Deliverability is a skillful mix of sound technical configuration and high-quality interactions with your contacts.
We'll focus on five examples of best practices that will put you in a good position for when, later down the line, you need to optimize your deliverability.
The first point is purely technical, the next two a mixture of technical and marketing practice, and the final two are more marketing-based. With deliverability, everything is interlinked!
Correctly Authenticate Your Email Addresses
Today's emails came into being in 1982 (okay, SMTP protocol was invented in 1982, but we're not going to get into that level of detail here). When it comes to technology, that was an eternity ago. To put it into context, it was eight years before the invention of the World Wide Web. At that time, only a handful of internet users and few people could have possibly imagined all of the many and varied future uses of this technology.
At the dawn of email marketing, anybody could assume anyone else's identity to send an email without breaking the rules of the SMTP protocol.
Almost 40 years later, it's become clear that if anyone can send an email using, for example, PayPal's name, there's going to be big trouble! That's why throughout email's history, successive bits of technology have arrived to strengthen sender identity to avoid misuse. This is what we call authentication.
Generally speaking, modern email servers won't let you send a single email from their platform without three key authentication techniques correctly configured by you. These three techniques require you to add information at the level of your DNS server (the directory that links a domain name to a server's physical address).
SPF Authentication
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an authentication standard that reduces the risk of identity theft. With SPF, you declare the IP addresses and the authorized servers to send emails for a given domain.
In the example below, the SPF record authorizes emails to be sent from Outlook.com and Mailchimp (MCSV.net).
Source: Government Digital Service, 15 March 2021
DKIM Authentication
DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is an authentication standard that aims to reduce the risk of identity theft.
DKIM uses a signature system to ensure that emails are not altered in transit to the recipient.
Source: www.gov.uk
DMARC Authentication
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance) is a technology for monitoring problems linked to email authentication and misuse of domain names (phishing).
DMARC uses the SPF and DKIM authentication systems for two things:
The ability to tell the destination server what to do with emails that are not SPF and DKIM compliant.
Receiving alerts in the event of non-compliance or lack of authentication.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications
Have a Consistent Sender Identity
Consistency is vital in your domain-name use policy. Spammers aim to hide, so you should be as transparent as possible:
Use a domain name (or names) that matches your brand.
Use this domain name (or names) throughout your email.
Ban the use of external domain names (such as your router’s domain as much as possible or cryptic domains such as dr753gv.com).
Example of best practice:
Sender address: yesreply@badsender.com
Reply to address: service-client@badsender.com
Tracking domain: link.badsender.com
Image hosting domain: images.badsender.com
Technical sending domain: em.badsender.com
To guarantee maximum transparency, you should also:
Ban the use of ‘noreply@’ sender addresses, instead use a real address so that you can react to replies to your emails (you won’t have many, but you will have some).
State who you are in the email footer.
Add a link to your terms and conditions.
Choose Between a Dedicated or Shared IP
Routing architecture (which domains and IPs for which type of email) is an integral part of deliverability.
Depending on your needs, you could set up your routing strategy according to several criteria.
These criteria mostly revolve around risk, a notion that can take on two very different meanings:
A proportion of your emails are high-risk: your business or marketing techniques in a ratio of your emails have given you a poor reputation for certain types of messages. Maybe the emails aren't loading properly or are being perceived as spam by your clients. You risk having these emails define your entire relationship as poor or bad in your clients eyes.
A proportion of your emails is essential to your business: you cannot afford any deliverability incidents. Certain types of emails are of high strategic value for you. In this case, you’ll probably want to isolate these types of emails to protect them and ensure their success. .
Gather High-Quality Addresses
There are various methods for gathering email addresses. As you saw at the start of this course, some are of better quality than others. If you collect high-quality addresses, you'll be able to reduce complaints and the number of spamtraps. You'll also increase opens and clicks while stabilizing unsubscribes, etc. All of this is good for your sender reputation.
Prioritize High-Quality Gathering Methods
Focus on the addresses gathered from client orders, spontaneous newsletter subscriptions, content downloads, etc. On the other hand, avoid purchasing or exchanging email lists.
Track Your Data Sources
If you gather your email addresses from different sources, record these in your database. It will allow you to check how each source performs, perhaps allowing you to abandon those that are of poor quality and focus on those that give you better results.
Consider a Double Opt-In
The double opt-in process is as follows: after subscribing, the contact receives a confirmation email requesting that they verify their subscription. If they don’t confirm, they’re not subscribed and won’t receive your emails.
This type of process is mandatory in certain countries (like Germany). It ensures that your subscriber is who they say they are and that their email address is correct and valid. A double opt-in is also an excellent way of protecting yourself from certain types of spamtraps.
Focus on Active Contacts
“Permission Marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.” - Seth Godin
We’re not going to go back over the whole list of signals that positively impact reputation, but one thing is clear: for a good reputation, you need to meet your contacts’ expectations. If they feel that you don’t, they’ll get bored and eventually stop reading your emails.
Inactive contacts threaten your reputation. They might become spamtraps for one thing, and they will also reduce all of your engagement metrics.
Correctly managing inactive contacts has become the primary goal of any reputation-optimization activity. By reducing the proportion of inactive contacts in your mail-outs, your reputation will automatically improve (although, of course, this will take time). If your inactive contacts increase, your reputation will automatically take a hit.
There are two ways to address this:
Run a re-engagement campaign for recipients who haven’t interacted with you for some time.
Exclude recipients automatically if they don’t interact for a given period.
How long should that period be? The answer depends on your audience. As a rule of thumb, the more often you send emails to your contact list, the shorter the period should be.
The following Duolingo re-engagement email is a good example!
Let’s Recap!
Authenticate your emails to avoid identity theft.
Work on your sender identity so that you don’t look like a spammer.
Gather high-quality email addresses and consider a double opt-in.
Mainly target active recipients.
In the next and final chapter, you’ll learn the difference between various inbox providers.
