What Is Email Sender Reputation?
One of the biggest email marketing challenges companies and marketers face is low email sender reputation. This means email providers, like Gmail and Yahoo, and internet service providers (ISPs) don't always perceive you as a trustworthy sender. To avoid getting in the spam folder, you must pay attention to three factors: email content, sending setup, and email sender reputation. Successful deliverability means being accepted by the recipient's email server, ending up in their inboxes, and having a healthy percentage of accepted emails that do not end up in spam folders. So, how do you improve your email marketing campaign? Sending engaging emails to the right audience, following proper sending practices, and allowing people to unsubscribe easily are all part of the equation.
Basically, you want to observe both the domain and IP reputation. Keep reading to discover how to avoid your emails getting into spam and make them land in front of your potential buyers.
What Is IP And Domain Reputation?
How trustworthy and valuable is the IP address you use to send your emails? If your domain is connected with past spammy email drip campaigns, your score may be very low. Your domain reputation refers to the quality of your website and how positively your audience interacts with your content. These two forms of reputation are intricately connected. Even if you have great IP score but your domain has been linked to bad practices, your email will go to spam. If you are using an established email service provider, like Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo, you don't have to worry about reputation, as all of them are trustworthy and credible. If, however, you are using lesser-known providers, you may struggle to increase your reputation.
How Can You Check Your Email Sender Score?
Email marketing's benefits are abundant, but you won't be able to enjoy any of them unless you fix your email sender score and avoid ending up in the recipient's spam folder. It is fairly simple to calculate your score using various free online tools, including Google Postmaster, Sender Score, and Microsoft SNDS. The first helps you identify your IP and domain health rate, your feedback loops, and delivery errors. Sender Score tracks your emails sent in a 30-day period and compares your position to other similar companies. Lastly, Microsoft's tool provides you with your spam complaint rate, your IP reputation, and deliveries to Microsoft spam traps. You may use one or various tools to gather invaluable insights that can help you stop emails from going to spam.
6 Factors That Affect Your Emails And Get You In The Spam Folder
1. Wrong Target Audience
Email hoaxes and scams are very common in our day and age, and ending up in the same folder as them is discouraging. To avoid getting into the spam folder, you must ensure your emails are sent to the right audience. This is the only way to improve your engagement rate. Email sender reputation relies heavily on click-through rates, open rates, and reply rates. When these figures are low, it means that your email subscriber list isn't interested in your subjects. This means that while trying to grow your list, you are not focused on attracting the right people. A subscriber increase means nothing unless it's targeted to your niche.
2. Unhealthy IP Address
Removing your email from spam lists can prove hard if your IP address has been linked with spam emails. You may have never sent such an email yourself, but someone from the same IP might have. Let's say you send your emails through an email marketing service. The service's deliverability can be severely affected if even one customer sends spam emails. That's why you need to pick a reputable and trustworthy email service to ensure that your promotional email sequences don't go to waste.
3. Misleading Subject Lines
Did you know that it's actually illegal to mislead customers with an email subject line? In fact, this practice is so common that 50% of people asked in a survey said they felt cheated after opening an email. Subject lines like "URGENT" and "Quick action required: Update your information" create fake urgency. If you also enforce such tricks, you may end up on spam email lists. So, to prevent that, start by using honest and catchy email subject lines.
4. Low Mailbox Usage
High mailbox usage helps you avoid ending up in spam. Imagine you have an email marketing list with 10,000 subscribers and 1000 of them are inactive or rarely-used addresses—this is 10% of your total email recipients! While you can't fully steer clear of inactive users, such high numbers are a major red flag to spam filters and may be the reason your emails go to the junk folder.
5. Unauthenticated Email Address
Email authentication is essential so the biggest and most trustworthy email providers deem your messages credible and don't mark them as unwanted. However, some addresses have not been verified or authenticated properly. You must complete this procedure so email providers are certain that you are who you claim to be. At the same time, this process helps prevent phishing, fraud, and other malicious activities, like other senders impersonating you.
6. Spam Attachments
Sometimes you need to include attachments in your emails. Maybe you want to promote an eBook or other resources your audience will value. Nevertheless, certain attachment types, such as .exe files, are usually perceived as spam. One of the best email marketing practices you can enforce is, instead of attaching documents, to include links people can visit and download the resources themselves. This way, you avoid getting your emails in the junk folder.
10 Ways To Avoid Getting In The Spam Folder
1. Authenticate Your Domain
Domains and IP addresses that are not authenticated may be why your email is spam-listed. To fix this and accelerate business growth, you should enable Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM). The former verifies that your email comes from a legitimate email sender and not a fraudster, while the latter ensures that no alterations are made while transmitting a message. Basically, a public key encrypts the message by linking the domain name with a digital signature. Additionally, you may use Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC). In simple words, this method authenticates your email, ensuring that it is not being used for phishing attacks or fraud.
2. Improve Email Warm Up
It's not only athletes that warm up before the game. Before sending your very first email, ask your email provider to help you perform a warmup. You start by sending a few emails to the most engaged and loyal subscribers of your quality email list. Once they start opening and reacting to your messages, ISPs receive a signal that your domain is credible, and you start building your email reputation. This process helps your audience deem your emails important and not send them to the spam box. On the other hand, email warmups can be time-consuming, but thankfully, there are tools that automate the process by slowly increasing the number of emails sent. The goal is for your engagement rates to increase as you grow your email sends.
3. Work On Your Opt-In Process
Are you certain that everyone on your email list is equally interested in your brand? One smart email marketing solution to ensure genuine interest is sending everyone a verification email after they join your newsletter. First, you validate that their addresses are valid and active, and second, you double-check their interest in you. This step is crucial so your emails don't end up in the junk folder, as many senders buy email lists, sending unsolicited messages to unsuspecting prospects. Sure, your emails can reach thousands of people, but if they do not value your products or services, they will mark your email as spam. When too many recipients do this, your IP and domain ratings suffer, and your next emails automatically get into spam.
4. Clean Up Your List
The bigger your email list, the better your lead-nurturing emails perform, right? Well, not really. If a portion of your subscribers are inactive or disengaged, it means that your messages leave no mark. Not only that, but you risk diminishing your deliverability score and email reputation. So, once in a while, do some cleaning and remove addresses that appear to not engage. It's better to have fewer subscribers with high interactivity rather than a large number of users with little to no engagement. You may also create a suspension list for inactive users and those who unsubscribed. Setting a sunset policy is also beneficial, so you define the criteria that people must meet to end up on your suspension list.
5. Avoid Spammy Subject Lines
Whether you're promoting your online course or your LMS, your subject lines should be honest and direct. There are certain catchphrases and trigger words ISPs recognize to flag your emails as spam. To avoid getting in the spam folder, refrain from using wording like "Act immediately," "100% free," and "Claim your discount NOW!" If you do have a unique offer or discount, find a more distinguished way to say it. For example, use the phrases "Limited time offer" or "Upgrade and save 10%." In addition, you should try not to use all caps or symbols like "$$$," etc.
6. Be Consistent
If you're wondering how to prevent emails from going to spam, you should pay attention to the frequency of your messages. Yes, email marketing for educational organizations and other types of businesses can prove lifesaving, but don't overdo it with too many updates. Sending multiple emails daily puts you at risk of ending up in the spam folder. This is also true when you send cold emails to get people to buy your product. However, you should maintain some consistency and schedule your emails on specific days and times. You may categorize them based on industry and email campaign type. This way, people know when to expect your communication.
7. Make It Easy To Unsubscribe
This sounds counterproductive. Why would you make it easy for anyone to abandon your email list? Your email reputation relies on not ending up in the spam/junk folder. When someone finds it hard to unsubscribe or they do it multiple times but you still send them messages, their next step will be to mark your emails as spam. Therefore, your IP and domain scores will drop significantly. To avoid getting in the spam folder, your unsubscribe button should be in a visible place, redirecting audience members to a page where they confirm their actions. It's best to have people leave you rather than send emails to disengaged people who simply hate receiving your news.
8. Make Emails Personal
Why are your emails going to spam? Maybe they lack basic personalization. It's very easy to include the name of each subscriber in your emails and make them feel like this was written specifically for them. You may use three different custom tags: {{firstName}}, {{companyName}}, and {{painPoint}}. Your ideal buyer personas need nurturing so you can push them down the sales funnel. Start by establishing brand awareness, and promoting your blog content like articles, webinars, and eBooks. Once they've reached the consideration stage, you may offer them a free demo or ask them to participate in a webinar so they can experience your service and ask their questions. After you make the sale, don't stop nurturing them by offering onboarding advice and other tools and resources they might find useful.
9. Segment Your List
Now that you know which technical aspects are necessary to avoid getting in the spam folder, you must curate your email list and the content you promote. Not everyone on your list belongs to the same industry, demographic, location, or job role. Their online behavior and stage in your buyer journey may also differ. Once you identify your buyer personas and their characteristics, you must segment them accordingly. Segmentation, along with personalization, can have excellent results, as they allow you to promote relevant content that aligns with every persona's needs and pain points. You will notice an increase in your engagement and deliverability rate as people read your emails instead of sending them to their spam folders.
10. Monitor Your Metrics
Did you know that about 85% of emails sent daily are marked as spam? Monitoring your emails' marketing results is crucial in identifying successful and unsuccessful patterns. Keep a close eye on bounce rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe numbers, spam complaints, open rates, and inbox placement rates. The latter refers to those emails that end up in your audience's inbox and not their spam folder. As a result, you can pinpoint deliverability issues early or craft strategies to fix them before it's too late and your messages start ending up in unwanted folders. However, even if your domain is blacklisted, your sun hasn't set. You can remove your IP from the email death list, although it will take time to achieve.
Key Takeaway
When you generate new leads and add them to your email list, you may assume it means your messages will reach more prospects, who might eventually purchase your solutions. As beneficial as email marketing is, it can also prove risky and detrimental to your success if not done right. Not paying attention to your deliverability rate and email reputation can harm your strategy and push people to send your emails to the spam folder. If your IP and domain reputations are low, it may mean a few different things. You might target the wrong audience using misleading and spammy subject lines. Or you may not have authenticated your email address yet. Additionally, your domain could've been used for spam in the past, with ISPs having blacklisted it.
So, how do you fix those issues? First, authenticate your domain and start sending emails slowly to check how your engagement goes. Then, you can begin to send more emails on a consistent basis. Also, clean up your list every once in a while and remove addresses that seem disengaged or have requested to unsubscribe. Your emails should look utterly professional and free of spammy language. Personalization levels up professionalism, and so does segmentation. The more customized the content looks, the more appealing it is to your user personas. Finally, don't forget to track and measure your emails' performance and continuously improve your practices.
