10 top tips to ensure your emails land in the inbox

1. Implement Email Authentication Protocols

Authentication protocols help verify that your emails are legitimate and not spoofed. This prevents your messages from being flagged as spam or phishing attempts. The key authentication protocols to implement are:

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Prevents spammers from sending emails on behalf of your domain.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a digital signature to your emails, verifying that they haven't been altered in transit.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): Works alongside SPF and DKIM to define how email providers should handle unauthenticated messages from your domain.

Setting up these protocols enhances your sender reputation and increases the likelihood of reaching inboxes.

2. Maintain a Clean Email List

A healthy email list is crucial for deliverability. Here’s how to maintain yours:

• Remove inactive subscribers: If a recipient hasn’t engaged with your emails for a long time, consider sending a re-engagement campaign or removing them from your list.
• Eliminate invalid addresses: Hard bounces (emails sent to non-existent addresses) can damage your sender reputation.
• Seek external help: B2B data in the UK can decay at 40% per year and if you can’t update internally this can drastically effect email deliverability.  Many data companies offer a free audit to help with data cleansing

3. Warm Up Your Email Account

If you're sending from a new email address or domain, warming up your account is essential. This involves gradually increasing your email sending volume to establish a good reputation with ISPs. Sending too many emails too quickly can trigger spam filters.

4. Optimize Your Email Content

Content plays a crucial role in deliverability. Here are some best practices:

A. Image-to-Text Ratio

Many spam filters flag emails with excessive images and little text. To avoid this, follow these guidelines:

• Aim for a 60:40 text-to-image ratio (60% text, 40% images).
• Avoid sending emails that consist of only images, as they are more likely to be marked as spam.
• Use alt text for images to ensure readability even if images are blocked by the recipient’s email client.

B. Avoid Spam Trigger Words

Certain words and phrases can trigger spam filters. Avoid terms like:

• "Free money"
• "Act now"
• "Guaranteed"
• "Click here"
• Excessive use of capital letters and exclamation marks (e.g., "LIMITED TIME OFFER!!!")

C. Personalize and Segment Your Emails

Personalised emails tend to perform better and have a lower chance of being flagged as spam. Use recipient names, past behaviour, and preferences to tailor content. Additionally, segment your email list to send relevant content to the right audience.

5. Monitor Key Deliverability Metrics

Tracking your email performance helps you identify and fix deliverability issues. Key metrics to monitor include:

• Open rates: A low open rate may indicate inbox placement issues.
• Bounce rates: High bounce rates suggest issues with your email list quality.
• Spam complaints: If too many recipients mark your emails as spam, your reputation could suffer.
• Click-through rates: Low engagement can signal that your content isn't relevant to your audience.

6. Use a Recognizable Sender Name and Email Address

Your "From" name and email address should be recognizable and trustworthy. Avoid using generic addresses like "noreply@yourdomain.com" - instead, use a personalised sender name, such as "John from Your Company."

7. Provide an Easy Unsubscribe Option

While it may seem counterintuitive, making it easy for users to unsubscribe helps maintain a healthy email list. If recipients can't easily opt-out, they may mark your email as spam, harming your sender reputation.

8. Control Your Send Speed and Volume

The speed and volume at which you send emails can affect your deliverability. Here’s how to optimise your sending practices:

• Avoid sending large volumes at once: A sudden spike in email volume can trigger spam filters. Instead, gradually scale your campaigns.
• Use throttling techniques: Spread out your email sends over time rather than blasting them all at once.
• Monitor engagement: If recipients frequently ignore or delete your emails, ISPs may categorize your messages as spam. Adjust your frequency based on engagement levels.
• Consider sending smaller, more targeted campaigns: Instead of mass emails, segmented and personalised messages can lead to better engagement and improved deliverability.

9. Test Before Sending

Before sending out your campaign, test your emails using tools like:

• Preview how your email appears across different devices and clients – your provider should offer you this facility or tools like Litmus can do this
• Spam check tools to ensure your email won’t get flagged before sending it out.

10. Use a fit for purpose delivery mechanism

There are many providers offering email deliverability at scale.  Many of these do so at a low or even free cost depending on the volume. However, if you intend on using cold or purchased data in your campaigns you need to check the Terms of the provider allow that.  For example, Mailchimp in their terms and conditions forbid the use of “purchased, rented, or third-party lists of email addresses”.

Final Thoughts

Email deliverability is essential for successful email marketing. By following best practices such as email authentication, maintaining a clean list, optimizing content, controlling send speed and volume, and monitoring key metrics, you can significantly improve your chances of landing in the inbox.

Implement these strategies, and you’ll see higher engagement and better ROI from your email campaigns.