Email marketing boils down to one thing: how many people get to see your email. You can create the most beautiful template and write the most convincing copy. But if your message doesn’t reach your audience, your hard work is in vain. Looking to improve email deliverability in 2020 and beyond? These tips will help you get your emails in the inbox. Then you can reap more benefits from your email marketing campaigns.
1. Validate your email list
The first step to improving email deliverability? Validate your list. That means removing all the bad email addresses. Bad emails may be sabotaging your email marketing efforts. Invalid, abandoned, fake or abuse emails – none of these should be in your database. The good news is that an email validation service can detect them and weed them out within minutes.
What’s more, a good email validator will remove temporary, role-based, and other risky email addresses from your list. The better your email hygiene, the higher your chances of reaching your subscribers.
2. Use double opt-in
Double opt-in is a subscription method that requires users to confirm they want to be on a mailing list. When someone gives you their email address, they should automatically receive an email with a confirmation link. Once they click that link, they become opt-in subscribers.
Implementing the double opt-in process ensures you have permission to email. It’s not only an email marketing best practice, but it also boosts your deliverability. Opt-in subscribers are more likely to engage with your emails. Thus, the signal they send to inbox providers is a positive one. It says you’re a lawful email marketer who sends content subscribers want and need, so you belong in their inbox.
3. Avoid spam trigger words
It’s always tempting to use words like “discount” or “save” in your subject lines. While they may boost your sales, they can also prevent you from reaching the inbox. So think twice before using them – spammers use them too, and you don’t want to be mistaken for one.
4. Remove inactive subscribers
Some people will open and read all your emails. Others got on your list for another reason – to get a free content offer or a discount. Once they got it, they’ve stopped paying attention to you. Keeping those contacts in your database is not a good way to make it to the inbox. To improve email deliverability, consider removing all inactive subscribers. These are people who haven’t engaged with your content in more than six months.
5. Send your emails consistently
Did you decide that you want to send your emails on Tuesdays? Then send them every single Tuesday. Inbox providers love a committed, consistent sender. It’s a sign they can trust you, thus deliver your emails to people’s inboxes.
On top of that, maintaining a regular sending schedule lowers your spam complaints. The more predictable you are, the more familiar you will become to your subscribers. Keeping your spam complaints under control is crucial to your email deliverability.
Bonus tip: let every email be better than the last
Content is essential in the mix of factors that influence your email deliverability. The better it is, the more people will read it. As a result, inbox providers will start seeing you as a source they can trust and support.
Marketers tend to focus on increasing their sales, which turns every email into a pitch. While the ultimate goal of your email marketing is to sell more, strive to help first. Be generous, offer solutions to your subscribers’ problems. Inspire them, entertain them. Great content is part of what builds your brand, so make every email better than the last. Higher open rates translate into better email deliverability. It’s a cycle of benefits that feed on each other, and in the end, everybody wins.
