In late 2010, in an attempt to maximize the collective email experience of its rapidly growing legions of Gmail users, Google announced its “Priority Inbox,” a feature that would assign different levels of importance to email messages based on—you guessed it—top secret algorithms. Most end users found the new technology a vast improvement that would allow them to save time sorting through unimportant messages to get to the real meat within their inboxes. However, for those running opt in email marketing campaigns through bulk email solution programs, this proved to be yet another hurdle to be vaulted.
Fortunately, innovation knows no speed limit and soon enough, refinements to the design of bulk email messages had been developed. One of the most strongly suggested of these is the double opt-in for all mailing list signups. This requires a user to take the additional step of opening a confirmation email and clicking a link to authorize their request—a step that’s thought to raise a mailing list’s level of priority in a user’s inbox, ensuring greater deliverability in the future.
If the recent waves of technological improvements and email program tweaks from the likes of Google have had a negative impact on your mailing list effectiveness, experts strongly suggest the use of a supplemental email marketing tool—such as a software program that will help optimize your penetration rate.