How Knak Does Email: Using Siftrock to Improve Deliverability

When you launch an email campaign, your job isn’t over after you hit “send.” You’ve also got to manage the responses, and we’re not just talking about the replies that come from an actual person.

Out of Office and “Sorry, I’m no longer with the company” bounce-back messages can be a great source of new leads, so don’t leave potential business on the table.

SiftRock can make those emails work for you. It’s been a game-changer at Knak, and it’s why we’re featuring it in this month’s edition of “How Knak Does Email.”

Our motivation for using Siftrock is two-fold:

• We’re sticklers for organization, and SiftRock helps keep our list clean and organized.
• It helps us identify new contacts (and new potential customers) by analyzing those bounce-back replies.

How It Works

Essentially, Siftrock mines data from auto-replies. When Bob Smith tells you he’s out of office, but you can contact Jane Harris if you need anything, Siftrock sends you Jane Harris’ info and job title so you have a new lead within the company.

When Jack tells you he’s no longer with the company, but you can reach out to Megan instead, Siftrock removes Jack from your list and lets you know about Megan. So, instead of losing a contact, you’re immediately replacing it with someone new.

And when Frank replies to your email to ask for a demo, Siftrock routes the email to the right sales rep so your customer isn’t kept waiting while you sort through unrelated responses.

Siftrock also scans auto-replies for key info, like job title, address, and updated phone numbers, and then adds it directly to the contact’s record in your CRM. More data, more for your sales team to work with.

A Clean List = A Happy Sales Team

Data hygiene is critical in terms of our productivity at Knak. If our list is outdated, our sales and customer success team is spending time reaching out to contacts who have changed jobs, left the company, etc.

The first time we tested an email with Siftrock, we were surprised to find that more than 10% of the replies we received were job change notifications. Because the responses were flagged, we were able to make note of those changes, and personally reach out to the new contacts to introduce our team. SiftRock also removed the outdated contacts from our CRM, which means our team won’t call, email, or otherwise waste time trying to contact them.

Siftrock initially told us that databases become outdated at an average rate of 22% per year. With their software helping to clean up our list, we’re able to stay on top of that turnover and maximize our sales team’s time.

A Clean List = Better Deliverability

The more you email dead contacts, the greater the likelihood that your emails will be flagged as spam. Siftrock has helped us avoid this by making sure our list is up to date.

Think back to the example of our first email: those job-change responses would show up as bounces to ISPs. If we can cut down on those by 10% with every email we send, we’ll keep our deliverability high and our content out of the spam folder.

The email deliverability component is also key to customer service. When deliverable emails start to be flagged as spam, the customer experience takes a hit.

Basically, Siftrock is making life easier at Knak. It’s helping us work smarter and take advantage of one of our most important resources: time. And since we’re a company that’s dedicated to making Marketers’ lives easier, we’re happy to share the wealth.

Note: Siftrock has some other cool features too, so take a look at their site and find out what they can do for you.