10 Primary Reasons for a Low Email Deliverability Rate
An email holds its true worth when it reaches the inbox of the intended target. However, in the vast world of email marketing, billions of emails are sent and received each day, but many of them end up being ineffective. Even if an email is delivered, it may still end up in the recipient's spam or junk folder or get blocked entirely. Furthermore, a high volume of spam and junk emails can harm a sender's reputation, leading to further deliverability issues.
“Automated spam filters are causing 48.16% of global emails to be labeled as junk mail”
This has made it even more difficult for marketers to succeed. Email deliverability and reaching a subscriber's inbox are not the same thing. If a marketer cannot achieve the latter, email marketing becomes a colossal waste of time and resources. Let's start by defining email deliverability.
Email deliverability is crucial for the success of any email marketing campaign. It refers to the ability to ensure that emails are not only delivered to the intended recipients but also make it to their inboxes instead of bouncing back or getting marked as spam. It's important to note that email deliverability and delivered are two separate terms that hold different meanings in the world of email marketing.
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.
The Journey of an Email
When it comes to delivering an email to the recipient's inbox, there are three key players involved in the process:
Senders : These are the businesses or individuals who send the email. Gateways : Companies that provide email delivery services and make it possible to send email. Recipients : The people who are intended to receive the email, such as prospects, customers, or clients.
Each of these parties can be further categorized as follows:
An email travels through several internal filters between the sender and the recipient, which we call gateways. After composing an email, the sender hits the send button, and the email has to pass through Internet Service Provider (ISP) checks and filters. At this stage, the email is delivered, but it is yet to be confirmed whether it has reached the recipient's inbox.
The email message is formatted using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for transmission over the internet. The recipient's mail server then looks up the domain portion of the receiver's email address on a Domain Name System (DNS) server to determine which Mail Exchanger (destination mail server) should be contacted to deliver the message. Both the sending and receiving servers use the SMTP protocol to transmit the message.
In the third step, the recipient's server accepts and delivers the message, which is received using standards like the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for download and reading.
Why Email 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 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, such as Yahoo, Gmail, and internet service providers like Comcast and Roadrunner, generate an email reputation score based on a number of factors, such as:
○ Number of emails sent ○ Number of complaint rates ○ The bounce 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, ISPs look at how engaged recipients are with your messages and how relevant they are to them. Keeping track of click rates, open rates, spam complaints, unsubscribers, and other factors is the job of the ISP. If a significant portion of people mark your email as spam, you may get into trouble and future emails you send to others might also end up in the spam folder.
Non-maintenance of your email list health, use of non-permission-based data or letting the quality of your email content slide can damage your sender's reputation in a way that can be difficult to repair.
What are the indications of a low email deliverability rate?
If you are experiencing an email deliverability issue, you may notice some of the following signs:
A drop in engagement rates, such as opens and clicks, despite consistent email sending.
An increase in email bounces, which means the email couldn't be delivered to the recipient's mailbox.
Being blocked by one or more mailbox providers prevents your emails from reaching the intended recipients.
10 Primary Reasons that lead to a Low Email Deliverability Rate
1. Unfavourable Sender Reputation
"Your email sender's reputation is crucial. One mistake can cause irreparable damage."
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. • Unsubscription: Taking away the control from readers to unsubscribe doesn’t help a business in any way. It increases the chances of emails transferring into the spam folder and tarnishes your reputation.
Quick fix: • Authenticating your domain verifies your identity and is good for your sender’s reputation. • Warm-up your IP address. Sending emails in bulk from a new IP address can mark you as suspicious and hamper your sender’s reputation. • Eliminate invalid, inactive, and spam addresses from your email list to keep it tidy. • Use the double opt-in feature to ensure that the recipient wants to receive your emails. It also helps to avoid spam traps and only verified and interested people are added to your subscription list. • Provide a single-click to unsubscribe option to your readers. Or you might end up getting blocked, which is worse for your 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.
A lot of factors affect your complaint rates. Some of them include incorrect domain names; getting flooded with too many emails; Irrelevant and too lengthy content; not consciously opting in, or opting in for only one company rather than companies under the same parent company; no option, a difficult process for opting out of emails. All of these can annoy recipients, putting you in serious trouble.
Quick Fix: • The recipients do not favor an imbalanced frequency of emails. High-frequency emails are annoying, while low-frequency ones feel out of touch and unfamiliar. Try to send a fair amount of emails based on your industry. • Make sure that your email content is relevant and well optimized. • Make sure to keep it clear what people are subscribing to. Lying to them or deceiving them into subscribing to your emails can be bad. • Contacting non-subscribers should be avoided. The effort isn't worth it if the sender is not interested in your offer.
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.
Quick fix: • You can avoid blacklists by sending relevant content to recipients who have recently engaged with your emails. • It's a good idea to keep a regular check on the list of organizations using DNS-based blacklists which are available to protect recipients from a lot of spam reports. You need to make sure that your IP is not on the list.
4. Poor List Quality
“The more, the merrier” should not mean bulking up your list with every email address that you can get your hands on. If you only focus on the quantity of subscribers’ list, the quality gets compromised. The quality of your email list decides whether your email will land in the inbox, spam or junk. A poor list can increase your bounce rates, ultimately leading to a lower deliverability rate.
Quick fix: • Use Email Verification services to regularly clean and update your email lists to ensure that every email ID in your list is valid.
• Don’t buy mailing lists from unknown sources as they have low credibility. You need to be very precise with your list to avoid complications. In addition to that, GDPR clarifies that you need the individual's consent before sending them an email. • Instead, build a quality email list with the email addresses of people who might actually be interested in your emails.
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.
Improper authentication setup or not updating DNS changes can make your emails end up in the spam folder. Taking good care of emails is necessary for a healthy deliverability rate.
Quick fix: • Make sure to set up email authentication protocols. There are three primary methods of authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These email authentication protocols are the technical way to ensure that an email is not forged. So that no one can pretend to be you and commit fraud under your name.
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 colors of success.
6. Poor Email Design
The design of your email plays a crucial role in determining whether it lands in the inbox or the spam folder. Emails with a lot of images, broken links, or poorly formatted text can trigger spam filters and negatively impact your email deliverability rate.
Example 1
To improve the effectiveness of the grocery store ad, simplify the content and focus on a few key items presented in a clear and easy-to-read format. By doing so, the reader will be more likely to engage with the email and be enticed to click through for more information.
Example 2
To prevent overwhelming your readers with too much information, consider breaking up the text with relevant images and including a clear call-to-action that directs them to your website to learn more. This approach can make it easier for readers to engage with your content and find the information they are looking for.
Quick fix: • Use a clean and simple email design with a clear call-to-action and minimal use of images and links. • Ensure that the email is optimized for mobile devices as more than half of all emails are now opened on mobile devices.
7. Overuse of Trigger Words
Certain words and phrases are commonly used by spammers and are flagged by email filters. Overusing these trigger words in your email subject lines and content can result in lower email deliverability rates.
Quick fix: • Avoid using trigger words such as "urgent," "free," "guaranteed," and "limited time offer" excessively in your emails. • Focus on crafting subject lines and content that are engaging and relevant to your audience.
8. Sending Emails at the Wrong Time
Sending emails at the wrong time can negatively impact your open and click-through rates, which in turn affects your deliverability rate. If you're sending emails when your subscribers are not actively checking their inboxes, your email may go unnoticed.
Quick fix: • Analyze your subscriber data to determine the best time to send emails. • Test different sending times to find the optimal time that works for your audience.
9. Using a Generic "From" Name
The "From" name that you use in your email is an important factor in determining whether your email is opened or not. If your "From" name is too generic, your email may be mistaken for spam.
Quick fix: • Use a recognizable "From" name that clearly identifies your brand or organization. • Avoid using email addresses that contain generic terms like "info" or "sales."
10. Inconsistent Sending Frequency
Inconsistent sending frequency can lead to lower engagement rates, which in turn affects your deliverability rate. If you're sending emails too frequently or not frequently enough, your subscribers may lose interest and stop engaging with your emails.
Quick fix: • Establish a consistent sending frequency that aligns with your subscribers' expectations. • Monitor your engagement rates and adjust your sending frequency accordingly.
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 colors of success.
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