Will Texting Replace Email? Part 2

If texting evolves and becomes useful in more ways than it serves today it may replace email.  But right now there are many areas where texting is no threat to email.  No one is texting a cover letter and resume to a job posting.  No one is getting newsletters sent to them via text message.  No one is forwarding humorous videos or pictures via text.  No one sits down and writes a lengthy, thoughtful message via text.

But we are starting to see text messaging used in the real estate business. 

An Email Marketing Glossary For Beginners And Experts Alike Part 22

If you have a purely opt-in, permission based list and you’re still getting spam complaints, it’s time to take a closer look at what you’re doing.  Does your list have a lot of prospects who opt-ed in a long time ago and haven’t opened any of your emails in ages?  Perhaps your emails have too much generic information and not the focused, specific farm area type information people really want.  Perhaps you’re sending emails too often (don’t send more than once per week).  People may be making spam complaints for any or all of these reasons.  So make the necessary changes in these areas and your spam complaints will start going away.

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It’s important you only add people who have opt-ed in to your database to prevent problems with your internet or email service provider as discussed earlier in this article series.  It’s critical you honor opt-out requests (and do so within 10 days) as this is a legal requirement of doing email marketing within both the US and Canada.

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Mail Server – this is basically the ‘souped up’ computer in your office or at your brokerage’s hosting company which handles all the incoming and outgoing mail for all the people in your company.  It’s sort of like having a receptionist with a PHD handling your email.  Today’s mail servers have very sophisticated abilities to screen spam emails from ‘legitimate’ emails.

It’s certainly not necessary to use your brokerage’s mail server for sending or receiving single emails.  Your brokerage’s technical person may have configured the company’s email server to have a high sensitivity towards spam email.  In other words, the email server may be blocking a lot of emails you’d benefit from receiving such as emails from companies who service real estate professionals.  

An Email Marketing Glossary For Beginners And Experts Alike Part 14

2)    User Opens Email – this is where the recipient has voluntarily gone in and opened the email themselves.  This is very important data to have!  When you look at your campaign reporting for opened emails you can use this as a prospect funneling tool.  Most people will only have opened the email once, but frequently you’ll find people that have opened the email 3, 4 or 5 times – sometimes even more.  These are people you definitely want to follow up with via telephone to find out where they’re at currently.  Since they signed up for your mailing list they may have gone from ‘research’ mode to ‘actively seeking to buy or sell mode.

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Also, some people have setup their email software to display text based messages only, especially if they’re using a Blackberry for receiving messages.  So if you don’t send a text-based equivalent of your email along your email may come up as blank or get outright rejected by their PDA.  Mailing lists and forums often insist that all posts sent to them via email be made in plain-text for all the above reasons.  

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For instance, your email or internet provider may want to see proof of opt-in if they get a spam complaint from a particular user that’s supposedly part of your double opt-in database.  They will want you to send any emails you have proving this person opt-ed in with you with the header included.  This allows them to verify this was an actual email by providing detailed information on the sender, receiver and internet provider.    

An Email Marketing Glossary For Beginners And Experts Alike Part 11

A spam bot is one of the latest ways spammers get their emails delivered.  When you get a spam bot virus your PC turns into a “zombie” PC wherein it will begin sending large quantities of spam email through your PC and internet connection, causing your PC to slow considerably.  Even more dangerous are viruses that monitor your keystrokes for any passwords and financial information such as credit cards or bank account numbers.  I have known people whose chequing accounts were ‘compromised’ more than once (one person I know had $1000 taken from their account) and this may have been due to them doing online banking and hackers picking up on their financial information through viruses on their computer.

An Email Marketing Glossary For Beginners And Experts Alike Part 10

I like to use my email inbox as a To Do List where I can keep track of the priority in which I handle things.  I’ll keep one email in my inbox for each matter to remind me of the latest developments for that situation.

Email Flags – this feature can go hand in hand with email filters and using your inbox as a To Do List.  Flagging an email puts a little red flag beside the email in the inbox view as a reminder.  This is sort of like putting a little sticky note on your email for some reminder purpose.  Using flags can help you prioritize your emails.

An Email Marketing Glossary For Beginners And Experts Alike Part 9

Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) – a spinoff of Domain Keys, you also get this with using an email service provider.

Double Opt-In – a synonym for Confirmed Opt-In, defined earlier in this article series.

Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA) – this is the Canadian law regulating commercial email.  It is virtually identical to the CAN-SPAM act (defined earlier in these articles) but with one addition.  You must have “implied consent” to send commercial email (the CAN-SPAM act doesn’t require this).  What this means is you must have some existing relationship in the past 18 months before emailing prospects.