There are many factors that go into getting your emails delivered to the inbox, from where and how you grow your list to the content you send and everything in between. You spend time creating your emails and you want to make sure they make it to the inbox. Deliverability plays a crucial role in the success of each email campaign and it directly impacts whether your emails reach the intended audience’s inboxes or get lost in the dreaded spam folder.
We're taking the most popular questions from our latest webinar and expanding upon them so you can better understand the world of deliverability and gain insight into the ins and outs of getting your emails delivered.
How do I know if my email is being delivered?
It’s as simple as viewing your email reporting. Along with opens and clicks, we also track what contacts are not receiving your emails for a variety of reasons.
I have a lot of email addresses that bounce. Should I remove those?
It depends on the bounce reason. The main ones to focus on are non-existent, suspended, and undeliverable. These have the highest chance of being invalid addresses. We have an entire article that explains bounces and what you should do to manage them.
When I look at my bounces, there are a lot from private domains like schools or companies. Why does this happen?
These companies or organizations may have their own unique security systems that block emails from unfamiliar senders. There isn’t a way to get around these blocks without these contacts taking action on their end.
If you have a good relationship with these contacts, you can let them know their domain or ISP is blocking emails. See our Knowledge Base article on unblocking Constant Contact emails.
How else do my contacts factor into deliverability?
Start from the beginning. Are you uploading good contacts? Purchased lists are prohibited per our Terms and Conditions and if you send to one, there is a high probability you will be marked as spam. High spam reports not only affect your sending reputation but it can also trigger a List Review which puts your account on hold and prevents you from sending emails. If you don’t have a list, use one of our many list growth tools to gather those quality email address from people who want to hear from you.
Engagement also plays a role here with opens and clicks. When an ESP sees higher engagement, they’ll recognize that you are a good sender.
For my contacts that use Gmail as their email client, what can I do to increase the chances of my email landing in the Primary tab instead of Promotions?
Let’s talk about these tabs. Gmail moves marketing and bulk emails, such as deals, offers, and other promotional messages, into the Promotions tab. Emails sent through Constant Contact and other large Email Service Providers are typically sent to the Promotions tab. Not all Gmail users use tabs so these contacts are not a complete loss when it comes to them opening your emails.
People who use the Promotions tab in their email account frequently check here for emails from their favorite stores, online shops, and other businesses whose mailing lists they joined. They know what to expect when opening the tab since they are in a buying mindset. This is good if you are in ecommerce.
Getting your email to land in a contact’s Primary tab is unfortunately hard to control since it’s all up to the recipient and how they decide to organize their inbox. You can ask your contacts to add your From addresses to their contact list or have them drag your email into their Primary tab so Gmail learns to categorize your email as important.
What makes up a good subject line? Are there any words or phrases I shouldn’t use when creating my subject line?
A subject line is one of the most important parts of your email. Not only does it entice your contact to open the email, it also has an impact on delivery. We have some suggestions on optimizing your subject line.
We suggest having the subject line be between 4-7 words and no more than 40 characters as most email service providers will cut off a subject line at that point. Use minimal punctuation and avoid spammy phrases like “free” or writing in all caps (people don’t like to be yelled at).
When designing my email, is there anything I should take into consideration that would impact deliverability?
Absolutely. We strongly recommend you avoid image-heavy emails. These can be picked up by spam filters or the image may not display at all when the email is opened. Use text blocks to your advantage by describing the image and including a call-to-action or your business information.
You’ll also want to avoid using spammy phrases and long URLs. See our article on common things that trigger spam filters.
