What are the deliverability considerations when emailing group inboxes versus individual inboxes?
Summary
What email marketers say13Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Gmass shares that emails to inactive group inboxes can increase bounce rates. High bounce rates affect the sender's reputation. They recommend cleaning the list regularly by removing any inactive or undeliverable email addresses.
Email marketer from HubSpot explains sending emails to outdated or inactive addresses within group inboxes can lead to deliverability issues. They recommend maintaining clean email lists and regularly removing inactive addresses.
Email marketer from Reddit User u/EmailNoob shares that group inboxes are more prone to spam complaints. If even one person in the group marks the email as spam, it impacts sender reputation and deliverability. They suggest obtaining explicit consent from each individual in the group.
Email marketer from Litmus shares that using group inboxes can be unreliable for A/B testing results. Individual inboxes provide more accurate engagement data due to personalized user behavior. Therefore, group inboxes are not suitable for testing.
Email marketer from StackOverflow User TechEmail states that managing subscriptions for group inboxes can be tricky, as one unsubscribe action affects all members of the group. They suggest offering separate subscription options for each individual within the group.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that sending to group inboxes can be a 'gaming billing' consideration as multiple emails are sent for the price of one, which can be a compliance violation in some ESPs.
Email marketer from Email on Acid shares sending emails to multiple recipients through group inboxes can decrease engagement rates. They suggest individual emails often perform better due to personalization and relevance, making individual opt-ins more effective for engagement.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares that deliverability depends on sender reputation and list engagement. Sending to group inboxes can decrease overall engagement because there might not be a single interested party. Therefore, consider personalizing emails to individual addresses instead.
Email marketer from Sendinblue shares that sending emails to generic email addresses such as info@ or sales@ can lead to lower engagement rates, as these inboxes are typically managed by multiple individuals. Segmenting these recipients can greatly improve the deliverability and engagement of your emails.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce shares email verification is necessary for maintainining a good reputation. Verification identifies inactive group addresses that negatively affect bounce rate and sender reputation. Recommend cleaning addresses regularly, and verifiying any new ones.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that SFMC tries to auto suppress role-based email addresses (they maintain a list of what they normally are - admin@, etc). You can request to have it turned off but its on be default.
Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that it only takes one recipient to opt-out or mark an email as spam to cause a reputation ding and increase support costs when the opt-in user wonders where their emails are.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that role-based addresses (like sales@ or info@) can impact deliverability because they often have higher bounce rates and spam complaints. They recommend segmenting these addresses and monitoring their performance closely.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that the main issue is whether everyone on the group email opted in. One person can report it as spam, so pressing for individual emails is highly recommended. Also when one person wants it and one person doesnt the don't wins when it comes to IT filtering
Expert from Email Geeks explains that group inboxes are also known as 'role accounts' and some platforms block emails to them due to weaker opt-in cases. They also point out that anyone receiving the email can unsubscribe the entire department, and engagement/deliverability depends on audience specifics, being more common in B2B contexts.
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that maintaining good list hygiene is crucial when sending to group addresses. They recommend regular scrubbing of the list to remove inactive or invalid addresses to prevent deliverability issues.
Expert from Spam Resource shares that sending to group lists can inadvertently lead to hitting spam traps. They suggest to clean lists regularly and verify opt-in processes. This lowers risk of hitting traps, thereby improving deliverability.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from RFC Editor covers specifics on email sending and deliverability, including the recommendation to ensure proper DNS settings for email servers. Proper PTR and A records are critical for reverse DNS lookups, which impacts deliverability.
Documentation from DMARC.org explains that DMARC policies play a key role in email authentication. Sending emails to group inboxes without proper DMARC setup can cause deliverability issues, as DMARC helps ISPs verify the authenticity of the sender. DMARC also gives domain owners control over what happens to messages that fail authentication checks.
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that using Google Groups for email lists requires proper configuration to avoid deliverability issues. They emphasize verifying domain ownership and setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to authenticate emails.
Documentation from Microsoft explains the importance of following best practices for sending bulk emails. When sending to distribution lists (group inboxes), they recommend cleaning the list regularly to remove inactive or invalid addresses, as well as monitoring bounce rates and spam complaint rates.
Documentation from Validity suggests that sender reputation is critical for deliverability. Sending to group inboxes without proper engagement monitoring can negatively impact reputation. They suggest monitoring engagement metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and complaints.