20 Practices to Boost Email Deliverability Rate [Reputation, Content, & Tools]

Is your deliverability rate less than 90%? 

Anything less than 95% is an alarming deliverability score. A less-than-ideal email delivery rate also means a higher bounce rate. Let me guess; your bounce rate is around 5%.

If you are facing such issues, it's time you cross-check your entire process. Go through the below list to crosscheck your process.

• Low sender's reputation score (Poor IP reputation)
• SPF, DKIM, & DMARC are not enabled yet
• Inactive subscribers
• You are not sending confirmation emails
• You are not asking about your audience's preference
• Writing mails like a sales pitch
• Your domain is in the blocklist
• Not using any cold email tools

This article contains a list of things that you should practice to increase your deliverability rate. Read ahead to learn what to do to maintain a good sender reputation, the dos and dos in email content, and the tools that you must use to enhance deliverability.

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Practices to Boost Email Deliverability Rate

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There are several factors in work when it comes to email deliverability. Let's divide these factors into sections:

1. Reputation Score
2. Content
3. Tools

Reputation Score

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Reputation score or email sender reputation is a score that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) award to an email domain. It is directly linked to your email marketing results. 

If you are a newbie in email marketing, the first thing you must do is work on your Email Sender Reputation score. It takes a while to build a reputation, but you must do it anyway. Because a bad reputation might lead to your domain getting blacklisted forever. 

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Warm-Up your IP Address 

Warming up your IP address is exactly the same as warming up before your workout routine. It's all about sending mails in low volume at first before reaching your "expected" number of mails per day. 

If your dedicated IP address is new or you haven't sent any mails for more than 30 days, it's better to get it warmed up.

How? 

Hasn't Google banned warm-up services?

Yes, Google has banned warmed-up services but there are unlisted apps like Smartlead.ai that can help you. It follows an SMTP/2FA approach and uses a very discreet warmup identification system. To learn how to warm up using Smartlead, check out this video.

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Enable SPF, DKIM, & DMARC

Before you Google SPF, DKIM, & DMARC full-forms, it's essential to learn what DNS is. DNS is short for Domain Name System. Consider DNS as the storehouse of domain names and their IP addresses. 

SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) are Email authentication methods. 

Enabling these settings will help you:

👉 Prove to ISPs that your email domain is authorized to send mail

👉 Verify that your "sending server" is sending mails through your domain

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Don't Buy Lists of Leads

There are many sources that sell lists of people who have agreed to receive mail. However, buying email lists of your potential customers has always been a dangerous step. 

Because you never know if the recipients on the list would like your content or not. Just because they are willing to receive mails doesn't mean they are interested in your product or content. 

Therefore, ALWAYS avoid buying lists of leads. 

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Create Email Lists

Instead of buying email lists of your potential buyers, try to create a list of your prospects. The easier way to do this is list-building tools. 

These tools gather the email addresses of your website visitors by using email newsletter pop-up boxes, spin-the-wheel pops-ups, etc. 

Another way to get a mailing list is by subscribing to a cold emailing tool. Most of these tools (that are available in the market) provide active leads of up to 30,000 per month. 

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Maintain Email List Hygiene

A "clean list" is one that doesn't have any inactive email addresses. Make it a routine to check which addresses are the most inactive ones. If you see no engagement even after sending several mails, then it's time to remove them from your list. 

Don't forget to provide an "unsubscribe link" in your email messages. The unsubscribing process must be a hassle-free one. 

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Use Double Opt-In 

A double opt-in for email users is a process where the sender asks permission (consent) to send emails twice. First, the user signs up for the content. Second, the sender sends an email to the user with a link asking them to confirm their choice. 

This is the best way to make sure that you are sending messages to the right person. It not only provides you with high-quality leads but also keeps you away from spam folders.

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Get in the Contact List

In 2023, reputable Email Service Providers like Gmail and Outlook are focusing on customer-centric settings and policies more than ever.

According to a 2019 report, more than 3 billion fake emails were sent and received every day. Check your inbox, and you will know the number is only increasing. This is why it's getting so difficult to go through spam filters.

A successful marketer must know how to reach their email client's primary inbox. And, getting in the contact list of your prospect is a great way of increasing your email deliverability rate. 

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Ask Recipient's Choices via Preference Center

A preference center is an email customization form that email marketers send to their new email subscribers, asking about their preferences. 

It can include

• How often do they want to receive your mails
• At what time do they want to receive your message
• What type of content do they want
• What notifications do they want to get
• What updates would they like
• Recipient's personal information

If you are facing email deliverability issues, providing a preference center is a great way to deal with it. Besides providing a deep insight into your subscriber's choices, this email marketing strategy will also help you create ICP (Ideal Customer Profile).   

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Content

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After saving your Sender's Reputation, it's time to strategize your upcoming campaigns. Once you have a detailed layout of the plan, jump right into your content.

Reaching your customer's inbox isn't enough to improve the deliverability rate. You must make sure the content is good enough to maintain your deliverability. Moreover, one wrong content can make the recipient block you or raise spam complaints against you.

So, here are 5 things you must check in email content to stay away from spam traps.

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Use Text

Using minimal text is the most popular advice for senders. But, minimal never means image-based content. This might work for B2C marketers but never for B2B organizations. 

Use the necessary amount of words to create value-adding content. Your mail must carry a relevant piece of information or entertain the reader. Either way, plain text emails are always the safest way. 

The ideal number of words for an email body is 50 to 125 words. 

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Limited Caps, Bolds, & Italics

If you want to emphasize something, it's totally okay to write it in caps, bold, or italics. But, never overdo it. 

Also, most people read text written in caps as yelling or shouting, or saying something very loudly. So, be careful not to write the entire mail in caps. 

Especially, avoid caps while writing the subject lines. Many senders try this stunt to grab the recipient's attention. It might work once or twice, but it gets annoying in the long run. 

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Don't Use Symbols & Punctuation Marks Unnecessarily 

Many people have bad habits of using too many full stops (like dot…dot…dot) and exclamation marks (to sound excited!!!). If you have such habits, stop them today. 

Using too many dots and exclamation marks in the subject line looks spammy, and the recipient can take action anytime. It's a red flag in the email world. 

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Don't Trigger the Spam Filters with Sales-y Words

Yep, that's the motto behind every successful sales strategy. Everybody knows you are sending mails to sell your product. You don't have to rub it on your prospect's face every day. 

This is why it's advised never to use sales-y words in your message. Using words like "100% guarantee", "50% off", "Free", etc. can alert the spam filter, eventually ruining your deliverability. 

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Personalize Using the Recipient's Personal Information

Personalization is the latest email marketing trend. From B2C to B2B marketers, everybody is using this trick to increase customer engagement. 

If you are a B2C marketer, you can personalize using the prospect's choice of products, items abandoned in the cart, etc. For B2B marketers, it's better to use the prospect's business-related updates and news. 

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Tools

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Earlier, cold emailing was totally manual. From creating a list to writing mails, marketers did it all. But, it's not the case anymore. 

Now, your team can do the strategizing, attend meetings, and close sales, while these tools can do it all for you. Check out the below cold emailing tools for a better understanding. 

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Use Smartlead for Unlimited Warm-Ups

Sending bulk emails from a new IP address is the easiest way to spam folders. Even if you manage to avoid the junk folder, your bounce rate will increase rapidly. 

This is where Smartlead swoops in. It sends programmatic messages between mailboxes that tell the ISPs that it's a genuine sender. Using this software, you can track your Sender's Reputation score, the number of messages that landed in your recipient's inbox, and also the number of messages saved from spam. 

In addition to that, you can do A/B testing and schedule your future emails. 

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Deal with Blocklists with Spamhaus

Sometimes, domains face deliverability issues because of common blocklists, such as Spamhaus' IP Blocklist, Domain Blocklist, or Exploits Block List. You can use Spamhaus to crosscheck if your domain is listed on any of those blocklists. 

If your domain is accidentally blocklisted (you didn't spam), then no worries! This software provides detailed instructions on how to get your domain out of the blocklists. This step will bring your deliverability rates back on track. 

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Use MailFlow for Detailed Reports

Although MailFlow provides a warming-up feature, the best part of using this software is its reports. You can try this tool for a month before starting your campaigns. 

It shows a detailed report–if your emails are going in the inboxes, promotions tab, social tab, or spam. You can also see the mail server-specific results on how your mails are doing in Gmail, Outlook, etc. 

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Final Thoughts!

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Like everything good in life, successful cold email campaigns also don't have any shortcuts. You have to do the drill to make good money out of it. 

If you think about it, it's not that hard. All you have to do is take no "WRONG" shortcuts. For instance, if you want email lists, subscribe to a good cold email tool and not buy it from random places. If you want a ready-made email body, don't just go with images or videos, use AI-based tools to write personalized messages. 

You get the point. Use the right tricks and tools, and you are done with deliverability issues. 

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FAQs

What is included in best practice for email deliverability?

The best practices for email deliverability include keeping the mailing list clean, using double opt-in, writing good messages, and warming up before sending them. It is also advised to use AI-based automation tools to write personalized mails and automate follow-up emails. 

What is a good deliverability rate for email?

95% or above is considered a good deliverability score for mail campaigns. 

How do I fix email deliverability issues?

You can fix deliverability issues by doing the following:

• Check using Spamhaus if your domain is any common blocklist
• Enable SPF, DKIM, & DMARC
• Warm up before sending mass emails
• Stop sending spammy content with trigger words and images
• Ask your prospects to add you to the contact list
• Always ask to confirm their subscription using a double opt-in

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