Want your emails to land in inboxes, not spam? Here's how to fix email deliverability issues that cost U.S. businesses over $164 million daily. Follow these 5 proven strategies to boost your email success:
Key Metrics to Aim For:
Email authentication is like a digital ID check for your emails, helping mailbox providers separate real messages from potential scams. Considering that Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams have cost companies over $50 billion, setting this up is critical. Let’s dive into the process, starting with SPF records.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records act as a guest list for your domain, letting email providers know which servers are allowed to send messages on your behalf. Here's how to configure them:
v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) adds a layer of security by attaching a digital signature to your emails, ensuring they aren’t tampered with during delivery. Here’s how to set it up:
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) works alongside SPF and DKIM to guide mail servers on handling unauthenticated emails. However, 75% to 80% of domains with DMARC records struggle to enforce them properly.
| Policy Level | Action | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| None (p=none) | Monitor only | During initial setup |
| Quarantine (p=quarantine) | Send to spam folder | Intermediate phase |
| Reject (p=reject) | Block delivery | Full enforcement |
"DMARC tells mail servers what to do when DKIM or SPF fail, whether that is marking the failing emails as 'spam,' delivering the emails anyway, or dropping the emails altogether." - Cloudflare
Start with a monitoring policy (p=none) for 48 hours before moving to stricter enforcement. This phased approach minimizes disruptions, giving you time to refine your settings and ensure legitimate emails aren’t mistakenly blocked.
After setting up strong authentication, maintaining a clean email list is essential for maximizing inbox delivery. On average, email marketers lose around 30% of their contact list every year, so regular upkeep is a must.
Email verification is your first line of defense against delivery problems. It helps identify and remove invalid addresses before you hit "send." Here’s what verification tools typically check for:
| Verification Type | What It Catches | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Syntax Check | Detects missing "@" symbols or invalid characters | Prevents obvious bounce-backs |
| Domain Validation | Flags non-existent or expired domains | Cuts down hard bounces |
| Mailbox Verification | Spots inactive or closed accounts | Ensures emails reach active inboxes |
| Spam Trap Detection | Identifies spam traps and honeypots | Protects your sender reputation |
To avoid issues from the start, integrate real-time validation into your sign-up forms. This step blocks invalid addresses before they even make it onto your list.
Define clear criteria for inactivity based on engagement metrics like the last time a contact opened an email, clicked a link, or submitted a form. Use this data to segment your audience and remove unresponsive contacts.
Keeping your list full of engaged subscribers not only strengthens your sender reputation but also improves your overall email deliverability.
Double opt-in is a proven method to ensure your subscribers are genuine, with nearly 40% of senders now using this approach. It works like this:
"I would recommend that every sender use a double opt-in all the time. Not only does it ensure you only acquire subscribers who are more likely to engage, but it also helps prevent bots from abusing signup forms, which is a significant email security risk." – Nick Schafer, Sr. Manager of Deliverability & Compliance, Sinch Mailgun
Establishing a solid domain sending history is key to achieving strong email deliverability. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) tend to be cautious when a new domain suddenly spikes in email activity, so taking a gradual approach is essential.
Start with small email volumes and gradually increase over a period of 30–60 days. Here's a suggested progression plan that focuses on engaging your most responsive contacts first:
| Week | Target Engagement Group |
|---|---|
| 1 | Top 1% most engaged |
| 2 | Top 2% most engaged |
| 3 | Top 4% most engaged |
| 4 | Top 8% most engaged |
| 5 | Top 16% most engaged |
| 6 | Top 32% most engaged |
| 7 | Top 64% most engaged |
| 8 | 100% of list |
By gradually increasing your email volume, you can build trust with ISPs while ensuring your most engaged contacts receive your initial emails.
As you slowly ramp up your email volume, focus on sending to active subscribers. This approach reinforces your sender reputation and reduces the risk of deliverability issues. Studies indicate that email lists naturally decline by about 22.5% each year, so prioritizing engaged recipients is crucial during the early stages.
"The first emails you'll send from your new space should be messages with the highest open rates and click-to-open rate (CTOR)." – Jaina Mistry, Senior Manager of Email Marketing, Litmus
To identify active contacts, look for behaviors such as:
These indicators help you target the most engaged portion of your audience, improving initial performance metrics.
Keep an eye on key metrics to evaluate your domain's reputation and adjust your strategy if needed:
If you notice an increase in bounce rates or spam complaints, pause your volume growth and reassess. Tools like Google Postmaster Tools can provide valuable insights into how Gmail users are interacting with your emails and help you track your domain's reputation.
New domains are under heightened scrutiny during the first five days, so maintaining consistent, positive sending behavior is critical. These steps not only strengthen your domain's reputation but also improve your chances of landing in the inbox instead of the spam folder.
Creating emails that make it past spam filters requires clear language and thoughtful structure. Modern spam filters evaluate the overall quality and authenticity of your email content. To improve deliverability, refine your language and avoid words or phrases that might raise red flags.
Email providers use advanced algorithms to detect spam by analyzing content patterns. While context is key, some words and phrases are more likely to trigger filters, especially when misused. Here's a quick guide on terms to approach cautiously:
| Content Category | Words to Be Careful With |
|---|---|
| Urgency Claims | "Limited time", "Act now", "Don't wait" |
| Financial Terms | "Free", "Discount", "Money back" |
| Pressure Tactics | "Once in a lifetime", "While supplies last" |
| Business Jargon | "ROI", "Best price", "Market leader" |
| Credibility Claims | "Guaranteed", "No risk", "100% satisfied" |
"Spam filters nowadays are beginning to pay more attention not just to specific spam words as might have been the case previously but also to the overall reputation of the sender and the engagement generated by email recipients."
- Yaroslav, Deliverability Expert, Mailtrap
Spam filters favor emails with a good mix of text and images. To avoid being flagged, ensure your email contains enough text and limits image coverage. Here’s what works best:
For better results:
By balancing text and images, your emails are more likely to bypass filters and connect with your audience.
Personalization is a game-changer for email performance. Emails tailored to the recipient’s interests and needs perform 202% better than generic ones. Even personalized subject lines can double open rates.
Here’s how to personalize effectively:
"Cold email is already so powerful. Cold email with the personal touch of a video is unbeatable. You get the opportunity to elevator pitch your ideal prospects as if you had met them in person. With proper lead list segmentation, you can scale this red carpet experience to thousands of your ideal prospects, all from just one recording."
- Ryane Tully, Founder, Pitchlane
A great example of this in action: Lifesize segmented 300,000 leads into seven categories, resulting in 57% higher open rates and an 82% increase in response rates. Personalization isn’t just a nice touch - it’s essential for standing out in crowded inboxes.
Keeping a close eye on key metrics is essential for identifying delivery issues early and making data-driven adjustments. By tracking performance, you can refine your strategy and ensure your email campaigns hit the mark. This step works hand-in-hand with your authentication and list management efforts.
Bounce rates are a clear indicator of your email list's quality. On average, bounce rates hover around 0.55%, with rates under 2% being acceptable across most industries. Here's a quick look at the average bounce rates by sector:
| Industry Sector | Average Bounce Rate |
|---|---|
| E-commerce | 0.39% |
| Software/Web Apps | 0.67% |
| Business/Finance | 0.50% |
| Marketing | 0.36% |
| Consulting | 0.58% |
To maintain strong deliverability:
"Essentially, your bounce rate is the best indicator of how good your email list data is." - Campaign Monitor
Tracking how readers engage with your emails provides valuable insights into campaign performance. Focus on these metrics:
"A spam rate of 0.3% is really high. This is nothing new, we have always looked at these spam rates and there are other companies out there also using 0.3% so we are aligned. Internally, we look at much lower spam rates across the board. If you're a good sender your spam rates will be well below 0.3%."
Getting blacklisted can drastically hurt your email deliverability, as major providers rely on blacklists to block potential spam. To avoid this:
Staying proactive with these checks strengthens your overall email strategy and safeguards your sending reputation.
Achieving strong cold email deliverability hinges on a focused approach to authentication, list management, and consistent monitoring. By prioritizing these strategies, you can unlock impressive results - data shows that well-executed email campaigns can yield an ROI of 4,400%.
"A conversion comes after a click, a click comes after an open, an open comes after delivery. If you focus on optimizing for delivery, you inherently maximize your opportunities for ROI."
To stay on track, aim to meet these key performance benchmarks:
| Metric | Target Range |
|---|---|
| Deliverability Rate | 95-98% |
| Spam Complaint Rate | < 0.1% |
| Bounce Rate | < 2% |
| Click-Through Rate | 2-5% |
Once these targets are achieved, take your efforts a step further by personalizing your emails and crafting thoughtful follow-up sequences. Personalization can boost open rates by as much as 50%, while campaigns with 4-7 emails are three times more likely to generate responses compared to shorter sequences.
"An IP reputation is hard to build, easy to lose, and hard to regain. Therefore, ensuring you are sending the best emails before they are sent will limit the damage caused, and monitoring, post-send, will allow fine-tuning."
Protecting your sender reputation is an ongoing process. Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS to keep a close eye on your performance. Regular monitoring helps you take quick action - whether it’s cleaning your lists, tweaking your content, or adjusting authentication settings - to ensure your emails continue to reach their intended audience.
To figure out if your email list needs a cleanup, look for red flags like high bounce rates, low engagement levels, or a pile of invalid email addresses. Keeping your list tidy not only improves deliverability but also lowers the chances of your emails landing in spam folders. Make sure to remove duplicates, addresses that consistently bounce back, or ones linked to disposable email services.
When it comes to verifying email addresses, rely on trusted tools that provide real-time validation. These tools help spot invalid or risky addresses before you hit send. A well-maintained email list is crucial for protecting your sender reputation and boosting the success of your email campaigns.
When setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, there are a few common missteps that can negatively impact your email deliverability. For starters, make sure your SPF and DKIM policies are correctly aligned. Avoid creating multiple SPF records for a domain, as this can lead to configuration errors. Also, keep an eye on SPF's DNS lookup limit - it shouldn't exceed 10 lookups.
Another common oversight is forgetting to configure SPF and DKIM for subdomains or skipping the application of a DMARC policy altogether. If your DMARC policy is set to 'none,' it provides little protection. Consider using stricter options like 'quarantine' or 'reject' to safeguard your domain from misuse. Finally, verify that all records are correctly implemented for domains actively used to send emails. This step ensures proper authentication and helps prevent failures.
By steering clear of these mistakes, you can bolster your email authentication setup and enhance your deliverability.
To make your cold emails stand out and encourage engagement - without landing in the spam folder - focus on making them feel personal and relevant. Address the recipient by name and include specific details about their business, role, or potential challenges. This shows you’ve done your homework and helps establish a sense of trust right from the start.
Stay away from overly promotional language or "spammy" words like free or guarantee, and avoid excessive punctuation (like "!!!"). Instead, keep your tone professional and emphasize the value you’re offering. A well-structured email with a personal touch not only grabs attention but also increases the chances of it being read and responded to, rather than flagged as spam.