The be-all and end-all for successful email marketing? Emails that arrive – right. After all, what use is the perfect newsletter if it does not end up in the inbox of your customers but in the spam and is ultimately not read? This is not only extremely annoying; it can also become quite expensive for companies very quickly.
Yamuna Gibson from Wadav.com tells you in this article which tips and tricks you can use to improve your delivery rate in no time at all and get your e-mails straight to where they should be. For all those in love with details, the ultimate guide to deliverability is available in the GetResponse. Also, you can use GetResponse Coupons and get access to a premium plan at an amazing rate.
Tip # 1: plan your newsletter strategy
Just quickly send an email to the entire contact list? Sounds tempting, of course – but you should definitely leave it alone. There is a high risk that many of your contacts will not even be interested in your mailing or that your e-mail will end up in spam and not be opened.
Therefore: Take the time and plan your newsletter campaign. Think carefully about which goal and which target group you want to reach with your newsletter. Because your newsletter has to be more than just a notification that you send to any customer every week or month by default.
Pay particular attention to the following points:
- Offer added value in terms of content! The more relevant your content, the better your delivery rate. In other words: If customers are not interested in the topic of your mailings, it can quickly happen that e-mails are deleted, the recipient unsubscribes and the next e-mail is also not read. And that in turn means that you as the sender are rated negatively by the provider and your mailings from Google, Yahoo or GMX are catapulted directly into the spam folder. Whether exclusive offers or the latest blog article – think carefully about what you want to communicate to your recipients and put together your best content.
- Make yourself recognizable for your readers! Find your design, your tonality and your editorial line and stand out from your competitors. In general, the following applies: the eye reads with you. You should therefore always ensure that your mailings are attractively designed – catchy headings, suitable images and crisp texts that are quick and easy for the reader to grasp. Not only does it look nicer, but it also makes you want to receive more emails from you.
- Talk to the right people! Interesting content and pretty design, well and good. But the e-mails also have to reach the right recipient. To do this, segment your contacts into different lists. In this way, you only play the content that is really relevant to the respective recipient. The probability that your newsletter will be marked as spam decreases enormously.
Tip # 2: Use your subject line to make you curious about more
The subject line is the first eye-catcher of your e-mail and largely decides whether your newsletter will be opened or not. Therefore, choose a subject line that is convincing and attracts attention within a few seconds.
How it works? For example, with these tricks:
- The spice lies in the brevity: try not to exceed a length of 40-60 characters in your subject line. Because nothing is more annoying for the recipient than an email whose subject is not fully displayed.
- Not just brief, but also crisp: Choose activating terms and only teaser what the recipient can actually expect in the email. Basically, the most important content comes first.
- Beware of the spam trap: Sure, terms like “free”, “free” or “gift” sound tempting for a subject, but unfortunately these are exactly the terms that are often labelled as spam by e-mail providers. Avoid too promotional formulations and avoid words that make you appear dubious. In this way, you avoid the spam trap and don’t scare off your recipients before reading the mail.
- Get personal: Make your customer feel like they’re not just part of a mass mailing, but a very special recipient on your list. This not only strengthens the emotional relationship but also increases the opening rate – which, as is well known, influences your delivery rate. Don’t know the name of your recipient? Do not worry. Do you still get personal – for example like this: “Dear bookworm”, “Dear fashion friend”?
Tip # 3: keep your recipient lists clean
Rule number one: never buy receivers! This is not only an absolute no-go from a legal point of view, but also does not earn you any points in terms of relevance. Because as already said: what is not of interest will not be opened either. Instead, try something you already know from home: tidying up
Regularly sort out unsubscribes and bouncers from your email recipient lists. As a rule of thumb, keep your bounce rate below 0.5 per cent if possible. Also, remove recipients who – depending on the frequency of sending – have not opened your newsletter within the last six to twelve months.
Tip # 4: stay authentic
The bad news first: Deliverability can be quite technical. But the good news: Fortunately, the technicalset-up is largely taken over and implemented for you by professional email marketing software.
What is it specifically about? For example, on the subject of authentication. This plays a particularly important role for good deliverability. Because it ensures that your mailings are not spam. Authentication binds one’s own reputation to a fixed domain and the receiving mailbox provider can thus ensure that the e-mail really comes from the supposed sender and has not been forged. The following standards are used for authentication: DKIM, SPF or DMARC. As I said: Everything technical is taken care of by the software provider (ideally we are).
Tip # 5: play it safe
There is no getting around it in email marketing. And when it comes to deliverability, you can’t do without him: data protection. With the entry into force of the GDPR, the legal requirements have increased significantly. For you, this means: Play it safe and design your newsletter to be GDPR-compliant right from the start.
For example, make subscribing to and unsubscribing from your newsletter as clear and simple as possible and only ask for data that you really need (earmarking and data economy). Use double opt-in when collecting the e-mail addresses in order to obtain clear consent from your recipients to receive the newsletter. This also has a positive effect on the quality of your recipient. This is how you ensure that your list only contains contacts who are really interested in your newsletter. And that’s good for your delivery rate again.
Conclusion: deliverability is not rocket science
There are many reasons for not delivering mailings. But the measures to avoid precisely that are even more diverse. Take the subject of deliverability into your own hands and make sure that your e-mails really get through in no time at all.
The key word here is relevance. Because only if your mailings are relevant and interesting will they be opened, read and clicked by your recipients. And that in turn has a positive effect on the performance and deliverability of your newsletter campaign.