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We understand that segmenting contacts, obtaining consent, and leveraging email marketing are crucial - but what about the actual deliverability?
Deliverability is the backbone of email marketing success, yet it often goes overlooked.
So, brace yourself as we dive into the fundamentals!
What is Email Deliverability?
At its core, deliverability refers to the likelihood that an email will end up being interacted with - including whether it even gets opened in the first place.
When using an Email Service Provider (ESP), you’re often shown a deliverability score. This score is calculated based on several factors, including:
Sender Reputation
Email Authentication
Domain Setup
Let’s start with Sender Reputation, a score assigned by the recipient’s inbox service provider (ISP). Essentially, it’s how much the ISP “trusts” your emails. For example, when you send an email to a customer’s Outlook inbox, Outlook first decides if your message is worth showing to the user. If your sender reputation is poor, your email might land in the dreaded spam folder.
How ISPs Assess Your Emails
ISPs rely on Email Authentication to verify that an email is legitimate and actually sent by you - not someone spoofing your domain. Authentication ensures that your emails aren’t forged or sent by unauthorized parties.
But here’s the key: email authentication happens before your email is even sent. Let’s break down the main authentication methods you need to know.
Key Email Authentication Methods
1. SPF (Sender Policy Framework)
SPF specifies which mail servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. It works by adding a record to your DNS (Domain Name System) that lists the IP addresses or servers allowed to send emails.
Example: If you use a platform like Mailchimp for marketing emails, you’ll include Mailchimp’s servers in your SPF record.
2. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to your emails, allowing the recipient’s email server to verify that the message hasn’t been altered during transit.
Example: When the recipient’s server checks the DKIM signature against the one published in your DNS records, it confirms that the email hasn’t been tampered with.
3. DMARC (Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)
DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM, providing instructions to the recipient’s server about how to handle unauthenticated emails. You can decide whether unauthenticated emails should be:
Rejected outright.
Quarantined (marked as spam).
Allowed through.
Example: A DMARC record ensures that emails failing SPF or DKIM checks are flagged or rejected based on your preferences.
4. BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification)
BIMI allows you to display your company’s logo next to authenticated emails in the recipient’s inbox. While not directly related to security, BIMI adds a layer of trust and strengthens your brand’s presence.
Maintaining a Strong Sender Reputation
Your sender reputation is critical to email deliverability, and it can be impacted by the following:
Sending emails too frequently: Overloading your audience can lead to disengagement and spam complaints.
High hard bounce rates: Ensure your email list is clean by removing invalid or inactive addresses.
Low engagement: If recipients aren’t opening, clicking, or interacting with your emails, your reputation suffers.
On the other hand, improving engagement through high open rates, clicks, replies, and forwards can do wonders for your sender reputation. To achieve this:
Be mindful of your email content—make it relevant, valuable, and visually appealing.
Focus on audience segmentation to ensure emails are personalized and sent to the right people.
Space out your emails to avoid overwhelming your recipients.
Email deliverability might seem like a daunting topic, but it boils down to building trust with both ISPs and your audience. By maintaining good authentication practices and monitoring sender reputation, you can ensure that your emails make it to the inbox and encourage meaningful interactions.
Got it? Great! Now, let’s put this knowledge into practice and keep those emails on the right track.
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