EMAIL DELIVERABILITY: WHAT YOU MUST KNOW PT. 1

You have your email list. Your newsletter is set up. You’re ready to go. Nothing could go wrong now. Right?

Well, not exactly.

The truth is, many things can go wrong that will critically harm your email deliverability. You must be aware of these damaging factors and avoid them.

Why?

Because ignoring email deliverability issues can result in your emails going to spam.

You may have a huge email list, but if you have deliverability problems, it won’t matter how many people have signed up to hear from you. Because they won’t. Your emails will never make it to their inbox, which is where you want the emails to be delivered.

People often confuse email deliverability with email delivery. Or worse, they don’t know there is a difference. They are not the same.

Email delivery is the total number of emails sent out that aren’t bounced or rejected by the inbox provider (Yahoo, Google, etc.). Deliverability is how many emails actually land in the inbox.  A high delivery rate won’t matter if your deliverability rate is lower.

So what can happen to damage the deliverability of emails?

Many, many things. That’s the bad news. Some are highly technical, but these are issues experienced by companies running their own email servers. These are not issues someone using an email service provider (AWeber, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, etc.) will have to worry about. This is why email service providers have rules they strictly enforce. They have to protect their domain for the benefit of all their customers.

While email service providers handle the technical portion of keeping your email in good standing, the rest is up to you.

So what happens when you hit send on your email?

Your emails have to get past what you might call a gatekeeper. The email passes through filters that check for things like domain reputation, IP reputation, content authentication, sender legitimacy, etc. These filters are a first line of defense against spam.

What exactly is spam?

We know it as unwanted emails. But technically, spam is unsolicited emails sent in bulk. Bulk is key here. Spam isn’t a single email sent to someone who didn’t appreciate receiving it. If that were the case, then simply emailing a company to ask a question could be considered spam. Spam is comprised of commercial emails sent to a list of people.

Now that you know exactly what it is, how do you keep your emails from being considered spam?

Since reputable email service providers are in compliance with all national and international laws and regulations, you only have to worry about the actual email you send through their service.

And yet, there are many pitfalls the unwary can land in. It’s critical to play by the rules. Because if you don’t, the rules will crush you. Once you get into trouble, it’s difficult and time-consuming to repair the damage. Email deliverability is a case where an ounce of prevention is worth ten pounds of cure.

Some people mistakenly think if they screw up, they can move on to another email service provider and it will be okay. But that isn’t the case at all. Your sender reputation will follow you to a new service. Simply moving on will not work.

What do you need to do to keep your email running smoothly?

Obviously, you want to avoid having recipients mark your emails as spam. But the truth is, almost everything affects your email deliverability.

It should also be understood that negative engagement by email subscribers accumulates over time. This will eventually signal that your emails aren’t relevant and they will start going to the spam folder instead of the inbox.

So what are the crimes of email? These are the things that can harm your email deliverability. More on that next month!