How can I monitor email deliverability to ensure emails hit the inbox instead of spam?
Summary
What email marketers say14Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum explains that setting up feedback loops (FBLs) allows ISPs to notify you when recipients mark your emails as spam. This helps you identify and address issues that are causing spam complaints.
Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that using a dedicated IP address can improve deliverability. A dedicated IP allows you to build your own sender reputation, separate from shared IP pools where other senders' actions can affect your deliverability.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce shares that using an email validation service to verify email addresses before sending can significantly improve deliverability. Email validation removes invalid, risky, and inactive email addresses from your list, reducing bounce rates and spam complaints.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that segmenting your email list helps you send more targeted and relevant emails. This increases engagement and reduces the likelihood of recipients marking your emails as spam.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that tracking open rates and click-through rates (CTR) can provide insights into how recipients are engaging with your emails. Declining engagement metrics may indicate deliverability issues.
Email marketer from Email Geeks states Gmail Primary and Promotions tabs are both the inbox. Suggests third-party tools can provide insights into email deliverability and emphasizes the importance of sending relevant messages to the right person at the right time for inbox placement.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that monitoring your sender reputation is crucial. They recommend using tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS to track your IP and domain reputation, spam complaints, and authentication status.
Email marketer from GlockApps shares that using a tool like GlockApps to test email placement across various email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) is a great way to get a general sense of deliverability. This helps you identify if your emails are landing in the inbox, spam folder, or promotions tab.
Email marketer from GMass shares that avoiding spam trigger words and phrases in your email content is crucial. They advise reviewing your email copy for terms commonly associated with spam and making necessary adjustments to improve deliverability.
Email marketer from Neil Patel shares that regularly cleaning your email list by removing inactive or invalid addresses is vital. This reduces bounce rates and improves your sender reputation, leading to better inbox placement.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that monitoring domain open/click rates can effectively indicate deliverability issues, particularly a significant decrease for a specific domain.
Email marketer from Email Geeks recommends Glockapps as a cost-effective deliverability monitoring tool for freelancers and suggests Kickbox and similar tools as worthy investments for those who can afford them.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Tips Forum recommends using double opt-in for your email list. This ensures that subscribers have explicitly confirmed their consent to receive emails from you, which helps to maintain a clean and engaged list, improving deliverability.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that previewing your emails across different devices and email clients helps identify potential rendering issues that could affect user engagement and trigger spam filters. Testing ensures a consistent experience for all subscribers.
What the experts say6Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that maintaining good list hygiene is essential to ensuring deliverability. They recommend validating addresses at the point of signup, regularly pruning inactive subscribers, and immediately removing hard bounces and unsubscribes.
Expert from Spam Resource shares that regularly checking your IP address and domain against various blocklists (e.g., Spamhaus, Barracuda) is essential for identifying and addressing potential deliverability issues caused by being listed on a blocklist.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that deliverability services companies with probe accounts can show where emails are delivered to generic addresses. Mentions Matt has a list of these companies.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains the importance of setting up and monitoring feedback loops (FBLs) with different ISPs. FBLs provide valuable data on spam complaints from recipients, allowing you to identify and address issues causing complaints and improve your sender reputation.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that using seed lists (also known as probe accounts) can provide insights into inbox placement. They recommend using a diverse set of seed accounts across different email providers to track where your emails are landing.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that Kickbox's Deliverability Suite can monitor email placement and offers a demo.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from DKIM explains that DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) provides an email authentication method to verify the sender's identity and ensure that the message has not been altered during transit, which can help improve deliverability.
Documentation from RFC explains that implementing Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records helps prevent spammers from forging your email address. SPF records specify which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain.
Documentation from Microsoft explains that the Smart Network Data Services (SNDS) provides data about your sending IP addresses, including complaint rates and spam trap hits, helping you monitor your reputation with Outlook.com users.
Documentation from Google explains that Google Postmaster Tools provides insights into your email deliverability to Gmail users. It offers data on spam rates, domain reputation, feedback loop, and authentication issues to help identify and fix problems.