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Email marketing should be a core part of your business's advertising strategy, however, there is so much to remember. To add to it, over the last year, Improving email deliverability has become a must to ensure your subscribers are actually getting your email. In this guide, we talk through what email deliverability is, what hinders deliverability, the impact it has on performance and some actionable tips to improve it and your email marketing strategy.
Email deliverability is the ability to deliver emails to your subscribers’ inboxes. You're probably thinking, don’t all my emails get to my subscribers? Unfortunately not. There are a range of reasons why they don't. Various factors such as spam issues, ISPs, throttling, bounces and bulking can negatively impact deliverability and cause your emails to get lost in transit.
This refers to situations where emails are flagged as spam by email filters or email service providers. If your email has spam-like characteristics, like misleading subject lines, suspicious content or spam trigger words, your emails might end up in the spam folder.
ISPs provide internet access to users, like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook, evaluate incoming emails based on various criteria, such as sender reputation, email content and user engagement to determine whether your email makes the cut.
This happens when you try to send bulk emails (too many) in a short amount of time. ISPs may throttle your sending, leading to delayed or even blocked delivery.
This occurs when an email fails and returns to the sender. Hard bounces show a permanent delivery failure for potentially a non-existent email address. Soft bounces are temporary delivery failures that happen due to full inboxes or server outages. High bounce rates will negatively impact your sender's reputation and deliverability.
Bulking can occur if the email provider or spam filters perceive your emails as potentially unwanted or low-priority based on various factors, including sender reputation, email content, and recipient engagement.
High deliverability ensures that your emails are seen by your subscribers, significantly increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions. When your emails end up in spam folders or get filtered out, they fail to reach your target audience, limiting your campaign's reach and effectiveness.
Maintaining a positive sender reputation is essential for achieving optimal deliverability. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) evaluate senders based on factors like engagement rates, complaint rates, and spam reports. A strong sender reputation leads to higher deliverability rates, while a poor reputation can result in blocked or marked-as-spam emails.
Email deliverability directly impacts your open and click-through rates. If your emails fail to reach the inbox, recipients won't have the opportunity to engage with your content or respond to your calls to action. By focusing on improving deliverability, you increase the likelihood of higher open and click rates, thus boosting overall campaign performance.
Ultimately, the success of your email marketing efforts is measured by conversions and return on investment (ROI). With improved deliverability, you maximise the opportunity for conversions, as your messages effectively reach your target audience. This positively impacts your campaign's overall performance and contributes to a higher ROI.
Now that we recognise the importance of email deliverability, let's unpack some actionable tips to enhance your email marketing campaigns:
Maintain a healthy sender reputation by regularly monitoring and evaluating the reputation of your IP address and domain. Utilise authentication protocols such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) to establish your legitimacy and build trust with email providers.
Ensure your email list remains clean and engaged by regularly reviewing and purging non-existent or unengaged subscribers. High bounce rates negatively impact your sender's credibility. Analyse your CRM data and identify subscribers who haven't opened or engaged in a while. Consider sending re-engagement emails or providing an easy opt-out option to maintain a clean and responsive list.
Use double opt-in methods to confirm subscribers' interest and improve the quality of your list. This process ensures that only engaged and genuinely interested users receive your emails, reducing the chances of spam complaints and bounces.
Respect your subscribers' preferences and provide clear and prominent unsubscribe links in your emails. Honouring unsubscribe requests promptly not only comply with legal requirements, but also improves deliverability. It helps maintain a clean list and demonstrates respect for your subscribers' preferences.
Building your email list organically is crucial for good deliverability. Purchased email lists often include unengaged or low-quality contacts, leading to high bounce rates and spam complaints. Focus on growing your list through opt-in strategies and targeted marketing efforts.
In the ever-evolving landscape of email marketing, prioritising email deliverability is essential to stay ahead of the competition and get the top spot in your subscriber's inbox. By following the best practices and continuously monitoring, optimising and testing your approach to email, you can ensure that your messages land in the right place at the right time, delivering value to your subscribers. If you’re concerned about your email deliverability, reach out to the Reason team.
