An interview with Robin Woolley from Royal Mail
As email providers like Gmail and Yahoo implement stricter policies, it’s more critical than ever for marketers to focus on optimizing their email programs for maximum deliverability and engagement. We sat down with Robin Woolley, an Executive of Email Marketing at Royal Mail, to get his insights on how to achieve success in this shifting landscape.
Why is a tool like dark pool so valuable for email marketers?
Robin: Dark pool provides email marketers with invaluable insights into deliverability and database health that simply can’t be obtained any other way. It uncovers potential issues at the domain level that standard tools miss. This “dark” data is a hidden advantage that ensures your email program is as buttoned up as possible, which is critical given the stricter policies and changes implemented recently by major providers like Gmail and Yahoo. Dark pool is the most useful tool we have at Royal Mail to navigate these shifts and maintain strong inbox placement.
How do you analyze the data provided by Dark Pool to optimize your email database health and deliverability?
Robin: We carefully review the data from Dark Pool to identify problematic domains to either remove from our database immediately or flag for further investigation. For example, dark pool helped us discover around 15,000 contacts with the domain “example.com” which were likely bots, testers, or people providing fake information to access gated content. Analyzing the detailed bounce data also highlights issues we wouldn’t necessarily catch ourselves. We can then put rules in place to automatically handle these problems going forward.
In what situations is it actually better not to email certain segments of your database? How do you make that determination?
Robin: If you don’t have deep enough data on a particular segment to personalize content in a relevant way, it’s often better to either not email them at all or to email on a very limited basis. Consistently sending generic “batch and blast” emails to contacts just because they’re on your list will hurt your sender reputation and overall email performance over time. You have to earn the right to show up in someone’s inbox by always providing clear value. If you can’t do that for a segment, suppressing them is the wise choice while you gather the data needed to engage them effectively.
What are the key elements of an email marketing program that delivers real value to customers and builds strong relationships over time?
Robin: The foundation of a strong email program that builds real relationships with customers is consistently delivering content that provides them clear value. That could mean saving them money through relevant offers/promotions, saving them time or making their lives more convenient, or giving them relevant information to make smarter decisions. The key is to always put yourself in the shoes of your customers and ask “what’s in it for them?” with every email you send. Doing that earns you the right to also include some promotional content and calls-to-action.
How does gathering the right data points about your contacts enable more effective personalization and segmentation of your campaigns?
Robin: Having deeper data on your contacts, beyond just demographic information or past purchases, allows you to create much more targeted segments and personalized campaigns. For example, rather than just emailing everyone who bought a certain product in the past 6 months, you could factor in their specific product usage, spend level, location and tie that to timely events, seasons, or pain points to make the message highly relevant to them as an individual. The richer your data, the more tailored you can get, which makes customers much more likely to engage with your emails.
What advice would you give to email marketers trying to get internal buy-in and resources to collect richer data about their contacts?
Robin: To get buy-in to collect more data, email marketers need to clearly demonstrate the measurable business impact and ROI it will have. Run tests with the data you do have to show the lift in engagement and conversions from personalization. Determine the potential gains of expanding that across your database. Then lay out the specific data points you need to realize those gains. When stakeholders see that investing in richer data will allow you to generate substantially more revenue from the email channel, they’ll be much more likely to provide the resources to make it happen.
The key takeaway is that email marketing success today requires a relentless focus on sending content that provides real value to each individual customer. Harnessing the power of “dark” engagement data and using it to drive personalization is what empowers you to do that consistently. With the right insights and data, email can continue to be a major revenue driver, even in an increasingly competitive inbox.
Read more about how Robin used Motiva Message Testing at Royal Mail to increase engagement and revenue.
