I can still remember the excitement of buying my first new car. Like most new drivers, I already knew which car I wanted. It was the red coupe with grey interior. I didn’t even want to bother with a test drive. All I wanted was to hand them a check and have them give me the keys. I thought that was all there was to it. You give them money and voilà! Instant access to the product. I was wrong…

What happened instead, as I’m sure many of you have experienced as well, was the 4 hour long process of credit check, test drive, haggling over the cost of the vehicle, resisting the urge to get that extended warranty, and trying not to be persuaded to make the contract 72 months just to lower the monthly payment…it was exhausting! I had no idea of what the process actually entailed. There really should have been a sign on the car lot that said, “Heads up, this process may take up to 4 hours to complete!”

Email List Approval

What does this have to do with Benchmark Email? Recently the Support Department has been receiving questions regarding the process of list approval. Specifically, why it sometimes takes longer than others to approve a particular list. My hope is that this blog will help to clear up some of the confusion and frustration you may have experienced with it (or to prevent the frustration in the first place).

When you sign up for an account with Benchmark Email, I understand that there is a certain level of excitement and curiosity to explore this new adventure. Your mind is already racing, imagining the wonderful and clever campaigns you are going to create. You have a list of contacts prepared and you can’t wait for them to see what you’ve got!

You upload the list into your account and then BAM! You are hit with this screen:

 

Now you are left waiting…and waiting…and maybe even waiting some more. This can become frustrating if you aren’t aware of what we are doing with your list.

Under Review

Every list that is uploaded is placed under review. This process can take anywhere from a few moments to a couple of hours. List approval is our way of making sure each and every list is Opt-In. In other words, we may check to see if your contacts have given you permission to email them. This is how we achieve the best possible email deliverability rates for your campaigns.

Since this process can take anywhere from a few moments to a couple of hours, I recommend uploading your lists the day before you would like to use them whenever possible. We know that many of our clients are in a hurry to get their lists approved so they can send out their campaigns.

During the review process, we may request more information from you. After you have uploaded a list and it is marked as “pending approval,” make sure to keep an eye on your email. When additional information is needed from you, we will contact you via the email address on your account.

Please note that if we ask for more documentation, it is not a reflection on your email marketing practices or business, but rather a way to confirm that you are using good email practices. If each one of our customers uses good email practices, we can keep our delivery rates at optimal levels.

Lists are an important part of the email marketing process. Make sure your list uploading is at the top of your To-Do list so you can get it done quickly and move on to the fun stuff!