Sending transactional or triggered email to the Everest Seed List list is important to measuring the effectiveness of your email program. It helps to ensure that these specialized messages are also being placed in the inbox as effectively as the marketing email you send.
Before you can send any kind of email to the seed list, you must:
- Obtain the Everest seed list: Within Everest, navigate to In-Flight>Inbox Placement>Manage Seed List and download the seed list.
- Set up a matching ID: As discussed in How do I implement an X-header or body tag to help identify my mail for Inbox Placement in Everest?
Seeding methods
There are two recommended methods:
- Send a copy of an actual transactional or triggered email to the entire seed list during live deployments.
- Send just the transactional or triggered email template (with no personalized subscriber information) to the seed list separately from live deployments.
Sending a copy of a transactional or triggered email during a live employment allows you to measure deliverability sporadically throughout the day or during high volume sending periods when deliverability can be negatively impacted.
Some senders may not have the technical capability of sending to the seed list during a live deployment. These senders can email a template to the seed list at a convenient time.
For both methods, you will likely need technical or development staff to implement seeding.
Steps
To send to the seed list during a live deployment:
- Create a script to send a copy of an actual message to the entire seed list during a live mailing.
- Make a copy of your transactional email, remove all dynamic and event-triggered logic, and save it as an HTML file.
- Change all dynamic content to fixed values, such as always starting the email with Dear John.
- Send the email only to the seed list during the peak engagement time of your transaction email (for example, daily at 10 a.m.).
