5 Primary Reasons for a Low Email Deliverability Rate
An email holds its true worth when it reaches the inbox of the intended target. In the arena of email marketing, billions of emails are sent and received per day but a significant portion of it turns into an irrelevant effort. This is because a delivered email does not always reflect success as it can end up in spam, junk or can even get blocked. In addition to this, a high volume of spams and junks may have an immense negative impact on a sender’s reputation.
In this digital era, automated spam filters are more vigilant than ever due to which 48.16 percent of all global emails are marked as junk email. The struggle of marketers has been pushed to an all new level.
In short, email-deliverability and reaching the subscriber’s inbox are not the same and if a marketer is not achieving the latter then email marketing is a massive waste of time and money.
Let us start with understanding what email deliverability actually is!
In the simplest terms, Email deliverability is the ability to deliver emails to the target audiences’ inboxes without bouncing or being set apart as spam. It should not be confused with delivered. They are very different and have different meanings when it comes to the email world!
Delivered describes how many emails were completely transferred to the intended recipient’s mailbox provider. This does not mean that the email made it to the recipient’s inbox.
Deliverability is the measure (usually expressed as a percentage) of how many emails actually make it into the inbox. This is usually broken down into open and click statistics.
Why e-mail deliverability should be a priority on your radar?
● For an effective email marketing campaign: Audiences’ engagement with a campaign decides the success, failure and apparently the effectiveness of a campaign. The deliverability impacts the success or failure of your email marketing campaign, and ultimately your email return on investment (ROI).
● To maintain a good sender reputation: Mailbox service providers, for e.g. Yahoo, Gmail and internet service providers like Comcast, Roadrunner generate an email reputation score based on a number of factors like
○ Number of emails sent
○ Number of complaint rates
○ The bounce-back rate
○ Inactive/old addresses, if any
○ Number of times you’ve landed in a spam folder and much more
A low score makes it hard for your emails to land in the inbox of the target.
● To avoid being labeled as a spammer: If a significant portion of people marks your email as spam, you may land up in trouble and future emails you send to other people might end up in the spam folder too.
Non-maintenance of your email list health, use non-permission based data or letting the quality of your email content slide can damage your sender reputation in a way that can be difficult to repair.
What are the indications of a low email deliverability rate?
The most prominent signs of an email deliverability issue are
● You're encountering a drop in engagement rates like opens and clicks.
● An increased rate in email bounces.
● You're being blocked at a mailbox provider.
In this digital era, automated spam filters are more vigilant than ever due to which 48.16 percent of all global emails are marked as junk email. The struggle of marketers has been pushed to an all new level.
In short, email-deliverability and reaching the subscriber’s inbox are not the same and if a marketer is not achieving the latter then email marketing is a massive waste of time and money.
Let us start with understanding what email deliverability actually is!
In the simplest terms, Email deliverability is the ability to deliver emails to the target audiences’ inboxes without bouncing or being set apart as spam. It should not be confused with delivered. They are very different and have different meanings when it comes to the email world!
Delivered describes how many emails were completely transferred to the intended recipient’s mailbox provider. This does not mean that the email made it to the recipient’s inbox.
Deliverability is the measure (usually expressed as a percentage) of how many emails actually make it into the inbox. This is usually broken down into open and click statistics.
Why e-mail deliverability should be a priority on your radar?
● For an effective email marketing campaign: Audiences’ engagement with a campaign decides the success, failure and apparently the effectiveness of a campaign. The deliverability impacts the success or failure of your email marketing campaign, and ultimately your email return on investment (ROI).
● To maintain a good sender reputation: Mailbox service providers, for e.g. Yahoo, Gmail and internet service providers like Comcast, Roadrunner generate an email reputation score based on a number of factors like
○ Number of emails sent
○ Number of complaint rates
○ The bounce-back rate
○ Inactive/old addresses, if any
○ Number of times you’ve landed in a spam folder and much more
A low score makes it hard for your emails to land in the inbox of the target.
● To avoid being labeled as a spammer: If a significant portion of people marks your email as spam, you may land up in trouble and future emails you send to other people might end up in the spam folder too.
Non-maintenance of your email list health, use non-permission based data or letting the quality of your email content slide can damage your sender reputation in a way that can be difficult to repair.
What are the indications of a low email deliverability rate?
The most prominent signs of an email deliverability issue are
● You're encountering a drop in engagement rates like opens and clicks.
● An increased rate in email bounces.
● You're being blocked at a mailbox provider.
5 Primary Reasons that lead to a Low Email Deliverability Rate
1. Unfavourable Sender Reputation
As a marketer you need to evaluate your existing sender reputation by the following factors:
•Open Rate: This is a direct indication of the quality of the list you are targeting. Single opt-in lists normally have lower open rates than double opt-in.
•Recipient Engagement: This determines how long your subscribers are looking at the content of the email
•Email Content: Whether the content being promoted is relevant to the audience targetted
•Spam Traps: A spam trap looks like a real email address, but it doesn't belong to a real person and can't be used for any kind of communication.
The above-mentioned factors contribute to how the mailbox providers treat you. A strong built up in these factors shows a positive sender reputation.
•Open Rate: This is a direct indication of the quality of the list you are targeting. Single opt-in lists normally have lower open rates than double opt-in.
•Recipient Engagement: This determines how long your subscribers are looking at the content of the email
•Email Content: Whether the content being promoted is relevant to the audience targetted
•Spam Traps: A spam trap looks like a real email address, but it doesn't belong to a real person and can't be used for any kind of communication.
The above-mentioned factors contribute to how the mailbox providers treat you. A strong built up in these factors shows a positive sender reputation.
2. Unusual Complaint Rates
A recipient marking an email as spam is the strongest negative signal to mailbox providers about your email. Complaint rates above 0.2% are considered high and may result in poor deliverability. In the case of mailbox providers, like Gmail, a spam rate as low as .08% can start to affect your deliverability, which is why you need to keep a close eye on it.
3. Being Blacklisted
A high number of spam trap hits or complaints lead to blacklisting of your IP or sending domain. The mailbox providers monitor such lists to determine which senders to block or filter from their user inbox. You can avoid blacklists by sending relevant content to recipients who have recently engaged with your emails.
4. Poor List Quality
The quality of your email list decides whether your email will land in the inbox, spam or junk.
You need to regularly clean your email lists to ensure that every email ID in your list is a valid one.
You need to regularly clean your email lists to ensure that every email ID in your list is a valid one.
5. Lack of Email Authentication
Email authentication can be highly technical and extremely confusing. Even the most seasoned security professionals need help both navigating this space and explaining it in digestible yet accurate terms to non-technical colleagues.
Authentication allows the receiver of an email and the mailbox provider to confirm the identity of the sender. There are three primary methods of authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Email as a medium provides a very high return on investment, but the next time you initiate one, do consider the above-mentioned factors and come out with true colours of success.
Need help with any of the terminology used in this blog series? Check out our help,
Result Tear down Glossary
Authentication allows the receiver of an email and the mailbox provider to confirm the identity of the sender. There are three primary methods of authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Email as a medium provides a very high return on investment, but the next time you initiate one, do consider the above-mentioned factors and come out with true colours of success.
Need help with any of the terminology used in this blog series? Check out our help,
Result Tear down Glossary
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