I am working on a blog post about deliverability comparisons with Infusionsoft and other services after importing and I thought I would sound out the community here for thoughts...

Let's say you have a list. You have been developing it for a few years in another system. Its all opt-in goodness etc, but you want to migrate to Infusionsoft.

So you run an import... easy enough.

Then you realize that the opt-in status is single. So, following IS best practice, you craft an email carefully explaining the change and that people need to confirm their new email.

The trouble is, that very first email trying to get people to opt-in will *still* not be as deliverable because is single only. You are trying to improve deliverability with one hand tied behind your back!

We have run tests with Infusion (at single opt status) and another major service with lists of 70,000+ and identical email copy. In those tests Infusionsoft fared very badly with dramatically lower deliverability.

I completely understand why Infusion is set up as it is, but the potential of losing 1/3 of your list is surely a massive disincentive to move to Infusionsoft....

Thoughts?

Try using the Double Opt-In Request Email action off of a search. These are sent through the best IP, as if the person was already 2x opted in.

Ahhh....

That should make a difference. Did I miss the documentation on that little feature

There's something both positive and negative to share about deliverability with any service.

For most users, our email services thrive off the communal/shared IP environment. For its success, it really depends on the behavior and marketing decisions that of our customers in order for deliverability to be high.

So, let's pretend email is like a river and each message are the fish trying to go upstream. The most current there is behind them (volume), the more successful the fish will make it to their destination. But if there's a flood of new current (say, a massive untargeted blast), they fish might be pounded into the bottom without making it to their intended destination. Consistency, quality and customer expectations are key to being successful in email marketing -- not necessarily the pool of IPs.

Respectfully, any email service provider will tell you 99% deliverabiliy. It's just a sales gimmick to attract those with poor deliverability. Just like Viagra attracts men who want to give their partners more lovin' -- it won't happen, and if so, for only a short period. The bottom line is behavior, also known as sender practices if you want to visibly achieve higher deliverability with ANY email service provider.

~Joe

Sure thing...

We estimate Infusionsoft's open rate at 9.8% and icontact's at about 13.9% for an identical email to two random segments about 70k+ in size from the same list.

We feel that a pretty robust test of deliverability

The IS list was all single optin... so if they were double optin, the results would be closer I think.

Are those people confirmed or unconfirmed opt-in? (Double opt in or Single opt in)

There's a difference in those pools of IPs and their overall reputation among ISPs.

~Joe