Email marketing is immensely satisfying in every possible way – until the day you click ‘send’ on a campaign that has taken weeks to plan and build, only for absolutely nothing to happen thereafter. All you want is great deliverability.
But
You get a laughable open rate, no click-throughs and not even a single unsubscription (even that would have been nice!).
So, what gives?
Chances are, you’re experiencing poor deliverability – the cornerstone of every bad email marketing campaign.
Without great deliverability, your campaigns may as well not be sent. It’s that simple.
With that in mind, we’ve decided to go right back to basics and look at what we believe to be the seven most important things every marketer should do to ensure great email deliverability.
They won’t cost you anything but time and you can make a start on all of them, today, in-house!
1. The nuts and bolts of great deliverability
The infrastructure from which your email marketing campaigns are sent and managed is crucial. Is the domain you rely on configured for sending email? Have you spoken to your supplier to ensure every box has been ticked when it comes to maintaining high levels of IP authority?
2. The content
Is the email content you’re sending out up to standard? Remember that email client spam filters are clever beasts and will spot dodgy, poorly-constructed content from a mile off. Keep it on topic, original and free from spammy words or too much imagery. Better content means great deliverability.
3. Previous engagement rates
Before devising a new email marketing campaign, are you taking time to look at those you’ve sent previously? Have you scoured the engagement stats to see what worked and what didn’t? You may be sending the same bad campaign again and again.
4. Bounce, bounce, bounce
How are your deliverability key performance indicators (KPIs) performing? If you understand what’s acceptable in terms of hard and soft bounces, you can monitor KPIs more closely and identify potential issues.
5. ISP feedback loops
Your email marketing provider may well take care of this for you, but if not, have you worked to establish a good feedback loop with ISPs? It’ll enable you to address any incoming spam complaints quickly in future.
6. Email validation
Avoiding spam traps is obviously a necessity, but you can only do that if you have a process to validate email addresses and ensure your subscriber lists don’t contain ‘fake’ addresses that might land you in a spam trap or ‘honey pot’.
7. Acquisition
How do you collect email addresses? Are you ensuring people have to double opt-in before being added to your lists? Are they likely to be interested in the stuff you send?
Wrapping up
We’ll be covering each of the above in future blogs, so stay tuned for further advice, but consider this list a constant reminder for ensuring great email marketing deliverability.
Keep it in sight – always.