Imagine spending countless hours and investing huge sums of money into creating the perfect email just to find out that it didn’t land in your subscriber’s inbox.
Sounds like a total nightmare, doesn’t it?
Well, as scary as this sounds, you’ll be surprised to know that 11.1% of emails never reach their subscriber’s inboxes because of an email deliverability issue.
To find out how you can improve your email deliverability rate, prevent emails from landing in the spam folder and improve your email’s inbox placement, we interviewed Keith Kouzmanoff, an email deliverability expert.
Keith Kouzmanoff is one of the top 25 email marketers of today. He has 20 years of experience in email marketing and is a frequent alumni and keynote speaker for email delivery. Keith has contributed to numerous email deliverability case studies and is also one the first members of Data & Marketing Association (DMA). In short, the perfect candidate for giving insights related to email deliverability.
So, let’s dive in and find out what tips he has to offer;
1. Is email deliverability a crucial element for successful email campaigns, and why?
(Yes). It starts with deliverability and then into mailbox placement. If you do not have deliverability, you can not send emails.
2. What are the elements that influence an email’s deliverability?
Data, data, and data.
Data influences email deliverability; inactivity, churn, segmentation, list building, frequency of sends, validation on your collection site, age of data, etc.
3. You’ve worked on numerous email deliverability cases. What is the most alarming (or insightful) issue you have encountered so far?
The centralization of email within mailbox providers.
Email centralization is alarming. Email will only die if it becomes centralized; meaning if one mailbox provider takes an overwhelming majority of mailboxes.
4. How should one warm up their domain to improve email deliverability?
Age. Age alone will be the most impactful of the previous reputation to the current one. Your reputation proceeds you over time.
5. What is the significance of setting up a DNS to improve email deliverability?
Trust.
DNS significance in email is trust. Like a credit score, if you don't have any credit, you can not take out a loan. DNS provides a timeline of trust too.
6. How can content and design improve email deliverability?
(Content and design can improve) readability and accessibility. 70% or more of your users are reading your email on a mobile device.
Related: How to Improve Email Deliverability? 15 Proven Ways
7. Does the sender’s reputation affect email deliverability? Any tips to improve the sender's reputation?
Yes, of course, it does. Engagement can improve the sender's reputation.
8. How important is email list segmentation to improve email deliverability?
It's a very critical part of email marketing. You should always prune your list(s) before you think about anything else.
9. How often should one clean their email list to improve deliverability?
Before every send, you should be considering or having some logic in place that prevents you from sending to someone you have sent 20+ times within the last 60 days, and they have not clicked or viewed your email.
10. Do you think Apple’s privacy policy has affected email deliverability? And how?
Not deliverability but inbox placement. Apple is eager to provide additional value to its email users.
11. According to you, what is that one thing that can instantly improve email deliverability rate?
Do not send to people who did not sign up for your email list.
Related: Permission-Based Email Marketing Explained in Under 7 Mins
12. How frequently should one send emails to ensure good deliverability practices?
At the minimum of once a month and as frequently as needed.
13. What is one email marketing pet peeve you can’t stand?
It does not rationally matter what the content is; it heavily depends on consent and expectations.
14. Lastly, what is an upcoming email marketing trend of 2023?
Reluctantly, I must admit that BIMI adoption is spreading even more.
Wrapping Up
We hope you found this interview insightful and got to know about the factors and best practices that can improve your email’s deliverability.
Also, we’d love to hear your questions, concerns, and advice related to email deliverability. So, feel free to comment below.
Cheers!
