Marketing Profs

As an email marketer, you may face email deliverability issues every day. Whether you're sending a personal email or customer communication, electronic messages are frequently intercepted, filtered, erroneously labeled as spam, bounced, or returned to the sender as undeliverable.

For routine non-business correspondence, this is simply a minor annoyance and inconvenience. But when your message broadcasts a crisis or emergency, or if it includes time-sensitive account, billing, or service information, you could face serious consequences.

If you're a marketer, every undelivered message translates into lost revenue. Luckily, there are ways to improve the odds of delivery and decrease the chance of running into problems in the first place

The key to email deliverability lies in earning the trust of internet service providers, or ISPs. Because these companies need to provide quality service to their subscribers, they devise standard protocols and policies regarding unsolicited bulk email.

To communicate with your subscribers and customers, without interference, focus on the following five key criteria proven to optimize deliverability rates.

1. Mind your lists

How relevant is your list? You should add recipients only via responsible opt-in practices, removing bounced accounts and unsubscribe requests immediately. Never use distribution lists that are severely outdated or purchased. Many purchased lists include spam-trap or honeypot addresses, intended to lure and catch spammers.

2. Maintain low complaint levels

Do recipients want your messages? Every time subscribers report you to their ISPs, deliverability plummets.

Several popular ISPs, including AOL, Yahoo, and Hotmail, make reporting extremely easy with one-click spam reporting features. It's important to know how many complaints are coming in.

Complaint processing can be automated, with email marketing service providers removing complainers from your distribution lists and integrating that data into real-time reports.