Maximising Email Deliverability: A Practical Guide

If you’ve ever tried sending an email campaign, whether it’s a newsletter, a product update, or just good ol’ business communication, you’ve probably faced the issue of email deliverability. I’m talking about that dreaded moment when you realise that a good chunk of your emails aren’t actually making it to your recipients’ inboxes. They’ve landed in the black hole of the internet—the spam folder.

Now, I’m all for clearing out my spam folder from time to time, but the last thing you want is for your carefully crafted message to end up there. In this post, I’m going to walk you through practical steps you can take to improve your email deliverability rate. Let’s make sure your emails reach the inbox every time.

What is Email Deliverability?

Email deliverability is simply the ability to successfully land your email in the recipient’s inbox. Not the spam folder, not the promotions tab—the inbox. High deliverability rates mean your emails are more likely to be seen, opened, and acted upon.

There’s more to it than just hitting ‘send’. You need to consider factors like sender reputation, authentication protocols, email content, and your recipients’ engagement. Don’t worry, I’ll explain how these work without going overboard on the technical stuff.

1. Authenticate Your Emails

One of the first things you need to do is to authenticate your emails. This is the digital equivalent of proving your identity before delivering a letter. It assures email servers that you are who you say you are and not some dodgy spammer trying to sell prescription drugs or questionable investment schemes.

Here are the three main email authentication protocols:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework): This tells mail servers which domains are allowed to send emails on behalf of your domain.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): This adds a digital signature to your emails that allows the recipient server to verify they haven’t been altered.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): This brings SPF and DKIM together and helps monitor the authentication of your messages, giving you control over what happens to unauthenticated emails.

While it sounds techy, setting these up is fairly straightforward—most email service providers (like Mailchimp, HubSpot, or SendGrid) have guides that walk you through the process.

2. Build a Clean Email List

Having a clean email list is crucial. This means no dodgy emails, no buying lists off the dark web (yes, people do that!), and no keeping emails that haven’t engaged with you in years. Here’s what you can do:

• Use a double opt-in: Make sure your subscribers confirm they want to receive your emails.

This is usually done by sending them a confirmation email after they sign up. It might feel like an extra step, but it’s worth it for the sake of engagement and compliance with spam laws (like GDPR and CAN-SPAM).

• Regularly clean your list: Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t opened or clicked any emails in a while. Most email service providers (ESPs) will give you reports on engagement. A regular clean-up reduces the chances of your emails being marked as spam.

• Avoid purchased lists: It might seem tempting to buy a big list of emails to kickstart your campaign, but this is a big no-no. Not only are these people not expecting to hear from you, but a lot of those email addresses are likely fake or abandoned. You’ll hurt your sender reputation (we’ll get to that in a bit) and risk being blacklisted.

3. Maintain a Good Sender Reputation

Your sender reputation is like your email credit score. It’s a score assigned to your domain and IP address by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) based on how trustworthy they think you are as a sender. A higher score means your emails are more likely to land in the inbox, while a lower score will push you towards the spam or junk folder.

Here’s how you can maintain a good sender reputation:

• Avoid spammy behaviour: Sending too many emails too frequently, especially to people who don’t want them, is a quick way to ruin your reputation. Respect your audience’s inbox.

• Monitor your bounce rates: Emails bounce when they can’t be delivered to the recipient. A high bounce rate (typically above 5%) signals to ISPs that you’re not maintaining a clean list. Make sure to remove hard bounces (invalid email addresses) and address soft bounces (temporary issues like a full inbox) appropriately.

• Limit spam complaints: Spam complaints occur when a recipient marks your email as junk. Aim to keep complaints below 0.1%. To avoid this, make sure your unsubscribe link is easy to find and your content is relevant to your audience.

4. Craft Engaging Content

Your email content matters—a lot. Spam filters often look for certain red flags in your email’s subject line and body. Here are a few tips for creating content that won’t trigger those alarms:

• Avoid spammy words: Words like “free,” “urgent,” or “guaranteed” are major triggers for spam filters. Keep your language natural and conversational, and avoid excessive use of exclamation marks or ALL CAPS.

• Balance text and images: Don’t overwhelm your email with images. A good rule of thumb is to aim for a ratio of 60% text to 40% images. Too many images, especially without alt text, can make your email look like spam.

• Personalise your emails: Emails that are tailored to your audience’s interests and behaviour tend to perform better. If your ESP allows for dynamic content, use it. Personalisation can be as simple as using the recipient’s first name or more advanced by sending targeted offers based on their previous interactions with your site.

5. Monitor Your Engagement Rates

ISPs look at how people interact with your emails to determine if they’re spammy or not. If your emails get opened, read, and clicked on, it’s a positive signal. But if they’re ignored or deleted without being opened, it can harm your deliverability.

Here’s how to keep engagement up:

• Segment your audience: Instead of sending the same email to everyone on your list, segment your audience based on demographics, location, past behaviour, etc. A tailored message is more likely to resonate with your readers.

• Use a killer subject line: This is the first thing your recipient sees, and it’s often what determines whether your email gets opened or not. Keep it short, clear, and intriguing.

• Send at the right time: Test different times and days to find out when your audience is most likely to open your emails. For example, studies show that Tuesday mornings tend to be a high-engagement time for many industries, but your audience could be different.

6. Test, Test, Test

Before you hit ‘send’ on a large email blast, it’s smart to run a few tests. Use A/B testing to compare subject lines, content, and call-to-action buttons. Most email service providers offer built-in testing tools that show you how different versions perform.

You can also use tools like Mail Tester or Litmus to run spam tests on your emails and check for issues that could affect deliverability, such as broken links, missing alt text on images, or incorrect formatting.

7. Comply with Regulations

Finally, don’t forget about email regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the EU and CAN-SPAM in the US. These laws require you to:

• Obtain explicit consent before sending marketing emails
• Provide a clear and easy way to unsubscribe
• Include your physical mailing address in your emails

Failing to comply can result in hefty fines, not to mention a black mark on your sender reputation.

Wrapping It Up

Maximising email deliverability isn’t rocket science, but it does require a bit of TLC. If you authenticate your emails, keep your list clean, craft engaging content, and monitor your sender reputation, you’ll be well on your way to landing more emails in the inbox.

Remember, a small increase in your deliverability rate can have a massive impact on the success of your email campaigns. And hey, even if your campaign goes wrong, at least you’ll know you gave it your best shot and learnt something along the way. Happy sending!

Matt Anderson
Your laid-back email deliverability consultant (and occasional spam evader).