Email deliverability is a vital aspect of successful email marketing campaigns. Navigating the world of spam filters and gaining the trust of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can be daunting. However, following best practices can significantly improve your chances of reaching your audience’s inboxes.
The ultimate objective of every email marketing campaign is to foster customer engagement and retention and ultimately improve ROI. From building an engaged email list to monitoring your sender reputation and implementing feedback loops, these tactics will ensure your emails stand out.
Also read: The Importance Of Using Email Signatures for Branding
List of Best Practices to Improve your Email Deliverability
1. Prepare Your Intellectual Property (IP) For Optimal Performance
ISPs need to know you and your IP before they treat your emails respectfully. So, how do you establish this trust?
Start by sending small batches of emails to engaged recipients. These initial emails act as the icebreaker, showing ISPs that you’re here to provide value and not flood inboxes with irrelevant content. As active users receive and open these emails, your IP starts gaining credibility, inching closer to building a solid reputation.
With the help of email deliverability software, gradually increase the number of emails you send, allowing ISPs to see your responsible behavior. It’s like nurturing a budding friendship.
2. Create a Subdomain Solely Dedicated to Email Operations
Having a dedicated subdomain for your email marketing activities sounds like an extra step, but it can bring significant benefits. Not only does it allow you to isolate your email-related activities, but it also helps establish trust over time.
When recipients see your email from a specific subdomain, they associate it with your brand and become familiar with it. As their confidence in the subdomain grows, they become more receptive to your emails, improving deliverability.
Moreover, having a subdomain dedicated to email marketing enables you to closely monitor your IP reputation in a domain-specific manner. This monitoring allows you to proactively address issues, ensuring your email marketing efforts stay on track.
3. Apply a Sender Policy Framework to Enhance Email Security
The sender policy framework is a mechanism that increases your trustworthiness in the eyes of receiving email servers. When you implement SPF, the server can cross-check the domain name associated with your email against its IP address to verify its authenticity. This verification process helps prevent unauthorized use of your domain. It ensures your emails land in the intended recipients’ inboxes rather than getting lost in spam filters.
Without an SPF, your emails might face rejection or be marked as suspicious, making it harder to reach your audience effectively. Set up an SPF record to secure your email passport and avoid unnecessary hurdles in your email deliverability journey.
4. Asses Your Sender’s Reputation
Your sender’s reputation plays a significant role in determining whether your emails reach the coveted inbox or end up in the dreaded spam folder. ISPs automatically reject emails with a low sender score, so keeping a close eye on your reputation is crucial.
Tools like Sender Score and email deliverability software can help you assess your standing. Sender Score assigns a number to your outgoing mail server, with a higher score indicating a better sender reputation. By analyzing metrics like unsubscribes and spam reports, Sender Score gives you valuable insights into your performance.
A good sender score, typically above 90, increases your email deliverability, while a low score raises red flags. Therefore, nurture your sender reputation like you would protect your good name in real life, and watch your email success soar.
5. Monitor Feedback Loops
Listening to feedback is essential in any relationship, even the one you have with ISPs. That’s where feedback loops come into play. Major ISPs provide Complaint Feedback Loops (FBLs) that allow email senders to gain valuable information from recipients complaining about their emails.
For instance, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft offer straightforward mechanisms to access this feedback. Using FBL programs, you can proactively address complaints and rectify issues hindering your email deliverability. When you leverage feedback loops, you demonstrate your commitment to addressing concerns and maintaining a positive sender reputation.
6. Maintain a Consistent Email Sending Schedule
We all appreciate consistency in our lives; your email recipients are no exception. Maintaining a regular email-sending schedule is key to optimizing your email deliverability.
Random and erratic broadcast activity can raise eyebrows among ISPs and negatively impact your sender score. To avoid these pitfalls, develop a predictable pattern by adhering to a consistent send schedule. As such, you establish a sense of reliability and professionalism, assuring ISPs that your emails are part of a well-thought-out marketing strategy rather than sporadic attempts to bombard inboxes.
Whether it’s a weekly newsletter, monthly updates, or other frequencies that suits your audience, deliver your emails at the right time and with the right content. When you become a reliable presence in your recipients’ inboxes, you increase the likelihood of engagement. Also, you’ll maintain a healthy sender reputation.
7. Employ a Double Opt-in or Confirmed Opt-in Process
In the world of email marketing, consent is everything. While the single opt-in approach may seem enticing, it can have downsides. Allowing users to sign up for your emails with a single click or a pre-checked box might generate a flood of email addresses. In addition, it can lead to a surge in spam complaints.
Spam complaints are like landmines for ISPs. You don’t want your sender’s reputation in tatters. To avoid this calamity, consider implementing a double or confirmed opt-in process.
With a double opt-in, you send a confirmation email to new subscribers, asking them to validate their email addresses and explicitly provide consent to receive your emails. Besides mitigating spam complaints, it demonstrates your commitment to ethical email practices and compliance with data protection regulations.
Also read: 7 Powerful Email Marketing Tips You Need to Know
8. Regularly Clean and Update Your Email Recipient List
No one likes clutter, especially when it comes to email lists. Keeping your list tidy is essential for maintaining a high deliverability rate. Sending marketing emails to nonexistent or unengaged users can result in higher bounce rates, significantly impacting your sender’s reputation. To prevent this, it’s crucial to purge your list and remove inactive recipients periodically.
Consider filtering out users who haven’t opened or clicked your emails in several months. Doing so enhances your deliverability and improves engagement rates with an audience genuinely interested in your content.
While it might be hard to bid farewell to some email addresses, think of it as trimming the excess weight to ensure your emails reach the right inboxes with maximum impact. You can use paid services or email validation tools to clean your list, catching duplicates, typos, and outdated domains.
9. Ensure Appropriate Timing When Sending Emails
Finding the perfect email frequency is like discovering the secret sauce for your campaigns. Too many emails can overwhelm your subscribers, leading to disengagement and higher unsubscribe rates.
On the other hand, infrequent emails can make you lose touch with your audience, resulting in missed opportunities and reduced revenue. The best way to find the optimal frequency is through testing. Start with a benchmark of one email per week, a balanced frequency that keeps you top of mind without overwhelming your subscribers.
You can experiment with scaling up to twice weekly if you have valuable content and engaged recipients. Conversely, if you find that once a month keeps your audience engaged without feeling neglected, that’s perfectly acceptable too. Finding the sweet spot in your email frequency will maintain a strong connection with your subscribers and maximize your deliverability and engagement.
10. Incorporate Branding and Check Blacklists
One way to build trust and reduce spam complaints is by incorporating your brand’s name in the “from” line. Seeing a recognizable brand name in their inbox instills confidence in recipients and increases the chances of your email being opened. Additionally, including your brand’s name in the “from” line assures recipients that the email is legitimate and relevant to them.
In some cases, companies opt to use a front person, an individual, to add a personal touch to their email marketing efforts. This approach can still be effective if you append “from [business name]” after the individual’s name. By combining personalization and branding, you strike a balance that fosters trust, encourages engagement, and reinforces your professional image.
Blacklists are DNS-based databases designed to protect users from IPs associated with high volumes of spam reports. Being listed on one can severely hinder your email deliverability.
Fortunately, tools like MXToolbox can quickly determine your blacklist status. By proactively monitoring your IP’s standing, you can promptly address any issues and take steps to clear your name or IP. You may even consider signing up for a monitoring service that alerts you if your IP is on a blacklist.
Also read: 11 Best Free Email Account & Service Providers
Why It’s Time to Get the Best Email Deliverability Software
Enhancing your email deliverability can be a smooth process with the right software. By implementing the strategies outlined in this article, you can navigate the challenges of spam filters, gain the trust of ISPs, and engage your recipients effectively. By applying these best practices and infusing a human touch into your email marketing strategy, you’re well on your way to achieving remarkable results and cultivating strong relationships with your audience.
