Trust me, we've all been there. You hit "send" on an important email, and then...crickets. No response, no replies, nothing. It's as if your email never even existed.
If you're finding that your emails are falling into a black hole, there are a few things you can do to improve your chances of deliverability. In this article, we'll go over some tips on how to improve your email deliverability so that your messages actually make it to your intended recipients.
What is Email Deliverability, and why is it important?
Before we get into the tips on how to improve your email deliverability, let's first take a step back and understand what it is. Email deliverability is simply the process of getting your emails delivered to the inboxes of your intended recipients.
It sounds simple enough, but there are a lot of factors that can influence whether or not an email is successfully delivered. And if your emails are regularly ending up in spam folders or getting bounced back, that's a clear sign that your deliverability needs some work.
The factors that affect email deliverability
Now that we've gone over what email deliverability is and why it's important, let's take a look at some of the factors that can influence whether or not your messages make it to the inbox.
Sender Reputation: One of the biggest factors that can affect email deliverability is your sender's reputation. This is basically a measure of how trustworthy you are as a sender, and it's determined by things like your sending history, spam complaints, and bounced emails.
If you have a good sender reputation, that means you're less likely to end up in the spam folder. But if you have a bad sender reputation, your emails are more likely to be filtered as spam.
Email Content: The content of your email can also affect its deliverability. If your email contains any spammy keywords or phrases, that's a red flag for spam filters. To avoid this, make sure to use clean, concise language in your emails. And avoid using all caps, excessive exclamation points, and other things that can come across as spammy.
Recipient Engagement: Another factor that can affect email deliverability is recipient engagement. This basically means how engaged your recipients are with your emails. Are they
opening and clicking through them? Or are they quickly deleting them without even reading them?
If your recipients are regularly engaging with your emails, that's a good sign. It shows that they're interested in what you have to say. But if they're not engaging with your emails, that could be a sign that you're not providing them with value. And that could lead to your emails getting filtered as spam.
Now that we've gone over some of the factors that can affect email deliverability, let's move on to the tips for improving it.
Tips for Improving Email Deliverability
There are a few key things you can do to improve your email deliverability and increase the chances that your messages will make it to the inbox.
Use a reputable email service provider: One of the best things you can do to improve your email deliverability is to use a reputable email service provider. When you use a reputable provider, they'll handle all of the technical aspects of deliverability for you. And that can free up your time so that you can focus on creating great content.
Some of the best email service providers out there are Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, and ConvertKit to name a few. I'd personally recommend ConvertKit, having used it for years it has been a solid tool in my arsenal.
Clean up your email list: Another thing you can do to improve your email deliverability is to clean up your email list. If you have a lot of inactive or invalid email addresses on your list, that can hurt your deliverability. So it's important to regularly remove them.
You can use an email verification service to clean up your list for you. If you're looking for a good service, I'd recommend checking out something like Zero Bounce. This will help you remove any invalid or inactive email addresses before you send your next campaign.
Maintain proper IP allocation: You should also make sure that you're maintaining proper IP allocation. This means making sure that all of the IP addresses on your list are valid and active. If you have any inactive or invalid IP addresses, that can hurt your deliverability.
Write creative, non-spammy subject lines: The subject line of your email is one of the first things that recipients will see. So it's important to make sure that it's not spammy. As mentioned above, try not to use any caps, exclamation points, or other things that could come across as spammy. Instead, focus on writing creative and interesting subject lines that will entice recipients to open your email.
Authenticate your email domain: You should also make sure to authenticate your email domain. This means verifying that you own the domain that your emails are coming from. There are a few different ways to do this, but the most common is to use SPF authentication.
SPF stands for Sender Policy Framework, and it's a protocol that helps prevent spoofing. When you authenticate your domain with SPF, you're essentially telling receiving servers that they should only accept emails from the IP addresses that you've authorized. This helps to improve deliverability and prevent your emails from being marked as spam.
Send an email that people love: Finally, one of the best things you can do to improve your email deliverability is to simply send an email that people love. If you're providing your recipients with value and they enjoy reading your emails, they're much more likely to engage with them. And that will help improve your deliverability over time.
Final Thoughts
Email deliverability is a complex topic, but it's important to understand if you want to make sure your messages are making it to the inbox. Successful emails can increase leads, sales, and engagement. But if your emails are getting filtered as spam, you're not going to see any of those benefits and that's no fun.
We hope this guide has given you a better understanding of email deliverability and how it works. Now it's time to put those tips into action and start seeing better results from your email campaigns.