What are the deliverability consequences of decreasing email metrics due to sending to unengaged subscribers?
Summary
What email marketers say12Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Vendor Selection shares that decreased engagement metrics, such as low open and click rates, signal to mailbox providers that recipients are not interested in your emails. This can cause your emails to be filtered into the spam folder or blocked entirely, negatively impacting your overall deliverability.
Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog explains that sending to unengaged subscribers can lead to lower engagement rates, increased spam complaints, and ultimately, damage to your sender reputation. ISPs may start filtering your emails to the spam folder or blocking them altogether if a significant portion of your recipients consistently ignore or mark your emails as spam.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor suggests that sending to unengaged users can cause several deliverability issues. It can lead to lower open rates, higher spam complaints, and reduced inbox placement, as ISPs see your emails as less valuable. Regularly cleaning your list and focusing on engaged subscribers can help improve deliverability.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog emphasizes the importance of regularly cleaning your email list to remove unengaged subscribers. Sending to these recipients not only decreases your engagement metrics but also signals to ISPs that your emails are not valuable, leading to lower deliverability rates and potential spam folder placement.
Email marketer from Mailjet Blog shares that sending to unengaged subscribers increases the risk of hitting spam traps, which are email addresses used by ISPs and blacklist providers to identify spammers. Sending emails to these addresses damages your sender reputation and can lead to deliverability issues, including blacklisting.
Email marketer from Litmus Blog points out that sending to unengaged users leads to lower open and click-through rates, which can negatively impact your sender reputation and deliverability. ISPs use these metrics to determine whether your emails are valuable and whether they should be delivered to the inbox or the spam folder.
Email marketer from Email Geeks explains that sending more unwanted email reduces the amount of wanted email that gets delivered, framing it as: 'Delivered email = wanted email minus unwanted email,' or 'D=W-U'.
Email marketer from Reddit explains that email quality and engagement are paramount to deliverability. Decreased engagement from sending to unengaged users signals poor email quality to ISPs, impacting inbox placement. They advise focusing on targeted content and list segmentation to improve engagement and deliverability.
Email marketer from MailerLite shares that low open rates, click rates, and high unsubscribe or spam complaints from sending to unengaged subscribers significantly affect your sender reputation. ISPs use these metrics to decide whether to deliver your emails to the inbox or spam folder, so maintaining a healthy list is crucial.
Email marketer from Moosend Blog shares that maintaining good email list hygiene is essential for deliverability. Sending to unengaged subscribers can increase bounce rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribe rates, all of which can negatively affect your sender reputation and lead to deliverability problems.
Email marketer from StackOverflow explains that sending email to people who don't want them will damage email reputation and get emails marked as spam.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign Blog explains that sending emails to unengaged subscribers negatively impacts deliverability because it lowers engagement rates and increases the likelihood of spam complaints. ISPs use engagement as a key factor in determining whether to deliver your emails to the inbox or the spam folder.
What the experts say7Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that sending to unengaged subscribers (or neglecting list hygiene) results in higher spam complaint rates, lower engagement, and can ultimately damage sender reputation, leading to deliverability issues. She recommends regular list cleaning and suppression of inactive users.
Expert from Email Geeks explains that lower open rates on consumer domains often indicates mail is going to spam.
Expert from Spam Resource explains that deliverability is affected if low engagement rates due to sending emails to unengaged subscribers. Sending high volumes of email without sufficient engagement hurts sender reputation because mailbox providers use engagement as a signal for quality.
Expert from Email Geeks explains there are no direct consequences to decreased metrics, but there are consequences to sending mail to uninterested recipients, who may report it as spam. These consequences include mail going to spam or being blocked, which also affects metrics.
Expert from Email Geeks suggests that if you can demonstrate that lower open rates are primarily from Google, you can argue that the issue is with Google Mail. A potential solution is to focus on sending more emails to other domains that are less reactive, while maintaining good practices with Google. Google Postmaster Tools can be used to monitor reputation, although it's often a trailing indicator.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that if open rates are below 10%, it's a good sign that a lot of the mail isn't ending up where recipients are looking for it and a significant portion of that is likely in the spam folder.
Expert from Email Geeks shares that if recipients are uninterested in emails, consumer ISPs are more likely to deliver them to the spam folder, potentially leading to a 'death spiral'. The goal should be to have more mail seen and read by recipients, not sending more mail to the spam folder.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Microsoft 365 Documentation explains that sending to unengaged recipients can negatively affect your sender reputation, leading to deliverability issues. Microsoft recommends regularly removing inactive subscribers from your mailing list to maintain high engagement rates and avoid being marked as spam.
Documentation from SparkPost Documentation shares that sender reputation is a crucial factor in email deliverability. Sending to unengaged subscribers can harm your sender reputation, leading to ISPs filtering your emails to the spam folder or blocking them altogether. Maintaining a clean and engaged email list is essential for preserving a positive sender reputation.
Documentation from RFC explains that consequences of sending unsolicited bulk email (spam) include direct costs (network and server resources, user time and bandwidth), indirect costs (lost productivity, fraud), and reputational damage (decreased public trust and legal liability). ISPs blacklist spammers, leading to deliverability issues.
Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools Help explains that a sender's reputation directly impacts deliverability. Sending unwanted email, spam, or email to unengaged users can negatively affect your sender reputation, leading to more emails being filtered to spam or blocked. Maintaining high engagement rates and avoiding sending to inactive users is crucial for preserving a positive sender reputation.