Tips to improve and maximize your email deliverability rate

Update your email content, practice good contact list hygiene, and boost your sending reputation to improve the likelihood your email reaches the inbox and not the spam folder

Email deliverability is a measure of how likely your emails are to land in your contacts' inboxes instead of being blocked or routed to a spam folder by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your subject line and email content play a part in your deliverability, but the quality of your contact list and your sending reputation do too, and they're often overlooked!

• Tips for Improving your sending reputation
• Tips for improving your contact list
• Tips for improving your email content

By staying current with email marketing best practices, you'll get the right content in front of the right contacts, at the right time, leading to improved email engagement.

Tips for improving your sending reputation

The more you own your sending reputation, the more trusted you become. When ISP's trust that you are who you claim to be, and that your content isn't spam, the more likely they are to allow your emails into the inbox. Your contacts are also more likely to open and engage with your emails when they trust you too!

• Recognition is everything - Your recipients may know your brand, but may not be on a first-name basis with you. Make sure your recipients can easily recognize who the email is from. The "From name" associated with your email address is likely the first thing they see, so make sure it's something familiar and that it doesn’t change often.
• The email address you send from matters - After looking at your "from name," your recipients are going to compare it to your "from address" to confirm your email is actually from you. A domain email address that matches your website makes you look professional and is the best way to prevent bounces caused by free email providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.).
• A little authentication goes a long way - Email Authentication verifies to the outside world that a message actually came from you or from a third-party you authorized to send on your behalf, like Constant Contact. By default, all email sent through Constant Contact receives basic authentication. If you have your own custom domain, you can build your sending reputation further by using self-authentication for your emails.
• Understand spam - Knowing what spam is will help prevent you from creating it. You could have a beautifully written email that looks like a work of art, but if it's unwanted, it's spam! If your contacts have opted into your contact list and you're sending content that they want to receive, your chances of being reported as spam drop.

Be a better marketer: Using email authentication can make you look more professional and strengthen your brand reputation.

Tips for improving your contact list

A well-groomed and well-segmented contact list, full of contacts who have given you permission to email them, is going to set you miles ahead in your effort to improve your email deliverability.

• Get permission - A permission-based contact list ensures that your contacts want to hear from you; otherwise, your emails are just spam. Never purchase a contact list because it leads to high spam complaints and low email engagement! Instead, use any of our sign-up tools to grow your list with permission.
• Quality over quantity - It's not the size of your list, it's the engagement of your contacts! If you're adding contacts for the sake of having a large list, chances are you also have a high number of bounces and unsubscribes, and probably a poor open rate, too. It's a better use of your time to send targeted emails to your existing contacts, who have already shown interest in your content by signing up for your list. But, if you do want to reach a large number of potential new contacts, try using a Facebook Lead Ad or create a Sign-up Landing Page and promote it through a Google Ad to target potential new contacts based on their actual interest in what you offer.
• Clean house - Clearing out the bounced email addresses and disengaged contacts from your list leads to higher engagement with your emails from the people who want to hear from you, and better open rates. If you have an old list and aren't sure who to remove, create a segment based on low engagement and try to re-engage those contacts. You can also send a Confirmed Opt-in Email to see who wants to remain on your list. There's nothing that prevents removed contacts from signing up again later if their interests change!
• Segment to find the right audience - Our segmentation tools let you find contacts with similar behaviors or interests, so that you can customize your message and send emails that are more meaningful to them. Gone are the days of cramming a little bit of something for everyone in your email. Shorter emails with a clear call-to-action get better engagement.
• Don't worry about unsubscribed contacts - When a contact unsubscribes, we don't allow you to send emails to them. If you delete your unsubscribed contacts, they stay unsubscribed behind the scenes, so you can't accidentally send to them if they get added back to your account. Unsubscribed contacts can always add themselves back onto your list through your sign-up form.

Get permission:  Using our sign-up tools ensures that you receive and document express consent from your contacts, which satisfies Constant Contact's email permission policy as well as GDPR and CASL regulations.

Tips for improving your emails

The last thing you want is for your recipient or their ISP to think your email is spam! Your subject line and email content are worth looking at to improve the chances that a contact will return to open another email.

• Avoid spam-like characteristics - You can be doing all the right things with your contact list, but an ISP is looking at your email content too. Don't use phrases that trigger spam filters in your subject line, preheader, or email body, and don't include links to unsafe websites. Avoid image-only emails by adding some text to accompany your image. Checking your email for errors and running a spam check also helps you catch things you may not even realize you're doing and gives you a chance to repair them.
• Branding, branding, branding - If your email doesn't look like it officially came from you, or feel professional, your contacts may route it to their spam folder. If they do this a couple of times, the ISP can start doing it proactively for them, too! With your logo, brand colors, and social presence, there's quite a bit to think about, but we can help get you started with our Brandkit. After adding your brand elements, you can start your email by choosing template layouts with your brand already applied or generating branded templates with the help of AI.
• Keep it short - If your contacts aren't reading your emails, an ISP looks at the behavior and starts routing your emails into the junk folder for them. Shorter emails with a clear call-to-action are more likely to be opened and engaged with. You may find that you are sending more emails overall, but when you're writing for a specific audience, they're easier to write!
• Get personal - If your contacts find your content meaningful and relatable, they're more likely to pause their day to open and read your email. Segmenting your contacts helps you find the right audience for your content, but you can personalize your emails even further by peppering in contact names or other information you've collected. This makes your subject line more eye-catching and specific so your contacts know exactly what is in your email, too!

Did you know? Your email footer is a crucial part of your email. When you send through Constant Contact, your email footer automatically includes your physical address, an "Unsubscribe" link, an "Update Profile" link, a link to Constant Contact's privacy policy, and a link to your privacy policy if you upload it to your account.

Questions?