You have a message to get out, and it is probably an important one. Email marketing campaigns are designed to draw customers to your business, introduce new products and services, and share important announcements, and it is key that your customers actually receive your emails and open them to learn more.

We have put together a guide to help you learn everything you need to know about email marketing deliverability, so you be sure your emails reach your recipient's inbox.

What is Email Deliverability?

Email deliverability is essentially the process of getting your email messages into the inboxes of the customers and subscribers you are trying to reach. Emails are an important marketing strategy of any business, and they can mean the difference between turning a profit and losing revenue. 

The first step to getting emails delivered to your customers is to create a way for them to sign up to receive your newsletter and other correspondences; this can easily be achieved by ensuring that an email form populates when someone visits your website. The visitor to your website will be prompted to enter their email address, which can then be automatically entered into your email contact list using your company's integrated CRM software.

Why is Email Deliverability Important?

Your email marketing success is dependent on your customers receiving your email! Your marketing team works hard behind the scenes to create a visually appealing email message that comes complete with colorful graphics, a catchy subject line, easy-to-read information, and a call to action that is designed to drive more traffic to your business and boost revenue. 

To foster a long-term relationship with customers and clients, they need to feel like they are "in the know" with what is going on at your company and be reminded of your business, so they do not forget about you and move on to do business with others.

Marketing teams can also measure the success of an email marketing campaign by accessing your email automation software’s report dashboard. The more views you get, the better, and you can’t inspire action on your CTAs if your emails cannot be opened on account of poor deliverability. 

What Factors Affect Email Deliverability?

There are numerous factors that affect email deliverability - some are within your marketing department's control while others are not. Here are a few of the main factors with tips you can improve your deliverability stats:

1. Bounced Emails

Bounced emails are the emails that never reach the inboxes of some customers in your target audience. This typically happens when a customer disables their email account, when there is a server or network error, or when a customer's email account is undergoing routine maintenance. The industry standard for bounce rates in marketing campaigns is approximately 2% of the emails sent out. If your bounce rate is higher, it is a good idea to make some email list pruning to rid yourself of email addresses that are no longer valid.

Bounces can be related to email throttling as well, which also can affect deliverability. Email throttling is when the receiving ISP limits the number of emails it receives, causing a soft bounce. This can happen if you’re sending too many emails, haven’t scrubbed your list adequately, or your emails are being marked as spam. 

2. IP Address Rating

In an effort to keep spam from hitting people's email inboxes, IP addresses are assigned a reputation rating by email service providers, much like a credit score. If the IP address your company uses to send out marketing emails is assigned a bad reputation score, email service providers may automatically assign your emails to the user's junk folder. Poor reputation scores are typically assigned when email end users complain about the emails received or when a company sends out too many emails in a short period of time. If you are concerned about the reputation score of your IP address, you can check it for free at Sender Score. 

3. Customers Who Unsubscribe

While email is an important communication tool that allows companies to get information out to customers fast, sometimes customers get overwhelmed by the number of emails that clog up their email folders each day. In an effort to reduce the number of emails received, some customers just opt to unsubscribe from emails sent by businesses they don't interact with all that often; there is not much you can do about this but to remove the individual from your email contacts and let them know they are always welcome to sign back up for email subscriptions in the future.

4. Getting Past Spam Filters

Spam filters are designed to weed out junk emails from messages sent by legitimate companies. Be sure your marketing emails are always designed in a professional manner and include your contact information, a ratio of 40% images to 60% text, and have a subject line that is clear and to the point. Also, make sure you comply with basic email marketing rules and regulations, so you don’t run the risk of unintentionally using shady practices. 

Getting to the inbox is important. After all, if your email never makes it to its destination, then you won’t see any desired return. Make sure you’re prioritizing email deliverability and avoiding the factors mentioned above that can hurt your ability to land in the inbox.