The Top 10 Best Practices of Email Deliverability
For ensuring high email deliverability, finding the best practices to follow is vital. Your email must go through several obstacles in order to reach your target audience, so it is a good idea to find out what you should and shouldn’t include in your emails to prevent your message from going to the spam folder. Here are 10 steps you can take in order to raise your level of email deliverability.
1. Authenticate Your Email.
To prove that your emails are coming from an authentic source, use DKIM, domain keys, SPF, Sender ID, and DMARC. This is the most important step and is your first line of defense against having your message being blocked.
2. Keep Good List Hygiene Habits.
This step is second because it is a very important practice to pay attention to and is something you have total control over. Look through your email list and clean out your unsubscribers regularly to have a better bounce rate and maintain an engaged audience.
3. Register for Feedback Loops.
If you are hosting your own email program, make sure to monitor and remove complaints. In addition, find out which messages generate the most complaints and use this information to better plan your future campaigns.
4. Keep Your Content Constant.
Sending emails sporadically will result in higher numbers of unknown recipients. Keeping your consistency prevents subscribers from not remembering you or hitting the spam button once they do receive your message.
5. Monitor Subscriber Engagement.
Find analysis tools to help you find open rates, read rates, clicks, and complaints. In addition, remove inactive subscribers or plan a re-engagement campaign to win them back.
6. Make Sure Your Domains Aren’t Blocking Your Messages.
The three main reasons your messages may be blocked are IP reputation issues, message content, and blacklisted domains. Many email marketers are unaware that the domains in their messages are causing blocks. Pay careful attention to all of your domains and check them against blacklists before you send your messages.
7. Look Back at Your Content.
Make sure that you write for your audience and don’t attempt to trick the spam filters. Content will directly affect your delivery rates, open rates, and deletion rates as well.
8. Create a Plain-Text Version.
HTML email is good for tracking opens, using anchor text, and including images, but is not accepted by all email clients. Plain text email, on the other hand, is good to include for those email clients that do not accept HTML, but it cannot monitor engagement.
9. Follow the Spam Laws.
Avoid using misleading headers or subject lines and include a method for people to unsubscribe. In addition, clearly place your company’s contact information and respect unsubscribe requests within 10 days.
10. Monitor Your Bounce Rate.
Find a method to manage all three types of bounces: Hard, Soft, and Technical. This process will aid you in keeping your valid subscribers and eliminating ones that are not.
BONUS: Allow Your Audience to Opt-In.
This type of email newsletter is not the most practical but is a practice agreed upon by ISPs. The benefit of using this type of practice is that it lets people opt to receive your messages because they want to, creating a more engaged and interested audience.
Writing the perfect email is an important factor in any email marketing campaign. Make sure to follow the above tips in order to get the most out of your emails and prevent frustration in the future. Adhering to these steps will make sure that emails are read and not misplaced in the spam folder.
