Email Deliverability: What You Can Do to Gain Peace of Mind

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While email marketing is one of the most effective, straightforward, and cost-efficient marketing methods today, many business owners fail to hit their marks regarding the returns they should be earning on their email campaign investments. One of the most common reasons for this is low email deliverability.

According to statistics, only 80% of emails find their way into their intended recipients’ inboxes. In other words, approximately two out of every ten emails you send may end up in a spam folder or lost in transit.

Thankfully, several practical strategies can help you boost your email deliverability rate and improve your marketing results.

In this article, we will discuss what email deliverability is and share tips on how to improve it.

What Is Email Deliverability?

Your deliverability rate is a critical metric in email marketing. It indicates the percentage of emails that eventually arrive in your audience’s inboxes, excluding emails that did not reach their destination due to bouncing, going to spam, or being blocked. 

Generally, transactional emails tend to have a higher deliverability rate than promotional emails, as they typically contain words that signal their importance to email providers. Besides, most transactional emails are triggered automatically in response to a specific action.

So how do promotional emails arrive in the receiver’s inbox?

First, the email must pass the initial provider’s spam filters. It is then released onto the internet and travels via an SMTP server to the recipient’s inbox server. 

The receiving email provider then checks the IP and runs its spam filters to determine whether the email should be delivered to the target inbox. This process ensures that only legitimate emails are delivered to the recipient’s inbox.

How to Determine the Success of Email Deliverability 

One way to determine the success of email deliverability is by analyzing the open rate. However, this can be time-consuming and may not provide accurate results, as tools like PixelBlock can prevent email tracking. 

Instead, the recommendation is to use specialized tools such as ISNotSPAM, MXToolbox, SendForensics, MailTester, GlockApps, Litmus, or Email on Acid. 

These tools, which may be standalone web applications or included as features in marketing software, allow you to send a test email to a designated address and receive a calculated email deliverability score.

Factors That Affect Email Deliverability 

Three primary factors can affect your email deliverability rate:

• Sender reputation. This is based on your past email performance, including whether users marked your emails as spam or blocked.

• Email content. The content of your emails should not be spammy, and you should avoid using spam-trigger words. 

• Technicalities. They include correctly signing your emails and using the correct domain and IP addresses. 

If you need higher deliverability, it is crucial to identify the source of the problems and prioritize fixing them. 

However, there may be multiple issues to address, so it is helpful to follow the following best practices to increase the deliverability of your emails.

Six Best Practices for Ensuring Your Emails Reach Your Targets

There are several ways to improve the deliverability of your emails. Here are six proven tactics:

1. Improve the Quality of Your Email Content

Email providers use filters to determine the relevance and appropriateness of your communications. To increase the chances of your emails reaching your intended recipients, you should optimize and improve your email content to meet specific standards. Even if you use email templates, ensure that you provide as much value as possible in your marketing materials.

This includes avoiding spam triggers, such as manipulative or pushy language, and writing professionally with clear, concise language and no grammar or punctuation errors. 

You should also ensure your emails are mobile-friendly and do not contain HTML errors.

When it comes to improving the quality of your emails, here are some essential tips:

Comply with the CAN-SPAM Act:

The CAN-SPAM Act is a US law that provides guidelines for writing promotional emails. Even if you don’t operate in the US, these guidelines can still help you achieve higher deliverability rates. This includes ensuring your emails are not misleading or false, disclosing your company’s location, and retaining an opt-out link button.

Use a double opt-in process:

A double opt-in process requires subscribers to confirm their email addresses before they can receive emails from you. This ensures that the email addresses you send to are valid and that the recipients want to receive your emails.

Regularly clean your email list:

It’s essential to keep it updated by regularly ridding it of inactive or invalid email addresses. This will help improve your deliverability rates and protect your sender reputation. Using an email verifier is a cost-effective and scalable way to keep your list clean.

Use a reputable email service provider:

Choosing a reputable email service provider (ESP) can help improve your deliverability rates. These providers have built-in measures to ensure your emails are delivered and will often provide tools and resources to help you optimize your emails for delivery.

Monitor your sender reputation:

Your sender reputation is a measure of the quality of your emails, and email providers use it to determine whether to deliver your emails to the recipient’s inbox. To maintain a good sender reputation, you should monitor it regularly and take steps to improve it if necessary. This may include cleaning your email list, using a reputable ESP, and following best practices for email marketing.

2. Use a Domain Name

If you want to send emails in bulk for your business, it is essential to use a domain name instead of a personal email address. Email providers may flag personal email addresses that send bulk messages as suspicious and mark them as spam or scams. 

For instance, using a domain name, such as john@yourcompany.com, can help establish credibility and professionalism.

Most email services offer the option to use a custom domain for a small fee, such as $6 per month with Gmail. Additionally, it is crucial to consider the purpose of the email when choosing a “from” name. 

Options like newsletters@, promo@, marketing@, and info@ can all be effective, but it is best to avoid a no-reply address for marketing emails. 

In transactional emails, however, it may be appropriate to use a no-reply address as a “from” name since you do not typically expect a response.

3. Use a Shared or Dedicated IP

When sending bulk messages, you must consider the type of IP address you use for your domain. 

There are two options: shared or dedicated. A shared IP is when multiple domains are hosted on the same web server, meaning the server’s reputation is shared among all domains. It is essential to carefully select a host server if you choose to use a shared IP. 

On the other hand, a dedicated IP is when only one domain is hosted on a single IP address. This option is preferred for large volumes of messages, but it also means that the reputation of the IP is solely your responsibility.

4. Make Use of Email Authentication Protocols

To protect yourself from being targeted by scammers pretending to be well-known brands, it is important to authenticate your email. In this case, you can enable the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) or DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) protocols. 

SPF helps to prevent phishing and other scams, as well as to validate sender identity. DKIM allows you to assign keys to your domain, ensuring that emails you send are from your domain and not from any other source. 

These protocols make it easy to identify your emails when they reach the inbox server, helping to keep you safe from potential scams.

5. Maintain a Clean and Engaged Email List

Maintaining a clean and engaged mailing list is essential for the success of your email marketing campaigns. Otherwise, too many unengaged or inactive subscribers can drop your email deliverability rate and damage your reputation as a sender. 

To avoid this, consider implementing a double opt-in process for new subscribers. This ensures that you only add those who actively confirm their subscriptions to your list. 

Additionally, regularly review your list and remove any email addresses that consistently bounce back or do not engage with your emails. 

Purchasing mailing lists can also be detrimental, as the validity of the addresses is often uncertain. By curating your mailing list, you can maintain good email hygiene and improve the effectiveness of your campaigns.

6. Monitor Your Metrics

It is important to monitor your email metrics to understand the effectiveness of your email campaigns and identify any issues that may arise. This includes tracking bounced emails, open rates, click rates, and spam complaints. Thankfully, the best online marketing tools help you improve productivity and efficiency while keeping track of your results.

By monitoring these metrics, you can take action to improve deliverability and address any problems that may arise. Additionally, monitoring spam complaints can help you maintain a positive sender reputation. 

Also, regularly check your email delivery reports and analyze these metrics to optimize your email campaigns.

Now That You Know

The email marketing industry is currently worth around 9.62 billion dollars, and experts determine it will increase to 17.9 billion by 2027. In other words, this marketing method can tremendously impact your customer conversions and business visibility if you play your cards right.

Thankfully, implementing the best email marketing practices in this article can help you boost your deliverability rate and get ahead of your competition. 

However, you should note that while email marketing is a powerful tool, you won’t get results overnight. It requires effort and dedication to see success. Most importantly, you shouldn’t wait any longer — start implementing these email deliverability techniques today and watch your business thrive.

Author Roman Shvydun writes informative articles about marketing, business, productivity, workplace culture, etc. His articles focus on balancing information with SEO needs, but never at the expense of providing an entertaining read. See a few more examples of Roman’s articles by visiting his Twitter.