Email & Coffee

How deliverable is your electronic newsletter once it is distributed?

The Annoying Technicalities

Businesses and web mail services (like Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, AOL, etc) are installing smart gateway devices that integrate hardware with software designed to filter out spam, viruses, spoofing, phishing and spyware attacks.

So, your newsletter is dispatched from your email service provider (ESP) to an appliance intelligent enough to recognize your email reputation and differentiate between spam and legitimate mail, passing legitimate mail along for general delivery.

This exchange can also employ another filtering layer at the business and client level.

As a result, final delivery, also referred to as inbox placement, is a mathematical function of your mailing list reputation or email stream. The stream - a combination of content sent from your from-name and from-address, sending domain and IP address - is measured by its parts and if any of the pieces are not acceptable, then your email will not be directed to the inbox.

In English, Please!

For example, you build a series of email campaigns with a few different from-names and from-addresses. If any of these names fail to build a positive reputation, the possibilities that your email for current and future campaigns will score an inbox delivery will begin to decline.

It will not help if you introduce a new from-name or from-address into the equation until you improve your emailing practices.

Email Best Practices

Continuously review your email sign-up procedure. Welcome campaigns will help to identify legitimate subscribers and reduce bounce rate. This is also known as less is more!

Keep your message relevant. Build your list with purpose, provide segments and develop targeted campaigns over time.

Remove unengaged subscribers. If they haven’t opened your last 3 campaigns, stop messaging them!

Monitor your reputation. Refer to the services of senderscore.org, senderbase.org, reputationauthority.org or siteadvisor.com.

Use your reporting metrics to help monitor inbox, bounce and click rates.