mail deliverability is a critical issue for anyone who uses email in their business.
If you send cold emails with a perfect pitch to people who match your buyer persona, you should get a high response rate and book a lot of meetings, right? No, not always.
Just because you added your prospect's email address to the *To* field does not guarantee that they will receive your email.
What is Email Deliverability, and Why Should You Know Everything About it?
Let's start by defining what we mean by email deliverability.
Email deliverability refers to how well your email can deliver messages to the inbox of a recipient.
Good email deliverability will mean your email lands in their main inbox folder. If you’ve been using your email naturally for a few months with co-workers and clients, chances are that your email deliverability will be good.But, if you’re planning to launch a cold email campaign, your email service provider will notice that your activity is changing.
What’s a Good Email Deliverability Rate?
While exact figures on what constitutes a "good" deliverability rate are difficult to come by because Google and Microsoft both keep their email data private.
In addition, you must consider a variety of metrics.
The most important ones to consider are:
- percent of emails delivered
- percent of emails delivered vs. spam
- percentage of emails that bounce
To have any chance of success with cold email, your overall deliverability should be at least 95%. Anything less, and you've got a problem.
You'll also want to make sure those emails are delivered to your prospects' primary inboxes rather than the spam folder.
This deliverability report is a quick way to check your deliverability.
What Influences Email Deliverability?
There are numerous factors that influence email deliverability, but let's start at the beginning. These are the fundamentals; if you get them wrong, you'll have low deliverability rates and a difficult time getting into the inbox.
1. Establish Your Technical Foundations
If you've just purchased a new domain, you'll need to make sure your technical foundation is strong.
That means you'll have to set up the following records:
- DKIM
- SPF
- DMARC
SPF, or Sender Policy Framework, informs email service providers that you are sending emails and prevents people from forging them. It is required if you want ESPs to trust your email address.
DKIM is an abbreviation for DomainKeys Identified Mail, and it is a more advanced authentication protocol that informs ESPs that your email was not tampered with on its way to the sender. Without it, there is a risk that your emails will be tampered with and their contents changed, and spam filters will refuse to send risky emails to anyone's inbox.
DMARC is an acronym that stands for Domain Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance.
Having your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records in place is essential.
If you do not configure them, your emails will be routed to spam.
If you've never done it before, most hosting providers and ESPs will provide instructions on how to do so.
2. Start with a Low Send Volume
If you purchase a new domain and immediately begin sending hundreds of emails, you will be flagged as a spammer, rendering the email address useless.
Email send volume is a major cause of poor deliverability that is frequently overlooked by anyone eager to begin their cold email campaigns.
Begin by sending out a small number of emails and gradually increase your output.
For example:
- Week 1 + 2: Purchase domain, only use it with co-workers and existing clients
- Week 3: 5 emails per day
- Week 4: 10 emails per day
Over time, you’ll be able to ramp up your email sending volume.
As well as that, assuming you’re sending good cold emails, you’ll be getting a good enough reply rate to keep you busy.
If you need to send lots of emails, consider using multiple email accounts instead of just one.
3. Your Email Content Matters
Another factor influencing deliverability is the content of your email.
Is it resonating with your audience?
Are they following links? Are you responding to me? Is it important enough to market?
All of these factors influence how ESPs perceive your email activity, which is why it is critical to send cold emails that are both good and useful.
Warming Up Your Email Address
If you care about email deliverability, you've probably heard about the importance of warming up your email address and IP address.
When you first purchase a domain name and begin sending emails, the IP address from which you are sending is not regarded as trustworthy by ESPs, which may result in low deliverability rates.
You can also use tools like QuickMail's auto warmer, which will automatically warm up your email account by sending emails to others, creating automated responses, and marketing them as "important."
You'll be able to view a useful report that shows you where your emails are landing.
Over time, this will show ESPs that you’re using your inbox in a regular way, getting engagement, and don’t deserve to land in the spam folder.
Final Thoughts
If you want to see results from your cold email campaigns, you must improve your deliverability.
You won't get results if a large percentage of your emails don't even make it to your prospects' inboxes.
Follow as many of the steps here as you can before launching your cold email campaigns, and use them to troubleshoot any future deliverability issues.
While it’s cliche, always focus on quality over quantity
