11 Top Email Tips to Boost Deliverability, Opens and Clicks

Deliverability Rates

In an email marketing campaign, nothing is more important than deliverability. All of the brilliant subject lines and mind-blowing content in the world won’t make one difference at all if your emails aren’t getting delivered. With that in mind, here are some key steps you can take to maximize the deliverability of your emails:

1. Check your Sender Score. Internet service providers (ISPs) use the Sender Score as one of their key criteria when filtering out the emails that are sent to your inbox. This score is ranked on a scale from 1 to 100 (the higher the better), and is calculated based on a number of key factors including spam reports, unsubscribe rates, etc. Visit the Sender Score website to obtain the score for your particular IP or domain.

2. Build trust for your IP. Most ISPs filter out emails from IP addresses that appear to be untrustworthy or invalid. The best way to build a solid “reputation” for your IP is to start slow, sending small batches of emails at a time to addresses that you believe will have the highest level of engagement (tip: email sign-ups obtained from contest or giveaway promotions generally won’t fall under this category). As these high-value users begin to interact with your emails, your IP will begin to build a reputation for trustworthiness, which will ensure that your future emails will receive a “green light” from the ISPs.

3. Purge your email list using an email validation service to get rid of any invalid addresses, typos, duplicates, etc. These email addresses are dead weight on your list, and if left unchecked, they will produce high bounce rates, which is one of the fastest ways to get your IP on the blocked list of most ISPs.

Open Rates

4. Choosing the right “From Name” will ensure that your recipients will be able to recognize you when you’re sending out your messages. It can either be the name of your business, or if you’re considered to be the “face” of your company, it can be your own name. Some people choose to do a mix of both, such as “John from ABC Marketing.” Just make sure to choose a name that will make you and/or your company immediately recognizable by the recipient.

5. Choose an eye-catching subject line. Since the subject line is the first thing people see when your email arrives, you must make it stand out enough to pique their interest. Of course, you’re going to need to avoid using spammy tactics (e.g., all caps, excessive symbols, the word “free” etc.), but you can incorporate key response-provoking elements such as curiosity, urgency or emotion into your subject lines.

6. Be meticulous in how you segment your lists. You want to make sure that the email you’re sending is highly relevant to the needs and interests of your recipients. This requires properly segmenting and focusing your lists, so that you only reach the subscribers who are most likely to be interested in the particular type of content you’re sending. Although this may reduce the overall number of recipients in your campaign, you will have a highly targeted audience, which will more than likely increase response rates.

Click-Through Rates

When we refer to “click-through rates” in this context, we’re talking about recipients clicking through to an offer by way of a link placed in the body of your email. Here’s how to improve your click-through rates for your email campaigns:

7. Keep your emails short and to the point. If you’re a little too long-winded before presenting your offer, you run the risk of creating a “tl;dr” (too long; didn’t read) moment for your recipients. Put your best foot forward by putting your best and most engaging content first.

8. Make sure that your email is compatible with both desktop and mobile devices. If your email looks fantastic on a desktop computer but appears to be a jumbled mess on a smartphone, you could be missing out on a large segment of your audience who might otherwise be responsive to your calls-to-action.

9. Include social sharing options. According to a study published by Econsultancy, emails that include social sharing options can boost your click-through rates by up to 55 percent. Even if your initial recipient isn’t all that interested in your offer, they might share it with someone who does via their favorite social media account.

10. Include a highly prominent, crystal clear call-to-action. There should be no doubt as to what you want the recipient to do as a result of reading your email.

11. Reinforce your call-to-action by including a P.S. If we’re being honest, most of us will scan an email first before actually going back through to read it; a P.S. will provide an important visual cue that will attract the eye of your recipient.

Getting effective results from your email campaigns doesn’t have to be a mystery. Put the ideas and tips suggested above into practice, and watch your deliverability rates, open rates and click-through rates soar to new levels.