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How did you get into deliverability? 

Well, I was in college working my way towards a dream of being a Lit Professor when I realized my part time gig doing tech support at Apple was probably already paying more than any tenureship so I shifted that direction. 

Within a couple months of graduating, I snagged a Custom Support role at an ESP here in Nashville, and after some time in Support their deliverability team needed someone they could afford (aka relatively no experience) so I interviewed, hopped positions, and was educated in-house in the secret sorcery that is email deliverability.

It turned out pretty quickly that it came quite naturally to me so I’m super thankful that the opportunity came along.

How do you see AI impacting deliverability in the next five years?

I do think AI is going to create unforeseen or simply consequential deliverability effects.

In the algorithms themselves, there will likely be a stronger and stronger personalized recipient experience that rewards strong engagement and punishes generalized content that doesn’t earn engagement in bulk. This is what deliverability evolution has already been working towards and AI will enhance that.

With the introduction of AI previews, though, this could cause some issues with email engagements, as casual scrollers will more easily skim and skip discount-focused senders.

I think it will force not only stronger content for engagement but a stronger focus on hyper relevant content that earns an actual open to read more. If that is the case, it will really challenge marketers everywhere.

And this is just one example I see…so buckle up, kids.

What are your top three deliverability tips for noobs?

Sometimes this question feels as complicated as asking, “what are your top 3 tips for building a skyscraper?” I mean, I know it’s not quite that complex but there is still plenty to be lost in just providing three…so I’ll try to cover my bases.

1. Find and read content from experts you can trust
2. Build a marketing flow from beginning to end that focuses on creating and fulfilling subscriber expectations
3. Automate your lifecycle automations from day one, including re-engagement and sunset efforts

What’s in your toolbox?

I try to utilize organic engagement data and only third-party tools that are accurate or I know how to interpret properly.

In deliverability, knowledge and understanding of organic data beats flashy tools every time (ok, almost every time).

Hardware: 

• Macbook Pro
• Curved LG external monitor
• Sony bluetooth headphones
• Plum mechanical keyboard
• Logitech mouse
• Han Solo Funko bobble head
• Jack o’lantern candy corn squeeze ball thingy

Software:

• Ortto (organic data for our customers)
• Google Postmaster Tool
• Emailstuff.org (DNS check)
• Hetrix Tools (Blacklist check)
• Browserling Sandbox (For auditing suspicious websites)
• Some internal monitoring/auditing tools for global platform data I can’t disclose

Other than you, who should we follow for deliverability tips and content?

I’ve actually done a breakdown of this here but to simplify:

• Al Iverson’s Spam Resources blog for best practices, provider specific information, and up-to-date deliverability news
• My Linkedin pal Israa Alrawi who does DTC marketing consultancies. She’s someone who is very knowledgeable of deliverability with a marketing background and knows personally what marketers are going through 

What’s your favorite email campaign of all time? Why?

This brings out a real interesting self-revelation as I stop to think about it.

I’ve seen really cool emails, specifically stuff showcased on emaillove.com, but when I think about favorite email (and I think we’re all like this) a sender with personally meaningful content pops up…so here’s mine:

For those that don’t already know, I love reading and spooky/halloween things…so of course I love Dracula. The original novel is actually written as letters/journal entries of a couple characters and follows a chronological order as dated at the beginning of each entry.

Draculadaily.com is a newsletter that sends each day’s entry as listed in the book so you are able to read through the book each year browsing a chapter at a time just like the characters, in a way. Also, the creator of this is quite a Dracula nerd so they have other little projects and easter eggs they offer on the site.

The emails themselves are simple but reader friendly, which really emphasizes the design supporting the overarching goal of the content.

TL;DR: I’m a nerd

What’s your most unhinged email story?

Oh god, it’s so hard to pick.

• I’ve had a customer try to ramp up an IP using a purchased list.
• I’ve had an executive at a company that couldn’t deliver bulk mail because their list was so unengaged refuse my advice despite their issue remaining as a consequence.
• I’ve had a tenured IT person yell and berate me for 20 minutes straight because of how our authentication setup worked and then once he finished I explained in one sentence why we had to do it that way (basic security reasons) and he just said “Oh, yeah, that makes sense” and just did what was required
• I’ve had a customer go into an email draft I duplicated while I was completely rebuilding it so that when the page was refreshed none of my edits saved because he was still in the old version.

Should I keep going? Lol

Hattie B’s or Red’s Hot Chicken?

Hattie B’s is overrated IMO. 

I’ve not had Red’s (it looks great, so I will be changing that soon), but Prince’s is the OG and is definitely better than Hattie B’s.

My fave fried chicken places in Nashville, based on type:

• Prince’s for heat and classic sides
• Mcdougals for tenders tossed in fantastic sauce
• Waldo’s for chicken tender sandwiches

Besides Red’s I also want to try Helen’s.

My wife and I’s test of whether a new place is gonna be good in Nashville: Is the parking easy?

The worse the parking, the better the food. 😀 

Much love,
Andy

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @emaillove