Deliverability is a critical part of any enterprise email strategy. Deliverability is all about getting your emails to the inbox consistently so those emails can do their job, whether that job is to inform or educate your audience, build brand loyalty, or drive revenue.
Too many enterprise brands overlook the importance of deliverability until something major happens, or they only loosely monitor it using their regular KPIs. Deliverability is not the same as delivery. Email delivery rates only tell you how many emails bounced — they don’t tell you how many emails landed in the spam folder. That’s where deliverability comes in. It’s a comprehensive approach that helps ensure your email makes it to the inbox, which has clear benefits for your email marketing program.
1. Stronger sender reputation
There are multiple factors that affect your sender reputation, including good IP and domain infrastructure, the right authentication setup, low complaints, strong engagement rates, and consistent sending patterns.
Every internet service provider (ISP) is checking your sender reputation before they decide to let your emails through to subscribers. If your sender reputation is strong, most of your emails are going to land in the inbox. If it’s not strong, your emails might get delayed, blocked, or sent to spam. Following best practices for good email deliverability helps you maintain a strong sender reputation.
2. Better engagement rates
It’s a numbers game, and better inbox placement means better engagement rates. Good deliverability practices help ensure your emails make it to the inbox so your subscribers can engage with them. More emails in the inbox means more opens, which leads to more clicks, which leads to more conversions — assuming you’ve investing time in understanding your customer and creating engaging content.
Those better engagement rates create a positive feedback loop that supports high deliverability. The ISPs see your subscribers opening and clicking your emails, and they reward you with strong inbox placement, which then allows even more engagement.
3. Higher ROI on email campaigns
Yes, it’s possible to have consistent open rates and relatively low bounce rates and still be landing in the spam folder for some subscribers. If you’re only monitoring open rates and bounce rates to track deliverability, you’re likely missing out on some ROI. When you take a proactive approach to deliverability and do everything possible to ensure you’re making it to the inbox, your ROI improves.
The right deliverability monitoring tool helps maintain your sender reputation, watches for spam traps on your list, and notifies you when your domain ends up on a blocklist. Spam traps and smaller blocklists can be easily missed if you’re not monitoring and maintaining good deliverability.
4. Consistent brand reputation and trust
Repeatedly landing in the spam folder does not build trust with your customers. Some subscribers may never see the email once it lands in spam, while others might see it and judge your brand negatively for it.
When your offer emails and other updates (including purchase receipts) consistently arrive in the subscriber’s inbox in a timely manner, it builds trust over time. They know what to expect from you, and consistency builds credibility over time. It also reduces friction for the customer. They don’t have to go hunting through their inbox and their spam folder to find your latest offer when they’re ready to make a purchase. Less friction improves the customer relationship and builds brand loyalty.
5. Improved cross-department collaboration
This one is bigger than your email metrics, and it’s a big win for many enterprise companies. If you’ve ever been in a marketing department that’s fighting with IT about data flows or access, you know what we’re talking about.
Maintaining good deliverability at an enterprise company requires that different departments understand why it matters and work together to make it happen. It also shows that the email marketing team cares about data integrity, best practices, and doing things the right way. That goes a long way in building trust with other departments over time, which can help build a strong foundation for future collaborations.
Bottom line: Deliverability is too important for enterprise email marketers to ignore. The benefits are clear, so if you’re not taking a proactive approach to deliverability already, now is the time to start.
Looking for more insights on deliverability?
Download our Mastering Email Deliverability: Strategies and Best Practices white paper now.
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