Email deliverability: the core element of your marketing strategy

Against the background of the continuously growing, dynamically developing range of content, the competition for the attention of potential customers is greater than ever. Not surprisingly, more and more e-mails are marked as junk e-mails by users or do not even reach the recipients' inboxes in the first place.

In particular, data protection regulations such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU-GDPR) make it difficult for marketing campaigns based on the popular medium of email to reach their target group. This can be a problem for those marketers who don't know how to manage the perception of their marketing approach's reputation and how to present themselves positively.

The figures back up these observations: According to Statista , 48.16 percent of all emails sent globally are classified as junk email, and the international consulting firm Return Path states in its benchmark report that 21 percent of emails never arrive into the mailboxes of the recipients.

What exactly is email deliverability?

Email deliverability describes the successful delivery of emails to recipients' inboxes. One of the crucial aspects of an effective email marketing strategy is maximizing email deliverability and inbox placement. And this endeavor is more difficult than many assume. One of the most important factors for your e-mails ending up in the recipients' inboxes is the e-mail reputation of the sender - i.e. the reputation of the mail server used.

If your or your software provider's sending IP used for your mail server and thus for your e-mail marketing is misused by non-reputable e-mail senders, since there are no clear and strict anti-spam guidelines and controls, then this decreases the reputation of the affected servers increases over time. This often means that even the newsletters from reputable providers cannot break through the firewalls. The corresponding spam filters ensure that the "good guys" are sealed off in the same way as the "bad guys", just because they happen to be using the same mail server and thus sending IPs. Your reputation as an email sender is ruined.

Useful tool: the Sender Score

The sender score is a number between 1 and 100, which is calculated using a specific logarithm that uses sources such as information from service providers and spam filter providers or also takes into account so-called blacklists. To determine the score, the algorithm documents, for example, the frequency with which newsletter recipients move the emails they have received to the spam folder.

An online tool provided by Return Path can be used to calculate exactly what your Sender Score is at https://senderscore.org/ . Return Path indicates that a score of 80 can already be described as "good".

Other recipient inbox providers and email filtering services also monitor the history of your emails and use algorithms to measure the reputation of the sender. They measure how likely you are to send quality emails based on your past behavior. Use this estimate to determine if your next email will be rejected, sent to junk/spam, or sent to your inbox.

What is the sender call about?

A positive sender reputation is the key to the deliverability of your emails. Your sender reputation holds you accountable to your recipients, your provider, and other factors that make your email easier to deliver. A good reputation leads to a higher inbox ranking and more opportunities for conversion. A bad reputation not only leads to lower conversion rates, but it can also result in all your emails being blocked.

In principle, spam filters are a logical thing. However, they are also associated with the risk that reputable senders and even newsletters expressly ordered by the user will not reliably end up in the inbox. It's not 100 percent possible to avoid this false classification as spam, but if you follow a few guidelines, you can significantly improve the deliverability of your newsletter.

How important is email deliverability?

Thinking beyond email deliverability and more about including relevant content is crucial. The most important thing is to only send relevant content that the recipients really want to receive and that offers them a benefit. Here are some other ways we can help you improve email deliverability and recipient engagement, automatically boosting your sender reputation:

1. Lead generation
• Good email deliverability and IT reputation require that you only interact with leads who have voluntarily given you their email address. One of the most important rules in this context is: never buy email addresses!!
• At least since the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, the double opt-in procedure has been a must for every reputable newsletter provider. In contrast to the single opt-in, the registration takes place in two steps: the subscriber enters his e-mail address in a form and in the second step has to actively confirm in his personal e-mail inbox that he is ready to receive it of the newsletter agrees.
• Think carefully about what you want to achieve with your email marketing. What is communicated? Who is being contacted with which topics and how often should the newsletter be sent? The be-all and end-all - we can't repeat it often enough - is relevant content for the respective recipient groups and cleverly placed calls to action (CTAs) are the key to successful email marketing and positive lead generation.
2. Sending emails.
• Segmentation: Make sure your contacts only get what they requested. In order to implement this reliably, you should define thematic groups in which you subdivide the newsletter recipients according to the information they require. If you intelligently select your target groups in meaningful homogeneous recipient lists, it is automatically ensured that you deliver personalized content that the recipients actually want and that interests them. A key aspect to consider when creating the appropriate distribution lists is whether they are a new prospect or a returning buyer.
• Subject line: The most important thing should definitely be mentioned here first. In addition, buzzwords that indicate spam and sales arguments wrapped in superlatives must be avoided immediately. Regarding the length of the subject line, you should stick to the rule of thumb of 6 to 10 words or approx. 50 characters. So you automatically have to concentrate on the essentials! Feel free to experiment a little and ask colleagues, friends and family for their opinion.
• Whitelist: In order to successfully deliver your email newsletters, it's a good idea to ask your newsletter recipients to add you to your whitelist - a list of email addresses that your contact has classified as "safe and trustworthy". – to add. Let established customers know about this procedure so that your emails are prevented from accidentally ending up in their spam folders.
• Unsubscribing: The option to unsubscribe from the newsletter service should be made available to users as easily as possible. After all, you don't want to force anyone to receive your mail. The risk would be far too great that this would result in frustration and your sender would be marked as spam. The same applies to ignoring a cancellation. If the recipient of your newsletter decides that they no longer want to receive it, then you MUST comply with this wish. During the unsubscribe process, it is legitimate to succinctly ask about the reasons for unsubscribing.
• Legal basis: It should actually be self-explanatory, but we want to explicitly mention it again at this point: In order for your e-mails to be delivered and end up in the inbox instead of your contact’s spam filter, you must comply with legal regulations such as For example, "double opt-in" or the rules of the GDPR .
• No unwanted content: The last point is also obvious. You can only avoid getting annoyed e-mail recipients who mark your newsletter as spam if you stick to the wishes explicitly expressed by the customer. The relevance of the information you send is essential to the success of your mail deliverability.
3. Maintenance of your mailing list.
• Remove inactive recipients: You should urgently remove recipients who have not opened or clicked on your newsletter in the last six months from your mailing list..
• Keep distribution lists up to date: Do not use old distribution lists. Recipients who have not been emailed to you in the last six months should no longer be used. Also, non-functioning addresses must no longer be part of your mailing list. Up-to-date and rather short distribution lists are always better than long lists that are outdated..

Conclusion: CRM software helps you manage your email marketing

The reputation of a sender is usually the key to improving deliverability. The way you generate leads, send your emails, and manage your distribution lists all impact your sender's reputation and deliverability.

While deliverability is important, creating relevant content that your recipients want and expect is even more important. Your goal should therefore always be fundamentally to build trust with your recipients and your inbox providers.

Proper CRM software can help you clean up your data and increase delivery success. Response-driven and lead-nurturing based marketing campaigns such as Zoho! Marketing automation implemented helps, among other things, to personalize the content of your campaigns so that they are individually tailored to the recipient. Professional CRM software creates the ideal conditions so that your newsletter ends up where you want it: in the inbox of your potential new customers and established regular customers.