How can newsletter senders improve email deliverability?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that warming up an IP address by gradually increasing sending volume helps establish a positive sending reputation with ISPs. This prevents your emails from being flagged as spam when starting with a new IP address.
Email marketer from Reddit recommends regularly cleaning your email list to remove inactive or invalid email addresses. Sending to these addresses can hurt your sender reputation and lower deliverability.
Email marketer from Mailchimp suggests ensuring that your 'From' name and email address are consistent across all your campaigns. Inconsistent sender information can confuse recipients and trigger spam filters.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains that providing subscribers with a preference center allows them to manage the types of emails they receive and the frequency. This helps reduce unsubscribes and spam complaints, improving deliverability.
Email marketer from Litmus suggests optimizing emails for mobile devices. Emails that display correctly on mobile are more likely to engage readers, which can lead to better deliverability rates.
Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that avoiding spam trigger words in your subject lines and email body, such as 'free,' 'urgent,' or excessive use of exclamation points, can prevent your emails from being flagged as spam by filters. They suggest using a spam checker tool to identify these words.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum recommends establishing a consistent sending schedule. Sending emails at predictable times helps ISPs learn your sending patterns and can improve deliverability.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor recommends using double opt-in for new subscribers. This confirms that subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails, which reduces the chance of spam complaints and improves deliverability.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign recommends A/B testing different email subject lines, content, and send times. Testing helps you optimize your campaigns for engagement, which indirectly improves your sender reputation and deliverability.
Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that segmenting your email list based on engagement and demographics allows you to send more targeted and relevant content. This increases engagement and reduces the likelihood of recipients marking your emails as spam.
What the experts say5Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, explains that for senders using their own IP addresses (not shared), they need to monitor the reputation of those IPs and take steps to maintain a good reputation. This involves following deliverability best practices and avoiding spam traps.
Expert from Spam Resource, George Schlossnagle, explains that throttling your email volume, especially when first starting, can help improve deliverability. Sending large volumes of email suddenly can trigger spam filters.
Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, explains that content should be relevant to the recipient. Ensure the content matches what the recipient expected to receive when they signed up, and deliver on the promises made during signup.
Expert from Email Geeks responds that the webinar was recorded, and a follow-up email was sent to those who signed up. He also states that it will be posted to the Kickbox blog, and he offers to share the recording details via email.
Expert from Email Geeks shares a webinar about deliverability for newsletter senders and small email senders. He mentions the webinar will share knowledge and the recording will be available for those who signed up.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from RFC Editor explains that Feedback Loops (FBLs) allow mailbox providers to forward complaints from their users back to the sender, enabling the sender to remove complaining users from their list and improve list hygiene. This prevents future deliverability problems.
Documentation from Microsoft recommends monitoring your sender reputation by using services like Sender Score and also through feedback loops provided by email providers. Maintaining a good reputation is crucial for avoiding spam filters.
Documentation from SparkPost explains the importance of validating email addresses at the point of entry and before sending. Validating email addresses ensures they are properly formatted and active, reducing bounce rates and improving deliverability.
Documentation from Google explains that setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records helps authenticate your email and improve deliverability by proving that your emails are genuinely sent from your domain and haven't been spoofed.