Let your subscribers (both current and potential) know your figures on complaints rates, bounce rates and the like. If you’re open, honest and transparent, you’re trustworthy.
As reported in the Marketo blog, 18% of permission-based email never reaches its intended recipient. 5% of it is automatically classified as spam, while the other 13% simply goes missing.
While 82% isn’t a tragic number, it could easily be better.
Though content is important, what actually matters more with email deliverability is your reputation as a sender. You should work on making this reputation better.
Here’s how to increase your email deliverability:
Follow the rules of trust and engagement
You want your email readers to trust you. If they trust, they’ll engage.
Give your subscribers a good reason to opt in to your emails, and be very clear with them about what’s to come. Don’t tell untruths – let them know exactly what to expect from your future emails.
After this, you should only send the type of content that your subscribers are expecting – and do so with timely, targeted, high-quality email marketing.
Compile your email lists responsibly
Before sending any new messages, verify that the recipient’s address is valid.
You should also regularly check your email lists for inactive email addresses – and remove those inactive addresses.
Send your emails from a good marketing platform
There are lots of platforms from which you can send, manage and monitor your emails. Some of them aren’t great.
Choose a good one.
Make sure you’re using a vendor advanced enough to manage feedback loops, bounce codes and connection optimisation.
Craft interesting, engaging content
Low-quality content won’t in itself bounce straight to the spam box. But if you’re sending out irrelevant, uninteresting content, people won’t open it – or may automatically mark it as spam.
Pay attention to your complaint rate
If you receive a warning from your email marketing service that your complaint rate is high, take it seriously.
You should set up an email address – abuse@your-domain.com – where an anti-spam organisation can contact you with any complaints. You should then register that address at www.abuse.net. That site is an anti-spam group and resource centre. By working with them, you can:
“show anti-spam organizations that you are responsible and that you’ve given thought to the email abuse issue.”
Closely monitor your reputation metrics
Get your hands on your email reputation score. With that, you can learn about what you need to change to improve your reputation and your inbox placement rates.
Sender Score is a program which can provide you with reputation score and can show you how your email marketing program compares to that of your competitors.
This ranking score is based on a few different factors:
- Complaints against you
- Volume of your emails
- External reputation
- Number of unknown users
- Number of rejected emails
Be honest and transparent
Let your subscribers (both current and potential) know your figures on complaints rates, bounce rates and the like. If you’re open, honest and transparent, you’re trustworthy.
With all of the above, more of your emails will get to where you need them to be. This will in turn increase the efficiency of your marketing – and increase your profits.