was still going strong early the next morning.

It went almost as quickly as it came, and later that afternoon the damage could be seen. The office was fine, the carpark, not so much.

Thanks for reading, now back to the world of email!

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1. 1. Go into the Start Menu, click on All Programs – Accessories – System Tools and select Character Map.
2. 2. Click on the Font drop down menu and select ‘Arial Unicode MS’.
   
3. 3. Tick the Advanced view check box at the bottom left of the program.
   
4. 4. Select Unicode Subrange for the Group by setting.
   
5. 5. In the Group By popup search for and click on Symbols & Dingbats.
   
6. 6. Click on your desired symbol and then click Select. You should see it appear in the Characters to copy section below the symbols.
   
7. 7. Click the copy button next to the right of Characters to copy and then open up your gCast campaign.
8. 8. Paste (hold Ctrl + V on the keyboard) the symbol into your desired spot in the subject line or content.
   

Tutorials for accessing special characters on the following Operating systems:

Mac – http://fsymbols.com/character-maps/mac/

Linux – http://fsymbols.com/character-maps/linux/

It cannot be stressed enough just how important it is to thoroughly test your campaigns when inserting special characters, due to the inconsistent nature of the symbols and their interactions with various email platforms and operating systems. Try sending tests to different email accounts on varying platforms, opening the emails through different browsers and even on another operating system if possible. If one of the symbols that you are testing is experiencing any major problems in a highly populated environment (e.g. Microsoft Outlook), then discontinuing the use of that symbol should seriously be considered.

The practicality of special characters doesn’t simply end with email campaigns, they can be used anywhere in gCast! There are surveys, demographics, SMS campaigns (beware that many characters can cause problems in SMS), and coupons just to name a few.

So next time you’re looking to add some extra flair to your next campaign you should seriously consider trying out special symbols. See if you’re able to improve open-rates like others have, and remember to keep the amount of symbols you use in moderation.

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