Myths About B-to-B E-Mail

When it comes to e-mail, yesterday's best practices often are today's conventional wisdom. Take scheduling. One piece of channel doctrine states that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days for sending e-mail newsletters or blasts. But are they?

“Not anymore, because everybody goes out on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” says Michele Egan, worldwide director of direct marketing for American Power Conversion, a power-supply and surge-protector marketer.

Bill McKay, vice president of list sales for Direct Media, points out that while open rates are important, the highest level of clickthroughs and might occur on different days.

Then there's the question of graphics.

IT Solution Journal sends messages that target people in the information technology profession, says CEO Byron Crowell. Among this audience, it's not uncommon for IT staff to turn off graphics-enabling settings on corporate e-mails, which can thwart an image-reliant message. “We don't get as good response rates [when they do that,]” he notes.

In addition, in-house IT departments can thwart e-mails that look like marketing messages. “Our biggest concern is company IT departments that all use a different e-mail filter,” says Felsen.

There doesn't seem to be a lot marketers can do to circumvent this in their design. Egan says. American Power Conversion actively asked recipients to make sure the firm was listed in their e-mail “accept” file—via traditional mail.

Egan also uses traditional mail as a last resort when a series of e-mail messages come back as hard — refused — bounces. The postcards say that American Power Conversion used to be able to contact the client at such-and-such a digital address, which is printed right on the card.

Crowell suggests that if e-mails are coming back, a batch of them could be sent from a different IP address, just to make sure one particular ISP hadn't blocked the sender's mail.

This story is based on a session at Direct Media’s Annual Co-Op Conference in White Plains, NY.