Email is one of the most popular and effective yet complex and frustrating methods of marketing used today. On the one hand, email marketing is cost effective, instantaneous and has the highest ROI of any type of digital marketing. On the other hand, email deliverability is unreliable and can be technically-challenging. Beyond the basics of good message, good design and email list validity / cleanliness, there are factors involved in the email delivery process that are beyond the sender’s control. That’s because an email does not go in a straight digital line from the sender’s outbox to the recipient’s inbox. Why? Well, it basically boils down to a fundamental flaw in the system. Traditional SMTP (email) servers were never designed to deliver bulk, outbound email. They were designed for individual emails. The primary workaround for bulk email, especially those that involve large lists, is batch deliveries and that causes delays and problems.

Even with batch deliveries, spikes in email volume raise red flags with major Internet Service Providers, such as Google, Yahoo! Hotmail and AOL. Given that many of the emails sent on a daily basis could be classified as spam – in that they are sent in bulk and are unsolicited — ISPs created sophisticated systems to prevent overwhelming their networks. ISPs scrutinize every message that comes on the network and decide what to do based on certain characteristics. Sometimes this scrutiny gets in the way of legitimate email delivery. For that reason, it’s important to implement best practices that increase email deliverability. Last week, we examined such basics as improving email address collection practices, and cleaning existing email lists. We also examined a key practice of getting email permission from all contacts. Beyond the basics, there are some additional technical steps that can be taken to help with email deliverability. Here’s how.
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Many marketers feel that email marketing has a better return on investment than pay-per-click advertising, content marketing, social media, offline direct marketing, affiliate marketing, online display advertising, and even mobile marketing. Perhaps that’s because 91% of consumers check their email at least once a day. It would explain why about two-thirds of in-house corporate marketers rate emails as having “excellent” or “good” ROI.. In fact, it is estimated that email marketing has an ROI of 4,300%. Even if that percentage is grossly exaggerated, it is hard to deny that emails are an invaluable and cost-effective marketing vehicle for most businesses.

However, recent research also shows that average inbox placement rates stand at about 76.5% globally. On average, one out of every four emails does not get delivered to its inbox. That applies just to emails where the email address used by the sender is complete, current and correct, and does not even factor in email addresses that aren’t delivered because the email address used by the sender is incorrect, outdated or incomplete. That is because there are approximately 1.5 trillion spam email messages being broadcast every day. The challenge for ISPs has been and continues to be how to identify (and eliminate) that volume without preventing ‘permissioned’ email activity. Therefore, most major Internet Service Providers are using new strategies and metrics to guide email deliverability. The focus on email deliverability is no longer just about punishing ‘bad’ emails and unprincipled email senders (a/k/a Spammers). ISPs are now considering also how to reward ‘good’ emails and compliant email senders. Given the potential value of email marketing and the problems with email deliverability, it is important for every business and manager to be aware of the major factors impacting email deliverability today and understand legitimate, proven ways to improve that deliverability. Continue reading →