There are many ESPs saying they can get your email delivery rate higher than 90%, but the real hard work is in your corner to get the highest percentage of messages delivered correctly to your email marketing program subscribers (or leads).
You face a tough email world where leads may consider your messages spam the majority of the time. Worry not, with this guide you can actually get a close to perfect email delivery rate.
Here are 9 key ways to do just that.
1-No Spam Complaints
This is by far the most important job you have: keeping your emails not only in the inbox but not risking your reputation with the ISP.
A general rule is you want less than 1 in 1,000 emails to be considered spam. So if you got 5 spam complaints in 1,000 emails, you risk your campaign.
So how do you do it? It merits going over in detail. One of the best ways is to send only to permission based lists. If you get a lot of complaints, it’s not the end of the world; you can move to a opt-in. Also, encourage subscribers to add you to their address books: this makes sure they get the email.
Last but not least, you should make sure your emails don’t seem like spam. If you get overly aggressive you will turn away subscribers. And that also includes not sending to many emails out: depending on the field, over 1 email a day and sometimes more than 1 a week can cause you to get ignored or considered spam.
2-Manage Expectations from the Outset
If you have been clear about privacy issues and preference manageability, you should have no problem in managing expectations.
You and your subscribers need to be on the same page for what kind of messages you will be sending too. You should have clear messages about the kind of marketing messages you send, and that they as subscribers checked a box and agreed.
3-Validate Email Addresses with Opt-In
An opt-in helps your emails to not be considered spam, but also works as a way to confirm you are sending to the subscribers correct email address.
Some who want to subscribe may make a spelling mistake; an opt-in or double opt-in can resolve this.
4-HTML and Design
You should optimize your HTML and design elements so all your content is not only readable, but also looks professional.
If the email blocks a lot of your images, it often makes your message look like spam or unprofessional. You can quickly solve this by running your HTML through a validator, view messages on different platforms and browsers, and using different email clients. Unfortunately, you may have to completely redesign your email, but it’s better to get it right.
5-Use a Dedicated IP Address
It’s generally a bad idea to share IP addresses, especially with other major companies. You might get blacklisted for have an IP from someone else.
A dedicated IP address does cost more, but in reality it saves you time and headaches later. On the other hand, if you don’t send out a lot of emails, a shared IP address is often more cost effective.
6-Using a New IP Address
You want to create a name for not only your business products or services, but also for your reputation via email services.
Most ISPs prefer you gradually build up your reputation. This only takes a few weeks, and some ISPs are different. The majority will look for things like the number of unknown users attempted and number of connections attempted from one mail server.
7-Create Guidelines for the Whole Company
In many companies, different branches have different client email lists. It’s not all done in marketing, for instance,as other departments can engage clients in different ways.
This depends on the size of your company, but the idea here is pretty simple. Create core guidelines for your whole company on permission and list building services.
8-Regularly Maintain Strong Lists
The term “dirty lists” is used when companies continue to email after bounces or generating spam complaints.
It’s very important to regularly maintain your list else the previous steps won’t really matter. If you repeatedly mail to incorrect email addresses, ISPs may take note of it.
How is this done? Remove all failed email addresses, technically called “hard bounces” from your program. Remove addresses that generate a spam complaint. Don’t overdo bounce retries. You should also reactivate inactive addresses: this helps maintaining your reputation with ISPs and gives you higher delivery rates.
9-High Sender Reputation
The main way ISPs check email programs is by the sender reputation.
You can help this process by: using feedback loops, using reputation service providers, using Microsoft’s Smart Network Data Services, and also using Lashback.
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