In October, Google and Yahoo unveiled a critical update to their bulk sender guidelines.
Starting February 1, these new regulations, which affect both bulk email senders (those who send more than 5,000 emails daily to Gmail accounts) and general Gmail users, introduced authentication requirements and defined thresholds for spam complaints. Specifically, they defined a spam complaint threshold of 0.3%.
Our preliminary analysis of the announcement was that this 0.3% threshold would not be a major issue for most email marketers. In fact, for large businesses with established customer bases and large inbound lists, this update would likely help those businesses. They likely have low complaint rates and can expand their outbound efforts more easily and safely.
However, smaller, less established businesses, specifically those in the B2B space that may be using more aggressive outbound email marketing strategies or have relied on ABM to establish their brand, would likely be in trouble.
And it turned out that we were right.
Spam complaint rates in the B2B space
To better understand how these new sender guidelines would impact outbound marketing and sales, particularly in the B2B space, we studied spam complaint rates across several industries.
Our findings showed that complaint rates were well above the 0.3% threshold set by Google and Yahoo. In fact, it wasn't even close! The average spam complaint rate in the B2B space was 2.01%, with a range between 1.1% and 3.1%.
Worse yet, for the top 9 spammable verticals, we couldn't find a single sender that could score below the 0.3% threshold. When broken down by industry, it becomes increasingly clear who the main offenders are:
- B2B Software: Spam complaint rates peak at 3.2%, with a range of 1.3% to 4.3%.
- Political issues and electoral communications: Rates are around 2.9%, ranging between 1.5% and 3.4%.
- Sales and Marketing Services: Experience a rate of 2.8%, with a wide range from 2.0% to 5.3%.
- Hiring: Faces a 2.1% rate, ranging from 1.7% to 3.1%.
- Retail and e-commerce: A rate of 2.3% is found, with variations from 0.5% to 2.9%.
- Real estate: offers with a rate of 1.9%, ranging from 1.5% to 3.4%.
- Education and training providers: Show a rate of 1.7%, within a range of 0.4% to 2.1%.
- Financial Services: Find a lower rate of 1.1%, ranging from 0.7% to 1.9%.
- Health and Pharmaceuticals: They have the lowest rate at 0.9%, with a range of 0.7% to 1.4%.
These data are not entirely surprising when you think about it. B2B software companies and sales and marketing companies tend to do a lot of outbound activities. Healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry, on the other hand, are subject to fairly strict laws and regulations regarding communication.
B2B marketing and sales teams must adapt quickly
This data points to a critical problem for B2B outbound marketing. For businesses that rely heavily on outbound emails for lead generation and sales, this is a major hurdle. Reaching the new sub-0.3% threshold seems daunting, if not impossible. The good news is that there are strategies to mitigate these obstacles:
Increase transactional email volume: If we want to reduce the rate of spam complaints, we may want to increase the total emails sent and optimize the email volume. Increase the volume of non-spam transactional emails, such as order confirmations, tracking updates, or purchase follow-ups. They are less likely to be flagged as spam and can balance your overall email metrics.
Prioritize Warm Leads– Focus your emails on high-intent users (think those who visited your pricing page or added something to their cart). Website visitor identification tools can be invaluable here.
Provide clear and numerous options to unsubscribe: The unsubscribe option should be easily accessible and in multiple places. Hidden or hard-to-find unsubscribe links increase the likelihood of being flagged as spam.
Use intent-based email lists: In some cases, there is no way to avoid cold emails. However, what you can do is use intent-based email lists that can help you create more appropriate messages that will resonate with potential customers. The more you know about what your audience is interested in, the more personalized messages you can create.
For B2B companies, adapting to these new guidelines is crucial. While exits haven't disappeared, they are more challenging. The good news for users is that this new complaint rate threshold should improve email marketing and the outbound space as a whole.
These new guidelines will force B2B marketers to evolve their outbound strategies and create better campaigns. For users, this means less spam and more relevant emails. For marketing and sales teams, this should mean better targeting, more personalization, and less laziness.
The result? Improved sales until delivery time. After all, big email providers like Google and Yahoo focus on creating a better user experience and this means less spam. For B2B teams, the answer is simple…don't be a spammer.
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