Case Study

Cesar Millan Gets Out

of the Doghouse
Implements best practices with
mobileStorm and sees a 20%
delivery improvement

Overview As a result, subscribers were frustrated and the brand

was suffering. The company's overall delivery rate
average was identified at only 81.29%, significantly
Cesar Millan is the below industry average. Management was disturbed
world-famous Dog because there was no obvious explanation as to why
Whisperer, an animal CMI's email marketing messages were not being
behavior expert who accepted by the ISPs. In order to resolve the problem,
stars in National mobileStorm performed a thorough analysis on CMI's
Geographic’s show of email practices. By using the Delivery Audit service
the same name. Cesar from mobileStorm, it became clear that the problems
Millan, Inc. (CMI) the client was experiencing were due to several
teaches pet owners underlying factors: policies, data management, and
how to create healthier reputation. Some details:
relationships with their
dogs by showcasing • The client obtained email addresses, but the
Mr. Millan's unique addresses were not verified. Sending a
talents to educate, confirmation message or implementing a full
entertain, and offer personal empowerment through double opt-in policy can eliminate many problems.
leadership skills. The company extends Mr. Millan's
• The list contained addresses from unknown and
reach to an international audience through DVDs,
outdated sources, some of which dated back to
books, merchandise, and speaking tours, as well as
2005. Because of this, the database had many
alliances with key retail outlets, a television series,
inactive and/or invalid addresses.
and specials. Digital marketing–and specifically
email messaging–is an integral part of the • Old databases create the perfect climate for
company's strategy for developing its relationships “spam traps,” which can ruin a sender's reputation
with customers and viewers. and cause delivery issues at ISPs. Despite the fact
that the client eventually began to execute best
practices, the contact list still contained addresses

Problem that were collected pre-implementation of best

CMI noticed real problems regarding the poor
delivery rate for email messages to a number of
Internet service providers (ISPs). The company was
constantly getting complaints from its subscribers.
Consumers claimed they hadn’t received Cesar
Millan's once-monthly newsletter, or that they only
received it sporadically.
practices.
• mobileStorm's internal logs indicated that the
majority of email messages were being rejected by
certain ISPs at a very high rate compared to other
ISPs.
After gathering all of the details, mobileStorm devised a
personalized strategy to resolve the problem.
Solution
Since most of the contact email addresses in CMI's
database were obtained from unknown sources and
via less than optimal email marketing practices,
mobileStorm worked out a plan to rehabilitate the
list. To get back on solid footing, mobileStorm’s
Delivery team executed a “re-engagement
campaign,” which is very effective in weeding out
inactive accounts. The re-engagement campaign
encompassed the following steps:
1. Identify all subscribers who had never
opened or clicked on an email message.
2. Segment the data using certain specific
time criteria. The lists were broken up into
ten campaigns of 10,000 to 15,000
addresses each.
3. Once these subscribers were identified,
the Delivery team removed obvious
non-engaged subscribers from the main
list. A separate list was created, which
was then used to send an email message
asking subscribers to re-confirm their
interest in receiving the client’s emails.
This was done through a simple, clickable
link featured in the messages that asked
subscribers to confirm their subscriptions.
The message also informed subscribers
that if they did not click on the link within
a specific time frame, they would no longer
receive newsletters from Cesar Millan.
As a result of the re-engagement project, CMI's
delivery showed extremely positive results during its
next marketing campaign. Although the company at
first had voiced concern about its contact list
shrinking, CMI saw immediately the benefits of
having a list of only committed subscribers. At
present, the client continues to see high
performance–with a 99.7% delivery rate average.
Conclusion
Acquisition practices are critical to the successful
delivery of email messages. When it comes to your
marketing database, it is not quantity but quality that
counts. This program showed how obtaining
subscribers and implementing best practices will
cause marketers to generate a higher ROI.
Furthermore, old and inactive addresses, which are
often really spam traps, can seriously and negatively
affect delivery in many ways.
Keeping your marketing database clean and current
is good policy–and good business. mobileStorm can
help any company that finds itself in a similar
situation.
For an example of Cesar's newsletter go to
http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/newsletter

4. The campaign was executed multiple

times. Each time, subscribers were
categorized based on results:

• Inactive – bounced or did not

respond in any way (no opens
or clicks)

• Not interested in receiving

messages – opted out

• Active and engaged with the

brand – confirmed or interacted
(did open or click)

5. At the end of the project, a final

reconciliation was made to the main list.
All confirmed users were added back in
along with known good addresses.
Suspect addresses, opt-outs, and
non-respondents were removed.