Email Deliverability Best Practices

EMAIL DELIVERABILITY BEST PRACTICES 1. EMAIL AUTHENTICATION DOMAIN KEYS DKIM SPF Sender ID DMARC Email Authentication is just a fancy way of saying "to prove that the email is coming from where it says it is". It is important that these are in place and set up properly. Authentication measures are your first line of defense. 2. LIST HYGIENE M List hygiene is, perhaps, one of the most important email deliverability bet practices to pay attention to after proper email authentication. List hygiene is also something you have total control over whether you are hosting your own email client or using a örd party provider (ESP). 3. REGISTER FOR FEEDBACK LOOPS If you are hosting your own email program, you'll have to register for feedback loops for each of the ISP... AND remove complaints promptly! Email Sent Reported as Spam ISP Notification Email Removed You should also be monitoring your complaints. Which types of messages generate the highest complaints? Use this inofrmation to plan your campaigns more effectively based on engagement and complaints. 4. BE CONSISTENT Consistency goes hand in hand with email deliverability best practice #2 If you send to your list and sporadically, you'll have higher numbers of unknown recipients as people change their email addresses fairly regularly and turnover is pretty substantial. If your subscribers haven't heard from you in ð months, they're more likely to hit the spam button because they either don't remember signing up for your list or are no longer interested in the messages. 5. ΡAY ΑTTΕΝTION ΤΟ ΕΝGAGEMENT Open Rates Read Rates Clicks Complaints Engagement metrics are essential when it comes to email deliverability and this one issue is going to play a larger role in the future. It's not about the size of your list, but rather the quality of your list. For any subscribers that haven't taken some sort of action in the last 3-6 months, consider removing from your list or sending a re-engagement campaign. 6. CHECK YOUR DOMAINS There are 3 main reasons messages get blocked before they ever get to your subscribers. These include: IP-reputation issues, message content, and blacklisted domains. Ww Unfortunately, most email marketers don't know that domains in the email messages can be causing blocks. And if you're using an ESP, they virtually never tell you. So. it's important to pay careful attention to every domain in the message and check each of them against known blacklists prior to sending. 7.CHECK YOUR CONTENT Content is going to impact your delivery rates. NOTE: Words like "free" and "money" will NOT necessarily cause your messages to get blocked (or wind up in the spam folder), it's not so cut and dry. Write for your audience. Don't try to "trick" the spam filters or be sneaky! 8. INCLUDE A PLAIN TEXT VERSION Include BOTH Plain Text & HTML Versions HTML Email HTML messages allow you to track opens, use anchor text, include images, and more. However, not all email clients accept HTML versions of your messages. Plain Text Email While you can't monitor engagement, it's important to include plain text versions of your message for email clients (and subscribers) that do not accept HTML. 9. COMPLY WITH CAN-SPAM LAWS SPAM Can spam compliance is simple, yet too many online marketers/business owners simply don't do it. To comply with can-spam, you must not use misleading header information or misleading subject lines. You must include your company contact info and a method for people to unsubscribe. And you must honor all unsubscribe requests within 10 days. It's a good idea to review the can-spam law. Not only is it an email deliverability best practice. it's also the law! 10. MANAGE YOUR BOUNCES 000 Hard Bounces Soft Bounces Technical Bounces There are essentially 3 types of bounces: hard bounces, soft bounces, and technical bounces. You should have a process in place for managing each of these bounce types that ensures you are keeping valid subscribers and removing those that are not. BONUS: USE CONFIRMED OPT-IN While this may not be practical or make sense in all cases, it's by far one of the email deliverability practices that all of the ISPS agree on. The Reason? It ensures that people that are receiving your messages truly want to receive your messages. They've taken the extra step to tell you that they DO, in fact, want to receive your emails. NOTE: Contrary to popular opinion, double optin does not guarantee email deliverability or inbox placement. The other 10 email deliverability best practices must be in place EMAIL DELIVERED © Copyright 2012 - www.EmailDelivered.com - Marketers Publishing Group, Inc. To receive the complete PDF report version of this infographic, visit: http://www.emaildelivered.com/emailmarketing/email-deliverability-best-practices SPAM SPAM EMAIL DELIVERABILITY BEST PRACTICES 1. EMAIL AUTHENTICATION DOMAIN KEYS DKIM SPF Sender ID DMARC Email Authentication is just a fancy way of saying "to prove that the email is coming from where it says it is". It is important that these are in place and set up properly. Authentication measures are your first line of defense. 2. LIST HYGIENE M List hygiene is, perhaps, one of the most important email deliverability bet practices to pay attention to after proper email authentication. List hygiene is also something you have total control over whether you are hosting your own email client or using a örd party provider (ESP). 3. REGISTER FOR FEEDBACK LOOPS If you are hosting your own email program, you'll have to register for feedback loops for each of the ISP... AND remove complaints promptly! Email Sent Reported as Spam ISP Notification Email Removed You should also be monitoring your complaints. Which types of messages generate the highest complaints? Use this inofrmation to plan your campaigns more effectively based on engagement and complaints. 4. BE CONSISTENT Consistency goes hand in hand with email deliverability best practice #2 If you send to your list and sporadically, you'll have higher numbers of unknown recipients as people change their email addresses fairly regularly and turnover is pretty substantial. If your subscribers haven't heard from you in ð months, they're more likely to hit the spam button because they either don't remember signing up for your list or are no longer interested in the messages. 5. ΡAY ΑTTΕΝTION ΤΟ ΕΝGAGEMENT Open Rates Read Rates Clicks Complaints Engagement metrics are essential when it comes to email deliverability and this one issue is going to play a larger role in the future. It's not about the size of your list, but rather the quality of your list. For any subscribers that haven't taken some sort of action in the last 3-6 months, consider removing from your list or sending a re-engagement campaign. 6. CHECK YOUR DOMAINS There are 3 main reasons messages get blocked before they ever get to your subscribers. These include: IP-reputation issues, message content, and blacklisted domains. Ww Unfortunately, most email marketers don't know that domains in the email messages can be causing blocks. And if you're using an ESP, they virtually never tell you. So. it's important to pay careful attention to every domain in the message and check each of them against known blacklists prior to sending. 7.CHECK YOUR CONTENT Content is going to impact your delivery rates. NOTE: Words like "free" and "money" will NOT necessarily cause your messages to get blocked (or wind up in the spam folder), it's not so cut and dry. Write for your audience. Don't try to "trick" the spam filters or be sneaky! 8. INCLUDE A PLAIN TEXT VERSION Include BOTH Plain Text & HTML Versions HTML Email HTML messages allow you to track opens, use anchor text, include images, and more. However, not all email clients accept HTML versions of your messages. Plain Text Email While you can't monitor engagement, it's important to include plain text versions of your message for email clients (and subscribers) that do not accept HTML. 9. COMPLY WITH CAN-SPAM LAWS SPAM Can spam compliance is simple, yet too many online marketers/business owners simply don't do it. To comply with can-spam, you must not use misleading header information or misleading subject lines. You must include your company contact info and a method for people to unsubscribe. And you must honor all unsubscribe requests within 10 days. It's a good idea to review the can-spam law. Not only is it an email deliverability best practice. it's also the law! 10. MANAGE YOUR BOUNCES 000 Hard Bounces Soft Bounces Technical Bounces There are essentially 3 types of bounces: hard bounces, soft bounces, and technical bounces. You should have a process in place for managing each of these bounce types that ensures you are keeping valid subscribers and removing those that are not. BONUS: USE CONFIRMED OPT-IN While this may not be practical or make sense in all cases, it's by far one of the email deliverability practices that all of the ISPS agree on. The Reason? It ensures that people that are receiving your messages truly want to receive your messages. They've taken the extra step to tell you that they DO, in fact, want to receive your emails. NOTE: Contrary to popular opinion, double optin does not guarantee email deliverability or inbox placement. The other 10 email deliverability best practices must be in place EMAIL DELIVERED © Copyright 2012 - www.EmailDelivered.com - Marketers Publishing Group, Inc. To receive the complete PDF report version of this infographic, visit: http://www.emaildelivered.com/emailmarketing/email-deliverability-best-practices SPAM SPAM