Are you trying to get your messages to reach the inbox when you think they might be filtered? Are you trying to get higher open rates? There isn’t a magic wand you can wave to force your emails to always appear in the inbox, but we have some tips you can use to help with inboxing and engagement with your subscribers.
1. Use a domain-based email for sending
Using a free email address such as Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, etc. can lead to emails being filtered to spam or being refused delivery entirely. You want to make sure you are using an email address on a domain you own to send email to your subscribers. If this address is set up on your website’s domain, this also helps your messages look more professional and polished for your readers. After you get a domain-based email address set up on your web host (such as Namecheap, Bluehost, or Hostgator, to name a few), you can set up DKIM and DMARC authentication to comply with the security standards mailbox providers are requiring for successful bulk email delivery.
2. Remove Inactive Subscribers
Growing a large list of subscribers can be a big source of pride for your brand. It feels good to have so many eyes reading your messages, but it can be a double-edged sword because that means your email will not only be seen by more people, but will also be seen more often by mail filters that will scrutinize who is and who isn’t interacting with your messages. While that large following will shrink if you remove subscribers, you want to look at quality over quantity when it comes to getting the best deliverability. You want to make sure your messages are going to the people who are engaging with your content on a regular basis, since these opens and clicks will tell the mail filters that your messages are valued and should be allowed to continue reaching the inbox. Sending to people who don’t open your messages will eventually drag down that sender reputation and lead to filtering.
We always recommend removing subscribers who have not opened your emails in the last 90 days; doing this will keep your list focused on engaged subscribers and help keep your open rates steady.
Do you not want to get rid of the non-openers just yet? You could consider targeting your regular openers with your more frequent Broadcast messages (say, daily or every other day) and send to the list as a whole on a less frequent basis (weekly or bi-weekly). With the majority of your mail targeting openers, this will provide a steady stream of interaction that mail filters like to see, but you can still potentially get some attention from the less-engaged subscribers. You could also attempt one last re-engagement with the non-openers specifically, but this might not be successful if you are already seeing low engagement and possible filtering. It would be wise to have a cutoff on the non-openers eventually, because if someone receives 100 messages without opening, they likely aren’t going to open the 101st.
3. Send based on expectations set
Make sure you are sending emails based on the expectations you set for subscribers when they signed up for your list. If you let them know they would get emails twice a week and you are sending to them every day, that can decrease engagement and can lead to filtering. Also keep in mind if you have a Campaign running and you’re sending Broadcasts, subscribers could be getting multiple messages per day. In that scenario you’d want to make sure you time your Broadcast messages based on when Campaign messages are sent, or you can spread out the time between Campaign messages.
4. Send the content your subscribers requested
If your subscribers signed up to get emails about one topic and you change up what your email content is about, this will lead to people losing interest, marking your emails as spam, and causing heavier filtering of your messages.
5. Make sure your Unsubscribe link is easy to find
While we automatically include an Unsubscribe link at the bottom of all emails sent from your account, you are able to add additional unsubscribe links anywhere you want in your message. One helpful place to add this is near the top of your message following a reminder about where your subscribers signed up to hear from you. Having this link available right at the top can help reduce spam complaints because there will be an option available to unsubscribe without needing to scroll all the way to the bottom.
6. Ask your subscribers to add you to their contact list
This is called “safelisting” your From address. Doing this helps train a subscriber’s mailbox to treat your messages with priority and be less subject to filtering. Right when your subscribers fill out your signup form, you can redirect them to a custom Thank You Page that includes instructions for adding your from email address to their contact list. We have instructions for most major email services here.
Do you have a tip that has worked well for you in regards to engagement and filtering? Have more questions? Let us know below!
If you have specific questions about your account’s stats, you can reach out to our Customer Solutions team and we can look further into your account.