Getting Started in 250ok

Introduction

Applies to: All ONTRAPORT accounts.

Once you have been setup on a 250ok child account you will need to take a few minutes to setup your seed list and configure your 250ok settings.

NOTE: If you need to get setup with a 250ok child account, please sign up at Managing Email Delivery with 250ok.

Optimize Your Seedlist

One of the first things you should do once you have access is optimize your seed list. This will automatically analyze the concentration of different providers in your list and apply weights depending on who YOU are emailing. Here are the steps to do this:

Export your entire mailing list from ONTRAPORT.
Login to 250ok using the credentials provided to you by ONTRAPORT (read and agree to their terms if this is your first login).
Click Inbox Informant
Go to Optimize Seedlist
Name and upload your mailing list
After the list is finished processing click View on that list
Look at the makeup of your list and make note of the concentrations of providers if you wish
Click Apply Weighting to Seedlist in the top right
Select the regions that you would like to include in your seed tests (we recommend selecting all the check boxes on this page):
When you are satisfied with the weighting and regions in your seed list scroll to the bottom of the page and click save seed list.

Once this is done 250ok will automatically apply weights according to who is on your list.

The seedlist generated by 250ok is a representative sample of your current Contacts database, making it easier and less expensive to test deliverability.

Importing Your Seedlist

Once you have optimized your seedlist you will need to import it into your ONTRAPORT account so you can run seed tests. Here are the steps to download your seedlist from 250ok and upload it into your ONTRAPORT account:

Login to 250ok and click Inbox Informant
Click Get Seedlist
Click Export List
Open the downloaded file and re-save it as a .csv file (the file you download will be in .txt format).
Login to ONTRAPORT and follow our normal import process. Be sure that you include a unique Tag on these new contacts so they can be grouped and excluded from regular mailings. Most people use a tag such as "Seed List [today's date]" as the tag name (you can add a Tag to the import in step 5, Rules).

Running Seed Tests

After importing the seedlist you will be able to include it on any mailing, or mail it on it’s own to see how the content of your messages perform before you send them to your real contacts. Here are the steps to run a seed test once you have imported your seedlist.

Content test:

By sending ONLY to your seedlist, you can verify if the content of your email is going to trip many spam filters. Here's how to test your content by emailing directly to your seedlist.

Create a group based on the criteria Contact Tags>Contains >Seed List [date] where Seed List [date] is the tag applied in step number 5 under Importing Your Seedlist above.
Send the email you would like to seed test to this group.

Mailing list test:

It's also important to test your mailing program by sending to your seedlist ALONG WITH a normal broadcast. This will help uncover problems with filters based on your mailing reputation, the contacts on your list, and your engagement rates. In order to run this type of test, follow these steps

Edit the Group that you are sending to and add the criteria Contact Tags>Contains >Seed List [date], where Seed List [date] is the tag applied in number 5 under Importing Your Seedlist above. This will create a sub-set of your Group with only seedlist contacts.
Send your broadcast as normal.
Be sure that you remove that criteria from your Group after sending to ensure you do not run a seed test each time you email that Group.

Next Steps

Using and Interpreting 250ok Seed Tests

Prior steps:

Managing Email Delivery with 250ok

Created November 28, 2016 23:18 - Updated June 06, 2019 17:40

Brad Edmundson

Contents