If you are an email marketer, you probably spend ages coming up with great subject lines, crafting cool emails, and writing content that immediately grabs attention. This must be tough, right?
But sometimes, no matter how hard we try, our emails aren’t appearing in our subscribers’ inboxes. Quite frustrating, as I’m sure you can imagine.
You might think you're doing everything right to ensure good email deliverability. But if your emails are still going missing, something's totally wrong and should be fixed as soon as possible.
Don't worry, though. This guide is here to help.
We'll walk you through email deliverability basics and give you some tips.
Keep reading!
What is Email Deliverability?
Email deliverability refers to the ability of an email to reach the recipient's inbox successfully rather than being filtered into spam or junk folders.
Some people mix email deliverability with email delivery. However, these are different things.
Email Deliverability vs. Email Delivery
The terms "email delivery" and "email deliverability" are closely related but refer to slightly different aspects of the email-sending process:
Email Delivery simply refers to the act of sending an email from the sender's server to the recipient's server.
In other words, it's the technical process of transferring the email message through the internet to its intended destination.
The email delivery rate is the percentage of emails successfully delivered to recipients' email servers based on the total number of emails sent.
It is a key metric used in email marketing to measure the effectiveness of email campaigns.
If you want to know how to tell if email was delivered, you can check the delivery status or use read receipts if available.
However, the easiest way to check if an email was successfully delivered is not receiving a bounce-back notification. Having an email bounce back is one of the many email delivery issues.
But what might be the reason? Well, one of the reasons why emails don’t get delivered can be that the recipient's email address is invalid or doesn't exist.
Email Deliverability, on the other hand, refers to the likelihood that an email will successfully arrive in the recipient's inbox and be seen by them.
So, while email delivery focuses on the technical aspect of sending emails, email deliverability includes the goal of ensuring that emails are not only sent but also successfully received and engaged with by the recipient.
But why is everyone talking about email deliverability, and why is it so important?
Let’s figure it out!
Why is Email Deliverability So Important?
Email deliverability is necessary for the success of your email marketing campaigns. It directly impacts the effectiveness of your communication with your target audience.
If your emails don't make it to people's inboxes, what's the point of your efforts?
However, when your emails actually land where they're supposed to, people are more likely to open them, read them, and perhaps even do what you're asking them to do.
But if they end up in the spam folder (or, even worse, get blocked), all that time you spent crafting the perfect email message? Wasted.
Let's not forget about the financial side as well. Good deliverability means more of your emails get through, which usually leads to more people opening and clicking.
More clicks, in their turn, lead to more traffic to your website and, ultimately, more revenue.
It's like a domino effect but in a good way.
So, what's considered a "good" deliverability rate? Well, that's a bit of a tricky question, but keep reading to get the answer.
What is a Good Email Deliverability Rate?
So, what is a good email deliverability rate?
Well, it’s not a very simple question to answer.
In general, it is usually recommended to get an 85-95% deliverability rate to get the most out of your email campaigns.
However, it might vary depending on what type of business you’re in.
It is recommended that you research your industry before creating your campaigns. Begin by understanding how your competitors perform. Analyze their average email deliverability rate and your current email deliverability rate to determine what can be improved for better results.
Then, come up with a goal or set up an email deliverability rate benchmark you want to achieve. After all that is done, start thinking about how you will reach that rate.
According to research by Email Tool Tester:
- An email deliverability rate of over 89% is considered good
- An email deliverability rate of over 95% is considered excellent
- An email deliverability rate of below 80% is considered poor
So, aim for higher deliverability rates for your email marketing campaigns.
What Affects Email Deliverability?
A variety of factors, both technical and behavioral, influence email deliverability.
Understanding these factors can help you optimize your email marketing practices and improve your deliverability rates.
Now, let’s look at what affects email deliverability:
Sender Reputation
Sender reputation is a critical factor that directly impacts email deliverability.
It refers to assessing your sending practices by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and email providers to determine whether your emails should be delivered to the inbox, placed in the spam folder, or blocked entirely.
Here's how it affects email deliverability:
Inbox placement: ISPs use sender reputation as a critical factor in deciding whether to deliver your emails to recipients' inboxes.
A positive sender reputation increases the likelihood that your emails will reach the inbox, while a poor reputation can result in emails being filtered as spam.
Spam filtering: ISPs use spam filters to protect users from unwanted or malicious emails.
Emails from senders with a poor reputation are more likely to be flagged by these filters and sent to the spam folder or blocked altogether.
Bounce rates: High bounce rates negatively impact the sender reputation. This indicates to ISPs that your email list may not be well-maintained or that you may be sending to outdated lists.
Engagement metrics: Engagement metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and reply rates are indicators of how recipients interact with your emails. A sender with high engagement rates signals to ISPs that recipients value and want to receive their emails.
Spam traps: Sending emails to spam traps (email addresses set up to catch spammers) can significantly harm your sender reputation and may lead to blacklisting.
Blacklists: Being listed on email blacklists due to spammy behavior or other issues can severely damage your sender reputation and prevent your emails from reaching recipients.
So, maintaining a positive sender reputation requires consistently following these deliverability best practices for email marketing, including sending relevant and engaging content to subscribers who have opted in to receive your emails.
Email Content
Email content significantly impacts email deliverability by influencing whether your emails land in recipients' inboxes or get filtered into spam folders.
It depends on how engaging your subject lines and content are.
Certain words and phrases are known to trigger spam filters and decrease deliverability.
These include terms commonly used in spam emails. It is essential to avoid using these in your subject lines and email content.
Spam filters analyze the content of emails to determine if they should be considered spam.
They look for specific words, phrases, and patterns commonly associated with spammy or promotional emails. Using words like "free," "urgent," "act now," and excessive exclamation marks (!!!) can trigger spam filters and throw your email into the spam folder.
Personalized and relevant email content is more likely to be engaged with, positively impacting deliverability. It can also improve engagement rates and reduce the likelihood of being marked as spam.
Excessive use of links, especially to suspicious or blacklisted domains, can trigger spam filters as well. It's important to use legitimate and relevant links in your email content.
Email Infrastructure
The reputation of your IP address is a significant factor.
If you're using a shared IP, your reputation can be affected by other users' sending behaviors.
A dedicated IP allows you to control your own reputation, but maintaining good standing requires consistent and responsible sending practices.
Consistent sending patterns are important as well.
Sudden spikes or drops in your email sending volume can raise red flags with ISPs, who might then inspect your emails more closely.
So, make sure you maintain a regular sending schedule to build trust with ISPs.
Spam complaint
Spam complaints also significantly impact email deliverability.
Your email's fate - inbox or spam folder - depends on your sender reputation. When people mark your emails as spam, it's a red flag for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These ISPs keep an eye on spam complaints to protect their users from risky emails. The more complaints you get, the more likely your future emails will end up in spam folders.
High spam complaint rates can also lead to your IP address or domain being added to email blacklists, negatively impacting your ability to send emails, as many ISPs and email providers check these lists to filter incoming emails.
So, focus on sending valuable, targeted content to reduce spam complaints and keep your emails landing in inboxes.
Email Volume Spikes
As already mentioned, when there are sudden increases in the volume of emails sent, ISPs may perceive this as suspicious activity, which can lead to several negative consequences for deliverability.
Firstly, ISPs may flag these spikes as potential spam activity.
A sudden surge in email volume can indicate to ISPs that your account might be compromised or that you're engaging in spammy behavior, even if that's not the case.
This can lead to a higher likelihood of your emails being filtered into spam folders or blocked altogether.
Secondly, abrupt volume spikes can harm your sender reputation. ISPs closely monitor sending patterns, and consistent, predictable email sending behavior helps build a positive sender reputation.
When email volume suddenly spikes, it can damage this reputation, making it more difficult for your emails to reach recipients' inboxes in the future.
Moreover, email volume spikes can result in increased bounce rates. When you send a large number of emails all at once, there’s a higher chance that some of the email addresses may be invalid or inactive, leading to more bounces.
It's important to gradually ramp up your email-sending volume over time to help build and maintain a positive sender reputation. This approach, often referred to as “warming up” your IP address, is especially crucial when you’re starting to send emails from a new IP address or domain.
Email Deliverability: 10 Actionable Ways to Improve It
All this talk and you still don’t know how to improve deliverability of emails and how to tell if an email was delivered.
Well, let’s go ahead and figure it out with this email deliverability checklist!
Build an Email List
Your email list isn't just a bunch of random addresses - instead, it should be real people who've actually said, "Hey, I want to hear from you!"
Make sure you're only reaching out to people who've given you the green light. Verify that all email addresses are correct to avoid wasted efforts.
Focus on building a strong email list of subscribers who are genuinely interested in your content. Remember, having fewer engaged readers is better than having a large list of uninterested people.
Now, how do you build this email list?
You can start by having a pop-up call to action (CTA) button. For example, when the user is about to leave your website, you give them the option to subscribe to your email newsletter.
Offer fun and meaningful content in your pop-up. With an impressive offer, your pop-up is no longer interruptive — it’s helpful (see the example below).
If you have the resources, you can make personalized CTAs for each blog or landing page. You could offer an ebook, a fun quiz, or an exclusive article. When you offer content that is directly related to your visitor’s needs, your email newsletter doesn’t feel like an advertisement just for grabbing attention.
Place email sign-up forms in prominent places on your website, such as the header, footer, sidebar, and blog posts.
Offer incentives like discounts or freebies to encourage your current subscribers to refer friends and colleagues. This is yet another great way to build a good email list.
Make sure to clean your email list regularly. Remove inactive subscribers to keep your audience engaged and improve your open rates.
Maintain a Good Sender Reputation
Feel like your emails are playing hide and seek? A good sender reputation is your secret weapon to win the inbox game.
Maintaining a proper sender reputation is crucial if you want to increase email deliverability and ensure your emails reach the subscribers' inboxes.
Email sender reputation is like a trust score for your digital messages. It's based on two important factors: your IP address and domain name.
Your IP is the digital location from which you send emails, and it can be shared or dedicated. Building a good IP reputation takes time, and damaging it with poor sending habits can take even longer to repair.
Your domain name is equally important. Even with a reputable IP, a domain known for sending unwanted emails can hurt your delivery rates. The reverse is also true – a good domain won't overcome a poor IP.
That's why serious email senders avoid free email services often used by spammers. The goal is to keep a positive reputation for both your IP and domain to make sure your emails reach their intended recipients.
Choose the Right Email Service Provider
An email service provider is a tool for systematically sending out mass email communication.
Ensure the ESP has a good reputation with ISPs and maintains high deliverability rates.
Check if the ESP supports authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, which help verify your emails and improve deliverability.
There are different service providers, like Mailchimp, Drip, Klaviyo, ConvertKit, etc.
When choosing an email service provider, consider the features that can enable your business to grow. Especially when it comes to email marketing for small businesses, you'll need to look for features like detailed analytics and customizable templates that can help you target your audience more effectively and measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.
For example, check how many emails you can send per day or per month, as well as if it provides advanced analytics, so you can keep track of your email campaign’s performance and learn what works and what needs improvement.
Also, make sure it has an easy-to-use interface that isn’t confusing. And when we say “user-friendly,” we mean it should be intuitive and straightforward for everyone.
So, it’s recommended to check and compare different service providers to choose a plan that best fits your needs and budget.
Use Double Opt-Ins
Double opt-in requires subscribers to confirm their email address twice. After signing up via a web form, they receive a confirmation email with a link or button to verify their subscription.
This method reduces the likelihood of fake or mistyped email addresses being added to your list and helps prevent spam complaints.
It also confirms that subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails.
Monitor your double opt-in rates to ensure that subscribers are successfully confirming their subscriptions.
For those who don’t confirm, consider sending a reminder email to encourage them to complete the process.
Subscribers who complete the double opt-in process are more likely to engage with your emails, leading to better open and click-through rates.
By confirming their intent to subscribe, subscribers are less likely to mark your emails as spam.
Keep Your Email List Clean
Keeping a clean email list is important if you want to improve email deliverability because it ensures that you are sending emails to engaged and interested recipients.
Clean email lists consist of recipients who have actively opted in to receive your emails and regularly engage with them. This leads to higher open rates, click-through rates, and overall engagement, which are positive signals to email service providers (ESPs).
You can set up mailfloss to automatically clean your email lists on a regular basis and even in real-time, ensuring that your lists are always up-to-date and compliant.
You can also get custom scheduled or monthly automatic bulk cleaning of your entire email list. With its custom cleaning feature, maifloss removes fake or risky email addresses easily.
It detects and removes duplicate email addresses from your list, preventing multiple emails from being sent to the same recipient.
Another great thing about mailfloss is that it connects with most email service providers. If you use MailChimp, you can easily connect mailfloss with MailChimp, set your preferences, and mailfloss will take care of automatic email verification.
Easy-peasy, right?
So, if you haven’t yet checked how your email list is performing, it’s high time you do.
Just like you keep your home clean and neat, having a clean and updated email list ensures that your messages reach your target audience and improve your campaign effectiveness.
Use Email Authentication
Using email authentication protocols is also crucial for improving email deliverability.
For this, you can use tools to check if SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are set up correctly for your domain.
SPF allows domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of their domain.
DKIM is another email authentication method that provides a mechanism for validating a domain name identity associated with a message through cryptographic authentication.
DMARC is a policy framework that builds on SPF and DKIM. It enables domain owners to specify how mail servers should handle messages that do not pass SPF and DKIM checks.
Create Compelling Email Content
You’ve probably heard that compelling subject lines and personalized greetings can increase your email open rates, haven’t you?
This is true, and if your emails lack these elements, you might be missing out on valuable engagement opportunities.
Including both your company and sender name, for instance, “James from X company,” is likely to have much more success than simply writing “James Smith” or, worse, “jamessmith564596”.
Using a company name adds credibility while adding a person’s name makes it feel less like a corporate campaign and more like a genuine message from an individual.
Additionally, make sure your subject line is informative enough and doesn’t come off as clickbait.
For example, "Important Update: Changes to Our Service Policies" is clear, whereas "You Won't Believe Our New Policy!" might be considered clickbait and reduce trust in your company.
Also, well-crafted content that provides value and includes clear calls to action (CTAs) can encourage subscribers to click on links within your emails.
For example, it can be ‘Learn More’ or ‘Get Started Now’ which can encourage subscribers to click on links within your emails.
Compelling content is often optimized for mobile devices, ensuring that your emails are readable and engaging across all devices. It is also easy to read and has an accessible design that can reduce bounce rates and increase engagement.
Testing different elements of your email content, such as subject lines, CTAs, and content layout, allows you to optimize for better engagement and deliverability.
So, make sure to provide valuable, informative content that can educate recipients about your products or services, helping to build trust and long-term relationships.
Make it Easy for People to Break Up With You
Have you ever signed up to access resources, like a free checklist, or tried a service a couple of years ago but don’t care about it anymore?
If yes, then you are not alone, as many people have experienced this.
So, make sure you have an unsubscribe button that is easy to find.
You might think, “How does it help?” Well, this way, people who aren’t interested will easily unsubscribe, and you’ll know which email addresses are relevant and engaged.
If you make it difficult for them to unsubscribe from the list, sooner or later, they’ll want to clean up their emails by marking some of them ‘spam,’ which you probably want to avoid.
Avoid Spam Traps and Blacklists
Spam traps are email addresses that are created specifically to catch spammers.
Only send emails to subscribers who have explicitly opted in to receive communications from you.
If you find yourself on a blacklist, follow the delisting process provided by the blacklist authority to request removal.
If you want to know how to test email deliverability, start by sending test emails to different email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) to check if they are delivered to the inbox or spam/junk folder.
Choose a reliable IP Address
When selecting an IP address for better email deliverability, prioritize a dedicated IP over a shared one to have full control over your sending reputation.
Research the IP's history to ensure it hasn't been associated with spam or blacklisted, as a clean record is crucial.
Consistent monitoring of the IP's performance is vital; track metrics like bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement rates. If any issues arise, address them immediately to maintain a positive reputation.
Conclusion
So, in summary, understanding and optimizing for email deliverability is crucial for any organization wanting to effectively reach its audience through email marketing.
By focusing on maintaining a clean sender reputation, using authenticated sending practices, and regularly monitoring engagement metrics, businesses can improve their chances of landing emails in recipients' inboxes and avoid email deliverability issues.
Email deliverability monitoring can help you detect bounces, spam complaints, or blacklisting early, allowing you to take corrective action promptly.
With these strategies in place, you can ensure that your email campaigns are not only reaching but also engaging their intended audience.
Now, you know how to increase the deliverability of your emails.
Start applying these email deliverability best practices today to achieve better results!
FAQ about email deliverability
1. What is meant by email deliverability?
It refers to the ability of an email to reach the recipient's inbox without being blocked or sent to spam.
2. How to fix email deliverability?
Ensure a clean sender reputation, use a dedicated IP, and authenticate emails with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Use mailfloss to prevent bounces before they happen, thus protecting your sender reputation.
3. What is a good deliverability rate for email?
Typically, over 89% can indicate that most emails reach recipients' inboxes.
4. What are email deliveries?
They refer to the successful transmission of emails from the sender's server to the recipient's email server.