Thursday, September 29, 2011

What if your eBill could remind you to pay?

As an email marketing and billing provider, I choose to receive most communication by email, including the majority of my monthly bills (except for those vendors that don't offer email billing – SO 'last year'). Every month, when I open an electronic invoice to see how much I have to pay and by when, I end up manually creating a reminder in my calendar, so as not to miss the payment due date and potentially be charged overdue fees. Or even worse, have my electricity or telephone cut off!

Now, I'm the first person to admit that I covet efficiency and the concept of a bill payment reminder would work really well for me. But there's no way I am going to use a web-based Bill consolidator to remind me, nor download an 'app' onto my desktop or mobile - even if it's free, it's just too much work for all my different billers. If I have to log into my Online Banking website to set a reminder (and many banks offer this) I might as well just schedule the actual payment. Hence none of these methods score highly on my efficiency gauge.

This got me thinking . . . what if the eBill itself could remind me - on the appropriate date?

All it takes is a 'Set Reminder' button on the eBill, which enables me to request a payment reminder by email or text. I can select how far in advance I want to be reminded and even an appropriate time of day.

What is sent to my inbox or mobile is something like this:

Payment Reminder: pay City Power the amount of $138.80 by 14/09/11.

What this means to me is avoiding the consequences of a missed payment, which is not only inconvenient, but it could also result in financial penalties or termination of service.

For the Biller, this means increasing the likelihood of receiving my payment by the due date, which for most businesses is an attractive proposition. I suspect Billers would even be happy to cover the minimal cost of the reminder message, as it would improve their DSO.

But the potential for efficiency and convenience doesn't stop there.


With the steady increase of consumers using the Internet and mobile technology to do things faster whilst on the move, it would be a smart 'next step' to enable payment directly from within the payment reminder.

Think about it - not only does the eBill remind you to pay, but you can pay immediately, with just one click or call. Now that's sexy!

The payment reminder for mobile (USSD) looks like this:

Payment Reminder: pay City Power the amount of $138.80 by 14/09/11. Dial *123*456# to pay.

And the email looks like this:

Payment Reminder: pay City Power the amount of $138.80 by 14/09/11. Click here to pay.

My efficiency gauge is going into overdrive!

Interested?


As a consumer, would you use a service like this?

And if you're a Biller, would you pay for the reminder notices?

Alison Treadaway
striata.com

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Dedicated IP or shared?

The effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns could be related to your decision to use either a dedicated or shared Internet Protocol (IP) address.

One of the key challenges of deliverability is achieving and maintaining an excellent sender reputation with ISPs and Webmail service providers. Your sender reputation is one of the deciding factors of whether to block your emails or let them through.

Sender reputation is associated with a sender's IP address – the theory is: if you have a good sender reputation your IP address can be trusted, which equals valid email and a higher delivery potential. There are many additional factors that can affect deliverability, but let's zoom in on the specific issue of dedicated vs. shared IP.

Understanding the implications of a shared IP address

If you are using an ESP to deliver your email marketing campaigns, it's likely that your emails are being sent from a shared IP address used by multiple clients on that system and infrastructure.

Sharing an IP address has many benefits, but there are certain risks too – which a reputable ESP should be managing on your behalf anyway.

The good and the bad of a shared IP address:

  • Good sender reputation is developed by consistently sending email, ensuring the bounce rate is kept low and the interaction is high (opens and clicks). If you are not a consistent email sender – sharing an IP enhances your sender reputation by leveraging off other senders on the same IP.
  • A good reputation is also derived by adhering to email best practice - benefitting you if these sound policies are adopted by all the senders sharing the IP.
  • The flipside of sharing is that you are at risk of other senders behaving badly and should the shared IP earn a poor sender reputation, your deliverability will be adversely affected.

If a shared IP is not desirable, then what do you need to know about a dedicated IP?

  • You have full control. Your practices alone determine the sender reputation of your IP address. There is no risk of others spoiling the party.
  • Unfortunately, the flip side of this is that you need to maintain regular volumes to keep your IP address 'warm', which can be difficult if you do not communicate with your database on a frequent basis (at least weekly – if not daily).
  • Over and above this, if you happen to slip up on the odd occasion and not adhere to best practice, you run the risk of putting your IP address under threat of blacklisting. You do not have the luxury of falling back on the good sender reputation achieved by others.

To sum up:

  1. You need to discuss the benefits of a dedicated vs. a shared IP address strategy with your ESP.
  2. Question their shared IP sender reputation and what proactive measures they are taking to keep their shared environments in good standing with ISP's.
  3. Your ESP should also consider your overall communication strategy and advise you on the best fit for your needs, rather than what is best for their needs.
Haydn James
striata.com