Myths and Facts

Myths and Facts About Email Deliverability

There are some myths about email deliverability out there, and it is important to realize myth from fact. Here are a few of the most prominent myths and the truths to set them straight.

1. Unlike before, B2B senders should worry a bit about spam filters.

As businesses migrate to cloud based services and email solutions, email deliverability best practices for B2B marketers are one in the same as B2C. Therefore, B2B senders aren’t off the hook when it comes to email filters.

Gmail’s spam filter for example looks at generated data from complaints, unknown users, spam traps, etc. to determine whether an IP address will make it through. Therefore, B2B marketers are no exception to the deliverability rules

2. Low Complaint Rates don’t necessarily equate to good deliverability.

Just because you have a low complaint rate doesn’t mean your emails are evading the spam folder.

A complaint rate is calculated as the number of emails delivered to the inbox divided by subscriber complaints. If your company isn’t sending mass amounts of emails, then the chances of getting a bad complaint rate is much easier. 

Focus on getting subscribers to mark your emails as “not spam” rather than focusing too much on your complaint rate.

3. High sender scores don’t necessarily equate to high placement.

Sender scores are like the credit scores of email marketing: you may have a great one but you will still need to go through a screening process before taking out a loan.

Sender scores indicate how likely it is that an email recipient will think the sender’s IP address is spam and are great tools to determine whether your messages are being junked, blocked, or bulked. But just remember, while it measures deliverability potential, it does not measure how many emails are actually making it to the inbox.

4. Just because an email is inactive doesn’t mean it went straight to the spam folder.

Instead of removing subscribers based on open and click activity, don’t assume that just because nobody clicked or opened it that it wen to the spam folder. Instead, adjust your content/frequency/cadence accordingly and then determine whether they should be removed from your list.

What are some other common misconceptions about email deliverability that you’ve heard? Leave a comment in the section below.

Reliance In Spree of Hiring

Jio Infocomm has awarded $250-$350 million IT contract to IBM

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm has awarded $250-$350 million IT contract to IBM. The IT contract with IBM has a clause to scale up.

The company has already awarded an IT solution deal to Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia Networks, while Samsung is the main technology partner for rolling out 4G network in the country.

Reliance Jio has a pan-India licence for 4G LTE on the 2,300MHz band and will launch 4G services early next year. Reliance Jio is likely to start 4G trials from October this year and has shortlisted 1200 cities for the launch of 4G services in 2015.

The telco had also acquired airwaves in the 1800 MHz band in a number of circles. It will provide a TDD LTE network along with fixed line broadband nationwide.

Reliance Jio is on a hiring spree and has hired 5,500 people already. It has created hub & spoke model for the organisational structure.The company's top management is already in place and is being led by Sandip Das, who is managing director of Reliance Jio.

Googling Human Knowledge

Storing All Human Knowledge @ Google

Google is building the largest store of information in human history - a knowledge base that autonomously gathers and merges data from across the web to provide unprecedented access to all facts about the world.

The search giant is building Knowledge Vault, a type of knowledge base - a system that stores information so that machines as well as people can read it.

Google's existing knowledge base, called Knowledge Graph, relies on crowdsourcing to expand its information.

However, humans could only take it so far so Google decided to automate the process.

It started building the Vault by using an algorithm to automatically pull in information from all over the web, using machine learning to turn the raw data into usable pieces of knowledge.

Knowledge Vault has pulled in 1.6 billion facts to date. Of these, 271 million are rated as "confident facts", to which Google's model ascribes a more than 90 per cent chance of being true, 'New Scientist' reported.

Tom Austin, a technology analyst at Gartner in Boston, said that the world's biggest technology companies are racing to build similar vaults.

"Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and IBM are all building them, and they're tackling these enormous problems that we would never even have thought of trying 10 years ago," he said.

Google researcher Kevin Murphy and his colleagues will present a paper on Knowledge Vault at the Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining in New York.

Did You Know What Can Your Smartphone Do

Things You Didn't Know That Your 

Smartphone Can Do

I use my smartphone every day, often in the first few minutes I wake up. It’s not because I’m addicted (ok, maybe I am a little bit addicted) – it’s because my phone is so darn useful. It tells me the weather. It helps me avoid and navigate around traffic jams. It helps me keep in touch with my friends.

Of course, you probably know all about that stuff. But your smartphone can do some pretty unusual things that you’ve probably never even considered. Here are some of the most amazing, out-there tasks your smartphone can help you conquer.

Diagnose a leaky window

As a homeowner in the oft-frosty Northeast, I know how important it is to have tightly sealed windows in the wintertime. Finding leaky windows doesn’t just make my home more comfortable; it saves money on my electric bills.

How can you find these energy-wasting areas of your home? Simple: Turn your phone into a thermal imaging camera with the FLIR ONE add on. It fits onto your phone much like a Mophie Juice Pack does, and translates thermal energy into color images. It’ll show you where cold air is seeping into your house, where pipes need better insulation and even help locate overloaded circuits.

The FLIR ONE Personal Thermal Imager is compatible with both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s. It’s available for purchase directly from FLIR.com for $349.

Measure your heart health

You don’t need to take a trip to an expensive hospital lab to get a detailed look at your heart health – there’s a smartphone app (and device) for that.

The AliveCor Heart Monitor rests on your chest or finger, converting electrical impulses from your body into a printable ECG graph. The included AliveECG app helps you understand if your ECG is normal, or if you have an issue you should consult a professional about. The device is no substitute for an expertly trained doctor, but if you’re concerned about your heart health, it makes a great supplement.

The AliveCor Heart Monitor is available as a stand-alone device or with a case for the iPhone 5/5S. Both are available for order at store.alivecor.com for $199.

Prevent drunk driving

Imagine you’re at a house party with a couple close friends. You’ve all shared a glass or two of wine. You feel like you’re probably O.K. to drive, but it’d be far more responsible to know for sure.

That’s where the new Bluetooth BACtrack Vio Smartphone Breathlyzer comes in. The compact keychain device measures the alcohol present on your breath in just five seconds, wirelessly sending your BAC reading to your iOS or Android smartphone. An included app will predict how long it’ll take for your levels to return to 0%, helping you plan whether to call a cab or just “wait it out.”

The BACtrack Vio is available directly from BACtrack and at Amazon.com for just $49.99.

Watch over-the-air TV

You may already know that your smartphone can connect to streaming video services like Hulu, allowing you to catch your favorite TV shows on the go. But did you know there’s a way to watch your favorite shows live, over-the-air? It’s possible with the Belkin Dyle.

The Dyle is a small antenna device that connects directly to your older iPhone or iPad’s charger port to receive over-the-air digital signals. It’s a great way to catch coverage of the big game while you’re sitting in the stands, pass time while riding the commuter rail or keep the kids busy in the car. Of course, for the device to work, you’ll need to be close to a major metropolitan area to pick up a quality signal.

The 30-pin Belkin Dyle is compatible with the iPhone 4/4S, iPad, iPad 2 and 3rd generation iPad. You can buy yours direct from Belkin or on Amazon.com for $29.99.

Measure your muscles

As any health expert will tell you, your bathroom scale isn’t the best way to measure progress at the gym. Muscle weighs more than fat, so gaining the occasional pound or two can be a very good thing.

The Skulpt Aim helps you get a better handle on your fitness by tracking your body fat percentage and the muscle fiber size instead of your weight. It uses small electrodes to measure individual muscle groups and areas and relays the info to your phone, giving you an overall picture of where you’re making progress and where you’re not. The device even comes with an app that recommends exercises that are best for your body’s unique composition.

The Skulpt Aim works with both Android and iOS devices and is expected to start shipping in fall 2014. You can preorder yours at skulpt.me for $169.99, which includes free shipping.

Figure out why your check engine light is on

I own an older Honda Civic. It’s a great, reliable car. But now that it’s been in service for nearly a decade, seeing the check engine light come on is a fairly regular occurrence.

The good news: You and I don’t need to take our cars to an expensive mechanic just to get that light diagnosed – we can do it ourselves using our smartphones and a device like Automatic. It connects directly to your car’s onboard computer, turning check engine events into push alerts to your iOS and Android phone. If it’s a minor issue, you may be able to fix it and clear the light yourself, saving a trip to the shop.

Automatic also tracks your driving, giving you feedback on your acceleration and breaking habits that can help improve your gas mileage. It can even alert emergency authorities in case of a disabling crash.

Automatic is compatible with most gasoline cars sold in the U.S. since 1996. You can purchase the device directly from Amazon for $79.99.

Improve your basketball skills

Are you looking to take your son or daughter’s basketball game to the next level? You could clear out the spare bedroom and spend some serious cash on a live-in NCAA-quality basketball coach. Or, you could save the six-figure expense and get a similar coaching experience from a smart basketball like the 94Fifty.

The 94Fifty Smart Sensor Basketball is a regulation size and weight ball that contains a tiny Bluetooth sensor that measures spin and bounce. It connects wirelessly to iOS and Android phones to offer real-time feedback during the included training exercises, helping to improve skills in the moment. It’s like having a real basketball coach with you at all times, even when you’re just shooting a few layups in the driveway.

The 94Fifty Smart Sensor Basketball is available in both men’s and women’s sizes on Amazon.com for $249.95.

Catch fish

Normally, a family camping trip would be a reason to leave the smartphone behind so you can better enjoy the great outdoors. But let’s face it, this is 2014. Modern technology can make everything better – even your time away from it on the lake.

How? Check out the Deeper Fish Finder. The small, spherical device works as a fish-finding sonar in both salt and fresh water, helping you locate fish up to 120 feet under the surface. You simply attach it to a fishing line and cast it where you want to fish – it’ll turn on automatically upon hitting the water. Deeper works with most modern iOS and Android devices, but we recommend pairing it with a waterproof phone or tablet like the Samsung Galaxy S5 or the Sony Xperia Z2.

The Deeper Portable Fish Finder is available for purchase on Amazon.com for $243.43.

Millon Dollar Salaries To Tech Startups

Companies Offer Rs 1 crore salaries to tech startups

Flush with investor money and valuations topping a billion dollars, a small but fast-growing group of Indian startup superstars is fuelling a new wave of wage inflation in the Indian technology sector.

The likes of e-commerce leader Flipkart, which raised $1 billion recently, and mobile advertising network InMobi are attracting mid-level executives and technology professionals with annual salaries of over a crores of rupees, something unheard of a couple of years ago.

An angel investor who did not want to be named says any startup that has received substantial funding is today willing to pay a Rs 1crore-plus package to some of its senior talent. Bash Gaming, FusionCharts, Eka Software, Capillary, Indix, Freshdesk and Knowlarity are said to be paying senior management executives an overall compensation that is close to or more than Rs 1 crore. STOI could not independently confirm these figures. The elite billion-dollar valuation club of privately held companies includes e-commerce major Snapdeal and data analytics firm Mu Sigma, besides Flipkart and InMobi.

Salaries for techies in Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, saw the first bump up in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Infosys, Wipro and the like were building the IT services ecosystem. It's now the e-commerce and IT product startups that are beginning to repeat that phenomenon.

"Guess where wage inflation is super high and unfunded smaller startups are feeling embattled — Silicon Valley. It's no different in India now," says Ravi Gururaj, chairman of the Nasscom Product Council and co-founder of the innovation lab Frictionless Ventures.

Abhay Singhal, co-founder of InMobi, suggests it is not the Indian startups that are leading the wage inflation, but the US ones with whom some of the Indian startups have to compete. "I don't think startups are fuelling wage inflation. New-age companies need different talent and calibre to make that big shift happen. We pay more than Indian IT services companies, but we offer competitive salaries, on a par with Google and Facebook," says Singhal. InMobi competes with Google's AdMob, and Flipkart and Snapdeal with Amazon, which has just committed $2 billion to its Indian operations.

Indian startups have also been hiring hundreds of IIT and IIM graduates with top offers. "Entry-level salaries in IT services haven't changed substantially in the past few years, but startups looking at niche skills are willing to pay a premium," says Kris Lakshmikanth, founder of the search firm Headhunters India. The demand for talent in product management and product tech far exceeds supply.

For smaller startups that have not raised much capital, the current wage inflation is worrying. K Sudarshan, MD at the executive search firm EMA Partners, says salaries will stabilize once the startup ecosystem matures.

"Those for whom funding has been shaky have suffered and many have shut down," says Raghunandan G, co-founder of Bangalore-based TaxiForSure, a tech-backed transportation startup which has raised more than $40 million in venture capital since its inception three years ago.

Gururaj says smaller companies will have to get creative with intangible benefits and lures such as fancy titles, overseas travel, and opportunities to speak at important events. Stock options are another element many talented professionals are comfortable with. Ashish Goel, co-founder and CEO of the online furniture portal Urban Ladder, says his company gives its "team members a greater ownership in the company".

There's also a big positive in these salaries for the startup ecosystem. Many who were happily ensconced in large MNC IT services companies in India on account of their salaries are today willing to experiment with startups. "Heavily funded startups with their high valuations create access to a talent pool that would otherwise never consider startups as a career option. People are now willing to take a bet on early-stage startups with the hope that they also might grow into billion dollar companies," says Zishaan Hayath, founder of the online education startup Toppr.com.