Introduction to deliverability best practices

Email deliverability, a critical component to every sender’s marketing program success, is characterized by ever-changing criteria and rules. ISPs have a continual need to prevent spammers, so they’re obliged to develop sophisticated filtering techniques to protect their customers. Email senders can become unintentionally ensnared in those efforts. Effectively navigating in this digital world requires regular tuning of your email strategy, with consideration to key deliverability trends, to best reach your audiences.

According to Lifewire, more than 3.8 billion email addresses exist today. On top of that, social media consultants Lori Lewis and Chad Callahan report that 188 million emails are sent every minute, which encompasses more than half of the world’s population. But gone are the days of sending maximum amounts of email for minimal conversion. Reality is that consideration of volume alone puts your highly engaged customers at risk of not receiving their emails. This can have major revenue implications for you as a sender. Viewing email as a low-cost channel with unlimited potential is challenging and fragile.

In this digital era, people expect to be wowed—quickly. They want that “ah ha” moment with everyone they choose to interact with, and competition is fierce. Between devices like computers, cell phones and smart home equipment, and the content supported, such as instant messaging, email, web, push and social media applications, consumers are incessantly bombarded with content. If a message isn’t compelling, they’re apt to delete it or entirely disengage.

Let’s face it. Today, more than ever, you need to stand out. This means giving your customers unique, personalized, and extremely relevant customer experiences. Otherwise, you risk losing a customer forever. It’s imperative to have an integrated, dynamic, multichannel strategy that motivates your audience to stay engaged.

Use this guide to learn key deliverability terms, concepts, and approaches to empower you to stay ahead of the curve. Use it to keep the email channel at the forefront of your marketing mix, with high priority on deliverability, inbox placement, and your revenue.

This Deliverability Best Practice Guide covers the following topics:

Sources

Heinz Tschabitscher, “How Many People Use Email Worldwide?”, Lifewire, June 24, 2019.

Lori Lewis, “2019: This Is What Happens in an Internet Minute”, Merge, March 5, 2019.

Additional resources

Appendix: Additional resources