Email Deliverability Factors: How to Ensure Email Deliverability

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Imagine crafting a compelling email only for it to end up in the recipient’s spam folder. Frustrating, right? Unfortunately, this is a common issue for business owners. In the ever-evolving world of digital communication, ensuring your messages reach your customers and leads can be tricky. That’s why understanding email deliverability factors is key. By following best practices, you can increase your deliverability rate and make sure your emails land where they should—in the inbox.

What is email deliverability?

Email deliverability is the ability to send messages that reach your recipients’ inboxes successfully. It’s determined by several factors, such as sender reputation, and usually expressed as a percentage. Ultimately, deliverability gauges whether an email can avoid being filtered out as spam and land in the desired destination.

Delivery vs. Deliverability

If you use “email delivery” and “email deliverability” interchangeably, you’re not alone. Many business owners get these two confused. However, it’s important to understand the difference.

Basically, delivery is just the first step. It ensures an email reaches the recipient’s mail server, laying the foundation for any chance of engagement. But deliverability takes it further by increasing the likelihood of an email arriving in the highly sought-after inbox. The two are different yet connected, working together to optimize the impact of your email campaigns and establish trust with your audience.

Measuring Email Deliverability Rate

The email deliverability rate is calculated by dividing the number of emails delivered to the inbox by the total number of emails sent. For example, if you sent out 100 emails, and 70 ended up in the recipients’ inboxes, your deliverability rate would be 70%. Thankfully, you shouldn’t have to do the math yourself. Most email marketing platforms generate the deliverability rate automatically.

So, what is a good deliverability rate?

There’s some conflicting information about deliverability rates. But generally, 90% is good, and anything above 95% is excellent. A study by EmailTooltester compared the deliverability of popular platforms and even noted where, specifically, emails landed.

Why Is Deliverability Important?

Chances are, you know that email deliverability is important. After all, you need your emails to land in the inbox. But it’s much more than that… Achieving high deliverability is essential for effective communication and successful email marketing campaigns.

Here’s why…

High email deliverability ensures that your messages actually reach the inboxes of your intended recipients. If emails are flagged as spam or end up in junk folders, your audience may never see them. And this defeats the whole purpose of your communication.

When your emails consistently land in the inbox, it helps you build trust and credibility with your audience. Email recipients are more likely to engage with content from senders they trust. So, you can look forward to increased open rates, click-through rates, and overall positive interactions.

Successful email delivery is critical for achieving a good ROI on your email marketing campaigns. It doesn’t matter if you’re promoting products, sharing resources, or communicating important information. The impact is only as good as the number of recipients who actually receive your emails, engage with your emails, and take the desired action to convert.

What Email Deliverability Factors Play a Role

Holland of Viral Solutions typing on laptop with blurry screen displaying email inbox.

As mentioned above, there are many factors involved in email deliverability. Paying attention to these factors is a must. The positive and negative interactions with subscribers determine where your emails are placed.

With that said, here’s a breakdown of the crucial email deliverability factors:

When it comes to deliverability, your reputation matters. Every email sender is assigned a score based on their email practices and recipient actions. Mail servers look at this to determine whether an email is legitimate or potentially spam. A good Sender Score indicates a positive reputation and increases the likelihood of inbox placement. (You can check your own by using the Sender Score tool.)

Your email content’s relevance, engagement, and overall value also factor into deliverability. Emails with well-crafted content are more likely to be opened and interacted with. Avoiding spammy language and ensuring content aligns with recipients’ expectations enhances deliverability.

Having a clean, well-maintained email list with active and engaged subscribers also affects deliverability—for the better. List quality is one of the most commonly overlooked email deliverability factors. Yet, it’s actually one of the most crucial.

Good sending practices involve maintaining a regular and predictable email-sending schedule. Abrupt changes in email volume or sending frequency can raise red flags. But on the flip side, consistency in your sending patterns helps build trust over time.

Did you know a lack of engagement can lead to a decrease in your email deliverability? Low engagement can trigger spam filters. High engagement, on the other hand, signals that your emails are valuable, desired, and suitable for the inbox.

What Metrics Email Service Providers Look At

There are certain email marketing KPIs you look at to determine performance. However, email service providers (ESPs) like Gmail, Yahoo, etc., have their own set of metrics to evaluate your emails. They look at these specifically to determine where your emails should go. And because they view your email recipient as their customer, not yours, their standards are pretty high.

Here are some of the metrics that ESPs look at:

1. Spam Placement: This is the number of emails delivered directly to a spam folder out of the total emails sent. The receiving ESP evaluates this metric based on their recipients and not all emails sent to all ESPs. Typically, this email refers to unsolicited bulk email and is filtered out.

What determines spam? The short answer is whatever reason the recipient has for marking the email sender as spam. Yes—even if the recipient has confirmed they want your emails!What can trigger a spam block? The words or content of the email body or subject line, as well as the reputation and transmission patterns of the sender.

What is the average spam rate? Validity’s 2023 deliverability benchmark report shows that average spam placement rates worldwide are 6.1%. Real estate is the industry with the lowest rate at 0.8%, whereas telecoms and finance/insurance are tied for the highest at 8.4%.

2. Read Rate: This is where the recipient marks the email as being read, even if they didn’t read it. It isn’t to be confused with an open rate for emails. This metric is far more accurate than a viewed rate based on image download, but few marketers can measure it.

What factors influence the email read rate? The subject line, the time of day the email was delivered, and the overall reputation of the sender affect this rate.

How should marketers and business owners use the email read rate metric? This metric helps determine the success or failure of a given email and should be tracked for every piece that is sent.

3. Email Ignore Rate: This is the end user mentally ignoring or deleting the email received regardless of the sender or the subject line.

What factors can influence the ignore rate of an email? The top reason is sending emails to people who did not request or subscribe to receive emails. Failed campaigns can impact this rate in the short term, but the long-term factor has to do with consistently emailing a bought list.

How does the email service provider interpret the email ignore rate? ESPs view this metric as a measure of disinterest and tie it to the sender’s domain.

How can you reduce the email ignore rate/deleted before reading rate? Strive to maintain good list hygiene and only email those who have signed up to receive your messages. Make sure your sender name is one your recipients will recognize. Additionally, pay close attention to your subject lines and preview texts to ensure they’re compelling.

4. Reply Rate: This is the number of emails the recipient directly replied to divided by the total number of emails sent, and each ESP gauges this based upon their recipients rather than the entire list.

What determines a high email reply rate? Again, engaged subscribers or even those who reply asking to unsubscribe will raise this rate. If the sender does not receive replies, that doesn’t hurt, but having a high reply rate does help a lot.

What can an email sender do to raise their email reply rate? We don’t suggest using “noreply” addresses; instead, we highly recommend having a real person monitor and respond to email replies. Also, make sure your content includes a CTA that encourages a response.

5. Forward Rate: This rate is determined by recipients receiving an email they like so much that they send it to a friend or colleague.

Forward rates are increased when someone finds the content so valuable that they feel it is relevant to someone they know. High forward rates equal high engagement rates.

6. Complaint Rate: These are recipients who reported the email as being spam or junk. Like with other metrics previously mentioned, the complaint rate increases with lists that aren’t opted in and by those senders who don’t practice quality list hygiene by cleaning out unengaged recipients from their sender list.

What is the largest factor for filtering email? The spam-compliant rate is the main reason a sender’s reputation is damaged, and it can take a long time to rectify once that reputation is damaged.

What is an acceptable email complaint rate? Generally, senders want to keep their email complaint rate at less than 1 of every 1,000 sent, or 0.1%.

7. Marked as Not Spam Rate: When an email lands in the spam folder and the recipient finds it, some then mark the email sender as not sending spam.

Since very few recipients are aware of or monitor this feature in the email software, this metric is less important. Still, it’s worth noting that the overall average for this metric is under 2%.

What Compliance Changes to Be Aware of in 2024

In an effort to provide a better experience for clients, Gmail started rolling out new email protections on February 1, 2024. Yahoo also began enforcing new email standards, and other major providers are expected to follow suit.

This is a big deal for those who use email in their marketing efforts. It means there are new requirements to follow and some limitations to what you can do. As these changes affect email deliverability, it’s crucial that you educate yourself and make sure you're in compliance.

Here’s what you need to know:

How to Improve Email Deliverability

Once you understand what email deliverability factors and ESP-focused metrics affect your marketing efforts, it’s time to take action. There are many things you can do to improve your deliverability. Follow the tips below to get your emails where you want them to go!

  1. Set up an email-sending domain.
  2. Use a familiar sender name.
  3. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
  4. Use double opt-ins.
  5. Send test emails to your users’ email clients.
  6. Ask subscribers to allowlist you.
  7. Pay attention to email frequency.
  8. Create high-quality content.
  9. Offer both an HTML and a plain text version of your emails.
  10. Reach out to inactive subscribers.
  11. Maintain your list.
  12. Make it easy to unsubscribe.
  13. Honor unsubscribes.

(For additional tips, check out HubSpot’s resource on deliverability best practices.)

What Email Marketing Best Practices to Follow

Along with following the tips above, make sure you’re following email marketing best practices. Doing so will go a long way toward improving your email deliverability. Plus, it’s just good marketing!

Here are the basics to keep in mind:

1) Practice Permission-Based Marketing.

Building a quality list with a high engagement rate begins by compiling a list of subscribers who have opted in. Permission-based marketing is no longer just a good practice—it’s a necessity. So, make sure you’ve received permission to email recipients beforehand.

2) Set and Follow Expectations.

Make sure to set expectations in your initial indoctrination series. Let subscribers know how often you’ll email them, what you’ll be sending, etc. Stick to those guidelines to avoid confusion or frustration on your subscribers’ part.

The first follow-up email that delivers your offer is critical. It must be immediate and deliberate and deliver exactly what was promised. This will help your metrics as much as anything.

Limit the pitch to the appropriate time. If you’re going to get in the habit of pitching often, try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Ask yourself if your messaging is consistent with the expectations you’ve set.

3) Know Your Numbers.

Email marketing is a numbers game. You need to not only study industry benchmarks but also remain diligent in comparing your engagement results to those industry benchmarks.

Make it a point to review the latest email marketing statistics once a year. On top of that, review your own data at least monthly. Ideally, you want to analyze the numbers after every campaign.

4) Segment Your List.

Segmentation of your email list will ensure you’re sending appropriate information to subscribers. Segment based on want, need, pain, problem, or other appropriate psychographics.

Your data will tell you how well you have matched your segmentation to your content.

Summary

In order for your emails to engage and convert your subscribers, they need to be seen. And that means putting effort into improving your email deliverability. It may take a lot of work, but it’s an absolute must if you want to continue using email marketing to your advantage.

If you need help with your email marketing or getting ready for the new compliance changes that are coming, don’t hesitate to reach out. Set up a free consultation with Viral Solutions today.

 


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Filed Under: Business Tips, Content Creation

About Lindsey Perron

As Thomas’ daughter, Lindsey was introduced to the world of sales and marketing at an early age. Curious about what her dad did, Lindsey would jump at every opportunity to help and ride along on sales calls. Always quick to take charge and lead the group—a trait that has only grown with time—Lindsey was frequently told by her parents that she was destined to be a manager or CEO of some sort. While working toward earning her bachelor’s degree in human services from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Lindsey interned with the UW Office of Equality and Affirmative Action and served on several councils, which gave her the opportunity to develop her persuasive writing skills, researching skills, problem-solving skills, project management skills, and more. After working as the lead teacher of the 4-year-old room at the local daycare center, Lindsey decided to switch gears and join the Viral Solutions team. In her position, Lindsey is able to help clients think through an end goal and reverse engineer it into the steps needed to achieve it.

When she’s not working, Lindsey loves spending time with family, be it traveling somewhere together or just hanging out at home.