The success of your email marketing campaigns lies in your content. But, your email deliverability needs to be on point for that content to reach the right audience. All email marketing teams have struggled with it at some point, but all of them have found ways to improve their deliverability with a couple of simple tips.
Keep Your Email Lists Clean
Bigger isn’t always better, and you know that having a massive number of subscribers doesn’t equal more sales or even email opens. When your emails bounce, and your engagement rate tanks, the receiving server’s IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) will get those signals, and your emails will likely start ending up in the spam folder. So, how do you stop this?
Review and Clean Your Lists Regularly
Use an email checker to go through your lists every once in a while to check for invalid addresses, hard bounces, and unengaged subscribers. A tool like this will be able to detect address typos and temporary emails, and it will clean your email list in just a few clicks.
Depending on the number of emails you’re sending, you can do this every couple of months or when you notice that your email statistics are getting worse. Additionally, if you have subscribers who haven’t engaged with your content in a while – remove them from the list.
Use a Double Opt-in
Double opt-in helps you prevent hard bounces because the subscribers need to confirm their subscription before they’re added to your list.
Since this requires an extra step of commitment, it will help you weed out people who likely won’t engage with your content.
Don’t Buy Email Lists
Under no circumstances should you purchase email lists online. These aren’t users who want to hear from you, and you could also be breaking local laws and regulations by sending promotional emails to people who never subscribed to hear from you.
Take Care of Your Sender Reputation
Poor sender reputation is what will land you in spam and junk folders. Email providers automatically block senders with a poor reputation to protect their users from unwanted emails. But, what can you do about it?
Keep Track of Your IP Address Reputation
An IP address identifies all emails that come from your domain. And if servers see “bad” emails coming from your IP address, you’ll likely be blacklisted and sent directly to the spam folder.
You need to monitor your IP’s reputation and check if you’re blacklisted with any of the email providers. If you are, try finding out the requirements to get removed from that list and get to work.
However, you should follow the best practices when it comes to emails and lists in order to completely avoid being blacklisted.
Don’t Forget About Authentication Protocols
A Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) is a DNS protocol that protects your domain from unauthorized use. It gives instructions to the email provider about the allowed use of your domain.
There are two sources email providers check – Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM). These sources will show email providers that your IP address and hostname are valid and that an authentic encrypted digital signature is associated with your domain.
Wrapping Up
There are many things that go into email deliverability and the success of your email campaigns. But, for starters, you should get an email checker, keep your email lists clean, and do everything you can to maintain your sender’s reputation.
