While it’s relatively easy to compile a list of subscribers and send an email blast to an audience at certain frequencies, it’s much more of a challenge to maintain decent email deliverability. There isn’t much of a point in categorizing emails as “delivered” when they’re either being sent to spam folders, deleted without opening, or blocked from inbox delivery.
Fortunately, there are several ways to improve your email deliverability and get your audience to not only open your messages but interact with them and improve your conversion rates.
1. Quality is more important than quantity
People do not typically respond well to being bothered, and as such, it’s important to send them emails that have something useful to say. It’s not a good idea to send emails to your subscribers “just because”, as you’re less likely to receive positive interaction when your subscribers feel like they’re wasting their time.
Sending a single high-quality email once a week or once every two weeks is far better than sending three or four low-quality emails a week that do not really offer any useful information.
Quality is more important than quantity, so when it comes to email marketing, make your messages count.
2. Respect your subscription preferences
If your company offers different “types” of subscriptions, consider them when working on email content. Subscription types might depend on the type of content your subscribers are interested in, the frequency at which they absorb content or an array of other details that set these subgroups apart from your larger audience.
When it comes to developing email marketing content, respect your subscribers’ preferences by offering a “preference center”. If a group of users is only interested in certain types of content, don’t send them blanket emails that they probably have no interest in. If they choose to receive information at certain frequencies, do not deviate from the frequency they have confirmed.
Additionally, as a respectful gesture, make it easy to unsubscribe from email lists. At one point, your subscribers might have wanted to receive your content, but if they change their minds, it’s wise to make opting out easy to do. It shows that you respect your subscribers’ preferences more than your ROI.
3. Pay attention to engagement
There are different email marketing metrics you can focus on in order to determine how well your audience is engaging with your content. If you notice trends in improved engagement during certain time periods, pay attention to them. If you notice that certain topics or promotions are improving your engagement, expand upon it, and show your audience that you know what they’re interested in.
4. Send emails at just the right frequency
Not all audiences are the same when it comes to how often they want to receive emails from brands they’re interested in. Some consumers would like to receive promotional or content-related emails as little as once a month while other consumers are tolerant and willing to receive emails a couple of times a week.
Because there is diversity in audience preferences, it’s in your best interest to test your email frequency to determine how well your audience responds to how often you send emails. Once you have determined which frequency (monthly, twice-monthly, weekly, etc.) your audience prefers, develop a more consistent schedule around these preferences.
This way, your audience will come to expect a certain number of emails in a given period and they won’t feel like they’re being bombarded with content.
5. Pay attention to the segmentation of your subscribers
Unfortunately, sending a single email to a long list of subscribers is not always the best way to go about keeping engagement. Because not all of your subscribers are going to have the same interests, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the segmentation of your subscribers.
Even though you have a list of people who have shown interest in your content, there are likely different aspects that attracted a variety of people. Gauge the interest of your audience, segment your lists properly, and create email content that is more catered to smaller, more unique sub-groups of your larger audience.
6. Clean up your list of subscribers regularly
If you have a massive list of people you send emails frequently and only a tiny fraction of them actually interact with your platform, it’s a good idea to sift through your list of subscribers and thin out the recipients.
If you’re sending emails indiscriminately, you’re likely delivering to subscribers who have long since lost interest in your content. When people have lost interest, they’re unlikely to open and interact with email content, and it ends up being sent to their spam folder.
To avoid this, clean up your subscriber list quarterly so that you’re only sending emails to engaged users who expect and value your content.
If you’re struggling with your email deliverability and would like to increase the engagement on your messages, Automated Dreams is just a click away.
