Email deliverability is all about the way your emails are received. Good practices include having a clean email list, monitoring hard and soft bounces, and maintaining consistent sending volume. Using authentication protocols like DKIM and SPF is also important.
Sending targeted campaigns to engaged audiences is a great way to keep your emails relevant and boost your delivery rates.
1. Create a Double Opt-In Process
Double opt-in is a process that requires a new subscriber to confirm their email address before being added to an email list, especially using high-conversion email templates. This helps ensure that only real people are joining your list (no accidental misspellings or malicious bots), which can lead to a cleaner and healthier list overall. This may also help reduce hard bounces and spam reports. It may slow down the list-building process slightly, but it’s worth the investment in better engagement metrics.
When implementing double opt-in, it’s important to make sure your confirmation message is clear and engaging. The email should be designed to fit into your brand’s voice and look, as well as any other confirmation emails in your funnel. This will create a consistent experience for your subscribers and show that you care about the details of their experience with your brand.
You can use a signup form on your website or other channels to collect email addresses, then send a confirmation email to the new subscriber immediately. You can then add them to a journey in your ESP, such as a welcome or onboarding flow, where they will receive all the emails you have planned for them.
You can also include a link to the signup form on your site or in your newsletters, to encourage people to give you their email address. Another option is to include a preference center on your site that allows people to sign up for different types of content, such as newsletters, blog updates, or exclusive offers. This can be triggered by events or conditions on your website, such as when a person completes a form (event triggered) or when their profile is added to the database (condition/segment triggered). This will let them choose the type of content they want to receive, and will ensure that only those who are actually interested in receiving it end up on your email lists.
2. Use a Reputable Email Service Provider
Email deliverability is a crucial factor for associations that rely on their email marketing campaigns to engage their subscribers and grow membership. To increase their email deliverability rates, marketers need to work with a reliable email service provider that understands email best practices and emerging technologies. They should also be able to provide them with a virtual inbox test tool that allows them to check how their emails are being sorted and if they’re landing in the spam or promotions tab.
When it comes to email marketing, the most important factor is whether or not your email reaches your subscribers’ inboxes instead of their junk, social, or spam folders. This is why boosting your email deliverability rates should be one of the first things on your to-do list.
There are several factors that contribute to your email deliverability, including your sender reputation, authentication records, and infrastructure. By following best practices and keeping your lists clean, you can ensure that your emails reach their recipients’ primary inboxes instead of the spam folders.
Another factor that influences email deliverability is the quality of your email content. The email content you send should be relevant to your audience and should address their pain points. It should also be free of any grammatical errors or typos that could potentially confuse the subscriber and lead them to report your email as spam. Lastly, it’s also crucial to use a trustworthy sender name and avoid sending emails from an automated account or from a fake email address that could trigger spam filters. This will also help improve your deliverability rate and increase the likelihood of subscribers opening your emails.
3. Create a List of Engaged Audiences
Email deliverability is a critical factor in email marketing success. It measures whether or not your emails make it into your subscribers’ primary inboxes instead of their spam folders. If your emails are marked as spam, it can hurt your sender reputation and decrease the chances of future campaigns reaching your audience’s inboxes.
Maintaining a healthy email list and using the right content can improve your email deliverability rates. A high-quality email list includes valid, active email addresses that your subscribers have actively opted in to receive from you. Your email content should also be relevant to your target audience. If your emails are irrelevant or contain too much promotional language, they may be flagged as spam and sent to the junk folder.
The frequency of your emails also affects email deliverability. If you are sending your subscribers too many emails, they might forget to open them or even unsubscribe from your mailing list. You should only send your subscribers an average of one or two emails per week. However, if you plan on increasing your email frequency, it is important to let your subscribers know in advance by including an opt-in form or creating a preference center so they can choose how often they want to receive from you.
Getting your emails to reach your subscribers’ inboxes is no easy feat. It requires careful planning, testing, and execution. Having a clear process and working with the right email service provider are essential to maintaining a high email delivery rate. By following these best practices and emerging industry trends, you can ensure that your email marketing campaigns are delivering the results you need to grow your business.
4. Test Your Emails Before Sending
The email deliverability process involves a series of steps that ensure your emails reach your subscribers’ primary inboxes, and not their spam or junk folders. A variety of factors can impact email deliverability, including the content of your emails, your subscriber list, and the way you manage your sending reputation.
ISPs and email clients scrutinize the content of your messages to assess their authenticity, relevance, and risk of fraud. Crafting compelling and relevant email content, avoiding triggering spam filters (such as excessive capitalization or misleading subject lines), setting up SPF and DKIM authentication records, and adding the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) protocol are all critical for improving your sender reputation and increasing your email deliverability.
Email content also plays a big role in deliverability, and it’s important to regularly test your emails before you send them to ensure they are free of grammar and spelling errors. This can be done by running a quick proofreading scan through your email client or sending the message to someone on your team for feedback.
Some ISPs also look at the ratio of text to images in your email. If your email is primarily images with very little text, this can trigger spam filters and cause your emails to be sent to the junk or spam folders. ISPs also look at the domains that you include in your email links to ensure they are valid and not blocklisted, which can further impact your delivery rates.
Finally, you should always monitor your key email marketing metrics, such as open and click rates, unsubscribes, and spam complaints, to make sure your deliverability rate is consistent. If your deliverability rate declines, this can signal that your emails are landing in the wrong places, and it may be time to take a closer look at your email marketing strategies.
5. Create Strong Subject Lines
Email subject lines are a great opportunity to grab attention and encourage recipients to open your emails. They should be short and intriguing to entice readers to take the time to read your content. They should also be relevant to the content and offer a hint of what they will find inside. In addition, it is important to keep in mind that subject lines are often cut off on mobile devices, so they should be limited to 50 characters or less.
Using action verbs in your subject line can help create a sense of urgency and increase the likelihood that your emails will be opened. Likewise, including a recipient’s name can be an effective way to personalize your subject line and make it feel more relevant to the email. Lastly, creating an attention-grabbing subject line with a seasonal theme or holiday can be an effective way to generate interest in your email.
Avoiding words that could be considered spam or misleading can also improve your email deliverability. Spam filters often look for specific keywords that are commonly used by scammers to identify fake or suspicious emails. Making false promises or stating misinformation in your subject line can be enough to send an otherwise legitimate email to the spam folder.
Whether you’re looking to create compelling subject lines for your stand-alone emails, automated follow-ups, or drip campaigns, a few simple tricks can make all the difference in getting your recipients to open your emails. Try experimenting with different approaches and taking into account your audience’s preferences to find the right mix of tactics that work best for you. With a bit of practice, you’ll soon be able to create eye-catching subject lines that will boost the success of your email marketing campaign.
