10+ Best Practices to Boost Your Email Deliverability

Are you struggling with email deliverability? You’re in the right spot. Email deliverability is crucial—it’s the cornerstone of any successful email program.

Why does it matter so much?

Because before your emails can be opened or clicked, they need to reach the inbox first. Your deliverability rates can influence every aspect of your email campaign.

Luckily, improving email deliverability isn’t rocket science. By following best practices and setting up a solid strategy, you can significantly enhance your email performance.

Let’s dive into what you need to know to take your email program to the next level.

What is email deliverability?

Email deliverability is the measure of your emails reaching your recipients’ inboxes. It's not just about sending emails but ensuring they land where they’re intended to.

Deliverability is typically measured as a rate: the percentage of emails that make it to the inbox out of the total sent.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Delivery: When an email is accepted by the recipient’s mail server.
• Deliverability: When an email actually reaches the inbox (and not the spam or junk folder).
• Delivery Rate: The percentage of emails accepted by recipient servers.
• Deliverability Rate: The percentage of emails that land in inboxes.

Simple enough, right?

Improving your email deliverability goes beyond technical fixes—it’s about creating a comprehensive strategy that emphasizes subscriber engagement and maintaining a positive sender reputation. By focusing on deliverability, you’re laying the groundwork for a successful email marketing program that delivers real results.

How to Improve Email Deliverability

Want to ensure your emails are delivered successfully? Here are proven techniques to prevent failures and boost your email delivery rates over the long term:

1. Authenticate Your Email Domain

In the world of email, impersonation is a serious issue. Without proper authentication like Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), your emails risk being spoofed, which can severely impact your deliverability.

Authenticating your domain assures Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that you are who you claim to be and that your emails are legitimate. Email authentication can be complex, so it’s worth exploring further to ensure you’re fully covered.

2. Maintain Proper IP Allocation

As your email program grows, it’s crucial to scale your infrastructure accordingly. When you reach around 25,000 daily emails, switching to a dedicated IP address becomes necessary. Remember to warm up this IP gradually to build trust with ISPs.

Avoid the temptation to add more IPs to sidestep penalties; ISPs are savvy and will block entire IP pools if they detect suspicious activity. For guidance on preparing your IP for sending, seek out resources on IP warming.

3. Perfect the Opt-In Process

How you collect email addresses is crucial to your deliverability. An optimized opt-in process ensures your list consists of engaged users. If recipients didn’t knowingly agree to receive your emails, they might mark them as spam, which could hurt your reputation.

Double opt-in is highly recommended. It involves two steps to verify that users genuinely want to receive your emails, leading to a more engaged list. For tips on growing your email list effectively, check out guides on list building.

4. Craft Non-Spammy Subject Lines

Your subject lines play a pivotal role in whether recipients open your emails. While spam filters have become more sophisticated, it’s still wise to avoid using common spammy phrases.

Some phrases to steer clear of include:

• Eliminate your debt
• Risk-free
• FREE!!!

Instead, focus on conveying genuine value in your subject lines without coming off as pushy. For more tips on writing effective subject lines, refer to best practices guides.

5. Provide a Preference Center

Once subscribers opt-in, give them control over how frequently they receive your emails. A preference center allows users to choose their email frequency, which can enhance engagement and overall satisfaction.

If you’re unsure how to create a preference center, explore examples of popular and effective options.

6. Clean Up Your List Regularly

Holding onto inactive or unengaged subscribers can damage your deliverability. Make it easy for users to unsubscribe, and regularly scrub your list to ensure it includes only active and engaged recipients.

7. Avoid Spam Traps

Spam traps are email addresses set up to catch spammers. Sending to these addresses can get you flagged and added to a deny list, which is challenging to get off.

Prevent spam traps by maintaining a clean list of engaged users and never purchasing email lists.

8. Send Email That People Love

To improve deliverability, focus on pleasing your recipients. When people enjoy and engage with your emails, ISPs are more likely to view your messages favorably and deliver them to inboxes.

9. Monitor Your Email Metrics

Regularly track your email performance to identify issues and refine your strategy. Key metrics to watch include:

• Bounce Rate: High bounce rates can hurt your reputation, so monitor both hard and soft bounces.
• Spam Complaint Rate: An increase here indicates potential issues with your content or practices.
• Open Rates and Click-Through Rates: These engagement metrics influence ISPs’ perceptions.
• Inbox Placement Rate: This shows the percentage of emails landing in the inbox.

10. Implement a Sunset Policy

A sunset policy helps manage inactive subscribers and can significantly impact your deliverability. Regularly removing unengaged users keeps your list healthy and improves overall engagement metrics.

To implement a sunset policy:

• Define Inactivity: Set criteria for what constitutes an inactive subscriber (e.g., no activity for 6 months).
• Create a Re-Engagement Campaign: Try to win back inactive subscribers before removing them.
• Set Up Automation: Use email automation to manage and tag inactive subscribers.
• Remove with Care: If re-engagement efforts fail, remove inactive subscribers from your main list but consider keeping them in a suppression list.

A smaller, engaged list is often more valuable than a large list of unresponsive contacts.

Check Your Spam Score

To further ensure your emails are not landing in spam folders, use testmailscore.com. This free tool provides advanced insights into your email campaign's spam score, helping you fine-tune your emails for better deliverability.

Also Read: Mastering Email Deliverability: The Role of Domain Age

Real-Life Success Stories

Here are some examples of companies that improved their email deliverability using effective strategies:

• Glassdoor: Managed millions of emails daily with a 99.5% average delivery rate by using dedicated IP addresses and expert guidance.
• Shopify: Supported 1.7 million merchants with a 99.5% overall delivery rate and a 91.3% inbox placement rate by leveraging advanced email tools and IP management.
• Klaviyo: Achieved a 99.94% average delivery rate and high open rates by building their email platform on a reliable solution.

Make Email Deliverability a Priority

While open rates, click rates, design, and CTAs are important, improving deliverability should be your top focus. For more in-depth information, check out guides on email deliverability best practices and insights from industry experts.

Struggling with email issues? Follow these best practices and use tools like testmailscore.com to ensure your emails stay out of the spam folder and into your recipients’ inboxes.