The way we look at deliverability is like this: Why put in so much hard work to your email marketing campaigns for no one to see them?
It’s so easy to concentrate on all the glamorous aspects of email marketing – the design, the content, the smart segmentation – that deliverability (or the art of ensuring your messages reach your subscribers) is often overlooked.
The good news is – while it’s impossible to absolutely guarantee your emails will avoid spam folders or promotion tabs – there are some simple and hugely effective ways you can ensure your email marketing campaigns get delivered.
Talk to us today about how you can prevent email fraud, protect your brand, improve your email deliverability and ensure your emails continue to successfully reach the inbox rather than the spam folder.
The first port of call to improve deliverability is email authentication – this is a ‘digital handshake’ between the sender (you) and the receiving mail server (your customers) to confirm you are who you say you are.
Put simply, authentication improves the likelihood that legitimate emails will reach the intended recipient. It reduces the likelihood of spam, spoofing, and phishing attacks, chiefly by preventing spammers sending emails pretending to be someone else and it prevents your email marketing campaigns being blocked by email providers like Outlook and Google.
Although it might seem complicated, it’s actually a relatively straightforward process.The mail server receiving your email will look for your SPF record and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) token, and if all is in order, it will let it through to the inbox. If these records don’t exist, then there’s an increased chance your email campaign will go straight into the junk folder or won’t be delivered at all.
It’s worth remembering that, providing your email platform is all set up correctly from a technical perspective, delivery into the inbox is primarily based on reputation.
Each email inbox provider uses several different sources of information, including the past behaviour of readers to your sends to define a reputation score. From this the likelihood of being placed in the inbox is determined. Measurements mailbox providers account for, but are not visible to us as marketers, include:
After all, the mailbox provider’s priority is to their email account holders. So, creating relevant, engaging emails that the majority of your customers want to open and read, is vital in maintaining the overall reputation of your email and so the chance of reaching the inbox.
If you make it onto your subscribers’ whitelists you’ll greatly improve the chances of your emails avoiding the spam folder. In fact, getting your send address added to your subscriber’s contact list is one of the most effective methods to ensure future sends land in the inbox. This can be done as a subtle prompt in all emails, or as a more overt request as part of a welcome email or new customer journey.
