And while there are dozens of factors that could be impacting your email deliverability, there are a few simple ways to improve your email reputation for better inboxing.
Make Your Email Template Mobile-Responsive
More than half of all email is now opened and read on mobile devices, which means mobile optimization is essential to improved email deliverability, especially since engagement rates are such an important part of optimal inboxing. In fact, as more and more people are now checking their email on mobile, ISPs have become more likely to send non-mobile responsive emails directly to the Spam folder.
That’s right, if your emails aren’t optimized for mobile, they will not get delivered.
At Act-On, our easy-to-use responsive email templates simplify the process without any HTML knowledge required. Our platform also includes Litmus, which allows marketers to preview how their email renders on desktop and mobile (as well as in different email readers), so you can rest assured your message has the perfect look and feel before sending to your prospects and customers.
Optimize Your Emails for the Inbox
The overall aesthetic of your emails also has a significant impact on your email deliverability because your emails are first screened by ESPs. This means you need to develop smart, succinct messaging that offers real value to the recipient, as well as modern image-based design that makes emails feel more like web destinations than traditional text-based emails. Your subject lines should be clear and explicit, your preview text should relate directly to the subject line and what is included in the body of the email, and your body copy should address an issue and provide a solution in the form of a prominent call to action.
Before you send each email, make sure you’ve accounted for the following:
- Your recipients are part of your target audience and have actively consented to receive your messaging
- The email is part of your larger holistic marketing strategy
- All links work properly and redirect to secure sites
- The email is mobile responsive (see above)
Following these few simple steps should help ensure consistent inbox placement, which will gradually improve your overall email deliverability.
Use Quality Data and Clean Your Lists Regularly
First and foremost, never purchase an email list. You’re not fooling ESPs, and even if you do manage to get your emails to these recipients’ inboxes, the lack of engagement, unsubscribes, and Spam complaints will decimate your email deliverability. Instead, use your marketing automation software to create landing pages and forms that result in promising leads. From there, curate a targeted list of prospects and customers and then segment those audiences to deliver the right messaging at the right time to produce the intended results.
As more regulating bodies are instituting more sophisticated compliance laws (such as GDPR), it’s important that you’re sending only to recipients who have actively consented to receive your messages and those who are regularly engaging with them. Regularly review your email lists to check for interaction level and remove recipients who aren’t clicking on your emails or who have higher bounce rates.