TAG | response
Touchy subject, eh? We listen to the buzz from Infusionsoft (and future Infusionsoft) users and a popular question asked is regarding Infusionsoft’s email deliverability. Infusionsoft has staff dedicated to being on top of email deliverability issues that are common in the email marketing industry.
“Delivered to … the Junk/Spam Folder!”
Email recipients often have two lines of spam defense protecting them from spam. First of which is the ISP spam filter. Most users have little or no control whether or not their ISP rejects email messages from you or your business. Second email filter often overlooked is the content or personal spam filter. This filter the recipient has explicit control over and usually adapts to the preferences of the recipient.
If you find your messages are delivered to the “Junk” or “Spam” folder on an unusual basis, it’s time to change the types of emails you send. That is, make them shorter, consider crafting a different subject line and reduce any strong “catchy” words like buy now, click here, fr.e.e, opt out, etc. These filters are smart and do their best to protect people from suspicious content that seem to calculate to “spamminess.”
Out the gate, Infusionsoft’s email leaves our service with a -4.0 SpamAssassin score (lower score, the better) because Infusionsoft has a good email reputation, no tolerance for spammers and has a good email infrastructure.
” [...] has better deliverability than Infusionsoft”
Infusionsoft has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into its email marketing application so it is smart to handle all ISPs, their rejection codes and ensure email messages are actually delivered to their recipients.
With that said, email marketers often watch their deliverability, bounces and open-rates like a hawk. When they see any variance that indicates deliverability may be an issue for them, they seek alternative email marketing services to increase their email deliverability.
Infusionsoft regularly yields 96 to 98 percent deliverability average across all users. This is because Infusionsoft dedicates resources to manage their ISP relations, system stability and squashes abuse from risky users. No email marketing service can guarantee 100% deliverability; it’s a moving target and is dependent on email marketing sending practices.Infusionsoft takes pride in their honest disclosure of their email marketing performance and they frequently publish their raw numbers on Twitter. When following Infusionsoft, look for messages featuring the millions of messages sent with 95%+ deliverability.
In fact, when email messages leave the Infusionsoft servers, they have been scored with a “-4″ SpamAssassin score. Infusionsoft’s email servers are configured in such a way that indicates messages are sent from a trusted, reputable source and ISPs accept those messages.
I hope this gives a little more clarity into some of the buzz about Infusionsoft’s email deliverability. Infusionsoft is a great company that thoughtfully considers its users and works diligently to make sure your email messages are delivered. The next time you think about switching to a different email marketing provider, consider the over-the-top promises made and look at the facts. Most email deliverability issues are caused by the sender and once that’s fixed, deliverability should naturally increase.
After reviewing and addressing several claims that Infusionsoft is a scam, I must beg the question — what is the scam? In this entry, I’ll uncover some of the fear, uncertainty and doubt some naysayers have to say about Infusionsoft.
Before I get into it, I want to clearly preface the tone and sentiment in this piece: Perception is huge in the eyes of prospective and new users; there’s usually very little any company can do to change that. We aim to provide excellent features, awesome service and fair policies that resonate with all users and entrepreneurs. It’s understandable some people may not necessarily agree with them. We respect those comments and would like to offer a counterpoint to the allegations ‘Infusionsoft is a scam’ statement that a few unhappy users have stated.
To get started, let’s think about what exactly “is” Infusionsoft:
Infusionsoft is an online, web-based software application that provides email marketing, CRM and e-commerce features. Infusionsoft charges a simple monthly fee for their services and provides optional consulting services for users who wish to not set the software up on their own. The software is relatively vast, powerful and sometimes even a bit intimidating with all its features under the hood. Whether you like it or not — everyone seems to nod their head to the fact that Infusionsoft is powerful.
The definition of “scam” is:
“a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, esp. for making a quick profit; swindle.”
(source)
With that in mind, let’s talk about it.
Infusionsoft does a good job of plainly disclosing and explaining the features on the website. No fluff or marketing hype – it is what it is. Infusionsoft also has a considerably easy-to-read Acceptable Use Policy and a very friendly Billing Policy. These policies are made available for new users before they purchase service and like any other legal contract, you are expected to read it and ask questions. Infusionsoft’s site focuses users are reviewing, evaluating and confirming their interest in Infusionsoft before they sign up. They do this with both a product overview (an intro, so to speak) and a longer-form demo.
Infusionsoft also has unlimited technical support, frequently-updated online support and training videos, social media accessibility and an impressive A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Arizona.
There must be a scam somewhere in this …
Infusionsoft also provides a no-BS 15-day free trial for people who want to get into the software without risk. Infusionsoft does not charge subscription fees automatically until you authorize them to. If you don’t want to use it, don’t use it. However, in those two weeks, you should be able to form an adequate opinion and review Infusionsoft against your business’ needs.
From the comments that I’ve reviewed, reached out to and addressed their concerns with, the issue in 99% of the time came down to enlarged expectations they had in the service or the degree of hand-holding Infusionsoft would do. It’s not that Infusionsoft necessarily omitted this information; instead, those upset users made assumptions and didn’t ask questions. We’ve since captured this feedback and make an even higher effort to reinforce the expectations of what people get with Infusionsoft. Again, this doesn’t point to the so-called “scam” in the service, company or product.
So what else can it be?
Guilt. Look, we’ve all done it … whether it’s a car, a TV or pricey gadget … we’ve all had to answer to our bank accounts (or spouses).
It’s much easier to pass the blame, feel entitled to a refund and get emotionally caught up because of a few others on the web mentioned it was a scam, too. You see, that in itself is successful viral marketing because people who are unsure of their recent investment often seek reviews/complaints about a given service or product. This is where it breaks down — instead of taking the uncertainty and applying their energy into making Infusionsoft work for them — they decide to do a few Google searches and spew more anonymous vitriol for others.
So how you do you not be ‘scammed’ in this regard?
You take action. You invest the time necessary to position your business for growth. Ask questions. Apply yourself and follow the guidance from the staff at Infusionsoft. They’ve helped thousands of small businesses like yours and are equipped to give you the right information at the right time so you can grow. That’s really it. No other science or rhyme to it.
Infusionsoft has shifted their business model to open up their software to more people. Along with the changes in the business model, Infusionsoft has improved their customer service operations. The way it works is every new user is assigned an account manager who guides them through the success path in using the software. In addition, they are the point of contact for any account questions or concerns and are happy to help pick you up if you fall. Not only that, technical support is there to be able to address technical questions about Infusionsoft and be your advocate in your usage of Infusionsoft. These changes amount to a great experience for Infusionsoft users — no scam here, either.
In conclusion, Infusionsoft is a reputable, caring and helpful software company that focuses on the needs of small businesses. Look at this way, there are a lot of views and opinions on the web — are you willing to let your business’ success or failure depend on the backs of another persons’ lack of initiative? I think not.
Hold us to it! If you wish to share YOUR story about Infusionsoft, shoot an email success@infusionsoft.com and we’ll share it here.
This is a response to the critique published on this blog, “Infusionsoft Customer Service SUCKS!!!“
Infusionsoft has always had (and always will) have a strong stance against spam — and whether it’s called “experimental opt in” or similar phrases, we have to abide by what is in the best interest of customers, recipients and the industry at large. We maintain a strict anti-spam policy, as evident in the Acceptable Use Policy, that is agreed to when the account is created.
It seems the crux of the matter was poor communication throughout the process. We’ve taken his feedback seriously and have improved it so any violators will be able to appeal their matters more civilly than taking it to a blog. Since we’ve made the improvements, we have not had any upset customers that we had to action for spam or abuse.
It’s important for customers to consider the end-user, recipient, subscriber, prospect and customer when creating follow-up sequences and opt-ins. Is it appropriate to have people opt in for a free product, then days later send them an email about how to get rick quick? It’s not appropriate and will result in very high ISP complaint rates, thus placing all our customers at risk.
It is with regret that we had to let this customer go, but it’s also with pride that we defend our email deliverability and reputation for the thousands of customers that choose Infusionsoft for their email marketing needs.
Here’s an official response Infusionsoft has on this matter:
We take Jonathan’s situation seriously and acknowledge his frustrations with the actions from our company. I’d like to clarify inaccuracies in Jonathan’s statements and be transparent about our processes as they relate to his experience. In summary, we provided software and consulting, and later eventually terminated his service due to non-compliance to our Acceptable Use Policy.
Our small business marketing solution provides email marketing services, in addition to a host of additional features in one integrated solution including sales force automation, affiliate program management, customer relationship management, voice and fax broadcasting, e-commerce services and more. Email marketing is one important aspect of our service which attracts many new clients to our company. Likewise, it’s an important asset to defend much like data integrity, data security and customer service.
As a company, we have a strong stance against abusive and illegal email marketing practices. We’re proud to meet and exceed industry standards (MAAWG) and regulatory compliance (CAN-SPAM Act), etc. Our policies that manage our client’s marketing practices are made clear in writing (Acceptable Use Policy, available at ‘http://www.infusionsoft.com/legal-stuff/aup’) as clients begin their usage of our service and are frequently reminded of the expectations and guidelines of our service within our software.
Having that said, we would like to substantiate the reasons why we terminated services for Jonathan. Please forgive my verbosity, but I would like to make it undeniable to interested readers that we provided services as agreed for Jonathan and have upheld our end of the agreement reasonably based on Jonathan’s email marketing practices.
Jonathan became a customer on 3/31/2008. We had a talented small business coach, Corey T., begin implementation of our software and services on 4/01/2008, and proceeded with daily interactions for Jonathan. We have confirmation that as of 4/14/2008, Jonathan successfully completed our implementation and was positioned to sell various products through our application’s shopping cart. We have documentation supporting these interactions.
Between 4/15/2008 and 1/6/2009, we had four successful technical support interactions between Jonathan and members of our support team addressing the needs of ‘how do I’ questions, for which we provide instant live support at no additional charge. During this period, it is reasonably assumed that our clients are successful with their implementation and usage of our software application – especially considering that we provide specific marketing emails engaging with our clients, toll-free customer support and have an easy to use customer support self-service help portal.
The acceptable email marketing industry standard for ISP complaint rate is 0.1%. That is, 1 email out of 1000 can permissibly be reported as “spam” from e-mail recipients. Examples of this type of complaint from recipients include the “Report Spam” for AOL Mail, “Spam” button in Yahoo Mail or “Junk” button in Hotmail.
On 1/6/2009, we detected a very high ISP complaint rate for Jonathan’s application due to a large mass mailing that was delivered to 54,233 recipients. Jonathan’s complaint rate for his email was 4.02%. Effectively, 40.2 times the acceptable complaint rate for our clients. We immediately suspended email services per our Acceptable Use Policy and notified Jonathan via email and telephone. Additionally, his application was placed into heuristic review by our Email Compliance Team for investigation of malicious use.Our review indicated Jonathan collected several thousand e-mail addresses through an opt-in Web Form, omitting disclosure as to what kind of email, frequency of email or permission to send commercial email to said recipients. The context for opting into Jonathan’s marketing was a “Free Blackberry” according to the landing page. The email that was sent was a commercial email promoting a “get rich quick” offer, which is completely unrelated to the expectation of the recipients.
After a lengthy conversation between Jonathan and our team – we concluded that Jonathan should no longer be permitted to do business with us per our Acceptable Use Policy. Specifically, we terminated services for the following reasons:
– Blatant/Widespread Email Abuse: The only instance of this violation occurred with an unreasonably high amount of recipients (54K).
– Questionable Practices: The method of the lead capture was well outside our best practices, unethical by nearly anyone’s standards, and recipients validated this through their ISP spam complaints.
– Unsubscribe Padding: The email Jonathan sent included 16 line breaks (new lines) between his last sentence in an effort to “bury” or hide the legally-mandated unsubscribe link that we require.
– Questionable Email Content: The first three lines of the email, Jonathan includes the recipient’s IP address, date of opt-in and email address. This tactic employed by many abusers who intend to defend the purpose of their e-mail.
– Questionable Practices: The method of collecting his recipients gives rise to misleading email content (e.g., people expect a free item and receive get-rich-quick offers instead), which would violate regulations detailed in the CAN-SPAM Act.
– Questionable Practices: Jonathan has demonstrated that his email marketing was unrelated, poorly targeted and was not aligned in any way to our best practices or consulting services provided.In most cases, we offer clients a three-strike policy as it pertains to their relationship with our company (three anti-spam complaints, service is terminated). However, we assess a series of factors of our client’s behavior such as the content of their email, the severity of the violation and likelihood of repeat occurrences. We perform a greater service to the millions of consumers and thousands of clients that we forcibly remove risks and liabilities such as Jonathan from our service. Our clients expect us to maintain superior email deliverability and healthy relationships with ISPs; to carry that out; we must terminate services to abusive clients, often regrettably.
Our initial email to Jonathan stated ‘Unsolicited Commercial Email,’ which was factually inaccurate; however, we followed up and clarified his termination was due to an excessive ISP spam complaint rate. My only statement (in error) was regarding Jonathan’s “willingness,” which was a misunderstanding on my part. As a point of clarification, we are not willing to continue our relationship with Jonathan based on the results of his actions and behaviors demonstrated regarding his marketing practices.
Despite Jonathan’s statement, we have provided the services for which he’s paid. We’ve provided excellent small business coaching, as records indicated; we’ve provided email services and full-service application with zero complaints or refund requests.
We would like to point out that it was only until we enforced our Acceptable Use Policy, Jonathan requested a refund. We have engaged and communicated to Jonathan about the cause for his termination of services. We will not be honoring this refund request due to the availability of services, nature of his request and to uphold the guidelines stated in the Acceptable Use Policy.
We understand and apologize for the poor experience that Jonathan endured, and have made changes to our email abuse communications in favor of being more detailed and friendly, provide more frequent communications within our software about our Acceptable Use Policy and will be deploying an external program committed to educating our clients on proper email marketing practices.
I hope this provides readers with detailed perspective on this matter.
