X ways to increase email deliverability
3 min read
When you launch a new email marketing campaign it doesn’t matter whether you have managed to make a good strategy, write an extra-selling content or provide a super valuable service if at the end your email won’t reach the potential client.
Thus, it would be a good idea for anyone who wants to launch an email marketing campaign to take into consideration the tips below as they will help you to increase emails deliverability dramatically.
1. Do Not Purchase Email Lists
You have probably seen the tons of mailing lists on sale. Probably, there are some of them containing email addresses of real users. However, those are people that have subscribed on someone else newsletter, not your. Thus, if you send them emails there is high chance that you or your email server gets to the blacklist of email providers. Such bases usually contain catch-all email servers used for detecting and blocking spammers.
2. Do Not Grab Emails from Other Websites
It’s true you can really quickly collect an email base if you parse other websites. However, sending letters to such email addresses will make your domain look spammy in the eyes of ESPs.
3. Don’t Send an Email on The Address if You Already Got Mail Delivery Failure From It
Email address can be blocked, deleted or written with a mistake. You never can deliver email on these addresses so if you continue making attempts again and again your address reputation will be spoiled.
4. Do not Use Video and Javascript in Your Letters
Most of the people in your mailing list won’t appreciate it as rich-media content is likely to be not displayed.
The same thing concerns javascript - even if you pass the spam-filters, email clients won’t be able to execute javascript, that you place in the letter.
5. Do not Place Forms Inside The Letter Body
Forms are not supported by any of the email client. Though no one can forbid you to place in a letter a call-to-action motivating person to fill the form.
6. Do not Attach Files to The Letter
In case you want to send doc or pdf file it is better to attach it to your website and then place a download link in your letter.
7. Do not Use Spam Words
If you use in your newsletters words like ‘free’, ‘today only’, ‘your last chance to…’ your letter is imposed to risk of getting into the spam box. Be creative and try to figure out something more unique.
8.Do not use in your letter bold and colored fonts.
The same thing concerns the text placed on the background of the similar color - just like the text itself or other spammer stuff. Your letter is going to be blocked by the spam-filters in 99%.
9. Always check your writing before you send the letter
80% of respondents negatively accept the letters containing grammatical and punctual mistakes.There exist so many good translating services, do not hesitate to use them before you send the newsletter.
10. Write for people, not for robots
Do not add too much keywords to the text. Write letters on the language you understand, be creative, produce interesting and valuable content.
11. Maintain Actuality of Your Mailing List
Even if your mailing list is collected only from the addresses that have passed opt-in subscription you still can look spammy in the eyes of ESPs if you do not follow the primitive recommendations:
- Always delete from your list abandoned and deleted addresses
- Always delete addresses which cause several soft or one hard bounce
- Track the email openings of your subscribers
12. Use Double-Opt-In
With double-opt-in authorization you send a subscriber an additional email where you ask him to click activation link to confirm subscription. Thus, there is no chance for you to get a wrong email address in your mailing list.
13. Always Add a Subscription Refusal Link to Your Letter
Each letter must contain an unsubscribing link. It is ideal to make it possible for your subscriber to give up on your subscription in one click, though you also can place on the refusal page a form where user can point out the reason of unsubscribing.
14. Add Subscriber’s Name to The Subject Line
ESPs better treat personalized letters. Adding subscriber’s name to the subject-line can show you know him and he is really awaiting your letter.
15. Add the Plain-Text Version of The Letter if You Send HTML Letters
If you send HTML letters you need to add plain-text version because:
- some email-clients do not support html display
- most people prefer plain-text seeking for mobile traffic decrease
- ESPs love plain-text
- Email marketing software usually has special settings for tracking links in plain\text mails (long links with UTM marks looks ugly in plain text mode)
16. Add to the Letter Link to Its Online Version
Unfortunately, some email-clients can display your letter not properly. In this case you should provide an online version of the letter. You can add a link to such a version on the top of the letter.
17.Be Laconic
ESP spam filters do not like letters that contain only one line, though they also do not like letters that contain many thousands of symbols. Be laconic in your letters and try to make them not more than 500-1000 symbols in length, use paragraphs, so that it would be more comfortable for your subscribers to read them.
That’s all. We hope this list will be helpful for those who want to increase email deliverability of the newsletter.
Read more in other useful articles on our blog.