Food manufacturing company’s deliverability skyrockets following reputation analysis and certification

Turkey Hill Dairy, a food manufacturer of frozen desserts and beverages distributed in grocery chains across the United States, faced a common problem that plagues many email marketers. Its overall inbox placement rate (IPR) had fallen so low that it was missing nearly 20,000 subscribers and customers in its marketing efforts.

Listrak, an enterprise engagement marketing solutions and services provider, worked with Turkey Hill’s eMarketing agency, iComm, to diagnose the problem. Listrak performed a reputation analysis that included Return Path’s reputation service and 15 point pre-qualification checklist for the Return Path Certification Program. The process scored Turkey Hill’s IP address based entirely on metrics that distinguish legitimate email senders from spammers: volume, complaint rates, unknown user rates, infrastructure, spam trap hits, and content.

Listrak’s analysis revealed that Turkey Hill’s sending pattern of one large monthly mailing had negatively impacted its reputation. A mailing segmented by ISP found that emails sent to MSN and Hotmail had an inbox placement rate of only 50% and an open rate under 2%. The IPR at Yahoo! was also outside the norm and open rates for these accounts were much lower than Turkey Hill’s average open rate.

Inbox Placement Rates Go Up, Open and Click-Through Rates Skyrocket

To eliminate the frequency variable that was negatively affecting Turkey Hill, Listrak recommended throttling the deployment pattern into segmented groups of 25,000 staggered throughout the month. This change helped Turkey Hill establish and maintain a positive reputation.

Listrak also helped Turkey Hill get on the Return Path Certification Program and the benefits were apparent immediately. Turkey Hill’s delivery rate at Hotmail is 99.94% and the messages are delivered with images enabled. Open rates at Hotmail average 27% and MSN open rates are even higher at 33.8%. The click-through rates of each email campaign have also increased 30%. Subscribers are engaging and interacting with Turkey Hill’s brand more consistently as repeat visits are on the rise.

All of these changes took place in less than three weeks. Return Path estimates that 20% of legitimate email never reaches the inbox. If you are concerned about the deliverability of your messages, contact Listrak for a reputation analysis.

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