SendX
Email software to send campaigns, build lists, and automate marketing
Every marketer raves about email marketing and how it tops the ROI charts.
But that’s only possible when your email is actually reaching your subscriber’s inbox. Otherwise, you are just putting on a show for no audience.
So, before you plan your next email marketing campaign, spare some minutes to see how deliverability can impact the success of your email marketing campaign.
In this article, we’ll see what email deliverability is, what makes a reasonable deliverability rate, and how to manage it effectively.
What is Email Deliverability?
Email deliverability is the measurement to see if your email will land in the subscriber’s inbox or not. Since the email servers don’t inform the sender in which section of the receiver’s mailbox did the email reach (spam or the inbox), calculating email deliverability becomes crucial to anticipate campaign performance.
Email Delivery vs. Deliverability
People often confuse these two terms with each other. Though email delivery is a must for calculating deliverability, it just tells you if the email was delivered to the subscriber’s address or bounced back to the sender.
But email deliverability focuses more on where the email was actually delivered. Successful email delivery to the spam folder doesn’t add value to your email deliverability.
Why Is It Important to Track Email Deliverability?
1. To Ensure the Audience Sees What You Have to Serve
Even your most ardent followers will forget you if your email communication isn’t showing up in their inbox for a long time. What is out of sight is really out of mind.
If your emails are buried in the subscriber's spam folder, they will overlook your brand and its value sooner or later.
Tracking email deliverability helps you identify this problem in time. It also gives accurate insights into your genuine prospects, who might be interested in your offers.
Otherwise, if you miss these opportunities at the right time, it can cost you a significant revenue loss.
2. To Build Brand Reputation
If emails from your domain end up in spam along with other junk, it can cause a severe dent in your brand’s reputation.
After all, a business that fails to instill trust in its audience can’t be considered a credible investment source.
It reinforces not taking email deliverability lightly and just shooting email campaigns hoping for the best.To Share Crucial Information
Emails are still the most popular channel for customers to connect with businesses and vice versa.
Whether it’s a support ticket, product launch announcement, or a reminder of a client’s upcoming payment, it only makes sense to invest your resources if it helps the subscribers.
3. To Avoid Blacklisting
Too many spam emails raise red flags for your domain. If you don’t actively monitor the email deliverability, the high spam count can trigger the email servers and gateways to block you from the subscriber’s mailbox.
Worse, it can even permanently affect your domain health with restrictions and alerts that make subscribers hesitate to reach out to you.
4. To Retain the Subscribers
Too much spam is a sure shot way to lose your subscribers.
If your email communication is shown in spam or junk, you might lose your genuine customers too.
That’s why you should track your email deliverability for every campaign to ensure the message reaches where it will lead to the best results.
What are the Factors Affecting Email Deliverability?
Even if your emails are not selling a lottery or asking to save a prince, it can still lead to spam, directly affecting your email deliverability negatively.
1. High Bounce Rate
If your mailing list isn’t cleaned regularly or is a cheap purchase from the market, the chances of bounce rate increases. It’s because these up-for-sale lists are full of outdated or wrong contacts.
It impacts the email domain authority and, eventually, brand reputation.
So, ensure you’re always building your mailing list with organic email addresses. You are more likely to succeed if you send a solid campaign to a hundred genuine subscribers rather than a thousand uninterested ones.
2. Frequent Shuffling of Email Service Providers
When you constantly switch among different email service providers, you end up listed among the spammers.
ESPs are updated and empowered with time to curb spamming early on. The frequent changes in your sender details can raise some questions about your intentions.
As a result, ESPs might restrict your reach or introduce some warnings with your messages.
3. High Unsubscribe or Complaint Rate
People already have a flooded inbox full of irrelevant messages in front of them. If you also become a plus one to it, your customers might not take a minute to hit that unsubscribe link.
Your customers are overwhelmed with too much information and too little time. So, when you send them poorly written content or a generic piece of advice, they will mark your email address as spam.
To tackle this, spend enough time on email design and copy for your upcoming email marketing campaigns. Take inspiration from the best and start with improving your transactional emails.
And always provide an unsubscribe link for them to walk out. It will help invest time for only interested customers in the long run.
4. Frequent Email Marketing Campaigns
Since email marketing is within reach and budget, marketers sometimes get overboard with its use.
Sending too many campaigns in a day or week can annoy your customers, leading them to take drastic measures. Even the email servers spot this pattern and investigate the high frequency and relevance.
It doesn’t mean you stop being aggressive with your email marketing strategies.
Do it by all means but plan the campaign schedule wisely with regular intervals. Ensure your content is also worth reading. And lastly, increase the number of emails gradually. Sending a campaign to a large contact base at once can also give an impression of being a spammer.
How is Email Deliverability Managed?
1. Sender Policy Framework
SPF is a popular email authentication process that maintains a TXT record, listing all the IPs associated with your email domain.
The record checks the sender's IP address for every campaign and ensures that any impersonators or spammers are not using it.
Once the SPF validates your email, it will be considered an authentic information source. Thus, reducing the chances of spam.
2. Domain Keys Identified Mail
DKIM works for the same email authentication process but with the help of keys. Keys are basically encrypted signatures that go with each email. The DNS (domain name system) keeps a record of all approved keys.
Once an email reaches the receiver, the DNS matches the keys with the one accompanied by the email and verifies if it’s from the original source or not.
3. IP Warming
IP warming is sending out email campaigns to smaller contact segments and then gradually increasing the count. It’s primarily targeted at the internet service providers (ISPs) so that they can recognize the domain and grow accustomed to it.
Once the IP reputation is established, you can start using it for bulk email marketing campaigns.
What is a Good Email Deliverability Rate?
Though all marketers want 100% of their emails to land in the subscriber’s inbox, that’s only seldom possible.
According to EmailToolTester, average email deliverability is somewhere around 79.6%. Email service providers that come with all necessary configurations offer a varying deliverability rate. You can try a reliable tool like Sendx, which has a proven email deliverability rate of 99.4%.
Combine such assuring tools with a hygienic list and compelling emails, and you can expect much better returns on the same investments.
Such services really take off the burden from your shoulders so that you can just focus on designing creative email copies that get conversions.
