Despite technological advancements, email remains among the most significant channels in a marketer’s toolkit. Therefore, email deliverability is an aspect that everyone who’s planning email campaigns should be on top of. Marketers devote many hours to meticulously planning each email marketing campaign, create flawless copy with quality content, and worrying over formatting.
There’s nothing more disheartening than discovering an email bounced and never got to the subscribers after all the work that went into it. Businesses will not satisfy subscribers or receive a return on investment if the email does not reach the inbox, despite how perfectly the campaign strategy, design, and development are thought out.
Email deliverability is a large and complex topic, that’s why to make it easy for you and assist you in getting your emails to the inbox, we’ve compiled a detailed guide on email deliverability with the best practices to improve inbox placement. If you’re looking to make the most out of email marketing, keep reading!
What Is Email Deliverability?
Email deliverability is the capacity to deliver emails to the inboxes of subscribers. Many marketers use it to determine the possibility of their email marketing campaigns reaching their customers’ inboxes, taking into account factors such as ISPs, bounce rate, throttling, spam problems, and bulking. Knowing and understanding the factors that impact your email deliverability will improve your marketing efforts and therefore, your inbox placement.
Factors Affecting Email Deliverability
There are some email deliverability components to keep in mind when planning an email marketing campaign:
Identification
This is a list of protocols that indicate who you claim to be whenever you send an email. This includes Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Sender Policy Framework (SPF).
Sender Reputation
Your sender reputation is a rating that indicates the trustworthiness of your emails. Although agencies and internet service providers (ISP) may have different ratings for you, the easiest method to improve your reputation is to generate positive subscriber behavior (which implies users recognizing you as a trustworthy sender so your emails don’t land in the junk folder). For example, if you’re sending emails to a customer who already decided to unsubscribe (or someone who did not subscribe) from your newsletter, your email might be recognized as spam which will affect your sender reputation.
Content
One of the most common deliverability issues marketers encounter when creating email campaigns has to do with the content. This is dependent on how suitable and relevant your message is to your target audience. Using unusual formatting can have an influence on your email deliverability, depending on your past sending practices. To make the maximum impact, customize your content to what your readers care about.
If your customers subscribe for a specific newsletter, send them emails that are relevant to that newsletter, otherwise, they can consider it spam. Most of the reasons an email ends up in the spam folder or the inbox have to do with identification and reputation. Deliverability issues suggest that the sending and authorization methods are outdated, inappropriate, or that subscribers are uninterested in the content.
Ways To Improve Email Deliverability
Here are a few best practices for a better inbox placement that will ensure your email campaigns landing in the inbox of your customer.
Verify Your Email Domain’s Authenticity
This is crucial for organizations that have never had a domain before or are newcomers to the industry. Your domain would be linked to an IP address during authentication, and your ISP would be presented on the receiver’s end. This will establish your trustworthiness as a sender and show that emails are coming from a reliable source.
Prime Your IP Address
It’s crucial to remember that you’ll require the appropriate email infrastructure as your email campaign grows. Once you’ve reached 25,000 daily emails, you’ll want to use a dedicated IP address to transmit them. And, if you use a dedicated IP address, you’ll need to adequately get it ready before sending emails to your entire list, so the ISPs know you’re sending a legitimate email.
Use a Twofold Opt-in System for New Subscribers
Double opt-in can be an excellent method because it allows you to learn how Internet Service Providers see your domain. Users are typically asked to tick a particular checkbox to subscribe to emails when using the single opt-in option. However, this is a poor strategy that can result in a significant number of spam reports, thus impacting your reputation. And never forget to always have an opt-out option for anyone who wants to unsubscribe from your emails.
Avoid Writing Subject Lines That Read Like Spam
When planning email campaigns, subject lines are a critical element that will decide whether or not a subscriber opens your emails. While ISPs’ filtering algorithms are becoming more complex, and some tag lines won’t always put your email in the spam folder, it’s best to avoid using typical spam terms in general. There is no definite guideline or phrase that will secure you a spot in the inbox. When you create subject lines, however, place emphasis on the message’s true value rather than looking aggressive or salesy.
Avoid Spam Traps
Spam traps are email addresses put up by email community organizations and ISPs in order to detect spammers sending unwanted emails. If a sender accidentally sends to a spam trap, the sender is instantly identified and placed on a blocklist. If any ISP puts you in their block list it will highly affect your sender reputation and getting off it is incredibly difficult. Therefore it’s best to avoid getting on one, to begin with. Spam traps can be avoided by having a clean database with email addresses of only interested users and never buying an email list of any kind.
Regular Cleanup of Your Email List
When your email list contains a considerable amount of idle or unengaged recipients, your email deliverability suffers greatly. Your reputation will suffer as a result, and your bounce rate will rise. Monitoring your recipients regularly and removing those who aren’t needed can help you keep your reputation and deliverability in top shape.
Maintain a Consistent Schedule
Email marketing is all about timing and consistency. If you aren’t sending out enough emails, your subscribers can forget about you. On the other hand, sending them too many emails may irritate them. To improve email deliverability, you must strike a delicate balance. You’ll have to experiment to see what works best for your target demographic. Once you’ve discovered what schedule is best suited for you, stick to it. And when it comes to planning schedules, automations can make it easy for you.
Send Emails to Those Who Want to Hear From You
Since both recipients and ISPs must draw value from your email content, effective emails will delight both. As a result, engagement rates will naturally rise once the conditions are met, resulting in improved email deliverability.
Improving Your Email Marketing Efforts by Optimizing Your Email Deliverability
The emails must be delivered for your email marketing campaign to be a success. Following these guidelines will help guarantee that your marketing messages reach prospects’ inboxes. They’re all simple to apply, so spend some time training your organization to improve email deliverability and ensure that all your email marketing efforts follow the best standards.
Want to learn more about email deliverability?
We created a guide to specialy introduce you to Email Deliverability and learn the basics to improve your inbox placement. You can download the Ebook right now!
