As a business owner or marketer, you rely heavily on email marketing to communicate with your customers, prospects, and subscribers. However, if your emails are consistently landing in the spam folder or being blocked altogether, your domain may be at a disadvantage with email providers. In this article, we will explore why this happens and what you can do to improve your email deliverability and avoid the dreaded spam folder.

 

Email marketing is an essential part of a business's marketing efforts. It allows you to reach your target audience with personalized and engaging content that can drive conversions and revenue. However, even the most carefully crafted email can end up in the spam folder or be blocked by email providers, rendering your efforts ineffective. In this article, we will discuss the factors that can lead to poor email deliverability and what you can do to improve it.

 

 

What is Email Deliverability?

 

Email deliverability refers to the ability of an email to reach its intended recipient's inbox. Several factors affect email deliverability, including the quality of your email list, your sender reputation, and your email content. The goal of email marketing is to ensure that your emails reach your subscribers' inboxes and not their spam folder or are blocked by email providers.

 

 

Why Your Domain May Be at a Disadvantage?

 

There are several reasons why your domain may be at a disadvantage when it comes to email deliverability. One of the most common reasons is using a free email service like Gmail or Yahoo instead of a custom domain. Email providers often view these free services as less trustworthy and are more likely to flag them as spam.

 

Another reason is purchasing an old or previously-used domain, as email providers may associate it with past spamming activities. Additionally, sending emails from a new or unestablished domain can trigger spam filters, as can sending emails to a purchased or outdated email list.

 

 

Best Practices for Improving Email Deliverability

 

There are several best practices you can follow to improve your email deliverability and avoid the spam folder. These include:

 

✔ Use a reputable email service provider: Use an email service provider with a good reputation, as they have the necessary tools and resources to help you achieve high deliverability rates.

 

✔ Authenticate your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC: Authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help verify the identity of the sender and ensure that your emails are not marked as spam or phishing attempts.

 

✔ Build a clean email list: Ensure that your email list is made up of engaged subscribers who have opted-in to receive your emails. Remove inactive subscribers regularly and avoid purchasing email lists.

 

✔ Create engaging and relevant email content: Craft compelling and relevant email content that encourages subscribers to engage with your brand and take action.

 

✔ Avoid spam triggers and language: Avoid using words and phrases commonly associated with spam emails, such as "limited time offer" or "make money fast."

 

✔ Monitor and maintain your sender reputation: Your sender reputation is a critical factor in email deliverability. Monitor your reputation and take steps to maintain it, such as responding to spam complaints promptly and avoiding sending emails to inactive or invalid addresses.

 

✔ Provide a clear opt-out or unsubscribe option: Make it easy for subscribers to opt-out or unsubscribe from your emails to avoid triggering spam complaints.

 

✔ Segment and personalize your emails: Personalize your emails by segmenting your email list and tailoring your content to the interests and needs of your subscribers.

 

✔ Test and optimize your emails: Regularly test and optimize your emails to improve engagement and deliverability rates.

 

 

Examples of Good and Bad Email Deliverability Practices

 

To illustrate the importance of good email deliverability practices, let's look at some examples of both good and bad practices.

 

Good Practices:

 

Obtaining Permission: One of the most important good practices for email deliverability is obtaining permission from your subscribers. This means ensuring that they have willingly provided their email addresses and have given you explicit consent to send them emails. This can be done through a double opt-in process, where subscribers confirm their email address before being added to your list.

 

Personalization: Personalization is a great way to improve your email engagement and deliverability. Personalized emails are more likely to be opened and read, which can help to improve your overall email reputation. Use your subscribers' names and segment your email list based on their interests and preferences to create more targeted and relevant email campaigns.

 

Cleaning Up Your Email List: Regularly cleaning up your email list can help to improve your email deliverability. Remove inactive or invalid email addresses, and avoid sending emails to subscribers who have not engaged with your emails in a long time. This can help to reduce your bounce rate and increase your email engagement.

 

Bad Practices:

 

Purchasing Email Lists: Purchasing email lists is a bad practice that can harm your email deliverability. These lists often contain invalid or outdated email addresses, and the recipients may not have given permission to receive emails from you. This can result in a high bounce rate, spam complaints, and damage to your email reputation.

 

Using Misleading Subject Lines: Using misleading subject lines is another bad practice that can harm your email reputation. This includes using click-bait or deceptive subject lines to get subscribers to open your emails. This can result in a high spam complaint rate and damage to your email deliverability.

 

Ignoring Email Analytics: Ignoring your email analytics can also harm your email deliverability. If you are not monitoring your email performance metrics, you may not be aware of issues such as a high bounce rate or low engagement. This can result in your emails being marked as spam and damage to your email reputation.

 

 

🔹 To sum it all up, email providers are increasingly acting as gatekeepers to the open internet. By filtering out unwelcome emails, sign-up forms and practices, they make sure that businesses must adhere to their rules if they want to be successful with email marketing. 

 

With higher standards of deliverability, email providers can diminish a domain’s reputation even after just one “unsafe sending” episode. Knowing why your domain may have been at a disadvantage with email providers can help you create better strategies for improving delivery rates and protecting against future issues. 

 

Taking time to monitor changes in delivery rates, getting familiar with compliance regulations and understanding the reasons why unauthorised sending occurs can keep your domaining business running smoothly and safely for years to come.

 

📜 Related article:

◾ A domain with a tainted reputation, what should I do?

◾ The Importance of a Domain in Cold Email Marketing 

◾ How long does it take to warm up email or domain?