What Is Email Deliverability Rate? A Comprehensive Guide
By Emil Kristensen CMO
@ Sleeknote

Email deliverability rate is a term used to describe the successful delivery of marketing or promotional emails to a recipient’s inbox. It measures the percentage of emails that actually reach the intended recipient’s inbox compared to the total number of emails sent. In this comprehensive guide, we will take a deep dive into the importance of email deliverability, factors affecting it, and ways to improve it for an effective email marketing campaign.

The Importance of Email Deliverability Rate

Email deliverability rate is essential to the success of any email marketing campaign. If your emails fail to reach the inbox of the intended recipient, then your marketing efforts are wasted. High deliverability rates ensure that your message is delivered to the target audience, thus increasing the chances of conversion. A low deliverability rate can result in spam complaints, damage to the sender’s reputation, and in some cases, even account suspension.

There are several factors that can affect email deliverability rates, including the quality of your email list, the content of your emails, and the reputation of your email service provider. It is important to regularly monitor and analyze your deliverability rates to identify any issues and take corrective action. This can include removing inactive or invalid email addresses from your list, optimizing your email content to avoid triggering spam filters, and working with a reputable email service provider with a strong track record of deliverability success.

Factors Affecting Email Deliverability Rate

Several factors may affect email deliverability. These may include the reputation of the sender’s domain and IP address, the content or structure of the email, the engagement level of the recipient, and the presence of spam filters. It is vital to address these factors to ensure that email deliverability is maximized.

In addition to the factors mentioned above, the timing of the email delivery can also impact its deliverability rate. Sending emails during peak hours or on weekends may result in a higher chance of the email being overlooked or marked as spam. It is recommended to schedule email deliveries during off-peak hours and on weekdays to increase the likelihood of the email being seen and engaged with by the recipient.

Understanding Email Bounces

Email bounces happen when an email is undeliverable to the intended recipient’s email address. There are two types of bounces, hard bounces, and soft bounces. Hard bounces occur when the email cannot be delivered due to an invalid email address. Soft bounces occur when delivery fails due to temporary issues like a full inbox. Email bounces can harm a sender’s reputation, leading to subsequent emails being marked as spam by email servers.

It is important to regularly monitor email bounces and take action to reduce their occurrence. This can include regularly cleaning email lists to remove invalid or inactive email addresses, using double opt-in methods to ensure email addresses are valid, and avoiding spam trigger words in email content. By reducing email bounces, senders can improve their email deliverability and maintain a positive reputation with email servers.

Tips to Improve Your Email Deliverability Rate

There are several best practices that email marketers can follow to maximize email deliverability. These may include cleaning email lists regularly, writing relevant and engaging email content, optimizing email frequency, and testing emails across different devices and platforms to ensure compatibility.

Another important factor to consider when trying to improve your email deliverability rate is to avoid using spam trigger words and phrases in your email content. These words and phrases can trigger spam filters and cause your emails to be marked as spam or sent directly to the recipient’s junk folder. Some common spam trigger words and phrases include “free,” “buy now,” “limited time offer,” and “act now.” By avoiding these trigger words and phrases, you can increase the chances of your emails reaching your subscribers’ inboxes.

Best Practices for Email Marketing Campaigns

Effective email marketing campaigns require careful planning and execution. These may entail segmenting email lists, personalizing email content, including clear call-to-actions, and using a responsive email design that adapts to different screen sizes.

Another important aspect of email marketing campaigns is to regularly analyze and measure their performance. This can be done by tracking open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and other relevant metrics. Based on this data, you can make informed decisions about what is working and what needs improvement in your email campaigns. Additionally, it is important to regularly update your email lists and remove inactive subscribers to ensure that your messages are reaching engaged and interested recipients.

How to Monitor and Analyze Your Email Deliverability Rate

It is crucial to track and analyze email deliverability rates to identify areas that need improvement. Email marketers can use several email marketing tools and services to track important metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and bounce rates. These insights can help identify potential issues and optimize future campaigns for better results.

Common Mistakes That Affect Your Email Deliverability Rate

Some common mistakes that email marketers make that may affect email deliverability are using spam trigger words in email subject lines, sending too many emails, using vague opt-in language, and failing to provide an easy unsubscribe option in emails.

Tools and Services to Help Improve Your Email Deliverability Rate

Various email marketing tools and services can help improve email deliverability rates. These may include email verification services to reduce bounce rates, spam checkers to identify potential spam issues, and email marketing automation platforms for easy email campaign management.

Future Trends in Email Marketing and Deliverability

The email marketing landscape is continuously evolving, and several emerging trends in email marketing and deliverability are expected to impact the industry’s future. The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize email content and email personalization is expected to increase. Moreover, the emergence of new technologies like interactive emails and AMP emails is expected to enhance email engagement levels and increase deliverability rates.

In conclusion, email deliverability rate is a crucial metric for every email marketer. By understanding the factors affecting deliverability and implementing best practices to maximize deliverability rates, email marketing campaigns can effectively reach the target audience and drive conversions. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, personalization, and new technology trends, email marketing is poised to be a powerful marketing tool for years to come.