The Importance of Mobile Optimization for Deliverability

Kristen Wyatt on June 12, 2024

It is 2024 and most people are checking their emails from their mobile devices. A mobile device is defined as a piece of portable electronic equipment that has internet connection capabilities.  It’s important to realize that those ‘mobile devices’ aren’t always just smartphones. People are consuming and sending email from tablets, smart watches, and even game consoles now! Due to this shift, it is more important than ever to optimize your email campaigns. In this blog, we’ll look at how mobile devices affect email deliverability and we will share some practical tips for making sure your emails engage mobile users.

Over 70% of email opens are estimated to occur from mobile devices. This trend underscores the need to make sure emails are mobile-friendly. A good mobile design not only enhances the user experience, but also boosts metrics like open rates and click-through rates. When email is optimized for mobile, users are more likely to engage with the content, leading to higher conversion rates and a stronger return on investment (ROI) for your email marketing efforts.

Even though mobile email usage is widespread, optimizing email for mobile is not always the easiest task. Design elements that look great from a desktop might not work on smaller screens. Plus, slow loading times and formatting issues can hurt email deliverability on mobile devices. These problems can frustrate users, causing them to delete your emails or unsubscribe from your mailing list altogether. Therefore, it is very important to address these issues on a proactive basis.

To tackle these challenges and to improve email deliverability for mobile users, try these tips:

  • Use a responsive design: Create emails that adjust smoothly to different screen sizes and orientations. A responsive design helps to make sure your email looks great whether it’s viewed on a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. This adaptability enhances the overall user experience and makes your email more accessible to a broader audience.
  • Simplify content: Keep your content short and easy to scan, perfect for shorter attention spans on mobile devices. Use concise headlines, bullet points, and clear paragraphs to convey your message quickly and effectively. This approach caters to mobile users and improves readability for everyone.
  • Provide a clear call-to-action (CTA): Make sure CTAs are easy to tap on mobile screens to drive user engagement. Use large, well-placed buttons that stand out and are easy to interact with. A clear CTA can significantly increase the chances of users taking the desired action, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.
  • Test across devices: Test your campaigns on various mobile devices and email clients to ensure they perform consistently. This step is crucial for identifying and fixing any issues that might arise on different platforms. Regular testing helps maintain a high standard of quality and ensures that your emails deliver a seamless experience to all recipients.

Boost your email campaigns by taking advantage of mobile-specific features:

  • Utilize pre-header text: Use pre-header text effectively to add context and encourage recipients to open your mail. The preheader text, which appears alongside the subject line for many email clients, can be a powerful tool for enticing users to open your email. Make sure it complements your subject line and provides additional incentive for recipients to engage with your content.
  • Optimize for touch: Design buttons, images, and links to be touch-friendly to improve the user experience on touchscreens. Touch-friendly designs ensure that users can easily interact with your email, making it more likely that they will click through to your website or landing page.
  • Incorporate mobile-specific features: Include features like click-to-call or interactive elements to enhance user engagement. Click-to-call buttons allow users to call your business directly from the email, which can be especially useful for customer service or sales inquiries. Interactive elements, such as carousels or sliders, can make your emails more engaging and visually appealing.
  • Track mobile-specific metrics (like open rates and click-through rates) to evaluate your email campaigns’ success. Use analytics tools to understand user behavior and preferences. You can use this data to improve future mobile email campaigns. Email on Acid and Inbox Monster are two platforms that can be utilized in order to confirm your campaign optimizations. These tools offer insights into how your emails perform across different devices and can help you identify areas for improvement.

That said, it is obvious that mobile optimization is a must for email marketers. By understanding the impact of mobile devices on email deliverability and by following the tips in this blog post, you can ensure that your email campaigns resonate with mobile users. This ultimately leads to better engagement and deliverability.

Exploring the Benefits of Bounce Management

Kristen Wyatt on October 11, 2023

Email is an essential part of our lives, both business and personal. It’s a fast, convenient way to share information and conduct business. However, anyone who regularly sends emails (for marketing purposes or everyday correspondence) is likely to encounter email bounces at some point. In this blog, we will dive into all things email bounce-related: what they are, why they happen, how to manage, and ultimately prevent them.

What Are Email Bounces?

Email bounces occur when an email that you’ve sent can’t be delivered to the recipient’s inbox and is returned to the sender’s email server. This can happen for several reasons. But generally, reasons fall into two main categories: soft bounces and hard bounces.

Soft bounces are temporary issues that prevent the email from being delivered. Common reasons include a full recipient’s mailbox, a temporary server issue, or email throttling. These bounces often resolve themselves and the email may be delivered later. Hard bounces are permanent issues that prevent email delivery. These typically result from invalid/non-existent email addresses or blocking issues. When hard bounces occur, your mail won’t be delivered to the recipient.

Why Do Email Bounces Happen?

Understanding the cause of an email bounce is important for effective email management.

Here are some common reasons why bounces occur:

  • Invalid or Non-Existent Email Addresses: Sending mail to an address that doesn’t exist or has been deactivated will result in a hard bounce.
  • Full Mailboxes: If a recipient’s mailbox is overloaded, new emails will not be delivered. This will result in a soft bounce.
  • Server Issues: Temporary problems with the recipient’s email server or your email server can cause soft bounces.
  • Spam Filters: Aggressive filters may block your email, preventing it from reaching the recipient’s inbox.
  • Blacklisted Senders: If your domain or sending IP address is on a blacklist due to spam complaints or suspicious activity, your emails may bounce (common spam filter examples: Proofpoint, Mimecast, Barracuda).

Managing Email Bounces

Dealing with email bounces effectively is a must to maintain a healthy marketing campaign and reliable communication.

Here are some tips for managing email bounces:

  • Regularly Clean Your Email List: Remove invalid and inactive email addresses from your mailing list on a scheduled basis to reduce the number of hard bounces received.
  • Monitor Your Sending Reputation: Keep an eye on your domain and IP reputation to avoid being blacklisted. Follow best email practices (you can find more information on best practices here) to maintain a good sender reputation.
  • Use Double Opt-In: Implement a double opt-in process for your subscribers. Doing this ensures that addresses are valid and interested in receiving your mail.
  • Segment Your Email List: Group your subscribers based on their engagement, interests, and behavior. Send targeted content to specific segments in smaller batches to reduce the likelihood of bounces.
  • Respect Unsubscribe Requests: Honor unsubscribe Requests promptly to avoid sending unwanted mail and causing frustration (this will help to lower spam complaints).

Preventing Email Bounces

It can feel like an overwhelming task to completely eliminate bounces, but you can proactively reduce your bounce totals by putting these strategies in place. First, consider validating email addresses before adding them to your mailing list. Second, keep an eye on your bounce rates and address any spikes that exceed acceptable levels. The “best practice goal” is to keep your combined (soft and hard) bounce percentage under a total of 3%. Sending content that actively engages recipients is another key step to invite recipients to open and interact with mail which lowers the risk of being marked as spam. And last, but not least – opting for a reputable ESP (Email Service Provider) can be really beneficial. Talk to your ESP representative about accessing your bounce log details to manage bounces and maintain a positive sender reputation.

Bounces can feel like an unavoidable part of email communication. But with proper management, you can minimize their impact and maintain a healthy reputation. Remember to regularly clean your email lists, monitor your sending reputation, and follow best practices to ensure your campaigns reach their intended recipients. Doing so will enhance your email communication and achieve better overall results.

Mastering the Art of Subject Lines: Best Practices

Kristen Wyatt on August 15, 2023

Subject lines play an essential role in email marketing. It is arguably the first impression your recipients have of your content. The goal of drafting the perfect email subject line can feel like a moving target. What worked a few years ago likely does not work today. You must constantly stay up-to-date and remain in touch with consumers’ behaviors, needs, and interests. A well-crafted subject line can entice recipients to open your email, while a poorly written one might lead to your email being ignored or even marked as spam.

Here are some best practices for creating effective subject lines:

  1. Be Clear and Concise: Your subject line should accurately reflect the content of your email while staying brief. Your limit should be around 40-50 characters to ensure it’s fully visible on mobile devices and doesn’t get cut off.
  1. Create Intrigue: Use curiosity to pique the recipient’s interest. Pose a question, hint at valuable information inside, or create a sense of anticipation.
  1. Personalization: Include the recipient’s name or other personalized details whenever possible. Personalization can increase open rates and engagement.
  1. Relevance: Ensure that the subject line directly relates to the content of the email. Misleading subject lines can lead to frustration and unsubscribes.
  1. Urgency and Scarcity: Create a sense of urgency or scarcity to prompt immediate action. Limited-time offers or exclusive deals can be very effective here.
  1. Benefit-Oriented: Highlight the value that your recipient will gain from opening the email. Clearly communicate what’s in it for them.
  1. Use Actionable Language: Employ action verbs and language that prompt the recipient to take a specific action, such as “Learn More” or “Get Started.”
  1. Avoid Spam Triggers: Steer clear of using words and phrases that might trigger spam filters. Examples include excessive use of exclamation marks, all caps, and certain trigger words like “free,” “urgent,” or “act now.”
  1. A/B Testing: Experiment with different subject lines to see which ones perform better. A/B testing allows you to refine your approach based on actual data.
  1. Mobile Optimization: Given the widespread presence of mobile email reading, ensure your subject lines are optimized for mobile devices. Test how they appear on different screen sizes.
  1. Segmentation: Tailor your subject lines to specific audience segments. What appeals to one group may not resonate with another.
  1. Consistency: Maintain stability between the subject line and the email content. Deliver on the promise you make in the subject line within the email body.
  1. Emoji Usage: Emojis can add visual appeal and convey emotions, but if you must, use them judiciously and ensure they align with your brand and message.
  1. Localization: If applicable, consider localizing subject lines to cater to different regions and languages.
  1. Avoid Overused Phrases: Stay away from clichés and overused phrases that might make your email look generic or unoriginal.

Remember that crafting effective subject lines requires a mix of creativity, strategic thinking, and testing. What works for one audience might not work for another. Be prepared to repeat and refine your approach based on the results that you observe. While subject lines may seem like an insignificant part of your message, they are your first (and possibly last) chance to stand out in a crowded inbox. 

How To Land Into Gmail’s Inbox

Kristen Wyatt on July 31, 2023

Landing in Gmail’s primary inbox can be pivotal for email marketers and anyone sending important emails. Gmail’s inbox sorting algorithm automatically categorizes incoming emails into different tabs: 

  • Primary: Personal emails and messages from other categories where the tab isn’t turned on.
  • Social: Notifications and updates from social platforms.
  • Promotions: Promotional mail and other offers from email marketing and similar campaigns.
  • Updates: Transactional emails such as receipts and shipping notifications.
  • Forums: Mailing lists and groups.

To increase the likelihood of your emails landing in the Primary tab, follow these best practices:

Use a recognizable “From” name: Ensure your sender name is clear and recognizable. This helps recipients know who you are and why they are receiving your mail. Avoid using spammy or misleading names.

Use sub-domains: Create subdomains for each type of mail that you send (marketing, updates, transactional mail, etc). This will keep your top domain’s reputation safe. It also allows you a more detailed view of open/click tracking.  

Authenticate your domain: Implement Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) protocols to improve your email’s credibility and reduce the chances of being marked as spam.

Use a reputable email service provider: Use a reliable and well-known email service provider that actively manages its reputation to ensure high deliverability rates.

Send relevant and engaging content: Create valuable, personalized, and engaging content that recipients are more likely to interact with. Avoid using spammy language or excessive promotional material.

Avoid spam trigger words: Refrain from using common spam trigger words in your subject linked and email content, such as 

  • Free 
  • Discount
  • Limited time
  • Satisfaction guaranteed
  • No obligation 

Limit the use of attachments and large images: Emails with large attachments or image-heavy content might be considered suspicious and end up in the Promotions tab.

Avoid excessive use of links: Too many links inside your email can make it look spammy. Use links sparingly and make sure they point to reputable websites.

Maintain a clean email list: Regularly clean your email list to remove inactive or unengaged subscribers. Sending emails to unresponsive addresses may increase the chances of your emails being marked as spam.

Encourage recipients to move your emails: Include a call-to-action in your emails, asking recipients to move your emails to the Primary tab if they find them there. For example, ask them to drag and drop your email from the Promotions tab to the Primary tab.

Request adding your email address to contacts: Encourage subscribers to add your sending address to their contacts list. This action signals Gmail that the user considers your email as important.

Monitor and adjust your email strategy: Pay attention to your email open rates, click-through rates, and spam reports. Consider utilizing Google Postmaster Tools to gain more detailed insight into how Google views your sending domain(s). Adjust your email strategy based on the data to improve engagement and reduce spam complaints.

Remember, getting into the Primary inbox is not entirely within your control. Gmail’s algorithms are dynamic and always subject to updates. However, following these best practices should help improve your chances of landing there. Also, make sure that you comply with Gmail’s guidelines and policies to maintain a positive sender reputation.

IP Warming: What You Need To Know

Kristen Wyatt on July 7, 2023

IP Warming is the process of systematically adding email volume to a new IP address at a gradual pace in order to establish a positive sending reputation with Mailbox Providers. Sending activity from a new IP address can seem suspicious. Depending on the size of your sending list, warming can take an average of four to eight weeks. Warming could also take longer if providers do not perceive your mail is “wanted” by recipients. Some providers limit senders to specific thresholds until a stable reputation is established. 

Inbox Rev recommends starting off with your best-performing campaigns. You should focus on warming your most engaged subscribers while adding older segments as you progress. Older components should be added in bundles of 15% of your existing volume. The goal is to send to subscribers who are least likely to complain or bounce. This will include those who opted-in most recently and are consistently opening your mail and clicking. During your warmup phase, the more consistent you are with volume, frequency, complaints, and bounce levels, the faster you will establish a positive sending reputation.

An example of an IP warming outline would look something like this: During the first two weeks, send campaigns to your MOST ACTIVE subscribers – those who have opened/clicked in the past thirty days. During the next two weeks, extend to the subscribers who opened/clicked in the past sixty days. Follow this pattern until you have incorporated your entire sending list. During the first six weeks, DO NOT send to subscribers who have not opened or clicked in the last ninety days. 

Furthermore, once you begin warming your IP, you can expect some bulking and blocking to occur. Bulking at Yahoo!, AOL, and Gmail typically clear up after a few campaigns are sent with positive metrics. Delays at AOL, Comcast, and Microsoft (“421” Bounces) will typically retry for seventy-two hours. These delays are normal and will diminish as your reputation develops. However, if they are timing out in large quantities, you should back down your volumes to that provider by tightening up your engagement metrics. 

Possible blocking can also occur if your list isn’t engaged enough. Segment carefully and tighten up engagement. It is important to monitor your metrics and adjust the plan accordingly. Remember that engagement and consistency are key to a successful IP warm-up. If you are still unsure of the next steps or would like expert guidance during this process, contact Inbox Rev for assistance.

5 Tactics to Overcome Deliverability Challenges

Kristen Wyatt on June 21, 2023

All marketers would love for their campaigns to be delivered to the inbox and opened by all of their recipients. In reality, this is not the case. There are multiple challenges that email marketers must overcome. This blog post will focus on the 5 tactics that marketers can use to overcome email deliverability challenges.

Check your HTML and Plain Text versions

Filters like to see a plain text alternative. HTML version-only emails are a red flag for spam filters. Ensure that your Plain Text version matches the HTML version. Many platforms don’t always copy the text over on new email templates. Plain and simple, some people prefer text emails.  Since a variety of email clients give their users the option to only receive the plain text version of an email, it’s important to send campaigns in a multi-part MIME format.  If your subscribers have enabled this setting and you only send an HTML version, they may not receive your mail.

Review daily campaign and deliverability reports

It is critical that all email marketers review their campaign reports inside their ESP (Email Service Provider) on a daily basis. Look for and review specific metrics that could signal an immediate deliverability issue.  That would include:

  • Hard bounces – This bounce rejection reason from the recipient mail server indicates a permanent delivery failure.  Retried delivery attempts will not be successful.  An example of a hard bounce would be a bad mailbox.
  • Soft bounces – This bounce rejection reason from the recipient mail server indicates a transient delivery failure.  Retried delivery attempts may be successful.  An example of a soft bounce would be a mailbox full.
  • Unsubscribes – The number of email recipients that have clicked the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
  • Complaints – Those email recipients that have clicked the Spam button inside of their email client.

Test and review all email signup forms

Email signup forms are another critical component to email deliverability that many email marketers don’t think about. Are you making sure that these email forms work? Do they collect the appropriate data? Do these email forms comply with all of the domestic and international email compliance laws?

Test the unsubscribe link

Do you use a one-click opt-out option or a preference center? Do you even know how your unsubscribe process works? Continuous testing of the unsubscribe link is crucial for Deliverability. If the unsubscribe link is not working, many email recipients could be clicking the spam button to get off of your list. It is also a best practice to include other ways for subscribers to follow you, including social media. Some subscribers would prefer using social media to get updates from you, instead of email.

Sign up for Google Postmaster Tools

Gmail has stated that less than 0.1% of email in the average Gmail inbox is spam.  Historically, Gmail has not offered any insight into email metrics for senders.  The Gmail feedback tool was launched a few years ago, but the tool is offered in the form of aggregated spam statistics, which cannot be traced back to the email address of the recipient who marked the mail as spam.  Google states that these Postmaster Tools are for qualified high-volume senders, like email service providers, to monitor senders closely.  By visiting https://www.gmail.com/postmaster/, high-volume senders can get email specifics including data on delivery errors, spam reports, and reputation.

To get started, there is a 3-step process to get the dashboard set up.  You will need to prove that you own the domain by entering the DNS TXT Record or the DNS CNAME Record.  The TXT record should not be removed after Google verifies it.  According to Google, it will be tested periodically to make sure the domain still belongs to you.  Once it’s verified and emails are flowing, you will get access to the data that Gmail is sharing about your deliverability.

Suppression Lists – What are they?

Kristen Wyatt on June 5, 2023

An email suppression list is a list of contacts that you do not want to send to because sending to these contacts could hurt your sending reputation and delivery rates. Basic categories for suppression lists include spam complaints, bounced & blocked mail, and unsubscribes.

Spam Complaints

Sending an email to someone after they have submitted your email as SPAM can be very harmful to your sending reputation. If this practice is repeated, your IP and/ or domain may soon be blocked by the ISP (Internet Service Provider). 

Always follow best practices and protocols, especially when handling spam complaints. 

Bounced & Blocked

Keeping up with bounce details is an essential practice. If you are receiving “Invalid Address” bounces, you should be moving these contacts to the suppression list right away. These are usually typos or old addresses that have timed out and been turned off by ESPs (Email Service Providers). These contacts are classic picks for spam traps, which will hurt your reputation if you continue to attempt contact.

If you are seeing “Blocked” bounces, this indicates that the recipient does not desire to have your campaign. Unless you have received explicit permission from a contact with this bounce, pass them to your suppression list. If your mail has been requested, try to reach out to the person directly. You may be experiencing this block due to an automatic filter that needs to be updated to allow your mailings. Until you have confirmed that this has been completed, do not send any mail to this contact.

If you are receiving a hard bounce, the general rule of thumb action is to move them to your suppression list.

Unsubscribes

As per the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003 is a law passed in 2003 establishing the United States’ first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail), you should give your recipients an option to opt out of email campaigns. When someone unsubscribes, they should be added to an email suppression list to help you prevent sending emails to them in the future. This should be done immediately.

Make it easy to find your unsubscribe options. When a recipient is unable to find this information quickly, it’s more likely they will mark your mail as SPAM. Unsubscribes do not hurt your sending reputation. However, being flagged as SPAM does!

Suppression lists allow you to stop sending to recipients who do not want your campaigns. Keeping these contacts on your active lists will only hurt your overall reputation. Preference centers give your recipients more options to adjust the content that they want to see. It would also allow them to unsubscribe from your campaigns completely. As you know, good engagement is imperative for any marketing campaign. Keeping regular list hygiene practices helps to keep open and click rates high, negative flags from ISPs low, and ultimately helps to keep a good sending reputation across the board.

Spam Traps 101

Kristen Wyatt on May 16, 2023

Threats to an organization’s sending reputation can come from many different directions. Even the most well-intentioned email marketer can end up hitting a “spam trap.” While these spam traps are keeping marketers up at night, the recipients reap the benefits as these are vital in the fight against undesirable mail. Despite what you’ve heard, spam traps are REAL email addresses that do not bounce. These sneaky guys are put in place to help identify and stop senders with poor list management and permission practices.

Spam traps fall into 3 categories:

Typo traps are domain addresses that are misspelled. This is the most common of the three types. Service providers often purchase commonly misspelled versions of themselves to monitor those not using verification methods.
Example: GaryBanes@gmalll.com.

(Were you able to catch the missing “i” and triple “l” at the end of that email address?)

Gray traps are addresses that have been dormant for a period of time, then turned back on by the ISP. These ISPs are checking to see which marketers are still sending to this recently inactive address. This makes it evident that the marketer is not looking at engagement metrics when sending.

Pristine traps are more detrimental than the others. These are addresses that have never opted into anything. They are placed into different forums, then monitored. Hitting this type of trap shows that you are likely sending to purchased lists or have poor list acquisition practices.

In order to stay out of the spam folder and away from spam traps, be sure to clean your active lists, implement, and follow strict list segmentation methods. Ensure that you are following the CAN-SPAM Act (check into international laws such as CASL and GDPR if you’re sending outside the United States). Use double opt-in when confirming your email address sign ups. Don’t send to contacts that have been pulled from purchased lists. Sending email to addresses without any permission will not only cause complaints, but it will also soon cause mail to be blocked completely. Monitoring tools (such as InboxMonster.com) will easily allow you as a marketer to stay compliant and sleep well at night.