Ensure Your Emails Land in Inboxes: A Guide to Email Blast Deliverability
We've all been there, sending out an email blast with high hopes, only to have it land in the dreaded spam folder. It's like sending a message in a bottle into the vast ocean of the internet, with no guarantee it'll ever reach its destination.
But that's not where we want our emails to end up. After all, low open rates and low ROI are the last things we want.
It's not just spam folders that can sink our email campaigns. Email clients are getting smarter and are now able to filter out emails they think are "unwanted" based on a variety of factors. And let's not forget the ever-changing laws and regulations that come with sending emails.
In this blog, we're going to dive deep into the world of email deliverability. We'll talk about actionable tips on how to ensure your emails land in inboxes. So, if you're ready to boost your open rates and ROI, keep reading.
Actionable Tips To Make Your Emails Land In The Inbox And Avoid Spam Folder
Use a reputable email service provider
Using a reputable email service provider (ESP) can help improve email deliverability by reducing the chances of your emails being marked as spam or rejected by the recipient's email server. A good ESP will have a strong reputation with inbox service providers and will use best practices to ensure that your emails are delivered to the inbox.
Some of the features that a reputable ESP may offer include:
- IP warming: This is the process of gradually increasing the number of emails sent from a new IP address to build a positive reputation with inbox service providers.
- Authentication protocols: These include SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, which help to verify that emails are coming from a legitimate sender and reduce the chances of them being marked as spam.
- List hygiene: ESPs may offer tools to help you remove bounced or invalid email addresses from your list, which can improve deliverability.
- Spam filtering: ESPs may use spam filters to automatically identify and block emails that are likely to be spam.
SendPost is one such email service provider. It helps you send millions of emails, without any deliverability issues.
Build a clean email list
Only send emails to individuals who have opted-in to receive them. This will help to ensure that your emails are not marked as spam.
Make sure that the people on your list have given you permission to contact them via email. This can be done by having them opt-in to your mailing list through a sign-up form on your website or during an in-person event.
Regularly verify that the email addresses on your list are valid and have not been abandoned by their users. This will help ensure that your emails don't bounce.
Clean your email list by removing any duplicate email addresses to avoid sending multiple emails to the same person, annoying them and getting marked as spam in that process.
Remove any contacts who haven't engaged with your emails in a certain period of time. This will help ensure that your open rates are high, engagement is positive because these numbers are looked at by my inbox service providers before judging whether to send your email to inbox or spam.
To further ensure that your email list is clean and has only engaged subscribers, have users confirm their email address after signing up, this will help prevent typos and false email addresses. This helps to ensure that only people who are truly interested in receiving your emails will be added to your list.
Personalize your emails to improve engagement
Inbox service providers use a variety of metrics to judge engagement rates and determine whether to send an email to the inbox or spam folder. These metrics include - open rates, click rate, unsubscribe rate, etc.
Here are some ways to personalize your emails and improve engagement:
- Personalize the greeting by addressing the recipient by name. For example, "Hello John," instead of "Hello there,"
- Use personalized language and tone based on the recipient's past interactions or preferences. For example, if they've made a purchase in the past, you can use the purchase history to personalize the email content and make it more relevant.
- Use segmentation to send targeted messages to different groups of recipients. For example, you can segment your list by demographics, past behavior, or interests, and send different messages to each group.
- Use dynamic content that changes based on the recipient's interests or behavior. For example, you can use cookies to track which products or pages a recipient has viewed on your website and show them related products in the email.
- Experiment with different subject lines, language, and calls to action using A/B testing. This can help you see which elements of your email are resonating with different groups of recipients.
Test your emails
Check your emails before sending them to a larger audience. This will help to identify any issues that could impact deliverability. Send the email to a small group of people and ask for their feedback. This will allow you to catch any errors or issues before sending it to a larger audience.
You can also take help of several email testing tools available that can check for issues such as broken links, missing images, and spam filter issues. Ensure that the email looks good on various devices and email clients. Preview it before you hit send.
Track your numbers
Use tools to track open and click-through rates, as well as bounces and unsubscribes. This will help you to identify any problems and make adjustments as necessary.
Various tools can tell you email's spam score, which will help you understand how likely your email is going to land in the inbox of your recipients.
Watch your word
When it comes to email deliverability, using correct grammar and avoiding spam words is definitely crucial.
First off, let's talk about grammar. If you're sending an email with a lot of typos or grammatical errors, it can make you look unprofessional or like you didn't put much effort into the message. And in a business setting, that's not the kind of impression you want to make.
But grammar is just one part of the equation. The other big piece is avoiding spam words. You know, those words and phrases that trigger spam filters and can get your email sent straight to the recipient's trash folder. Words like "free," "guaranteed," and "click here" are all examples of spam words that you should try to avoid.
Here's the thing: spam filters are getting smarter and smarter, so even if you're not using any obvious spam words, your email can still get flagged as spam if it looks like spam. That's why it's important to make sure your emails are well-written, professional, and relevant to the recipient.
Conclusion
Now that we've given you actionable tips on how to ensure your emails land in inboxes, it's time to put them to action. What is the one tool that you can try today that will help improve your email deliverability and thus make emails profitable?
We suggest trying out SendPost.
For big senders, managing multiple domains, IP-pols and IP/domain reputation can be a real headache. Even a small drop in email open rates or delivery can have a huge impact on your revenue. SendPost offers a solution that helps you identify and quickly resolve any issues that may be affecting your deliverability. No more hours spent sifting through logs trying to figure out why your domain, IP or sending reputation is low.
If you're ready to simplify your email campaigns and boost your deliverability, SendPost is the solution you've been looking for.
Remember, deliverability is an ever-evolving field and new challenges will arise. Keep testing, keep optimizing and stay ahead of the curve.