How to Improve the Delivery Rate of Your Emails
Email remains one of the most effective platforms to promote a product or service. Once you have the address of a prospect, you can send them promotional material for as long as they remain subscribed.
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for emails to be returned. According to the Deliverability Benchmark Report published by Return Path, as many as 1 in 5 emails fail to reach the intended recipient’s inbox. So, what steps can you take to improve the delivery rates of your marketing emails?
Use a Double-Opt-In
Arguably, one of the easiest ways to improve email delivery rates is to use a double opt-in form. This process involves the user entering their email address and then confirming the subscription after you send an initial introductory email.
Some users may unknowingly sign up for an email newsletter as part of an online checkout form. These are single opt-in forms that do not require them to take the second step. By implementing that second phase, you’ll create greater transparency while improving your delivery rates in the process.
Run Emails Through a Spam Filter
Get into the habit of running your marketing emails through a spam filter before sending them. Doing so will allow you to identify words, phrases or other elements that may get flagged by recipients’ email service providers.
If the spam filter catches a word or phrase, replace it. Granted, your emails probably aren’t spam, but certain words may still trip these filters.
Personalize Emails
Another helpful tip to improve email delivery rates is to personalize your messages. If you know the recipient’s name, for instance, include it in the email.
How can this improve delivery rates? Well, recipients are more likely to mark an email as spam if it looks generic and nondescript. Therefore, addressing the recipient by their name adds a personal touch that prevents opting out from happening.
Clean Up Your List
When was the last time you went through your email list, removing inactive, non-responsive recipients? If it’s been a while, it’s probably a good idea to do it now. Cleaning up your list of subscribers will prevent emails from being sent to deleted accounts, inactive users, etc.
Don’t Buy Email Addresses
No matter how tempting the offer sounds, you should refrain from buying lists of email addresses. Most of these lists have been resold multiple times, meaning the recipients have received so much spam that they no longer check their messages.
Have any other email marketing tips that you would like to share with our readers? Let us know in the comments section below!
