Email is one of the most efficient ways for businesses to engage with existing consumers and reach out to new ones. Even the best-crafted email campaigns, however, might fall short of their objectives if they do not reach their intended audience. Email deliverability comes into play here. Email deliverability refers to the ability of an email to reach its intended recipient's inbox without being blocked or filtered into a spam folder. A good email deliverability rate is critical for any email marketing campaign's success. In this article, we will define email deliverability, define a decent email deliverability rate, and discuss how businesses may enhance their email deliverability to ensure their emails reach their intended receivers.
Understanding Email Deliverability
What’s email deliverability?
Email deliverability is the ability of an email message to successfully reach the recipient's inbox. It is determined by several factors, including the sender's reputation, content and formatting, list quality and hygiene, and email authentication.
Factors that affect email deliverability
Sender reputation
The sender's reputation plays a crucial role in email deliverability. Email service providers (ESPs) use various metrics to determine a sender's reputation, including bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement metrics like open and click-through rates. A good sender reputation increases the likelihood that the email will reach the recipient's inbox, whereas a low sender reputation can result in the email being filtered into spam folders or blocked entirely.
Content and formatting
The content and formatting of an email can also impact its deliverability. Emails with overly promotional language, excessive capitalization or punctuation, and misleading subject lines are more likely to be filtered as spam. Similarly, emails with broken links, large images, or attachments may trigger spam filters and cause the email to be blocked.
List quality and hygiene
The quality and hygiene of the email list can also affect email deliverability. Sending emails to inactive or invalid email addresses can result in higher bounce rates and negatively impact sender reputation. Purchasing email lists or using unsolicited emails can also lead to high spam complaints and damage sender reputation.
Email Authentication
Email authentication is the process of verifying that an email message is sent from a legitimate sender. Authentication can be achieved using various methods such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC). Implementing these authentication methods can improve email deliverability by preventing spoofing and phishing attacks.
What is a Good Email Deliverability Rate?
Email deliverability rate
Email deliverability rate refers to the percentage of emails that are successfully delivered to the intended recipients' inboxes. This rate is calculated by dividing the number of emails that were delivered by the total number of emails sent. For example, if you sent 100 emails, and 90 of them were successfully delivered, your email deliverability rate would be 90%.
Industry benchmarks for email deliverability rates
The email deliverability rate varies by industry, and there is no standard benchmark. However, some research reports suggest that the average email deliverability rate across industries is around 80%. However, some industries such as finance, insurance, and healthcare may have lower deliverability rates due to strict spam filters and regulations.
Factors that impact email deliverability rates
Several factors can impact email deliverability rates. Here are some of the most important ones:
Sender reputation
The sender's reputation is a crucial factor in email deliverability rates. Email service providers (ESPs) use various metrics such as sender score, complaint rates, and bounce rates to evaluate the sender's reputation. A good sender reputation leads to better email deliverability rates.
Email content and formatting
The content and formatting of an email can impact its deliverability rate. Emails that contain spammy keywords or phrases, excessive use of capital letters, or poor formatting are more likely to be flagged as spam and end up in the spam folder.
List quality and hygiene
The quality of the email list and its hygiene can also impact email deliverability rates. The email list should only include subscribers who have opted-in to receive emails from the sender. Additionally, email addresses that bounce back, or email addresses that are inactive or no longer exist, should be removed from the list.
Email Authentication
Email authentication is the process of verifying that an email message is sent from a legitimate sender. Implementing authentication methods such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) can improve email deliverability rates by preventing spoofing and phishing attacks.
How to Improve Email Deliverability
Best practices for improving email deliverability
Build a strong sender reputation
A strong sender reputation is essential for good email deliverability. This can be achieved by maintaining a low complaint rate, and a low bounce rate, and sending relevant and engaging content to your subscribers. Additionally, it is important to use a consistent "from" address and domain, as well as a recognizable subject line.
Optimize email content and formatting
Email content and formatting can impact email deliverability. To improve deliverability, emails should be well-designed, visually appealing, and contain relevant and engaging content. Avoid using spammy keywords, excessive capitalization, or misleading subject lines.
Regularly clean and maintain email lists
Maintaining a clean and up-to-date email list is essential for good email deliverability. Remove inactive subscribers, bounced email addresses, and subscribers who have not engaged with your emails for a prolonged period. Additionally, segment your list to ensure that you are sending targeted and relevant content to each subscriber.
Implement email authentication protocols
Implementing email authentication protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can improve email deliverability by verifying the authenticity of your email messages. These protocols can also help prevent phishing attacks and spoofing, which can negatively impact your sender reputation.
Tips for avoiding spam filters and improving inbox placement
Avoid using spam trigger words
Certain words and phrases can trigger spam filters and cause emails to be flagged as spam. Avoid using words such as "free," "guaranteed," or "limited-time offer" in your subject lines or email content.
Personalize your emails
Personalized emails that address the subscriber by name and provide relevant and targeted content are less likely to be marked as spam.
Use a reputable email service provider
A reputable email service provider can help ensure that your emails are delivered to your subscribers' inboxes and not caught by spam filters.
Monitor email engagement
Monitoring email engagement metrics such as open rates and click-through rates can provide insight into the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns. Low engagement rates may indicate that your emails are not being delivered to your subscribers' inboxes.
Tools and services that can help improve email deliverability
Email validation and verification services
These services can help verify the validity of email addresses and remove invalid email addresses from your list, which can improve email deliverability.
Deliverability testing tools
These tools can help test your emails for deliverability issues such as spam triggers, formatting errors, and broken links.
Email list cleaning services
These services can help remove inactive subscribers, bounced email addresses, and spam traps from your email list, which can improve email deliverability.
Reputation monitoring services
These services can help monitor your sender reputation and provide insights into how to improve it.
Conclusion
A good email deliverability rate is essential for the success of email marketing campaigns. Industry benchmarks suggest that a deliverability rate of 95% or higher is considered good, but this can vary depending on the industry and email list quality. To improve email deliverability, businesses should focus on building a strong sender reputation, optimizing email content and formatting, regularly cleaning and maintaining email lists, and implementing email authentication protocols. Additionally, avoiding spam filters and improving inbox placement can be achieved by personalizing emails, using reputable email service providers, monitoring email engagement, and using tools and services to improve deliverability. By following these best practices, businesses can ensure that their email messages are reaching their subscribers' inboxes and achieving their marketing goals.