What should I include in an email deliverability checklist?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks shares that they use '+' tagging to track where email addresses are being shared and identify potential data leaks.
Email marketer from Sendinblue Blog shares a number of email deliverability checklist items, which include checking your sender reputation, authenticating your email (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), segmenting your lists, cleaning your lists regularly, monitoring bounce rates and feedback loops, and avoiding spam trigger words.
Email marketer from Campaign Monitor recommends that using a familiar 'From' name and address, using double opt-in, targeting relevant subscribers, and cleaning your lists will all result in better deliverability.
Email marketer from Mailchimp discusses how creating engaging content, maintaining list hygiene, following permission-based marketing, and consistently monitoring results are the main things to focus on to increase deliverability.
Email marketer from Neil Patel's Blog explains that to improve email deliverability, you should authenticate your email, clean your email list, warm up your IP address, use double opt-in, segment your email list, and monitor your sender reputation.
Email marketer from Reddit recommends focusing on list hygiene, email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and consistent sending practices. They also emphasize the importance of monitoring bounce rates and spam complaints.
Email marketer from HubSpot Blog shares that factors impacting deliverability include sender reputation, email authentication, engagement, spam complaints, bounce rates, and list hygiene. They also recommend using a dedicated IP address and warming it up gradually.
Email marketer from AWeber explains that improving sender reputation, sending consistently, and authenticating email addresses will all improve deliverability.
Email marketer from Marketing Discussions Forum suggests checking your IP reputation, warming up new IPs, segmenting your list based on engagement, and using double opt-in to improve email deliverability.
What the experts say4Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise answers questions about whether a CAN-SPAM demand can be the basis of a legal claim. Suggests including CAN-SPAM compliance in your deliverability checklist.
Expert from Spamresource mentions checking blocklists and other things. Suggests including those types of checks on your checklist
Expert from Email Geeks explains that PII (Personally Identifiable Information) relates to deliverability because misuse of customer data and email lists can lead to deliverability issues. He provides an example of using a unique email address and receiving spam from competitors, indicating a potential data breach. Also explains the importance of internal responsibility for data to prevent misuse and compliance issues.
Expert from Email Geeks shares items to check on an email deliverability checklist which include checking where email addresses come from, audit trails, recipient expectation of mail, sending tempo, unsubscription process compliance and testing, reply handling, website at From: header address, DMARC report monitoring, PII responsibility, and organization-wide email responsibility.
What the documentation says5Technical articles
Documentation from Google Workspace Admin Help explains that to prevent your mail to Gmail users from being blocked, you should authenticate your email with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Ensure that sending IP or domain is not listed on any blocklists. Keep spam rates reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and avoid sudden email sending volume increases.
Documentation from Mailjet Resources explains that to ensure high email deliverability, you should maintain a clean email list, authenticate your email, monitor your sender reputation, provide an easy unsubscribe option, and segment your email campaigns.
Documentation from Microsoft Postmaster details best practices for keeping email out of junk mail which include authenticating email, using the Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC), keeping lists clean, honoring unsubscribe requests, and monitoring feedback loops.
Documentation from RFC answers the need to configure a valid Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record to specify which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. This helps prevent spammers from forging the sender address.
Documentation from SparkPost recommends that marketers implement best practices such as authenticating their emails, monitoring their sending reputation, engaging with subscribers, and managing their lists to improve email deliverability.