How to improve Gmail deliverability for a gambling/fantasy league newsletter with a history of deliverability issues?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Sender explains avoiding spam trigger words, using a clean and professional email design, and providing valuable content to reduce the likelihood of emails being flagged as spam.
Email marketer from Reddit recommends being extra cautious with gambling-related content, as Gmail may be more likely to filter it. Focusing on providing value, being transparent, and avoiding overly promotional language is key.
Email marketer from Reddit highlights the importance of regularly cleaning the email list to remove inactive or invalid addresses, as this reduces bounce rates and improves sender reputation with Gmail.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares maintaining a consistent email volume and frequency over time helps establish a predictable sending pattern with Gmail. This helps in building a trusted sending reputation.
Email marketer from Email on Acid explains using a dedicated IP address for sending emails from a fantasy league newsletter helps in establishing a sending reputation specific to the sender's email practices. This can improve email deliverability over time.
Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares avoiding the use of URL shorteners in emails for the fantasy league newsletter as they are often associated with spam and can negatively impact Gmail deliverability. Using full, transparent URLs is better.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains regularly monitoring bounce rates and taking action to address high bounce rates (e.g., removing invalid email addresses) as high bounce rates negatively impact sender reputation and email deliverability with Gmail.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that maintaining a good sender reputation, which includes IP address reputation and domain reputation, is crucial for Gmail deliverability. This is achieved through consistent sending practices and avoiding blacklists.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that segmenting email lists based on engagement and sending only to active subscribers improves deliverability by reducing bounce rates and spam complaints.
What the experts say7Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks suggests changing the sending and bounce domains as a last resort to reset the client’s Gmail reputation.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that bulking impacts reputation. Recommends sending only to users who have opened mail since the new IP. Suggests using other communication channels to ask users to move mail from the bulk folder.
Expert from Word to the Wise stresses that list hygiene is critical and involves regularly removing invalid or inactive email addresses and suggests implementing a confirmation opt-in process to ensure only engaged recipients are added to the mailing list. It also goes on to explain that engagement is more important than total number of emails.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that content related to gambling often triggers spam filters due to regulatory concerns. The recommendation is to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations and to be transparent about the nature of the content.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests warming up the IP/domain combination and mentions Google isn’t fond of mail from IPs it’s never seen before.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests submitting a "help why are you bulking this mail" request to Google.
Expert from Email Geeks suspects a domain reputation issue due to low engagement. Suggests focusing on engaged users or newest users for 3-4 weeks. Mentions shared domain reputation can be an issue.
What the documentation says6Technical articles
Documentation from Gmail Help explains Gmail has guidelines for bulk email senders, including authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), avoiding sending unwanted mail, and making it easy for users to unsubscribe.
Documentation from Gmail Help explains how to use Google Postmaster Tools to monitor sending reputation, spam rate, and other metrics to diagnose and fix deliverability issues.
Documentation from DKIM explains implementing DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) signatures helps in verifying the integrity of emails. DKIM helps Gmail verify that the email was not altered during transit.
Documentation from SparkPost explains warming up IPs gradually by sending increasing volumes of email over time, starting with engaged users, to build a positive sending reputation with ISPs like Gmail.
Documentation from DMARC explains Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) helps in specifying how email receivers should handle emails that fail SPF and DKIM checks. Implementing DMARC helps in telling email providers what to do with unauthenticated emails and protects the domain from spoofing.
Documentation from RFC explains setting up Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records for the domain authorizes the sending email server to send emails on behalf of the domain. SPF records help prevent spoofing and improve email deliverability.