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Taking the Mystery Out of Email Deliverability [Infographic]

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Email marketers rely on their emails consistently getting to the inbox. If communication isn’t reaching customers, it can have a ripple effect on brand reputation, customer loyalty, and ultimately—return on investment (ROI). But understanding deliverability can feel like a bit of a mystery. 

We created a guide to help you identify the factors that are controlled by the sender versus the ESP to help you avoid any unexpected twists in your email deliverability strategy.

Infographic about taking the mystery out of email deliverability

Transcript: Taking The Mystery Out Of Email Deliverability

Knowing how to avoid spam folder and get your emails to the inbox is critical to campaign success. Read on for ways to determine fact from fiction when it comes to deliverability.

The role of the sender

Senders who have their eye on long-term success and establishing a good reputation should focus on the following:

Prioritize email list hygiene

Email list hygiene is a multi-step process that should be assessed regularly. Clean your email subscriber list to avoid sending messages to bad or non-existent email addresses.

Here are some simple ways to improve your list health:

  • Ask subscribers to add your email address to their contact list to avoid landing in the spam folder.
  • Include an unsubscribe button in every email to ensure an engaged audience.
  • Consider using double opt-in tif your goal is to create smaller but cleaner lists.

Organically grow your list — and your business

Senders have the responsibility to keep close tabs on their lists. Check-in with subscribers often to make sure they are getting what they expect from your emails.

  • Focus on quality over quantity. Metrics can give you insight into what’s ahead.
  • Reimagine your preference center. Let subscribers tell you what they want and when.
  • Be aware of your email send volume and frequency. Don’t bombard your subscribers.

The role of the email service provider

Every brand has different needs and wants from their ESP, but here are some key areas to look for to improve deliverability.

  • Monitoring the reputation of your IP. If you’re on a shared IP, a good ESP will have monitoring in place to weed out any unfavorable senders that could tarnish your reputation.
  • Calculating performance metrics. Collectively, your ESP metrics such as click-through rate, bounce rate, etc. will help you understand your email deliverability and avoid spam folders.
  • Blocklist prevention. Using a reputable ESP can decrease your chances of being blocklisted and increase deliverability, keeping your emails out of spam.
  • Staying on top of compliance. Spam laws continue to evolve. An ESP should monitor the most current regulations and keep you informed to prevent any email performance issues.

Deliverability questions to get the most from your ESP

It’s important to evaluate your ESP relationship to know what you’re getting, especially since it’s your reputation at stake. Here are the questions you should be asking to get the most out of your ESP partnership.

  1. Are your processes intuitive, efficient, and reliable? 
  2. Is ESP account team support easily accessible and responsive?
  3. What are the consequences for “bad” senders, and will I be notified of these if I share an IP?
  4. How do you protect my reputation from other senders?
  5. What are your policies on list acquisition and complaints?
  6. Do you have an email builder or email template library?
  7. Do you offer help with ESP migration?
  8. How do your track and report metrics?
  9. Will I have a shared or dedicated IP? And how do you manage the shared ID reputation?
  10. Are you monitoring each sender’s deliverability and how are you reporting this information?
  11. Do you proactively help with deliverability issues and how so? What about if my deliverability starts to decrease?
  12. What are your abuse and anti-spam policies?
  13. Are you permission-based sending only?
  14. What tools and integrations do you offer that will enhance my sending performance?
  15. What measures do you take to ensure I land in the inbox at all mailbox providers (Windows Live, Yahoo, Gmail, etc.)?
  16. Do you offer functionality around email authentication (SPF and DKIM)?
  17. What does your overall sending reputation look like? 
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Why do emails go to spam (or the inbox)?

Check out our webinar to learn how to separate fact from fiction when it comes to email deliverability.

Watch the webinar

 

Maria Coleman

Maria Coleman

Maria Coleman was a Senior Content Marketing Manager at Litmus