The email deliverability equation
Our most recent benchmark report shows a drop in email deliverability in the UK, with 17% of emails sent not reaching the intended recipient. More than ever before, this trend means marketers need to be aware of what impacts email deliverability and understand the evolving email deliverability landscape. Reaching the inbox isn’t the end of the story.
There are many factors which affect email deliverability and the foundations are sender reputation, recognition (if subscribers interact with an email) and relevance. ISPs have evolved the way they approach email monitoring and filtering. Increasingly they are now looking to reward ‘good’ emails as opposed to just filtering ‘bad’ emails.
Also, subscribers now have more influence on inbox placement, and marketers need to understand how to drive positive engagement.
The three R’s of email marketing
The three R’s of Reputation, Recognition and Relevance play an increasing role in successful email marketing
- Reputation – sender reputation is determined by key metrics around infrastructure, data quality, and complaint rates. If subscribers complain (for example marking email as spam) this negatively impacts a sender’s reputation.
- Recognition – this influences whether subscribers open email as it hits the inbox or leave it unread. Email delivered to the spam folder means subscribers don’t have the opportunity to recognise, open and interact with the email, which will ultimately have an impact on deliverability.
- Relevance – looks at whether emails target the right subscribers with the right content at the right time to stimulate positive engagement. Relevant content is vital for successful deliverability as customers won’t engage with an email if it doesn’t pique their interest.
These elements each feed into the other. Sender reputation influences subscriber recognition because email delivered to the inbox means subscribers have the opportunity to interact, this interaction develops a good sender reputation. The third element, relevance of content, feeds back into both recognition of email, and sender reputation. The way they work together to drive deliverability is more important than ever.
The ISP evolution
ISPs have made a subtle shift in the way they approach email filtering. This change is towards rewarding ‘good’ emails instead of punishing ‘bad’ emails and this approach takes more factors into account, including a focus on subscriber engagement which is discussed in the next section.
It’s important to note that sender reputation is still vital for email deliverability, a key factor for ISPs and forms the cornerstone of a successful campaign. Email marketers need to collect and analyse data on ‘traditional’ elements such as complaint rates and data quality as well as information on subscriber behaviour. Positive subscriber behaviour such as nominating email as ‘not spam’, moving items from the spam folder into the inbox or forwarding to another email address are all affirmative signs and are fed back into ISP filtering metrics.
The ying and yang of subscriber engagement and sender reputation
The two factors of sender reputation and subscriber engagement have to work together for successful email deliverability. Marketers need to understand how best to target subscribers in a way which makes them want to engage and therefore drive future positive engagement.
Subscriber engagement metrics inform inbox placement and determine where in the inbox an email will be placed. This has become more important with the increasing use and popularity of Smart inboxes.
Marketers need to be aware of the important distinction between Inbox Placement Rate (IPR) and deliverability rate. IPR is the percentage of emails that are being delivered to the inbox, whereas deliverability describes what happens to the email; how many get to the inbox versus the spam folder, how many go missing and how high up the inbox are they placed.
The rise of mobile devices
As consumer habits change, emarketers need to be aware of the number of people viewing emails on mobile devices. Recent research from Return Path shows that 88% of people check email daily on a mobile device and by the end of 2012, more people will read email on mobile devices than on a desktop or through webmail.
These statistics show that mobile optimised emails can make or break a campaign because of the popularity of mobile devices for reading emails. Email marketers can reap the benefits by ensuring their campaigns are optimised for mobile viewing. Users will be more likely to click on future emails if they have already had a positive interaction with an email on a mobile device, thus driving further positive subscriber interaction.
Next steps in email deliverability
Email marketers need to have awareness and understanding of the existing and new elements which impact deliverability in order to plan and execute a successful email marketing campaign. Successful deliverability now encompasses many different facets which feed into each other.
Sender reputation still has a big impact in terms of ISP metrics and should be checked by marketers on a regular basis. Relevant content drives subscribers to engage and ISPs use these positive interaction metrics as part of their filtering criteria. Senders who record positive interactions are rewarded with preferential placement in the inbox. Ultimately all these elements work together to drive optimal deliverability.
Here are top 10 tips for email marketers to improve their deliverability as highlighted by a Return Path white paper, Email deliverability Review:
– Improve data collection
– Implement authentication
– Monitor your sender reputation
– Manage your IP addresses carefully
– Practice good list hygiene
– Use complaint feedback loops
– Monitor blacklists
– Reduce spam complaints
– Conduct pre-broadcast testing
– Accreditation schemes
