Email always remains a backbone for influential communication, especially when it comes to connecting brands with potential customers.
However, even with effective content and compelling design, emails often need to be noticed or reach target recipients. It may be due to multiple factors, but the one that plays a vital role is email deliverability.
To minimize setbacks like finding email way toward spam folders or failing to receive desired attention from recipients, following the best practices that strengthen email deliverability is necessary.
There are many approaches, and very few have the prominent effect of improving email deliverability. This blog highlights the top five email marketing practices that can do wonders when implemented correctly.
Email Deliverability Checklist
| Fix |
What to do |
What it improves |
| 1. Send through SMTP |
Route WordPress email through an SMTP plugin and a trusted mail server instead of the default PHP mail function |
Delivery success and trust from receiving servers |
| 2. Authenticate your domain |
Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC records and check them with a lookup tool |
Trust with mailbox providers and inbox placement |
| 3. Keep a steady frequency |
Send on a consistent schedule that matches what subscribers expect |
Engagement and fewer unsubscribes |
| 4. Avoid spam words |
Cut spammy words, all caps and excess symbols, especially in subject lines |
Fewer spam filter hits |
| 5. Protect your sender reputation |
Stop mailing unengaged recipients, keep bounces low and handle complaints quickly |
Sender score and acceptance by mailbox providers |
| 6. Track feedback loops |
Get notified when recipients mark mail as spam and remove those addresses |
Complaint rate and list quality |
What Is Email Deliverability?
Email deliverability is the ability of an email message to successfully end up in the recipient’s inbox without getting marked as spam. It depends on factors like technical configuration, sender reputation, quality of content, and user engagement.
Still confused?
Suppose you send an email newsletter to your subscribers, but they don’t receive it; it may trigger factors that result in a lower email deliverability score.
However, improving email deliverability ensures your newsletter arrives in the recipient’s inboxes.
How To Improve Email Deliverability: 5 Simple Tips
Most of the time, your targeted audience fails to get your emails. The reason could be a spam folder or other elements that the brand sometimes neglects when creating emails.
However, a little time investment in implementing multiple approaches can make your email capable of increasing your conversion and engagement. So, together with us, let’s dig out some useful means to accelerate your email deliverability rates.
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Integrating the WordPress SMTP plugin
WordPress typically uses the default PHP mail function, which causes many issues regarding smooth deliverability.
Luckily, everything can be done flawlessly without any fear or error or ending up in a spam folder when you implement the WordPress SMTP plugin. It ensures that your email is sent through a credible email server, maximizing the chances of email delivery.
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Keep up the right email frequency
Sending too many emails can result in unsubscribing, while sending very few can lower your conversion rate and brand reputation. Both conditions can cause lower email deliverability rates. So, what should you do to maintain a perfect score?
You must find and use the approach of setting a consistent email schedule per the audience’s expectations. You can set a time frame of sending one email in a week, or if your content is quite appealing, you can schedule two with a proper gap.
Conversely, if you believe that email bombardment may cause a decline in engagement, you can use the time frame of connecting with the audience once a month through email.
Regardless of your timeframe, before opting for any of them, thoroughly study which is more approachable and beneficial for your brand.
If you use exaggerated words like “buy,” “free,” or “100% sales” in capital letters with weird symbols and exclamation marks, the chances are 100% you end up in the spam folder. Using spammy words on the subject line makes your email look shady and triggers spam filters.
While composing your email drafts, try to minimize or, if possible, take the usage of spamming words to 0%, especially when generating headlines.
Use the technique of being mindful with a personalized approach to accelerate the user engagement rate.
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Keep an eye on the sender’s reputation
The sender score factor holds the prominent position concerning email deliverability consistency.
If your score is low from the standard score rate, the chances of getting rejected by ISPs become high. So, you must maintain your sender reputation by achieving a good score.
The other things that help you to improve your sender reputation are using best email practices like not sending emails to unengaged recipients, enlisting low bounces, and promptly handling spam complaints.
Proper domain authentication boosts trust and inbox placement. Using tools like EasyDMARC DKIM lookup helps verify your DKIM setup and detect issues early, ensuring your emails are recognized as legitimate and not flagged as spam.
Keeping up with the feedback loops lets you get notifications when the recipient marks your email as spam. This helps you to identify potential concerns and make sound decisions like enhancing email content or deleting complainers’ names from the email list to avoid such risks in the future.
Benefits Of Increasing Email Deliverability
Deliverability is equally important as any other core email metric, and when you use the right approaches to boost email deliverability, you can achieve impeccable results.
The following are some of the significant benefits of improving email deliverability for WordPress:
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Boost subscriber engagement
What will happen if your email fails to send or appears in the customer’s spam folder? Yes, you guessed it right: the client will ignore or unsubscribe.
If every second customer ends up unsubscribing, you must lose the decrease in engagement rate.
Improving your email deliverability is a silver lining in the dark clouds because it boosts delivery rates and strengthens the subscriber’s trust. That eventually leads to higher engagement and increased sales.
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Intensify click-through rates
Email deliverability and click-through rates are intertwined. If email deliverability increases, they have better chances of getting noticed by the recipients.
That, in turn, directly impacts click-through rates. The boosted click-through rates also lead to increased conversion and user engagement.
Strengthening email deliverability also leads to a positive influence on open rates. When emails lend directly to the recipient’s inbox, the chances of being noticed get high and eventually result in an opening.
Thus, better open rates accelerate user engagement and the chances of recipients clicking through the links.
When emails are consistently delivered to recipients without being flagged as spam, the sender’s reputation and professionalism are improved. This results in developing a credible brand image so customers consider the brand trustworthy and authentic.
Related list on ReVerb: Top Email Deliverability Tools And Best Practices
Why Emails Go To Spam
Mailbox providers filter email based on who sent it, how it was sent and how recipients react to it. The most common reasons messages land in spam are:
- Missing or failing authentication: without valid SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, providers cannot confirm the mail is really from your domain.
- Poor sender reputation: a history of spam complaints, bounces or spam trap hits lowers trust in your domain and sending IP.
- Bad list quality: old, purchased or unverified lists produce bounces and complaints.
- Spam-like content: misleading subject lines, all caps, too many links or images and spam trigger words.
- Sudden volume spikes: sending large volumes from a new domain or IP without warming it up first.
- Low engagement: when most recipients ignore or delete your messages, providers start filtering them.
- No easy way to unsubscribe: major providers expect bulk senders to include a clear, one-click unsubscribe link.
For tools that monitor and fix these problems, see our list of top email deliverability tools and best practices, and if you want expert help, see the top email marketing agencies and services.
Related list on ReVerb: Best Tips To Improve Email Deliverability In 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good email deliverability rate?
Most senders aim for a delivery rate above 95 percent and as high an inbox placement rate as possible. Keep your spam complaint rate below 0.1 percent, since Google advises bulk senders never to reach 0.3 percent. If your numbers fall short, check authentication, list quality and engagement first.
Why are my emails going to spam?
The usual causes are missing SPF, DKIM or DMARC records, a weak sender reputation, old or purchased lists, spam-like subject lines and content, and low engagement. Sending a sudden spike of email from a new domain can also trigger filters.
How do SPF, DKIM and DMARC affect deliverability?
SPF lists the servers allowed to send mail for your domain, and DKIM adds a digital signature that proves a message was not changed in transit. DMARC tells mailbox providers what to do when a message fails those checks and sends you reports. Together they prove your mail is legitimate, which improves inbox placement and protects your domain from spoofing.
Conclusion
For a successful email marketing strategy, every business should consider the importance of email deliverability and focus on improving it with time.
Implementing the practices mentioned in this blog will significantly increase the chances of your emails reaching the intended recipients and deliver better user engagement.
