Email deliverability shouldn’t be a sort of El Dorado that email marketers are struggling to achieve. By following some simple guidelines it’s easier than ever to increase your deliverability together with the open rate and, of course, the ROI.
It is true, however, that together with the latest platforms, tools and technologies email marketing has also evolved and has become a complex environment. So how can you cope with these changes while increasing your deliverability?
Put your money on quality subscribers
We couldn’t stress more on the importance of a high-quality subscriber list. To achieve this perfect list, you need to continuously trim it. Watch out for the complaints, inactive users or spams. With this checklist in mind, you can achieve a perfect subscriber list.
First of all, watch out for the spam or junk folder. Are there too many people sending your emails to one of these folders? Then you’re in danger because too many people doing the same thing will warn the email provider that something’s fishy about your account and they will categorize you as such.
Secondly, be aware of the spam traps, those email addresses that will damage your sender reputation and will cause you deliverability problems.
Last but not least, clean up your list by identifying the unknown users and even the inactive ones. Behind these email addresses, there is either someone that has no interest in your emails or worse, nobody because it has been deactivated or never used. In both of these cases, your reputation will suffer together with your deliverability.
You’ll be better off these invisible users that aren’t doing any good.
Make a don’t list
Checklists with what to do are important and help you better organize your tasks. Apart from the good things to follow, you should also bear in mind what not to do because as obvious as this sounds, starting off with the wrong foot is very easy. So what should be added on the don’t list?
Stay away from spam words. This is specific to each industry so depending on the subject of your mass emails, there are different words to avoid. For e-commerce, words such as order, buy, order status, shopper etc. shouldn’t be used unless you want to end up in the spam folder.
You can easily find lists of spam words grouped by industry.
Always think of the basics. Simple, common rules should always be considered. Apart from the ones included in the CAN-Spam Act there are a few more that should never be forgotten:
- don’t use red because this could set off spam filters
- don’t use capital letters in the subject line or in the email
- don’t use too many links and stick to maximum three
Applying these simple guidelines will get you where you want in no time. What are you waiting for? Start trimming your subscriber list and the rest will follow.