One of the most critical factors that can make or break an email marketing campaign is email deliverability.
Simply put, email deliverability refers to the ability of an email to reach its intended recipient's inbox.
While it may seem like a relatively straightforward concept, many factors can affect email deliverability, including spam filters, email authentication, list hygiene, and subscriber engagement.
When emails fail to reach their destination, businesses lose out on valuable opportunities to engage with their customers, which can negatively impact their bottom line.
In this blog post, we'll explore why email deliverability is so crucial for online businesses using email marketing, and what steps they can take to ensure their emails are reaching their intended audience.
Let's get started.
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Why Email Deliverability Matters?
Email marketing has become an essential part of any business strategy. It allows businesses to reach out to their target audience and build a relationship with them.
However, the success of your email marketing campaign depends on whether your emails are delivered to the recipient's inbox or not. This is where email deliverability comes into play.
As a marketer or business owner, you might think that once you hit the send button on your email campaign, your job is done.
But have you ever wondered why some of your emails end up in the spam folder, while others don't even make it to your subscribers' inboxes?
The answer lies in email deliverability, a crucial aspect of email marketing that can make or break your campaign's success.
Let's dive into why email deliverability matters and what you can do to improve it.
What is email deliverability?
In simple terms, it refers to the ability of your emails to reach your subscribers' inboxes without being flagged as spam or blocked entirely by internet service providers (ISPs).
According to a study by Return Path, one out of every five emails sent never reaches the recipient's inbox. This means that if you have a subscriber list of 10,000, you could potentially lose up to 2,000 subscribers due to poor deliverability.
Now, you might be wondering why email deliverability is so important.
Firstly, it impacts your email marketing ROI. If your emails are not reaching your subscribers, you are essentially throwing money down the drain.
Secondly, poor deliverability can damage your sender reputation. ISPs use complex algorithms to determine whether an email is legitimate or spam.
If your emails are consistently marked as spam, your sender reputation will suffer, and you might find it difficult to get your future emails delivered to your subscribers' inboxes.
So, what can you do to improve your email deliverability?
Below I have mentioned some important tips to improve it:
#1 Use a Reliable Email Service Provider
An Email Service Provider (ESP) is a company that provides email marketing services to businesses. ESPs offer a range of services that include email campaign creation, list management, and email tracking and reporting.
ESPs are also responsible for delivering emails to the recipient's inbox.
Why is using a Reliable ESP important for improving email deliverability?
Using a reliable ESP is crucial for improving email deliverability.
Here are some reasons why:
1. Better Sender Reputation
The sender's reputation plays a crucial role in email deliverability. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) use the sender's reputation to determine whether an email should be delivered to the inbox or spam folder. A reliable ESP has a good reputation with ISPs, which means emails sent through their service are more likely to be delivered to the inbox.
2. Better Email Deliverability
A reliable ESP has the necessary infrastructure and technology to ensure that emails are delivered to the recipient's inbox. They have relationships with ISPs and can work with them to resolve any delivery issues. This means that emails sent through a reliable ESP have a higher chance of reaching the intended recipient.
3. Better Email Engagement
Email engagement is another important factor that affects email deliverability. ISPs use email engagement metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates to determine whether an email is spam or not. A reliable ESP provides tools that allow businesses to improve email engagement, such as A/B testing and segmentation. This means that emails sent through a reliable ESP are more likely to be opened and engaged with, which improves email deliverability.
4. Better Email Tracking and Reporting
A reliable ESP provides businesses with detailed email tracking and reporting. This allows businesses to track email engagement metrics and make data-driven decisions to improve their email marketing campaigns. This also allows businesses to identify any delivery issues and take action to improve email deliverability.
#2 Avoid the Spam Folder
One of the most significant threats to email deliverability is spam filters.
These filters are designed to protect recipients from unwanted or malicious emails, but they can also flag legitimate emails as spam if they contain certain triggers, such as excessive use of capital letters, too many images, or certain keywords.
If your emails consistently end up in the spam folder, your subscribers are unlikely to ever see them, let alone engage with your content.
Furthermore, your reputation as a sender can be damaged, making it even more challenging to reach your audience in the future.
Thus, to avoid landing in the spam folder, I would advise you to pay close attention to email content, avoiding any spam triggers.
This means keeping subject lines short and relevant, avoiding excessive use of bold or capitalized text, and avoiding sales jargon or spammy language.
I will ask you to monitor your email deliverability regularly, using tools like email authentication protocols and sender reputation monitoring services. This way, you can improve your email deliverablity significantly.
#3 Increase Engagement
Another critical factor that affects email deliverability is subscriber engagement. If recipients aren't interested in your emails, they're less likely to open them, read them, or engage with your content.
This, in turn, can lead to lower engagement rates, which can negatively impact your email deliverability.
On the other hand, if your subscribers are actively engaging with your emails, this signals to email providers that your content is valuable, relevant, and trustworthy, making it more likely that your emails will reach their intended audience.
To increase engagement, businesses should focus on providing high-quality, valuable content that resonates with their target audience.
This means segmenting email lists based on subscriber interests and preferences, personalizing emails to make them more relevant, and using engaging, attention-grabbing visuals and copy.
It's also important to monitor engagement metrics, such as open and click-through rates, and adjust your email marketing strategy accordingly.
#4 Protect Your Sender Reputation
Your sender reputation is a measure of how trustworthy and reliable email providers perceive you to be.
It's based on factors such as your email engagement rates, spam complaint rates, and bounce rates.
A poor sender reputation can significantly impact your email deliverability, making it more challenging to reach your subscribers' inboxes.
To protect your sender reputation, businesses should focus on maintaining a clean email list, regularly removing inactive or invalid subscribers, and avoiding sending to purchased email lists or spam traps.
It's also important to monitor your email engagement rates and modify your strategy if you notice a decline in engagement.
#4 Builds Trust and Credibility
Email deliverability also plays a crucial role in building trust and credibility with subscribers.
If your emails are consistently landing in the spam folder, it can signal to subscribers that your business is not trustworthy or reputable.
On the other hand, when your emails are delivered successfully, it shows that you take email marketing seriously and are committed to delivering valuable content to your subscribers.
Wrapping Up
Email deliverability is a critical aspect of any successful email marketing campaign.
By avoiding the spam folder, increasing engagement, and protecting your sender reputation, businesses can improve their chances of reaching their subscribers' inboxes and engaging with their target audience.
By investing in email deliverability, businesses can ensure that their email marketing campaigns are effective, engaging, and profitable.
