Poor email deliverability is every marketer’s worst nightmare; hours upon hours of hard work – only to see it go to waste in someone’s spam folder.
But is it inevitable? What can you do to enhance your message delivery rate?
Aside from the easy option of using a free email warm-up tool, there are several other ways marketers can improve the deliverability of their campaigns. This article will list the top five and explain why they’re so important to getting messages into people’s inboxes.
What is Email Deliverability?
Important question – what is email deliverability, exactly? There are a ton of terms used to reference the various stages of the email-sending process, some of which can be easily confused with one another.
At its core, email deliverability is defined as a message’s ability to land in its recipient’s inbox. While delivery only answers the question of whether an email was accepted by receiving servers, this metric is used to discern where it lands after the fact.
Deliverability scores indicate the effectiveness with which an email campaign gets its messages in front of users to open them. A low deliverability rate often means that emails are going into spam or similar folders and therefore don’t have much of a chance of realizing their potential.
How Can I Improve My Email Deliverability?
Unfortunately, there is no single answer to this question. Email deliverability is dependent on a number of things – sender reputation, message content, and technical settings to name just a few. Your best chance at improving email deliverability lies in taking a holistic approach that addresses all of these factors head-on. We’ve listed five best practices below to help you get started.
Authenticate Your Email Domain
Sender reputation is one of the most important influences behind email deliverability. As a reflection of your domain’s past behavior, it essentially tells servers whether incoming messages are worth trusting.
One of the best ways to protect your reputation is to authenticate your domain. This means using DMARC, SPF, and DKIM records to signal that your messages are indeed coming from authorized senders.
Most email services will walk you through this process and make it easy to implement yourself. It’s worth taking the time to do it correctly, as any mistakes can actually hurt your deliverability score in the long run.
Keep Your Lists Clean
List hygiene is another important factor to consider when it comes to email deliverability. Unengaged contacts can cause more harm than good, leading to higher bounce rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribes.
If you haven’t been keeping in touch with your subscribers, take the time to scrub your list and remove those who haven’t opened their messages in a certain period of time. Not only will it help you maintain a good reputation, but it will also free up resources that could be used on contacts who are more likely to engage with your message.
Consider Your Content
Email content can make or break a campaign, so it’s important to pay close attention to what goes inside your messages. Avoid anything that could be construed as spammy – this includes excessive exclamation marks, all-caps words, and sales language.
Additionally, you should double-check that your landing page and unsubscribe options are clearly visible in the email. Messages that don’t comply with CAN-SPAM regulations can easily end up in the spam folder.
It’s also important to test your emails for proper rendering on all devices. Nothing will hurt deliverability like messages that don’t show up correctly on mobile phones and tablets.
Monitor Your Metrics
As with any email campaign, metrics serve as a one-way window into your successes and failures. Keep an eye on open rates, click-throughs, bounces, and spam complaints to determine which messages are resonating with your audience and which need further work.
You can also track your emails with a tool like Google Analytics to gain an even better understanding of what’s happening with your messages. This can help you adjust and improve your deliverability score in the long run.
Utilize A/B Testing
Finally, consider running an A/B test on your emails to figure out which versions are performing better. This will help you identify any issues with your content and fine-tune the message until you get it just right.
The Easy Answer: Try an Outbound Sales Platform
While there’s no magic or instant way of improving email deliverability, great tools and resources can certainly help the process.
Outbound sales platforms such Growbots are fully equipped with everything you could need to run a successful email campaign. From enhanced prospecting to domain warming and automatic follow-ups, they can streamline everything and ensure that your messages reach the right people.
