GTM Dictionary

The Go-to-Market Dictionary: Email Deliverability

Learn everything you need to know about email deliverability with our comprehensive Go-to-Market Dictionary.

Welcome to the world of email deliverability - a critical component of any successful email marketing campaign. As a digital marketer, establishing and maintaining a clean email list is a fundamental requirement. However, there is more to email deliverability than just creating a list and hitting send. In this article, we will explore what email deliverability is, why it's important, and best practices you can employ to improve your email deliverability.

Understanding Email Deliverability

What is Email Deliverability?

Email Deliverability is the ability to deliver your email campaigns to your email subscribers' inbox. It is a critical function of email marketing and a measure of how successful your email campaign is. In simpler terms, it is the rate at which your emails successfully reach the intended recipients' inbox.

There are several factors that can impact email deliverability, including the content of the email, the sender's reputation, and the email service provider's policies. To ensure high email deliverability rates, it is essential to follow best practices when it comes to email marketing.

Why is Email Deliverability Important?

Email deliverability is crucial because if your emails are not delivered to your subscribers, your campaign will be unsuccessful regardless of how well-crafted your email content is. Poor email deliverability is a major setback for digital marketers and can lead to a decline in engagement, reputation, and ultimately revenue loss. Therefore, monitoring and improving email deliverability are essential to ensuring the success of any email marketing campaign.

One way to improve email deliverability is to maintain a clean email list. This means regularly removing inactive subscribers and ensuring that all email addresses on your list are valid and up-to-date. Additionally, it is important to avoid using spam trigger words in your email content and to personalize your emails to increase engagement.

Another factor that can impact email deliverability is the sender's reputation. This includes factors such as the sender's email address, domain reputation, and email authentication. To improve sender reputation, it is important to consistently send relevant and engaging content to your subscribers and to avoid sending emails to inactive or unengaged subscribers.

In conclusion, email deliverability is a critical component of any successful email marketing campaign. By following best practices and regularly monitoring and improving email deliverability, digital marketers can ensure that their emails are reaching their intended audience and driving engagement and revenue.

Key Components of Email Deliverability

Sender Reputation

Your Sender Reputation is how email service providers (ESPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) view your email sending activities. It is determined by various factors such as email volume, complaint rate, bounce rate, and many others. Maintaining a positive sender score is essential to ensure that your emails reach the inbox, not the spam folder.

One way to maintain a positive sender score is to regularly clean your email list. Removing inactive subscribers and those who have marked your emails as spam can help increase your sender reputation. Additionally, sending relevant and engaging content to your subscribers can also help improve your reputation.

Email Authentication

Email Authentication involves the use of several protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to verify that the sender is authorized to use the sending domain. Authentication protocols can help improve deliverability by reducing the chance that your emails are filtered as spam.

Implementing email authentication protocols can also help protect your brand from phishing attacks. By verifying that the email is coming from a trusted sender, your subscribers are less likely to fall victim to fraudulent emails.

Email Infrastructure

Your email infrastructure involves the servers, software, and systems used to send and receive emails. Establishing and maintaining a robust email infrastructure is critical to ensure that your emails are delivered successfully, and your sender reputation remains strong.

One way to improve your email infrastructure is to use a dedicated IP address for your email sending activities. This can help prevent your emails from being blocked or filtered due to the actions of other senders who share the same IP address.

Content Quality

The content of your emails plays a vital role in improving your deliverability rate. Content that is direct, engaging, and relevant to your subscribers is likely to perform better than poorly optimized emails that do not resonate with your audience. Hence, creating high-quality content that meets your subscribers' expectations will significantly help improve your email deliverability rates.

One way to improve the quality of your email content is to personalize your emails. Adding the subscriber's name and other relevant information can help make your emails more engaging and relevant. Additionally, segmenting your email list and sending targeted content to each segment can also help improve your email deliverability rates.

Another important aspect of content quality is ensuring that your emails are mobile-friendly. With more than half of all emails being opened on mobile devices, it's essential to ensure that your emails are optimized for smaller screens and easy to read on the go.

Best Practices for Improving Email Deliverability

Building and Maintaining a Clean Email List

First and foremost, ensuring that you have a clean email list is essential. Regularly clean your list by removing inactive subscribers, invalid emails, and those that have unsubscribed. These practices will help to keep your list up-to-date and minimize your bounce rates, reducing the chance of your emails being blocked or flagged as spam.

Additionally, it's important to understand that email providers use engagement metrics to determine whether your emails are delivered to the inbox or the spam folder. By regularly cleaning your email list and removing inactive subscribers, you can improve your engagement metrics and increase the chances of your emails being delivered to the inbox.

One way to keep your email list clean is to implement a double opt-in process. This means that subscribers will receive a confirmation email after signing up, and they will only be added to your list if they confirm their subscription. This process can help to ensure that your list only includes engaged subscribers who are interested in receiving your emails.

Crafting Engaging Subject Lines

Your email's subject line is the first interaction your subscribers have with your email, and it is essential to make it as engaging as possible. Personalizing the subject line to your subscribers' interests can increase open rates and help improve your email deliverability rates.

However, it's important to avoid using spam trigger words in your subject lines, such as "free," "buy now," or "limited time offer." These words can trigger spam filters and negatively impact your deliverability rates. Instead, focus on creating subject lines that are clear, concise, and relevant to your subscribers' interests.

Another way to improve your subject lines is to A/B test them. This involves creating two different subject lines and sending them to a small portion of your email list to see which one performs better. You can then use the winning subject line for the rest of your email list, improving your open rates and overall email deliverability.

Personalizing Email Content

Personalization goes beyond just addressing the subscriber by their first name. It involves using customer data to personalize email content through segmentation, individualization, and contextualization. Personalized content creates a more engaging experience for subscribers and can significantly improve open and click-through rates.

Segmentation involves dividing your email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, such as demographics, interests, or behavior. By sending targeted emails to these segments, you can provide more relevant content to your subscribers and increase engagement.

Individualization involves using data to create personalized content for each subscriber. For example, you could use a subscriber's purchase history to recommend products that they might be interested in.

Contextualization involves using data to create personalized content based on the subscriber's current situation or location. For example, you could send a weather-related email to subscribers in a specific location.

Testing and Optimizing Emails

Regularly testing and optimizing your emails can help you identify issues such as broken links, formatting issues, or rendering problems that may negatively affect your deliverability. Optimizing your emails based on data-driven insights will significantly improve your email deliverability rates and help you to achieve your email marketing goals.

One way to test your emails is to send them to a small portion of your email list and track the engagement metrics. You can then use this data to make improvements to the email before sending it to the rest of your list.

Another way to optimize your emails is to make sure they are mobile-friendly. With more and more people checking their emails on their mobile devices, it's essential to ensure that your emails are optimized for smaller screens.

By following these best practices, you can improve your email deliverability rates and achieve your email marketing goals.

Monitoring and Measuring Email Deliverability

Email marketing is a powerful tool for businesses to reach out to their customers and prospects. However, it is important to ensure that your emails are actually being delivered to the intended recipients. This is where monitoring and measuring email deliverability comes in.

Measuring email deliverability involves tracking various metrics that can help you understand how your emails are performing. In this article, we will focus on three key metrics: bounce rates, open and click-through rates, and email deliverability metrics.

Bounce Rates and Their Impact

Bounce rates refer to emails that were not delivered to the intended recipients. There are two types of bounces: hard bounces and soft bounces. Hard bounces occur when an email is returned because the recipient's email address is invalid or doesn't exist. Soft bounces occur when an email is returned because the recipient's mailbox is full or the email is too large.

High bounce rates can negatively affect your sender reputation and email deliverability. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use bounce rates as a key factor in determining whether an email is spam. If your bounce rates are too high, your emails may be marked as spam and sent straight to the recipient's spam folder or not delivered at all.

Regularly monitoring your bounce rates and correcting any issues promptly can help boost your email deliverability rates. This involves regularly cleaning your email list by removing invalid or inactive email addresses and ensuring that your email content is relevant and engaging to your recipients.

Open and Click-Through Rates

Open and click-through rates are important metrics that reflect the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Open rates refer to the percentage of recipients who opened your email, while click-through rates refer to the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link within your email.

Tracking these metrics can help you identify areas of your campaign that require improvement and aid in enhancing your email marketing efforts. For example, if your open rates are low, you may need to work on improving your subject lines to make them more compelling. If your click-through rates are low, you may need to re-evaluate your email content and ensure that your calls-to-action are clear and prominent.

Analyzing Email Deliverability Metrics

Analyzing and tracking key deliverability metrics such as sender reputation, authentication, bounce rates, and inbox placement can help you understand the performance of your email campaigns. Sender reputation refers to the reputation of your email domain and IP address. ISPs use sender reputation to determine whether your emails are trustworthy and legitimate.

Authentication involves verifying that your emails are actually coming from your domain and not from a spammer or hacker. Bounce rates, as we discussed earlier, can negatively impact your email deliverability. Inbox placement refers to whether your emails are being delivered to the recipient's inbox or spam folder.

This information can help you make data-driven decisions, improve your email marketing strategy, and ultimately boost your email deliverability rates. By regularly monitoring and measuring your email deliverability, you can ensure that your emails are reaching your intended recipients and driving the results you want for your business.

Conclusion

In conclusion, email deliverability is a crucial component of email marketing. Taking proactive steps to improve your email deliverability rates by implementing these best practices can help you achieve your email marketing goals and maintain a positive reputation with your subscribers. Remember to monitor and measure the metrics closely and adjust your strategy accordingly to ensure continued success.