How do I improve email deliverability for a client with a dormant list and low sending volume?
Summary
What email marketers say10Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Litmus Blog recommends avoiding spam triggers in your email content. Using certain words, phrases, or formatting can increase the likelihood of your emails being flagged as spam. Review your email content carefully and make necessary adjustments to improve deliverability.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce Blog discusses the need to monitor bounce rates and spam complaints closely. High bounce rates and spam complaints can significantly damage your sender reputation and negatively impact deliverability. Regularly review your sending metrics and take corrective actions as needed.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that warming up your IP address gradually is essential, especially when dealing with a dormant list. Start by sending small volumes to your most engaged subscribers and slowly increase the volume over time. This helps establish a positive sending reputation with ISPs.
Email marketer from EmailOversight Blog recommends thoroughly cleaning the dormant list by removing invalid, inactive, and spam trap addresses. Using an email verification service can significantly improve deliverability by reducing bounce rates and avoiding spam complaints.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum highlights the importance of ensuring your content is relevant and valuable to your subscribers. Sending compelling content that resonates with your audience can increase engagement, reduce spam complaints, and improve overall deliverability. Tailor your messages to match the interests of your segmented audience.
Email marketer from GMass Blog suggests running a re-engagement campaign targeting the dormant subscribers. Send a series of emails asking subscribers to confirm their interest in remaining on the list. Remove those who don't respond to further improve list quality and deliverability.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests segmenting your list based on past engagement (opens, clicks, purchases) before sending to the entire dormant list. Start by sending to your most engaged segments and gradually expand to less engaged segments as your sender reputation improves. This allows you to test the waters and refine your approach.
Email marketer from SenderVerify Blog shares the recommendation to use an email verification tool. Before sending any email, it's essential to verify email addresses to eliminate invalid, inactive, and spam trap addresses. Verification tools can help reduce bounce rates and improve overall deliverability.
Email marketer from Email Geeks suggests ensuring compliance with DMARC, DKIM, SPF, and one-click unsubscribe to improve deliverability.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog stresses the importance of providing an easy and prominent unsubscribe link in all your emails. Making it easy for subscribers to unsubscribe can reduce spam complaints and improve your sender reputation. Honor unsubscribe requests promptly and efficiently.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks advises against trying to resurrect a dormant list and suggests running a 'why you want to get our mail' campaign instead. Also, recommends excluding friends and family from this campaign.
Expert from Spam Resource emphasizes the importance of managing subscriber expectations. Sending emails that align with what subscribers signed up for can reduce spam complaints and improve engagement. For a dormant list, consider sending a re-permission campaign to confirm subscribers' interest and update their preferences.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that using metrics like 'clicked 3 times in the past year' may not accurately reflect current subscriber interest, especially for low-volume senders. She emphasizes the importance of identifying who wants to hear from you and why, and what types of messages resonate with them.
Expert from Word to the Wise recommends segmenting your list based on email client (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) as different email providers have different spam filtering rules. Tailoring your approach to each email client can improve deliverability, especially when dealing with a dormant list.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from DKIM.org details how DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a digital signature to your emails, allowing receiving mail servers to verify that the email was indeed sent from your domain and hasn't been tampered with. Implementing DKIM is crucial for establishing trust and improving deliverability.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools Help explains that monitoring your sender reputation via Postmaster Tools is crucial. It helps you identify potential deliverability issues and understand how Gmail views your sending practices, which is even more important with low sending volumes where issues can be harder to detect.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) helps email senders and receivers work together to combat email spam and phishing. By implementing DMARC, you can instruct receiving servers on how to handle emails that fail SPF and DKIM checks, thus protecting your domain and improving deliverability.
Documentation from RFC 7208 explains the importance of setting up SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records. Ensure your SPF record is correctly configured to authorize your email sending servers. This helps prevent spammers from forging your domain and improves deliverability by authenticating your emails.
Documentation from Microsoft Sender Support details best practices to improve deliverability to Outlook.com and Hotmail users. Following their guidelines, such as implementing feedback loops (FBLs) and monitoring your sender reputation, can help ensure your emails reach the inbox.