Today, we are dealing with a market of more than 2 billion people and nearly two million emails per day. Email marketing is considered one of the most effective marketing strategies for small businesses and large enterprises. The goal of this article is to give you tips on how to save money and improve email deliverability.
Email deliverability, the process of getting emails to your customers and business partners, is one of the most important parts of marketing and communication.
And, as you would expect, it is not an easy thing to do. This article will help you find ways to improve email deliverability and make sure that your customers receive the emails they need.
Most people are under the impression that email is an instant communication method. While this is true, there are a number of things that can happen to your emails before they actually reach their destination.
Email deliverability is the ability of your email to reach its intended recipient. This can be a bit complicated, so let’s break it down into four basic categories: 1) The sender's mail server 2) Spam filters 3) The Internet 4) Your recipients' mail servers Now that we have those out of the way, let’s look at each one in turn.
1. The Sender's Mail Server- This is the most obvious. If your email doesn’t make it to the sender, then you have a problem with this part of deliverability.
The biggest issue here comes down to how many mail servers are in use by both sides of an email conversation (the senders and recipients).
You could be sending emails from one server and receiving them on another, which means that your messages will never reach their recipient(s) at all! Luckily there are some things you can do about this:
2. Spam Filters- Most people don't realize it, but the majority of spam is actually generated by computers.
This means that even if someone has set up their own mail server and can receive emails from you, they may be sending out thousands of messages per day which will never reach anyone's inbox!
The best way around this problem is to use some sort of spam filter on both ends:
3. Internet Filters- Internet filters are the best way to go if you're worried about spam. They can be installed by both senders and recipients, but they don't work as well against viruses or other forms of malicious content.
If you do decide to use them, make sure that they have a good reputation for being able to deal with these types of problems:
4. Your Recipients' Internet Filters- If you're sending emails to someone who doesn't have an internet filter, your best bet is to use a secure email service.
Most of the popular ones (such as MailChimp or Campaign Monitor) offer free accounts which are very useful for small businesses and individuals alike:
Although email marketing has been around for years, the way it is being done is changing. Technology has made it easier to send and manage emails, but there are still new challenges to overcome when sending emails in today’s world.
Let’s discuss some tips that can help you make your emails more secure, deliverable, and helpful to your subscribers. The best way to improve email deliverability is by ensuring that your emails are not blocked. You can do this in a number of ways, such as:
1. Using an Email Service Provider (ESP) like MailChimp or AWeber- These ESPs have excellent tools and will help you improve email deliverability with many things as long as they’re used correctly.
Some examples include tracking opens/clicks on links, automatically verifying subscribers using the DKIM system , sending out welcome messages when someone subscribes for the first time, etc..
2. Creating a custom domain and subdomain- Like (yourname.yourcompany.com) and then setting up a SPF record .
This will help you verify the email address of the sender, making it harder for spammers to send out emails on your domain name with fake addresses or spoofed headers in order to get through filters like DKIM
3. Using a Sender Policy Framework (SPF)- If you use one of these tools, they’ll tell you if there are any problems with sending from that IP address as far as SPAM is concerned so that no legitimate messages go into junk folders because they ’re not being checked.
4. Using a Smart Host like CloudFlare- This will help you get through some of the more advanced junk filters, but it can also increase your server load by up to 50%.
So if you’re already getting enough traffic then this might be too much for what is probably a small business or organization that has limited resources and needs to keep costs down.
You should contact CloudFlare directly so they can give you advice on how much traffic their service would handle before considering them for your email marketing efforts (they have very helpful customer support staff).
5. Using a Sender Reputation System (SRS)- These are becoming more popular and can be very helpful in getting through junk filters, but they tend to cost money so you’ll need to decide if it's worth the investment for your business.
6. Sending out an email newsletter with MailChimp or another ESP This is one of my favorite ways as well because many of these ESPs have great tools that will allow you to track opens/clicks on links and automatically verify subscribers using SPF records , etc..
Plus, most offer some form of opt- out or unsubscribe feature that will allow you to stop receiving emails from them.
7. Using a Mailing List Manager- This is an alternative way of sending out newsletters and can be very effective if used correctly (it's also another good option for organizations with limited resources).
You can use it in conjunction with some of the other options mentioned above, but there’s no substitute for the direct connection between your email list subscribers and your website content so make sure you don't miss any opportunities to build links back into those relationships by using social media posts as well as blog comments on relevant blogs.
If you're using a Mailing List Manager, make sure you contact the company to find out how many people are on your list so that they can verify whether or not it’s worth their time and money.
8. Using an ESP from another provider- This is probably one of the most effective ways to get through junk filters because there's usually no reason for email providers like Gmail or Yahoo! (or any other service) to block messages sent by someone else with whom they have a direct relationship.
The only downside is that this method often costs more than sending directly via SMTP . With this approach, you'll need to find an ESP that will accept connections from your domain and then use a service like MailChimp or Campaign Monitor to send out the email.
9. Using an SMTP server- This is another option if you have access to one of these services (like SendGrid ) but it's quite expensive.
So I'd only recommend using this method as part of a larger strategy for sending newsletters with different providers on various days/times throughout the week in order to avoid junk filters altogether while still reaching your audience at their preferred times via social media posts and blog comments .
10. Using a third-party service- There are plenty of companies that offer free email services, but they usually require you to sign up for their own mailing lists and then only send emails from those lists (and not your own).
If you're in the US or UK , there's always MailChimp which is completely free and also has some great features like Automated Campaigns where all your subscribers get an email at once with a link to download your latest resource on whatever topic it happens to be about right now.
In addition, if you have any type of business website or blog , you can always use their services to send a variety of different types of emails.
11. Using an ESP that accepts SMTP connections- Some email providers like Gmail and Yahoo! also offer free accounts for both personal and small business use (and even some large businesses).
These are usually known as "Gmail" or "Yahoo!" Mail, but they're not the same thing at all - it's just marketing speak for something called Google Apps , which is what most people actually call it when talking about using these services on a regular basis.
If you want to try out one of these free accounts, you can sign up here , and if you're an existing Gmail or Yahoo! user, then just follow these instructions to set it up for your business.
12. Sending transactional emails with an ESP (like PayPal or Stripe)- You can send credit card payments via email if you have an ESP account with the payment provider in question.
These are usually called "PayPal" accounts but they work exactly the same way as any other type of online transaction (and sometimes even better because they allow you to bypass the fees that are charged by credit card companies).
1. Sender Scorecard Tool- SenderScorecard tool lets you know how many emails are being sent from your domain, where they're going, and whether or not they were delivered.
It also gives you a report of the email delivery statistics by country/region to help identify which countries have higher spam rates than others. You can use it free with up to three domains per month (after that it will cost $14).
The SenderScorecard website has information on setting up a sender score account as well as a list of all the different countries/regions.
Sender Scorecard is not an email deliverability tool, but it does provide some good information about your spending habits and how they are being received by other people in the world. It's also free to use with up to three domains per month (after that you'll have to pay).
2. SendGrid- SendGrid is a service that lets you send email from your own domain and use an SMTP server of your choice (for example, Google Apps). You can also integrate it with other apps like MailChimp or Campaign Monitor to create more complex campaigns.
It's very easy to set up, but the most important thing about this tool is its ability to help you improve deliverability by testing which emails are being delivered correctly using A/B testing features.
This feature might be useful for anyone who wants their campaign results analyzed in real time; however, if you're not looking for a tool that will help you analyze your deliverability, then this one is not the best option.
3. MailTrack- MailTrack is another email testing and tracking service that allows you to send emails from an SMTP server of your choice (for example, Google Apps). It also offers A/B testing features but it's more limited than SendGrid .
You can set up different types of campaigns like "Buy Now" or "Subscribe", which are very useful when trying to figure out what kind of copy works better in order to increase sales or subscriptions.
This type of campaign is also useful when you're trying to figure out which email copy works better for your business.
3. MailChimp A/B Testing Tool- MailChimp is a popular marketing automation tool that offers many different tools like segmentation, lead scoring and analytics .
It's also very easy to set up campaigns using their online editor , but there are a few things that can be improved in order to increase the effectiveness of these campaigns:
