The players in this difficult game are experience, technology and not a few difficulties.
Globally, only 20% of email sends are legitimate, i.e. they are not considered Spam. All the rest are.
This leads e-mail service providers (or ISPs) to erect more and more barriers to filter out malicious and unwanted mail, making it a huge challenge to reach the recipients' inboxes.
Therefore, sending messages is not the same as delivering them to the contacts' inboxes. To achieve this, several aspects must be taken into account, all included in the concept of Deliverability, the scope of which is detailed in this article.
But, first, it is good to understand the chain involved in the process.
Deliverability chain
- The author is the company or person who creates the messages you want to send to your customer base.
- The sender is the company that provides the bulk electronic courier delivery service, in our case: MasterBase®.
- The author then sends his messages through the sender and these are sent over the Internet.
- The messages reach the receiver, which is usually the company that provides the mail account service.
- They decide whether or not messages will be delivered to recipients, by defining whether they are Spam or legitimate mail.
- The addressee is the customer or prospect to whom the author addressed the mailing: the final addressee.
Having explained the deliverability chain, let us now see what determines that a receiver (ISP) classifies a message as Spam.
The ISP's procedure for evaluating your mailings is key, as it determines the success or failure of an email marketing campaign. What is the point of having a registration base, of developing attractive campaigns and offers, if in the end they do not reach the recipient?
A good deliverability is achieved by favorably avoiding each of the aspects that an email service provider evaluates before passing on your messages.
Let's see what they are:
1. Authentication support
It is basically answering in the affirmative the following question from the ISP: Are you the sender you claim to be? The email service provider itself provides you with the necessary tools to authenticate your sending: SPF, Domain Keys, SenderID and DKIM.
2. Good relationship with ISPs
Maintaining direct contact with Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo to solve any mailing problem is something that not everyone can achieve. Only companies with a high volume of shipments, a good reputation and an excellent shipping behavior over time can do it.
3. Bounce management
The sender (MasterBase®) must have an efficient bounce handling (invalid or non-existent mail address) is essential to maintain a good relationship with the receivers (ISP).
4. Feedback Loop
These are mechanisms generated by ISPs to communicate to senders about spam complaints made by recipients. This information allows the sender to measure the quality of the sending, alerting the author of possible problems and, consequently, taking care of the sending reputation.
5. HTML structure correction
Have the necessary technology to offer automated error correction in the pieces designed in HTML. Any error can result in the mailing being considered Spam.
6. Follow best practice advice
The author knowing what to do and what not to do is crucial for effective deliverability and to avoid damaging your sending reputation with ISPs. It is always a good idea to listen to the advice and best practices provided by your sender, so as not to fall into Spam.
It is not the idea to list tips now, but it is good to mention one that is fundamental to your reputation with ISPs:
Stay away from senders who lease or market contact bases and cannot prove their legitimacy. The most important reason is that it is most likely that none of the recipients have given their permission to be sent messages.
This undoubtedly increases the number of complaints and feedback loops and damages your brand's reputation with ISPs, regardless of whether the message was sent from an IP of the provider that leased you the logs.
In short, leave deliverability in the hands of experts...
