Hello fellow Emailers and uninvited AI bots,

Let's talk about email list hygiene, sending best practices, and not being annoying. These are all factors that ensure your emails are getting delivered.

We can help you with the first two!

A lot can be said about email deliverability. If you’re not careful, you could find yourself reading a PhD thesis about it on your next holiday (trust us, we know firsthand). We’re saving you from that tedious reading with this quick checklist to ensure you’re covering your deliverability bases.

1. Use an ESP with a good rep

💡Deliverability has a ton to do with your sending server. Make sure you are either sharing it with a reputable company or having your own. EmailToolTester puts out a report every quarter rating the best tools.

2. Keep your sender name the same

💡 Subscribers love it when they see a familiar person sending emails. Most people will open without reading the subject line if they trust the sender. Pick one and stick with it.

3. It's always personal

💡 Email is an intimate marketing channel. Seriously. Use all the personalization tools you can to make emails hyper-relevant. You’ll boost opens and engagement. Deliverability robots love that!

4. Segment and make it relevant

💡 More people open emails that speak to them. Deliverability likes opens. We’ve found that segmented campaigns have 14%+ higher open rates and 4.6%+ fewer bounces than non-segmented campaigns. That’s math talking.

5. Do you know the spammy words?

💡 We all can get a little spammy sometimes. Spam filters will scan your emails for certain phrases associated with sketchy emails. Make sure you avoid using spammy phrases on accident (or on purpose). This article will keep you out of the spam folder.

6. Proofread, then read it backwards

💡Yes! This made the list. Misspelled emails and grammatical errors are distinguishing spammer traits. The only thing worse than being accused of spamming is to be an actual spammer. I mean, how do those people look at themselves in the mirror?

7. Got me seeing red!

💡 Red font is a no-no. For whatever reason, red font has connotations with unsolicited emails, which may cause emails to be wrongly routed to spam folders.

8. Images are invisible

💡 The deliverability bots can’t see images. It’s all white space. Therefore, avoid making your entire email one large image. And use ALT text to appease the inbox gatekeepers. For example, I wrote "Cute deer eating popcorn" as alt text for the GIF above. Is that a deer? I have no idea.

9. Avoid link shorteners

💡 I love all kinds of pie. But most are made with high-fat shorteners that clog arteries. Link shorteners have nothing to do with pie, but are unhealthy for deliverability because that’s how spammers hide their spammy links. Yet another thing spammers ruined for the rest of us.

10. "TMI" in your email footers

💡 Too much info is better than too little. Include details like your physical address, a contact telephone number, and most importantly, an unsubscribe link.

11. Double opt-in or reCAPTCHA

💡 Pick your poison. But it will save you a lot of heartaches when you avoid spam complaints or invalid email addresses that rot your subscriber list. No one likes the extra steps, but it’s way worth it.

12. Cleanliness is next to... 

💡 Email list hygiene is non-negotiable. We all have invalid or inactive addresses that are hurting our deliverability. Use an email validation tool to identify and remove dirty emails.

13. Next-level validation

💡 Some validation tools offer really cool insights including analyzing email content that might be flagged by spam filters, using a real-time email API to verify addresses as they come in, and generating deliverability insights that test if an email will reach the inbox. It's definitely worth a try.

14. The inactive subscriber conundrum

💡 Some people lose interest without unsubscribing. These inactive subscribers are costing you money while hurting your metrics. Double whammy! You need to add these emails to a suppression list. But before you do, try one more time to light the spark. Here are 5 ideas to win them back!

5 re-engagement email ideas

1. Offer incentives. Your inactive subscribers might just need a little more sugar to use your service. Offer them something you know they’ll love.

2. Remind them why they signed up. Don’t reinvent yourself. Subscribers sometimes get distracted, so give them a little reminder of why you ROCK!

3. Make an emotional connection. Don't just promote a service or product. People often subscribe because they like your personality or share your values. Focus on those bonding elements.

4. Give them some FOMO. Fear of missing out can be a powerful motivator. Let them know what’s coming and how they’ll benefit.

5. Let people control frequency and topics. Set up a preference center and let people customize their email experience.

I wrote a longer-form article on win-back campaigns if you want to keep going!

How to create a re-engagement campaign

Your Turn!

We know there are more great ideas out there. Please let us know the ideas we missed. If we like it, we'll add them to our website and credit you with a backlink.