Understanding the intricacies of email delivery is paramount for marketers. Email delivery, often confused with email deliverability, refers to the successful transfer of an email from a sender’s server to the recipient’s server. This fundamental process sets the stage for all subsequent email marketing metrics and strategies.
For marketers aiming to optimize their email campaigns, distinguishing between delivery and deliverability can be the key to ensuring that communications not only reach but also resonate with the intended audience. This guide explores the nuances of email delivery, from the technical process to the best practices that can enhance success rates, providing marketers with the knowledge needed to effectively manage their email communications.
Table of contents
- Understanding Email Delivery and Deliverability
- Understanding the Email Delivery Process
- Factors Affecting Email Delivery
- Common Causes of Email Delivery Failure
- Common Obstacles in Email Delivery
- Best Practices for Improving Email Delivery
- Elevating Email Marketing Success Through Strategic Delivery Practices
Understanding Email Delivery and Deliverability
Email delivery refers to the successful transfer of an email from the sender’s server to the recipient’s server. This critical step in email communication ensures that the email reaches the server associated with the recipient’s email address. Without this success, it’s impossible to gauge further engagement metrics, such as open and click-through rates.
It’s crucial to differentiate between email delivery and email deliverability. The former confirms that an email reaches the recipient’s server, while the latter determines whether the email lands in the inbox or the spam folder.
The Importance of Email Delivery and Deliverability
Have you ever sent out an email campaign you were particularly proud of, only to find that the open rate was much lower than expected? If so, it’s likely that there was an issue with either your email delivery or deliverability.
What is email delivery?
Before an email arrives in your inbox, it must be accepted by an incoming mail server (also known as an IMAP server). This server acts as a bridge between you, the email sender, and the recipient’s inbox.
Thus, email delivery occurs when your email service provider (ESP) successfully delivers the email to the recipient’s incoming mail server.
What about email deliverability?
Email deliverability happens when your email successfully lands in the recipient’s inbox, having navigated all checks and spam filters. The recipient can then open the email and, hopefully, click through, which would not be possible with an email delivery failure.
Due to these distinctions, it’s possible to have good email delivery rates but poor deliverability metrics. Your emails might be comfortably received by the incoming mail server, meaning you don’t have email delivery problems, but a high number of emails end up in your email list’s spam folders, indicating deliverability issues.
Low inbox placement rates could be due to several factors, including low opt-ins and high opt-outs, poorly crafted subject lines, inaccurate “from” information, spam trigger words, poor email design, low open rates in previous campaigns, an IP address flagged for spam, or being placed on email blacklists.
Understanding the Email Delivery Process
How Does Email Delivery Operate?
The journey of an email starts when it is dispatched from the sender’s email client or marketing platform. It navigates across the internet, guided by the Domain Name System (DNS), which directs it to the appropriate recipient’s server. Upon its arrival, the recipient’s server conducts several authentication checks.
These checks involve validation against SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) protocols. These are crucial defenses in combating spam and phishing, ensuring that only emails verified as legitimate are processed for delivery.
The Journey of an Email
Initially, you craft your email and configure it within your email delivery service before sending it off. The email client connects with an outgoing SMTP server (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which is the standard protocol used by all email servers. This server uses email APIs to establish a connection with email receiving servers like Gmail.
The SMTP server sends the email in MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) format, allowing the email to support various character sets beyond ASCII and include attachments like audio, video, images, and applications.
During this process, the sender’s details are authenticated using SPF and DKIM before the email is queued for sending. The recipient’s email server, such as Gmail or Outlook, is then reached through an email API, and the email is dispatched via SMTP protocol. After validating the recipient’s account, the email is finally delivered to their inbox, where it can be viewed by the recipient.
Factors Affecting Email Delivery
What Factors Influence Whether an Email Reaches Its Destination?
Several factors significantly influence the success of email delivery:
- Authentication: Proper setup of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC is crucial for verifying the sender’s identity and improving email acceptance rates.
- Content: The presence of spam-trigger words or overly promotional content can prompt email filters to block an email.
- Domain Reputation: If a sender’s domain has been previously marked for spamming activities, its emails might be blocked or filtered by ISPs.
- Infrastructure Reputation: The reputation of the email service provider and their infrastructure also affects delivery, as a poor reputation can lead to blocked emails.
- Quality of the Subscriber List: Engagement rates, including open and click-through rates, influence ISPs’ filtering decisions, making a clean and engaged list essential for delivery success.
Common Causes of Email Delivery Failure
Email delivery can fail for several reasons.
One common issue is using an invalid email address as your “from” address. It’s essential to verify the spelling and ensure the email account is active.
Emails may also fail to deliver due to bounces. This could be because the recipient’s email inbox is full, known as a soft bounce, or the recipient’s email address does not exist, referred to as a hard bounce. It’s crucial to monitor your bounce rate from previous campaigns and set up a return-path in your email system to handle these issues effectively.
Additionally, your email account may have been compromised in a malware attack. This type of attack typically involves a virus, installed by spammers, that uses your email to send spam. Ensure your account is secure and no unauthorized emails have been sent. Maintaining a good sender reputation is vital to prevent such security issues and ensure successful email delivery.
Common Obstacles in Email Delivery
What Are the Common Barriers to Successful Email Delivery?
Email marketers frequently encounter various obstacles that can hinder the successful delivery of their messages. Here are some of the most prevalent issues:
ISP and Email Provider Filters: Internet Service Providers (ISP) and email providers deploy a variety of rules and filters designed to shield users from spam and malicious content. However, these safeguards can sometimes mistakenly classify legitimate emails as spam, preventing them from reaching the recipient’s inbox. This misclassification can dramatically affect the visibility and effectiveness of your email campaigns.
High Email Volume: Sending a large volume of emails in a short period can trigger red flags at ISPs and email providers, leading to rate limiting or even blacklisting of the sender’s IP address. High traffic can also overwhelm an email server’s processing capacity, resulting in slow delivery times or outright delivery failures.
Improper Sender Authentication: Lack of proper authentication measures such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can lead to delivery issues. These protocols help verify the sender’s identity and improve trust with ISPs and email providers. Failure to implement these correctly can result in emails being rejected or sent to spam folders.
Content and Format Issues: The content and format of the email itself can also be a barrier. Emails that contain suspicious links, spam-like content, or poorly coded HTML can be flagged by email filters. Additionally, emails that are not optimized for mobile or that have large attachments may also face delivery challenges.
Server Downtime: If the recipient’s server is experiencing downtime due to maintenance, technical failures, or other issues, any emails sent during this period will fail to be delivered. These emails typically remain in a queue until the server is operational again. Persistent server issues can lead to prolonged delays, affecting time-sensitive communications.
Connectivity Issues: Successful email delivery depends on a stable network connection. Any disruption along the network path—from the sender’s server to the recipient’s server—can block the delivery of emails. This includes problems with the sender’s internet service, routing issues across the internet, and problems within the recipient’s local network. Such disruptions can cause emails to be delayed or lost entirely, complicating communications.
Addressing these common obstacles requires a proactive approach, including regular monitoring of email delivery metrics, maintaining updated authentication records, and adhering to best practices for email content and sending behaviors. By understanding and navigating these barriers, email marketers can enhance their chances of successful email delivery and ensure their messages reach their intended audiences effectively.
Best Practices for Improving Email Delivery
Strategies to Enhance Email Delivery Rates for Marketers
To maximize the effectiveness of their email campaigns, marketers can implement several strategic practices to improve email delivery rates:
- Regularly Update Authentication Protocols: Keeping up-to-date with email authentication protocols is crucial. Protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC help verify an email’s legitimacy. Consistently updating these protocols ensures that emails are recognized as legitimate by ISPs, reducing the likelihood of being flagged as spam.
- Optimize Email Content: Crafting emails that avoid known spam triggers is essential. Use clear, professional language and structure your emails in a way that promotes readability and engagement. Avoid excessive use of sales-oriented phrases, multiple exclamation marks, or all caps, which can trigger spam filters. Additionally, ensuring that the email provides value and is tailored to the audience’s interests can significantly help in bypassing filters.
- Maintain a Good Sender Reputation: The reputation of your email domain plays a significant role in deliverability. ISPs monitor how recipients interact with your emails; if many users mark your emails as spam or don’t engage with them, it can harm your reputation. Use tools provided by reputable email service providers to monitor and improve your sender score. This includes analyzing open rates, click rates, and spam complaints to adjust strategies accordingly.
- Practice Good List Hygiene: Regular maintenance of your email list is vital. Remove unresponsive or invalid email addresses to improve the quality and engagement levels of your list. This not only helps in maintaining a clean list but also enhances your campaign’s overall performance by reducing bounce rates and increasing the accuracy of campaign metrics.
- Focus on Personalization and Relevance: Personalized and relevant content is more likely to engage users and thus improve deliverability. Segment your email list based on user behavior, interests, or demographics to tailor the content accordingly. Personalized emails, such as those that address recipients by name or offer tailored recommendations, typically see higher engagement rates.
- Monitor Email Performance Metrics: Continuously track and analyze the performance of your email campaigns. Metrics such as delivery rates, open rates, and click-through rates provide insight into how well your emails are performing. Use this data to refine your strategies, target areas for improvement, and better understand what resonates with your audience.
- Adopt Responsive Email Design: Ensure that your emails are designed to look great on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. A responsive design improves the user experience, which can lead to higher engagement rates and better deliverability.
By embracing these best practices, marketers can significantly improve their email delivery rates, ensuring their messages reach their intended recipients effectively and drive better campaign results.
Elevating Email Marketing Success Through Strategic Delivery Practices
Mastering email delivery is crucial for any marketer looking to leverage email marketing effectively. By understanding and implementing the right practices around email authentication, content optimization, and list management, marketers can significantly improve the likelihood of their emails reaching their intended destination.
The journey of an email from sender to recipient involves various technical and strategic elements, each playing a pivotal role in the overall success of email campaigns. As we’ve explored, focusing on authentication protocols, maintaining a reputable sender score, and ensuring content relevance are all critical. By continually adapting to the dynamic email landscape and prioritizing these aspects, marketers can not only enhance their email delivery rates but also build stronger, more engaging relationships with their audience.