10 Ways to Improve Email Deliverability – Complete Guide

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Email remains a cornerstone of business communication, with over 347.3 billion emails sent daily worldwide. Yet, ensuring your messages reach their intended recipients has become increasingly challenging.

Email deliverability—getting your emails into recipients’ inboxes—is crucial to email marketing. It’s what determines whether your message reaches thousands or goes unnoticed. Since inbox placement directly affects your return on investment, understanding and improving email deliverability is vital for your business’s success.

In this article, we’ll explore why email deliverability matters and provide you with ten proven ways to improve it, helping you connect with your audience more effectively and maximize the impact of your email campaigns.

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting, these tips will equip you with the tools to ensure your emails consistently hit the mark.

Why Does Email Deliverability Matter?

Email deliverability matters so much because it directly impacts the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts and, ultimately, your business’s success. Here’s why:

Ensures Your Message is Seen: If your emails don’t reach the intended recipients’ inboxes, they won’t see your message. High deliverability ensures your emails are getting in front of your audience.

Protects Your Sender Reputation: Email deliverability is closely tied to your sender’s reputation. If too many of your emails bounce or are marked as spam, email providers may block your messages, reducing your ability to reach your audience.

Maximizes Engagement: When your emails consistently land in the inbox, recipients are more likely to open, read, and interact with them. High engagement leads to better customer relationships, higher conversions, and increased revenue.

Improves Return on Investment (ROI): Email marketing has one of the highest ROIs among digital marketing channels. However, poor deliverability means missed opportunities, wasted resources, and a lower ROI. Ensuring high deliverability maximizes the return on your email marketing investment.

Builds Trust and Credibility: Consistently delivering emails to the inbox builds trust with both your audience and email service providers. This trust leads to better engagement rates and reduces the chances of your emails being flagged as spam.

Reduces Costs: Sending emails that don’t reach the inbox is ineffective and costly. By improving deliverability, you ensure that your marketing budget is being used efficiently, reducing wasted spend on undelivered emails.

Complies with Regulations: Maintaining good deliverability often involves following best practices that comply with email marketing regulations like GDPR and CAN-SPAM. Compliance helps you avoid legal issues and potential fines.

10 Proven Ways to Improve Your Email Deliverability

Here is a list of the 10 proven ways to improve your email deliverability:

1. Use a Reputable Email Service Provider (ESP)

Choosing a reputable Email Service Provider (ESP) is foundational for improving your email deliverability. An ESP is a company that helps businesses send and manage their email campaigns, and selecting a well-regarded provider can significantly impact your deliverability rates.

Why a Reputable ESP Matters?

A reputable ESP has established relationships with major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and adheres to best practices for email sending. These relationships help ensure that your emails are more likely to be delivered to the inbox rather than being marked as spam. Reputable ESPs also provide tools and features to enhance deliverability, such as domain authentication, bounce management, and spam filter testing.

Tips for Choosing and Using a Reputable ESP

Check Deliverability Rates: Leading ESPs often publish their deliverability rates. Look for an ESP with a high deliverability rate, ideally above 95%. This metric reflects how successfully the ESP can get emails into recipients’ inboxes.

Verify Compliance and Accreditation: Reputable ESPs are compliant with industry standards and regulations, such as CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and CASL. They also participate in accreditation programs like the Return Path Certification, which indicates adherence to best practices and high deliverability standards.

Utilize Advanced Features: Choose an ESP that offers advanced deliverability features, such as automated list cleaning, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics. These tools help maintain a clean email list, optimize campaigns, and monitor deliverability issues.

Seek Strong Customer Support: Opt for an ESP with responsive customer support. Effective support can quickly address any deliverability issues, provide guidance on best practices, and offer solutions to your specific needs.

Selecting a reputable ESP and leveraging its features can significantly enhance your email deliverability, ensuring your messages reach your audience and achieve your marketing goals.

2. Maintain a Clean Email List

Maintaining a clean email list is essential for ensuring high email deliverability. A clean list not only helps in reaching your intended audience but also enhances your sender reputation and minimizes issues related to spam traps and bounces.

Why It Matters?

A clean email list means that you are sending emails to valid and engaged addresses. According to a study by HubSpot, email lists degrade at a rate of approximately 22.5% per year. This degradation is due to inactive or invalid addresses that can lead to higher bounce rates and lower engagement. High bounce rates can negatively affect your sender’s reputation and reduce your deliverability.

Tips for Maintaining a Clean Email List

Regularly Clean Your List: Use email verification tools to regularly check and remove invalid or non-existent email addresses from your list. Services like NeverBounce or BriteVerify can help identify and eliminate bad addresses, reduce bounce rates, and improve deliverability.

Implement a Re-Engagement Campaign: Periodically run re-engagement campaigns to identify inactive subscribers. Send targeted emails to these users, asking them to confirm their interest in receiving your emails. Those who do not respond can be removed from your list, ensuring you only engage with interested recipients.

Use Double Opt-In: Implement a double opt-in process where subscribers confirm their subscription through a follow-up email. This practice helps ensure that the email addresses on your list are valid and that recipients genuinely want to receive your emails, reducing the chances of complaints and spam reports.

Avoid Purchasing Email Lists: Never buy email lists from third-party sources. Purchased lists often contain outdated or invalid addresses, harming your sender’s reputation. Building and maintaining your list organically ensures that your subscribers are genuinely interested in your content.

3. Segment Your Email List

Segmenting your email list involves dividing your subscribers into smaller, more targeted groups based on various criteria such as demographics, purchase history, or engagement levels. This approach can significantly enhance your email deliverability by ensuring that your messages are more relevant to the recipients, which improves engagement and reduces the likelihood of your emails being marked as spam.

Why Segmenting Matters?

When you send relevant content to specific groups of subscribers, you increase the chances of higher open and click-through rates. According to a study by Mailchimp, segmented campaigns see an average open rate of 14.31% higher than non-segmented campaigns. This relevance signals to ISPs that your emails are valuable, not spam, which can positively impact your sender’s reputation and deliverability.

Tips for Effective Segmentation

Use Engagement Data: Segment based on how subscribers interact with your emails. For example, create segments for active users, lapsed users, and those who have never opened your emails. Design your content for each group to maintain engagement and reduce the risk of unsubscribes or spam complaints.

Leverage Purchase History: Divide your list based on past purchases or browsing behavior. This allows you to send targeted offers and recommendations, increasing the likelihood that recipients will find your emails relevant and valuable.

Personalize Based on Demographics: Use demographic information such as age, location, or gender to design your content. For example, if you know that a subscriber is interested in specific products or services, you can send them promotions that align with their interests.

4. Optimize Your Email Content

Optimizing your email content is essential for improving deliverability and ensuring that your messages reach your recipients’ inboxes. ISPs and email filters use various criteria to determine whether an email is legitimate or spam. By adhering to best practices for email content, you can enhance your chances of bypassing these filters and engaging with your audience effectively.

Tips for Optimizing Email Content

Craft a Compelling Subject Line: The subject line is the first thing recipients see, significantly impacting open rates. A clear, concise, and relevant subject line encourages recipients to open the email. Avoid using excessive punctuation, all caps, or spammy phrases like “FREE” or “Act Now,” as these can trigger spam filters.

Create High-Quality Content: Ensure your email content is well-written, relevant, and valuable to your audience. Avoid jargon or overly promotional language, as it can be perceived as spammy. Include clear and engaging visuals, and ensure that your email is easy to read and navigate.

Use a Professional Design: A professionally designed email looks more credible and enhances readability and engagement. Use responsive design to ensure your email looks good on all devices, and maintain a clean layout with a clear call-to-action (CTA).

Avoid Spammy Words and Phrases: Certain words and phrases can trigger spam filters. Examples include “Buy now,” “Free gift,” and “Earn money fast.” Instead, focus on clear, honest language aligning with your brand and message.

Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): A well-defined CTA guides the recipient on the next steps. Make sure your CTA is prominent, relevant, and easy to understand. Avoid using multiple CTAs that could confuse the recipient or dilute the message.

5. Monitor Your Sender Reputation

Your sender’s reputation is a key determinant of email deliverability. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) calculate this reputation score based on recipient engagement and your adherence to email best practices. A strong sender reputation enhances your chances of inbox placement, while a poor one risks relegation to spam folders or outright blocking of your messages.

Understanding Sender Reputation Metrics

Key metrics that shape your sender reputation include:

Spam Complaints: When recipients mark your email as spam, ISPs take note. A high number of spam complaints can quickly damage your reputation.

Bounce Rate: The percentage of emails that are returned to the sender because they cannot be delivered. A high bounce rate suggests poor list management, which can hurt your reputation.

Engagement Rate: ISPs monitor how recipients interact with your emails. High open and click-through rates are indicators of good sender reputation, while low engagement can be a red flag.

Tips to Maintain a High Sender Reputation

Use a Double Opt-In Process: This ensures that only users who are genuinely interested in your content receive your emails. It reduces the likelihood of spam complaints and improves engagement rates.

Regularly Clean Your Email List: Remove inactive subscribers and invalid email addresses from your list to minimize bounce rates and avoid spam traps.

Monitor Feedback Loops: Many ISPs offer feedback loops that notify you when recipients mark your emails as spam. Use this data to remove such users from your list and improve your practices.

Authenticate Your Emails: Implementing authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC helps establish your legitimacy as a sender, which can positively influence your sender’s reputation.

Track and Analyze Performance Metrics: Regularly monitor your email campaign performance using tools that provide insights into open rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints. This data can help you make informed decisions to protect your sender’s reputation.

Maintaining a good sender reputation is a continuous process. By closely monitoring these metrics and following best practices, you can ensure that your emails consistently reach your audience’s inbox, improving your email deliverability.

6. Personalize Your Emails

Personalizing your emails is one of the most effective ways to improve email deliverability. When emails are personalized, they are more likely to engage the recipient, which can lead to higher open rates, click-through rates, and, ultimately, better deliverability. According to a study by Experian, personalized emails deliver 6 times higher transaction rates compared to non-personalized emails. Moreover, personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened than generic ones.

Tips for Effective Email Personalization

Use the Recipient’s Name: Including the recipient’s name in the subject line or body of the email can significantly increase engagement. For example, instead of a generic “Welcome to our service,” use “Welcome, [First Name], to our service!”

Personalized Content and Recommendations: Use data from past interactions, such as browsing history or previous purchases, to send personalized product recommendations. Amazon is a prime example of a company that excels in this, often suggesting products based on what customers have previously bought or viewed.

Time Your Emails Wisely: Consider the recipient’s time zone and behavior when scheduling your emails. For instance, if data shows that a specific segment of your audience opens emails in the morning, schedule your emails to be sent at that time.

Behavioral Triggers: Set up automated emails triggered by the recipient’s actions, such as cart abandonment or a product view. These emails are highly relevant and often have higher engagement rates.

By implementing these personalization strategies, you increase the likelihood of your emails being opened and read and reduce the chances of them being marked as spam, leading to improved overall deliverability.

7. Test Your Emails Before Sending

Testing your emails before sending them out to your entire list is crucial for ensuring high deliverability. This process allows you to catch potential issues that could cause your emails to be flagged as spam or, worse, blocked entirely by email service providers (ESPs).

Here’s how to effectively test your emails:

Use Email Testing Tools: Tools like Litmus, Mailtrap, or Email on Acid can simulate how your email will be received by different email service providers (ESPs). They help you identify and resolve common issues such as broken links, images not loading correctly, or formatting problems across different devices and email clients. Testing also allows you to preview your email’s appearance on mobile devices, which is important given that 41% of email opens occur on mobile.

Check Your Spam Score: Email testing tools also offer spam score analysis, which evaluates your email content for elements that might trigger spam filters. This includes checking your email’s subject line, content, and HTML code.

Verify Links and Images: Ensure that all links are valid and point to the correct destination. Broken links not only frustrate recipients but also raise red flags with ESPs. Similarly, ensure your images are formatted and hosted on reliable servers to avoid issues with images not displaying correctly.

Test for Accessibility: An often overlooked aspect of email deliverability is accessibility. Make sure your emails are easy to read for all users, including those with disabilities. Tools like WAVE or Accessible-Email.org can help you ensure your emails meet accessibility standards. Emails that are accessible to a wider audience are more likely to be engaged with, improving your sender’s reputation and, consequently, your deliverability.

By thoroughly testing your emails before sending them, you can ensure they are optimized for deliverability, leading to higher engagement and better overall campaign performance.

8. Avoid Spam Traps

Spam traps are email addresses created by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) or anti-spam organizations to catch spammers. They are not used by real people and are hidden on websites or in old databases where unscrupulous email marketers can quickly harvest them. Sending emails to these addresses can severely damage your sender’s reputation and negatively impact your email deliverability.

Tips on How to Avoid Spam Traps

Maintain a Clean Email List: Regularly clean your email list by removing inactive, unengaged, or invalid email addresses. Use email verification tools to ensure that the addresses in your database are valid and belong to real users. This reduces the chances of hitting a spam trap.

Monitor Your Bounce Rate: A high bounce rate can indicate that you’re hitting spam traps or invalid email addresses. Monitor your bounce rate closely and investigate any spikes to ensure that your email list remains clean and your emails reach legitimate recipients.

Conduct Regular Audits: Regularly audit your email list to identify any patterns or issues that could lead to spam traps. Look for unusual spikes in your bounce rate or complaints and take corrective action immediately to protect your sender’s reputation.

9. Monitor Email Metrics

Monitoring email metrics is crucial for improving your email deliverability. By keeping a close eye on key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates (CTR), bounce rates, and unsubscribe rates, you can gain valuable insights into your emails’ performance. These metrics help you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns, identify potential issues, and make informed decisions to optimize future emails.

Tips for Monitoring Email Metrics Effectively

Use a Reliable Email Marketing Platform: Choose a platform that provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools. Platforms like Mailchimp, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), or HubSpot offer detailed insights into how your emails are being received and interacted with.

Set Benchmarks: Establish benchmarks for your email campaigns based on industry standards or your past performance. For example, a good open rate ranges between 15% and 25% in most industries. Regularly compare your current metrics against these benchmarks to spot trends or areas that need improvement.

Track Bounce Rates: High bounce rates can signal problems with your email list quality or deliverability. There are two types of bounces: hard bounces (permanent delivery failures, e.g., invalid email addresses) and soft bounces (temporary issues, e.g., full inboxes). Keeping your bounce rate low—ideally below 2%—is essential for maintaining a good sender reputation.

Monitor Spam Complaints: Spam complaints occur when recipients mark your emails as spam. A high spam complaint rate (over 0.1%) can damage your sender’s reputation and hurt your deliverability. Monitor complaints closely and take action, such as refining your email list or adjusting your content strategy, if you notice an uptick.

Analyze Engagement Metrics: Metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and time spent reading your emails provide insights into how engaged your audience is. High engagement generally indicates that your emails are relevant and valuable to your recipients, which positively affects deliverability.

By diligently monitoring these metrics and making data-driven adjustments to your strategy, you can significantly improve your email deliverability, ensuring your messages reach your intended audience more effectively.

10. Establish a Consistent Sending Frequency

One of the key factors influencing email deliverability is the consistency of your sending frequency. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) monitor your sending behavior, and irregular or erratic email sending can raise red flags, potentially causing your emails to be flagged as spam.

Establishing a consistent sending frequency helps build a positive sender reputation, which is crucial for maintaining high deliverability rates.

Why Consistency Matters

ISP Monitoring: ISPs use algorithms to track the behavior of email senders. A sudden spike in emails sent can trigger spam filters, especially if it deviates significantly from your regular pattern.

Subscriber Expectations: When your audience expects to receive emails regularly, they are more likely to engage with your content. High engagement rates (such as open and click-through rates) are indicators to ISPs that your emails are wanted, improving your deliverability.

Sender Reputation: Maintaining a consistent sending frequency allows ISPs to better evaluate your sender reputation over time. A stable sending pattern and good engagement metrics help build trust with ISPs, making it less likely that your emails will end up in the spam folder.

Tips for Establishing a Consistent Sending Frequency

Analyze Your Audience: Understand when your audience is most active and set your sending frequency to match their behavior. For example, if your subscribers are most engaged on weekdays, focus your email campaigns around those days.

Start Slow and Scale: If you’re beginning a new email campaign or re-engaging with an old list, start with a lower frequency and gradually increase it. This approach helps avoid sudden spikes that might trigger spam filters.

Set Expectations Early: Let your subscribers know what to expect from the beginning. For example, include a note in your welcome email about how often they can expect to hear from you. This sets clear expectations and helps reduce unsubscribes and spam complaints.

Establishing and maintaining a consistent sending frequency lays the foundation for a strong sender reputation, ensuring that your emails are more likely to land in your subscribers’ inboxes and improving your overall email deliverability.

Conclusion

Improving email deliverability is an essential aspect of any successful email marketing strategy. With billions of emails sent daily, standing out in the crowded inbox is no easy feat. However, applying the 10 proven ways we’ve discussed can significantly boost your chances of reaching your audience, ensuring that your emails land where they’re meant to—in the inbox, not the spam folder.

As you put these tips into practice, remember that email deliverability is not a set-it-and-forget-it process. It requires continuous monitoring, testing, and adjustment to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of email marketing. By staying proactive and committed to best practices, you’ll be able to maintain a high level of deliverability, ensuring that your messages consistently connect with your audience.

So, take these insights and put them into action today!