Email deliverability is a key component of any successful email marketing strategy. It measures the percentage of emails sent that make it to subscribers’ inboxes instead of being blocked or marked as spam.
Taking steps to improve inbox placement can help your business reap the benefits of email marketing, including increased brand recognition and revenue. Inbox placement is determined by several factors, including:
Spam Filters
Email spam filters play a critical role in email deliverability. They analyze the content, language, and formatting of an email to determine its legitimacy. If an email is deemed spam, it will be filtered into junk folders or blocked completely. Mailbox providers and users are getting increasingly savvy about identifying spam, so emails must be as spam-free as possible to avoid being flagged for deletion or sent to spam folders. There are many factors that influence spam filtering, including the reputation of the sender, the content, and the subject line. Emails with shortened URLs, spam-like phrases, and excessive use of hyperlinks will often trigger spam filters. Additionally, sending large volumes of emails at a single time will increase the likelihood of being categorized as spam.
Email marketing software platforms are able to monitor your email sender reputation and provide reports on your email deliverability. They can help you optimize your email campaign to boost engagement and avoid spamming the mailboxes of your recipients. They can also advise you on how to improve your email deliverability rate by using best practices.
Your email deliverability is determined by your reputation as a sender, the number of spam traps you hit, and whether your emails are blacklisted. The best way to increase your deliverability is to build a solid reputation by following the email marketing best practices. Some of these best practices include sending email campaigns from a dedicated IP, verifying SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, and making sure to avoid spam-floshing subject lines.
Your sender reputation is a key factor in email deliverability, and it can be ruined by a few mistakes. For instance, if you use a shared IP address and receive many complaints, your reputation will suffer and your emails may be diverted to spam folders or blocked entirely. Another common mistake is sending emails to inactive addresses that have morphed into spam traps or unknown users. If you do this, ISPs will think that you are a spammer and will send your future emails to the junk folder. To prevent this from happening, you should use a free email verification tool to check your deliverability and ensure that your emails are reaching your subscribers.
Reputation
A company’s reputation with email service providers (ESPs) and recipients is the foundation of its email deliverability. A strong reputation ensures emails reach the intended inboxes rather than the spam folder, such as when some compare Instantly and SMTP Ghost. There are several factors that determine a company’s reputation, including its authentication settings, list hygiene, and the content of the emails sent.
Authenticating your emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is critical to maintaining a good email deliverability rate. It helps ISPs identify your organization as a trusted sender and confirm that your emails are not being delivered to spam traps or hijacked by malicious actors.
It’s important to monitor the performance of your email campaign to measure your success and identify potential vulnerabilities that could lead to poor deliverability rates. Using a comprehensive email analytics solution like Validity will help you gain visibility into the effectiveness of your campaign and how each element contributes to your overall email deliverability rate.
Email engagement is another factor that influences your email deliverability rate. This includes open and click-through rates, unsubscribes, hard bounces, and spam complaints. It’s important to monitor these metrics regularly and keep them below the industry averages.
If your company’s deliverability rate falls below the industry average, it’s time to take a closer look at your program and address any issues. To do this, you can use various free tools to test your email deliverability. These tools include Sender Score, MX Toolbox, Barracuda Central, and Google Postmaster.
One common mistake that can impact your email deliverability is switching to a new email service provider (ESP). When you switch ESPs, you’re also exchanging IP addresses. This can trigger recipient email box providers to be cautious about your emails and may place a larger percentage of them in the Spam folder.
Another mistake that can affect your deliverability is poor list hygiene. This can include sending to email addresses that are role-based or disposable, which can cause high bounce rates and low engagement. You can improve your list hygiene by using an email verification tool and cleaning your lists regularly. Also, be sure to follow email best practices and avoid spamming your subscribers to prevent a bad reputation.
ISPs
Email is still a mainstay of any marketer’s toolkit, and email deliverability is the key to getting those emails into customers’ inboxes. Unfortunately, email delivery isn’t as simple as simply building an audience and pressing send – there are many factors that play into whether or not your messages make it to the inbox.
One of the most important factors is ISPs, which use a variety of tools to combat spammers and protect their customers’ inboxes. While these tools can negatively impact your deliverability, following email best practices and ensuring you’re not sending to spam traps can help improve email deliverability.
A common mistake many marketers make is sending to their entire list. This not only hurts deliverability, but it also increases your spam rates and can cause recipients to unsubscribe from your emails. Instead, you should only send to those who have explicitly signed up for your emails, and it’s a good idea to confirm that consent was granted.
Another factor that can affect email deliverability is the amount of time you wait to send emails. Ideally, you should only send them at times when the majority of your subscribers are awake and likely to open them. This will ensure that you don’t lose your hard-earned sender reputation for low open rates that can cause future issues with delivery.
Lastly, your email frequency and relevancy will also affect email deliverability. If you’re consistently sending emails that aren’t relevant to your subscriber base, you will start to build a bad reputation with the ISPs and risk having your emails sent directly to the spam folder. This can even cause the ISP to block your emails completely, which isn’t what you want for your email marketing program.
Fortunately, the key to improving email deliverability is simple: follow best practices and avoid spam traps. While deliverability isn’t a common metric tracked by marketers, it is an essential component of any successful email marketing program. By understanding the factors that influence email deliverability, you can ensure your emails are reaching your subscribers and driving revenue.
Personalization
Email marketing can be a powerful way to connect with your audience. However, it’s only as effective as the emails actually make it to the inbox, and there are a lot of obstacles that can prevent an email from reaching its intended audience. Whether it’s a spam filter, a bad sender reputation, or a lack of engagement, each of these factors can impact email deliverability. Keeping up with email best practices and emerging technologies will help you ensure your emails reach the inbox.
Personalization is one of the most important factors in email deliverability, as it helps increase customer retention and create a sense of connection. It’s not just about including a person’s name in an email, but also customizing content and experiences to align with their needs, interests, and preferences.
Using relevant and engaging email content is also an important factor in email deliverability, as it increases customer engagement and trust. A personalized email can be as simple as a personalized subject line or as complex as a customized email program.
It’s also important to avoid spam trigger words in your subject lines and email content. Words like FREE, ACT NOW, and CLICK HERE can trigger spam filters and negatively impact email deliverability.
Another way to improve email deliverability is to maintain a regular schedule for sending emails. Both subscribers and ISPs appreciate when companies follow a consistent schedule, as it helps build trust and anticipation.
Lastly, it’s important to regularly prune your email list. This process involves removing inactive or invalid email addresses from your list. It will improve your email deliverability by reducing the likelihood of being labeled as spam and increasing the number of valid emails in your sender reputation.
To maximize your email deliverability, it’s crucial to work with a trusted email service provider that understands the latest trends in email best practices and emerging technologies. Validity’s team of experts is up to date on all of the latest tips, tricks and techniques for email deliverability, and they can help you improve your email deliverability rate so that more of your emails reach your customers and prospects. Schedule a free demo with us today to learn more about how we can help you get more of your emails into the inbox.