Written by: Eric Yaillen, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
As a coach, you know how important it is to communicate effectively with your clients and prospects. One of the methods that you likely employ in your communication strategy is email marketing, but to my surprise, I have consistently found that many successful entrepreneurs are putting their businesses at risk simply because they don’t understand email best practices.
One of the areas of best practices I recently explored in an article for BrainzMagazine was the importance of Regulatory Compliance in protecting your business, reputation and brand. Believe it or not, compliance is actually one factor you need to be mindful of when it comes to email marketing.
The Importance of Email Marketing
Now there are some “experts” who will try to convince you that email marketing is “dead.” It most certainly is not. It remains one of the most effective ways to reach and engage your audience with an average ROI of $40 for every $1 spent, making it one of the most cost-effective marketing channels available. In comparison, the ROI of SEO and PPC ads are $5 and $8 respectively. Some of the reasons why email is an important marketing method include: 1. Cost-Effective: Compared to other marketing channels, email marketing is relatively inexpensive. If you have the right system in place, you should be able to send about 100K emails for about $100. 2. High Engagement Rates: If you are utilizing first-party data, your email recipients have expressed an interest in what you offer and therefore have given you permission to contact them thereby leading to higher engagement rates. 3. Personalization: If you have any sort of database, you are able to personalize your email communications which leads to higher engagement rates and conversion rates. 4. Targeting: A database or CRM system allows you to target subscribers with messages targeted to their interests which can generate increased revenue due to higher engagement and conversion rates. 5. Measurable Results: Most important, an email marketing platform allows you to track metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and revenue generated, helping you to optimize your email campaigns and improve your ROI. With this in mind, it’s most important that you understand that your ESP (Email ServiceProvider) has strict policies in place to protect their platform's reputation and to ensure that its users are sending legitimate and valuable emails. Using AI, they can simply block your account from being able to send if your emails are not compliant, and that’s the last thing you would want to happen.
Non-Compliant Email Practices
Some examples of non-compliant email practices that can result in account suspension or termination include:
Using misleading subject lines or misleading content
Using email addresses that are not valid or have been obtained illegally
Not including an opt-out option in your emails
Not including your business address in your emails
Not including a link to your privacy policy in your emails
Using purchased third-party email lists
Sending unsolicited emails or spam
While understanding what best practices are necessary, it’s just one set of important factors to consider.
Getting Your Emails Into The In Box
Email marketing is a powerful tool for doing just that, but it's not as simple as just hitting send. Ensuring that your emails get into your recipients' inboxes is essential for your email marketing to be effective. This is referred to as email deliverability and is essential to understand. Even if you have a well-crafted email and a large email list, if your email is not delivered to your subscribers' inboxes, your efforts are basically being wasted. So, how can you improve your email deliverability and ensure that your emails are less likely to get into the Spam or Promotions folder?
Let's start with your sender's reputation. Your sender reputation is a score that indicates the reputation of your IP address, domain, or email address. You can find your score on the Senders Score website. Additionally, you can see if your email address is on any block lists, you can upload lists to ensure that the emails are legit (to eliminate hard bounces), you can compare your stats against global metrics and more. A high score means that your emails are less likely to be marked as spam or blocked by ISPs. To maintain a positive sender reputation, you need to follow email best practices, such as:
Use a confirmed opt-in process: Require users to confirm their email address before adding them to your email list. This ensures that you are sending emails to people who want to receive them.
Practice good list hygiene: Remove inactive subscribers from your email list, and avoid sending emails to invalid email addresses.
Avoid spam traps: These are email addresses set up to catch spammers. Make sure you're only sending emails to people who have opted in to receive them.
Monitor your email engagement: ISPs monitor how subscribers engage with your emails. If subscribers are not opening or clicking your emails, it can negatively impact your sender reputation.
Authenticate your emails: Implement email authentication records in your Domain Name Settings (DNS) such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to prove that your email is genuinely sent from your domain and not from a malicious sender. It is designed to prevent“spoofing” which is when someone sends an email that appears to be legitimate but is actually fraudulent.
a. SPF (Sender Policy Framework) allows domain owners to specify which email servers are authorized to send emails on their behalf.
b. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) allows email domain owners to attach a digital signature to emails for authentication so that ESPs are able to verify that incoming emails are from a legitimate sender and to prevent spoofing.
c. DMARC (Domain-based MessageAuthentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email authentication protocol that allows domain owners to specify what action should be taken if an incoming email fails authentication checks.
Email Content Impacts Your Deliverability
Now, let's talk about email content. Content that is relevant, personalized, and valuable to the recipient is more likely to get into an inbox, so be sure to follow these tips:
1. Keep your subject line clear and concise: Your subject line should accurately reflect the content of your email and avoid using spam trigger words. Some common spam trigger words to avoid include: Free, Urgent, Guarantee, Act Now, Make Money, Congratulations and Discount 2. Personalize your emails: Use the recipient's name and tailor content to their interests and preferences. 3. Provide value: Your email content should provide value to the recipient. Whether it's an exclusive offer or helpful tips, your content should be worth the recipient's time. 4. Have a clean and simple email design: Avoid using too many images, excessive formatting, or large files that can slow down your email. For example, do not attach PDF files to your broadcast emails
Sending Frequency Impacts Deliverability
You’ve probably noticed in your own Inbox that some marketers.
Sending frequency can have a significant impact on email deliverability and different ESPs employ algorithms to determine whether an email is spam or not. Deliverability can be impacted by:
Sending too few emails: If you don't send enough emails, your subscribers may forget about you or lose interest in your content potentially resulting in low engagement rates and lower deliverability rates in the long run.
Inconsistent frequency: The ideal approach is sending emails at a consistent frequency that's appropriate for your audience and content. When subscribers anticipate your emails and engage with your content regularly, the result will likely be better engagement rates and improved deliverability.
Sending too many emails too often: If you bombard your subscribers with an overwhelming number of emails, the result could be that your emails get filtered into spam or get blocked altogether.
To maximize your results, send emails at a frequency that matches the expectations of your subscribers and that aligns with your content strategy. Provide value in your emails and do not always try to make a sale. Try to set a clear schedule and stick to it, so your subscribers know when to expect your emails. Additionally, it's important to monitor your email engagement rates regularly and adjust your sending frequency as needed to optimize your email deliverability.
Email Deliverability Services
To ensure that your emails get into the inbox, it's essential to use email deliverability services, such as InBoxReady and WarmupInbox. These services provide tools and resources to help you improve your sender reputation, avoid spam filters, and ensure your emails reach your subscribers' inboxes. WarmupInbox interacts and engages with your email on your behalf. Through its servers, it sends emails, replies to them, marks them as important, and even unmark them as spam. As a result, it will restore your reputation and train ISPs & Mail Servers to view your emails as valid and safe. It will also check various aspects of your email health including technical settings such as DMARC, DKIM, SPF settings, the domain age and if proper protocols are in place.
Google’s Postmaster Tools
According to recent data from Statista, Gmail is the most popular email service provider worldwide, with over 1.8 billion active users and a 28% share of the email market making it the most critical player in email marketing.
To help you to ensure your emails are delivered to Gmail users' inboxes, Google provides free Postmaster Tools to provide information that can help you improve email deliverability such as Spam Rate, IP and Domain Reputation, Authentication, Encryption, and Delivery Errors. You would only register for this service for your bulk email account, not for your regular daily Gmail address.
By monitoring your domain and IP reputation, identifying and fixing issues, and adjusting your email practices and content, you can improve your email deliverability rates and ensure that their emails reach their intended recipient's inboxes.
Conclusion
In summary, email marketing is still a good choice in marketing, offering high engagement rates, personalization, targeting, measurable results, and cost-effectiveness.
Email deliverability is crucial for the success of your email marketing campaigns, and by ensuring regulatory compliance, following best practices, maintaining a positive sender reputation, implementing email authentication technologies, and utilizing email deliverability services, you can improve your email deliverability rates and ensure that your emails reach your subscribers' inboxes.
Eric Yaillen, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Known as a Marketing Technology Wizard, Eric helps his clients save countless hours and expense by streamlining their processes and eliminating unnecessary systems for managing customer information and marketing programs. As the creator of The MegaFluence Method, he applies his extensive knowledge and decades of experience coaching businesses on becoming market leaders in their niche. Email him at eric@cognilogicfx.com or go to megafluence.net/eric for a free 30-minute introductory business analysis.
