Tips for Improving Email Deliverability

For those who depend on bulk email lists to communicate with subscribers, customers, members or prospects, achieving high email delivery rates is essential. Because of the spam deluge that swarms inboxes on a daily basis, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get legitimate bulk emails delivered to your recipients. Email is certainly less reliable these days, but that doesn't mean it isn't a highly effective marketing medium. In fact, email remains the most widely used -- and, perhaps, the most cursed -- Internet marketing tool, bar none.

Monitoring email deliverability can be a complex and extremely frustrating process, but it's vitally important to any email marketing campaign, so don't give up! Want to know how you can send "smarter" emails? Here are some tips and best practices for you to follow:

-Use a reputable email marketing service.
-Check all email bounces following a bulk mailing. Unsubscribe bounces and promptly address each of the emails requesting your response.
-Use multi-part MIME, not just bare HTML emails. This means that you should sandwich HTML with text, as emails that are entirely HTML are more likely to be viewed as spam.
-Keep graphics to a minimum, using only what you need. ISPs tend to view graphic-heavy messages as spam.
-Avoid the overuse of spam trigger words, or "hype" words, like "free" or "guaranteed." Try a word trigger filter to help you weed these words out if you're unaware of what they are and whether your messages contain them.
-Perform a regular email blacklist check, using a delivery audit service like Email Reach. Carefully monitor all reports provided by your email blacklist check service.
-Ask your subscribers to add you to their whitelist. You can provide instructions for this during the double opt-in process--either on your subscription form, confirmation email, or your thank you page.
-Pay close attention to the email delivery reports provided by your email marketing service. This way you can monitor for problems in email deliverability.
-Address all spam complaints right away.
-Particularly if you're a larger company, you'll want to contract with a reputation service provider that authenticates legitimate senders by placing them on whitelists that adhere to strict standards and best email practices.

Written by Penelope Holiday. Complete email delivery solutions including email blacklist check, email deliverability, email rendering diagnostics. More info at www.emailreach.com

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