With the Super Bowl just days away, the marketing buzz about the commercials is becoming deafening and talk at the water cooler following the game will most likely focus more on the commercials than the game itself. But email marketers should also pay special attention to the game itself, and watch how both teams use the short passing game to advance the ball. This type of game plan is commonly referred to as the West Coast Offense - the idea that several short passes can quickly equal one long pass.
So how can marketers translate the West Coast Offense concept to their email marketing campaigns? The answer is simple: instead of sending one big mailing to the entire list of email addresses or a large segment of the list, the sender breaks the list up into even smaller segments and sends multiple mailings at regular intervals.
The reason for this strategy is that
email marketing is a lot like football. The defense, in this case, consists of the ISPs, looking for the long pass – the big mailing. The ISPs have their filters set to look for a big increase in mail traffic from any one IP address, and when the increase is detected, delivery restrictions may be imposed. These restrictions can delay or even prevent messages from being delivered. The best way to prevent this form of filtering is to keep volume low and steady.
