3 Ways You Can Perfect Email Deliverability to Land in the Inbox

Email marketing doesn’t make sense without email deliverability. Of course, it’s essential to craft great emails, but it’s equally crucial that the emails actually show up. That’s what email deliverability is – it’s a measurement of how many of your emails land in the inbox. Read on to learn three great ways to increase deliverability and save yourself from wasted time and work.

Is email deliverability the same as email delivery?

Email deliverability is different from the metric of whether emails are delivered. Email delivery means that it arrived, but that could very well mean that your email went to the spam folder.

How much time and effort would you put into creating something that would never be used or seen? But unfortunately, that’s what email marketers do when they don’t ensure good email deliverability. 

#1. Using email validation will increase your email deliverability

Every email list needs regular validation, also called email verification. But what is it? It’s the process of identifying low-quality or invalid emails. Removing those inferior or fake emails is the best way to boost email deliverability.

All kinds of bad data will eventually end up on every email list and affect your email marketing: 

• Spam traps. These are emails set up to lure spammers so they can block them. It’s an anti-spam measure, but spam traps can end up on legitimate lists.
• Abuse emails. Some people would mark you as spam even if they signed up for your emails. Also called known complainers, they’re risky to keep them on.
• Role-based emails. A team of people checks these mailboxes. Role-based emails include info@, admin@, mail@, etc. Although valid, they’re high-risk.
• Abandoned email addresses. The owner once checked these emails, but they’ve since moved on to another address. They aren’t logging on anymore.
• Catch-all emails. All emails sent to a domain get funneled into a specific inbox. Catch-all emails are potentially harmful because those mailboxes can get full and your emails can bounce. 

All of these emails are going to hurt your email deliverability. You must identify them so you can remove them from your database. So, how do you do that? There are two methods.

Bulk email validation

If you’ve never verified your list, the first thing you do is use a bulk email validator. You upload the entire list to the platform, which will quickly check each email, showing you what’s wrong with any risky addresses. Don’t hesitate to remove bad data. The addresses identified by the bulk email checker will only hurt your email list and are not worth the gamble.

Once you validate your list, it’s wise to get on a schedule of regular validation at least every quarter. You may get even better results if they do it every other month or even monthly.

Real-time email validation

You’ve just cleaned your email database with the bulk verifier. However, there are forms on your website or other platforms where people can enter their email addresses.

What’s to stop all those illegitimate or mistyped emails from contaminating your list?

Nothing. 

There is a simple way to keep bad data off your list in the first place. Connect an email validation API on all your forms. 

What happens if someone tries to use a disposable email address or makes numerous spam complaints and wants to subscribe? It will ask them to enter another email. Same thing if they make a typo and write “yaoo.com” instead of Yahoo. 

You can easily connect an email validation API that checks emails in real time as users enter them. That way, your list is protected, and you have the best chance of good email deliverability.

#2. Testing tools can help more emails reach the inbox

Email validation is the first line of defense, but what can you do to improve your deliverability even more? After all, if nobody sees your emails, they can’t produce any value. 

These days an email program can enjoy some unprecedented innovations. Like never before, the use of testing tools can help make sure that you reach the inbox.

Use an inbox placement tester

After you build your email, you can see if it will reach the inbox of almost every leading email provider. Using an inbox placement tester lets you know what email deliverability you’ll get before you hit Send on your campaigns. Then, if there are any issues, you can work with your postmaster to fix them. Otherwise, you could be wasting your time and resources.

Try an email server tester

To send marketing emails, you must have your mail server settings configured correctly. For most people, this is uncharted territory. However, email server testers let you look at those settings and your email headers. Email server testers ensure your emails check all the boxes necessary to avoid the spam filter and reach the inbox.

#3. Send people what they signed up for on schedule

You have to handle all of the nuts and bolts of email deliverability, but it shouldn’t outshine one of the critical fundamentals of email marketing. So again, it goes back to the keys to success: do what you said you would do.

If someone signed up to get your emails, they want to hear from you. Interestingly, some people fall victim to their emails exceeding their expectations. Others don’t get the results they want and give up. Your email deliverability depends on consistency and schedule. If you’re not sure to do this, there’s a chance email services will block your messages.

If your emails are already succeeding, don’t use that as an excuse to start coasting. Even if your products or services are seasonal, you can’t just disappear and start back just because it’s your peak time. If you do that, some people will forget about you. In addition, email providers may no longer recognize you and send your emails to junk.

It also means that if your email program doesn’t take off right away, you just haven’t invested enough time. Maybe your emails need more planning. Keep sending out what people would expect at regular intervals. You can even give them control over how often you email them by using list segmentation.

One of the best ways to improve your email deliverability is to stay on course. You not only want to give your readers what they want but send those emails like clockwork. Your readers will start anticipating your emails even when they don’t realize it. Just find the right rhythm for your readers and stick to it. 

Author: Paul Leslie is a content writer at ZeroBounce, an email validation and deliverability company. He has 18 years of experience creating content across various media platforms, and loves to share his insights into email marketing.