Best Practices When Sending Email Campaigns
Email is one of the most effective tools marketers possess, for the simple reason that it works. Email marketing generates a whopping $44 for every $1 spent, according to the Direct Marketing Association. That generous payout potential, however, only has a chance if your email gets delivered.
So, what steps can you take to improve your company’s email deliverability rates? In this article, we’ll look at eight ways we find to effectively get your email into inboxes.
1. Enable DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, or DMARC, is an email authentication, policy, and reporting protocol. It builds on the SPF and DKIM (more on that later) protocols, taking them several steps further. DMARC is designed to protect against direct domain spoofing, or phishing. DMARC is a free and open technical specification and requires a change to your DNS record. Here again, loop in your IT team for details.
Email marketing sometimes gets a bad rap, but that’s because there’s still too many bad actors out there. The good news is that technology is getting better at both detecting spam and legitimate marketing communications. If we all strive to follow best practices for email marketing, nearly all of us will be happier to open our inboxes each morning.
Learn More About DMARC Settings
2. Start small, with an engaged audience.
We recommend you start small with any new email marketing efforts. Blasting an email to thousands of addresses from an IP address that doesn’t usually engage in that activity will send up red flags with your ISP. Be certain you’re using a clean list, remove anyone who’s unsubscribed in the past, double check spelling, and be certain the individual still works for the company you’re sending to. A vetted list of subscribers who have opted in to receiving your communication is best, such as those who signed up on your company’s landing page.
3. Add value with each delivery.
We’ll go out on a limb and say that any email that doesn’t add value is spam. Be certain that every communication adds value. New product or service offerings, special pricing, explanatory videos, announcements for recent blog articles and customer case studies are all examples of touches that add value. Quality matters, so if you’re not a copywriter, engage a good one or leverage cobranded content from your vendors.
4. Maintain a good reputation.
Once your company IP address has established a good reputation, do everything within your power to maintain it. The most common reason your emails don’t get delivered is due to a low “sender score” since ISPs automatically reject any email that falls below a certain score. Think of your sender score as akin to your personal credit score. You can learn more about this and check your sender score for free at SenderScore.org.
Another way to monitor your reputation is to subscribe to a feedback loop from your ISP. You know that “Report as Spam” option in Outlook? When a recipient of your email hits that button, your ISP may be informed. You can ask your ISP to subscribe you to your feedback loop so you’ll be informed about spam complaints. Naturally, you should remove the email addresses contained in that feedback loop from your marketing list. Keeping your spam complaint rate low will help endear you to your ISP.
5. A consistent send schedule works best.
Consistent communications help establish your brand and put your name in front of prospects when they have a need. The consistency also helps “train” your ISP about the legitimacy of your activities. You can choose the cadence that fits your style and message (please, no more than once a week) but once chosen, make a commitment to delivering valuable content on that schedule.
6. Make sure the "Send From" email address is valid.
The system will not send emails if the send from email address is left blank or if the send from email address isn't valid. Please make sure prior to executing any email campaigns that this is filled in with a working, valid email address. Typically, partners should have the ability to add the Send From email in the profile of their account, however, this can also be done on an individual email basis by clicking on the Settings tab within the email you're working on.
7. Make sure you have a quality list.
It is best practice for you to make sure you have valid emails on the mailing list that you're importing to the system. We suggest adding contacts to receive emails that you feel are going to be receptive to your email campaign. You are allowed to use cold lists, however, you run a risk of sending emails to invalid, old email addresses or any additional spam traps.
We can’t reinforce this point enough. Only send emails to a recipients list of recipients that have actively opted in to receiving your communications. We’ll offer up some ways to build your list in an upcoming post. One of the quickest ways to prompt your ISP to cut you off is to send unsolicited emails that get reported as spam.
8. Avoid CAPS!
When constructing your email, you want to avoid ALL CAPS messages and make sure you use proper grammar. Things like this can cause emails to go to spam.
9. Check Your Images
Avoid using large images in your email.
10. Test Your Email
There is an increased chance that TEST MESSAGES will could end up in your spam filter. The subject line will read "Test Message" in the subject line. Depending on how your email client is set up, there is a chance that your email will end up in spam because of this.
11. Check Suppression Lists
Most services will build up a list of addresses to avoid emailing in a suppression or black list. This list contains all your collected typo addresses along with those which have unsubscribed over time.