Deliverability is very important concept for all email marketers. Email clients have algorithms built in to detect spammers and malicious emails. These algorithms might sometimes filter out marketing emails as well, even if the recipient wants to receive it! Knowing the different things that impact email deliverability can help make sure you’re hitting the inbox and not the spam box. Here’s what affects email deliverability.
Too Many Spammy Keywords In The Email
There’s many keywords that spammers frequently use. “Free”, for example. Emails with these spammy keywords have a greater chance of ending up in the spam folder. This includes spammy keywords in the email body as well as the headline.
Luckily, most email platforms have tools to help prevent having too many spam words. These tools will score your email body and headline. You will then be provided with a score, as well as suggestions to improve the email campaign.
Text To Image Ratio (Too Many Images)
Another tactic commonly used by spammers is the use of images. A spammer might send an email with one large message. This way, all the spammy keywords won’t get picked up by the text filtering. Because of this reason, email clients are skeptical about emails containing a low text to image ratio.
Number of Spam Complaints
Spam complaints is one of the worst things possible for email deliverability. When a recipient hits the spam button, it tells the email client that the email is junk email that the sender shouldn’t be sending them. Likewise, removing an email from the spam folder is a positive metric.
To reduce the number of spam complaints, make sure there’s an easy to see Unsubscribe button. That makes it easy for recipients to unsubscribe, if they no longer want to receive your emails. It’s much better to have them unsubscribe and not hit the spam button.
Constant list purges from under-performing recipients can also help keep your spam complaints down. When you are sure that everyone on your list wants to receive your emails, you know they won’t be hitting the spam button.
User Engagement: Open and Click-Through Rates
The email clients will look at user engagement to determine if the sender is spammy or not. What algorithms are used, and what engagement metrics are most important will vary from client to client. Opens, clicks and other metrics are included in calculating this. Having a highly engaged list will help keep your messages hitting the inbox.
IP Reputation
All IP addresses have a score with the different email clients. The better the reputation for the IP address used to send the messages, the better the deliverability. Email service providers work hard to make sure their clients are sending the best emails possible. This includes removing spammers and other senders that might harm the reputation of their IP addresses. This will help with your deliverability. It’s also possible to get a dedicated IP address, but it’ll have no reputation to begin with and will have to be warmed up.
Single Opt-In Vs Double Opt-In
Although the double opt-in itself doesn’t improve deliverability, it does in a roundabout way. If a recipient does the double opt-in, it’s more of a reassurance that they really want to receive your emails. This leads to better open and click rates, and less spam complaints. Both of which directly impact deliverability. It also gives you the chance to ask them to add your email address to their contacts. This shows the email client that the recipient truly wants to receive your messages.