One may wonder how much effort goes into reaching 4.258 billion people through 333.2 billion emails on a daily basis. But not every email sent makes its way to the primary inboxes, and this can be daunting for businesses banking on email marketing as their primary outreach channel. One must understand that deliverability is a long-term consequence of doing the basics right (or wrong!) But if you are facing any deliverability issues despite not doing anything that is ethically wrong, you need not worry.
There are some email deliverability best practices you must be aware of if you want to increase your open and click rates. It could be the little creative and technical mistakes in your Mailchimp email templates that are sabotaging your email efforts, and the good news is, you can easily undo them with the help of deliverability best practices that I will explain here. Let’s begin:
#1 Always Use A Double-Opt-In Signup Form For Building Your Email List
To ensure a high deliverability rate, use double-opt-in signup forms as they ensure that a person ‘really’ wants to join your mailing list. While it is standard to offer freebies or discounts as a signup gift, many people join mailing lists merely for these gifts and don’t want to actually hear from you. Such people will ultimately lower your overall engagement rates, thereby sending negative signals to ISPs. A double-opt-in form ensures that only those truly interested in your brand continue with the signup. Also, this reduces the chances of unintentional signups leading to you getting marked as spam out of the blue.
#2 Mark Your Sender Domain As Legitimate
The next thing you should do is to check if you have undertaken authentication to mark your sender domain as legitimate. This is a comparatively easier process as all you need to do to fill forms on Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) websites. This is essential to safeguarding your IP reputation by signaling ISPs and mailbox providers that you are a legitimate marketer who is sending solicited marketing emails to their users.
#3 Optimize Your Subject Line To Stay Safe + Get Higher Click-Through Rate
The first thing that recipients see is the subject line. Sadly, 69% of recipients report emails as spam based on the subject line. As a result, they are sent to the spam folder. To help improve your email deliverability, you must make sure your subject line is recognizable and not too long. Also, include preheader text to compliment your subject line along with a human sender name to further increase your chances of getting a click-through. You must keep in mind the fact that a recipient only sees your subject line before they click on it, and therefore, failing to optimize them can prove to be disastrous no matter how good Mailchimp email templates or sales offers you use inside.
#4 Avoid Using Language And Tone That Could Trigger Spam Traps
To ensure a high deliverability rate, always emphasize using a natural tone instead of trying to sound lucrative or sales heavy. While that won’t be a problem in most cases, you might end up sounding like a scamster if you take your sales pitches a bit too far. Also, you need to keep your wordings in check and avoid words that trigger spam traps. This includes “FREE FREE FREE,” “Get Quick Money,” and other spammy phrases which may look harmless to you as a motivated email copywriter but turn out to be a red flag for mailbox providers.
#5 Keep Track Of Your Email Metrics
Among all email deliverability best practices, keeping your email metrics in check is the most underrated yet effective method. Remember, decent email deliverability is not a result of hacks but habits. You must ensure that none of the metrics fall steeply below the industry benchmarks, as it may be a signal of something wrong with your marketing operations. This clearly signals that your subscribers are finding something not workable enough, and soon they might stop opening your messages altogether. Thus, it is essential to track your email metrics for timely course corrections that not only ensure your deliverability but the ROI at large.
#6 Leverage Personalization And Segmentation For Your Email Efforts
Another great way to increase your deliverability is to use personalization and segmentation in a calculated manner. These are the two most used email marketing strategies, and hence this will not only help you with your deliverability but with the entire email outreach results. By including the recipient’s name in the subject line and referring to the last action they took on your website/app, you can add significant weight to the fact that your communications are solicited, and the healthy engagement rates will build your sender reputation over time.
#7 Discard Dormant Leads Regularly To Keep Your Email List Clean
It’s important to ensure that your subscribers can unsubscribe without hassle. It may not be the most pleasant thing to do, but it ensures that the people who have made their minds not to engage with your emails exit your mailing list. This will keep your email metrics realistic and prevent ISPs and mailbox providers from marking you as spam. When they find that a large number of users aren’t engaging with your messages, inbox providers gradually decrease your deliverability. Thus, helping dormant leads unsubscribe is an essential best practice for a good deliverability rate.
Wrap Up
Email deliverability is a result of applying the above best practices consistently to your email marketing operations. Try to include them as the base of your marketing department’s strategic thinking, and you will observe that the deliverability rates will remain at promising levels, thus improving your ROI. No matter where you start, these deliverability best practices will surely benefit your marketing efforts.
Author: Kevin George is the head of marketing at Email Uplers, that specializes in crafting Professional Email Templates, PSD to Email conversion, and Mailchimp Templates. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes & jazz, and he breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on email marketing blog.