When it comes to email marketing, your work doesn’t end with impressive subject lines, engaging content, and irresistible offers. You must ensure your emails reach your recipient’s inbox rather than their spam folder. For that, you might need an email marketing deliverability comparison.
If you’ve ever tried to improve your email deliverability rate, you would know that email marketing tools can help.
However, the selection process is challenging. There’s a lot you need to factor in, and with the number of tools available, overwhelm is easy. But don’t worry — this article will help you choose, explaining everything from email delivery and tools to improvement tips.
So, without further ado, let’s start!
What Is Email Delivery?
If you’re wondering, “What is email delivery?” it’s all in the name! It refers to the successful transfer of an email message from the sender’s email server to the recipient’s email server.
The email delivery process starts when you compose the email and hit the send button. The message goes from your email client to your email provider’s server. From there, it finds your recipient’s server using the Domain Name System (DNS).
There, the recipient’s server checks the email’s legitimacy before delivering it or bouncing it back. But how does the server check legitimacy? It validates you against various protocols. The most common include:
- Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an anti-spam email authentication method. It checks if the email server sending the email has permission for that domain.
- DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) is an email authentication method that works alongside SPF to fight email fraud. It focuses on verifying the sender, like a specific person or organization.
- Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) builds on SPF and DKIM to provide stronger email security. It tells receiving email servers what to do with emails that fail authentication.
However, email delivery isn’t the same as email deliverability. With delivery, it doesn’t matter where your email marketing message lands once it reaches the recipient’s server. It might end up in promotions, social, or even spam!
On the other hand, email deliverability refers to your email’s ability to reach the intended recipient’s inbox. Improving this metric increases the probability of your recipient seeing and engaging with your message.
If emails are in the spam folder, the server might delete them before the recipient sees them.
Therefore, your goal should be to increase your deliverability rate instead of email delivery rate.
How To Choose the Best Software for Email Marketing Deliverability
Choosing the best software for email marketing deliverability is different from choosing the best one for email automation. While most options contain both these functions, some will have better deliverability than others. That’s the main criteria you need to judge the tools on. For that, a few things can help you make the right decision.
Firstly, email marketing software (for restaurants, hotels, and small businesses) systems with good deliverability usually have impressive analytics. They give you actionable insights into what’s working for your marketing and email campaigns and what isn’t.
However, only a few include insights about deliverability. So, make sure your chosen software has these analytics.
Secondly, look at the software’s ability to analyze spam. Your chosen tool must be able to point out spammy email content and want you beforehand.
Another aspect that affects your email deliverability is IP warmup. If you send a large volume of emails as soon as you buy your domain, you might face deliverability issues. The correct way is to start by sending a few emails each month while gradually increasing the volume. A good deliverability tool will help you do this automatically.
The platform you choose must also be reliable, with faster delivery rates, times to inbox, and fewer downtimes. This simply means the tool must have good deliverability, send emails quickly, and shouldn’t crash too often.
Lastly, the software should also provide deliverability monitoring and assistance. It should let you know when your metrics drop and help improve deliverability.
Now that you know how to choose a tool that fits your needs, let’s move on to the comparisons. But remember, there are two types of tools that you can use to improve email deliverability. Dedicated tools like GlockApps, SpamCheck, and Google Pastmaster help check your emails to judge their deliverability.
On the other hand, a comprehensive email marketing platform can do a lot more than just testing. We’ll focus more on the latter type for the sake of this article, with a sprinkling of the former type.
This way, you’ll have an idea of both. So, here is the email marketing deliverability comparison between five famous tools.
1. MailerSend
If you’re not technical and don’t want to spend a lot on team training, choose MailerSend. Its intuitive templates make it easy for you to design and create impressive emails. All you have to do is drag and drop things on the canvas. This might indirectly impact your deliverability as well. Here’s how.
When you have ready-made templates, you don’t have to think much about the design. Instead, you can focus on verifications and making your content better. That, in return, increases your email’s chance of reaching the intended inbox.
However, with MailterSend, you don’t have to worry about verifications due to its email verification feature. It also has inbound routing, and advanced analytics will further help your case for email deliverability.
It also helps you clean your email lists by removing hard bounces and unsubscribed email addresses. Lastly, it automatically authenticates your domains.
2. NeverBounce
While not an email marketing platform, NeverBounce helps ensure your emails land in your recipient’s inbox. Its robust 20-step process ensures that your email addresses are valid and authentic. As a result, you get a better sender’s reputation and enhanced email deliverability.
Moreover, it cleans your email lists by flagging unsafe addresses. When you don’t send emails to these addresses, your bounce rate decreases. It can even integrate 85 systems, which makes your work easier.
Besides, it has a free tier with limited features. So, if you’re not ready to make huge investments, you can try the free features before buying it.
3. Mailshake
People often ignore Mailshake regarding email deliverability since it’s a sales engagement platform. However, it has impressive features that combine email and sales communications.
For example, its IP address warm-up tool allows you to shift from a few emails to bulk emails gradually. It also has automation for repetitive tasks.
One of its standout features is the training it provides to improve email deliverability. In the same context, this tool checks your domain to ensure it follows the proper protocols. It also has a list-cleaning feature that you can’t miss.
Lastly, it gives third-party integrations to help you create more comprehensive marketing strategies.
4. Salesflare
Experienced email marketers know the importance CRMs hold for a good email marketing strategy. Tools like Salesforce allow you to combine both these aspects while ensuring better deliverability.
Its tracking features give you a holistic view of everything from the first email to the last one.
As with other email deliverability tools, Salesflare also has features to clean your list of closed accounts. It also has a number of resources to help you send emails directly to recipient inboxes.
5. Mailtrap
There’s no concept of improving your email deliverability if you’re not testing your emails. After all, how would you know what you need to change to improve things? That’s where tools like Mailtrap come into the picture.
One of its standout features includes a fake Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP.) This feature allows you to test your email workflows without sending real ones. Put simply, it saves you from spamming real users for email A/B testing purposes. Otherwise, you might have a compromised sender reputation.
Moreover, it checks your emails to give you spam scores. Using these scores, you make sure your emails are perfect before sending them to your recipients.
How To Improve Email Deliverability: 5 Tips To Land in Inboxes
While tools can be helpful when improving deliverability, it isn’t wise to leave everything to automation. You must monitor everything the software is doing and give it a human touch.
For that, you must have information on how to improve email deliverability. Otherwise, you won’t be able to monitor the tools. The good news is improving email deliverability isn’t rocket science if you have and follow the correct information.
So, here are five tips to improve the deliverability of your marketing emails.
1. Maintain a Stellar Sender Reputation
If you have a compromised sender reputation, even the most interesting and relevant content won’t cut it. Your reputation is the first thing that your recipient’s server will check.
Therefore, the first step to impressive email deliverability is to authenticate your domain using the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols.
Another aspect of a positive sender reputation is a warmed-up IP address. Sending bulk emails right from the start might put your reputation in jeopardy. Moreover, keep a constant check on blacklists to see if you’re a part of any. This will also play a role in your reputation.
Lastly, ensure you use the correct email service providers since that can also hinder your reputation.
2. Use Double Opt-In for More Robust Permissions
From the outlook, double opt-in forms might not seem like much regarding deliverability. But their role is as important as your reputation and content.
These forms require customers to follow a two-step process to subscribe to your email list. Genuine interest is obvious when people don’t have a problem following additional steps. As a result, they’re less likely to mark your emails as spam or block your email address.
Since spam filters work on machine learning, they won’t flag your emails as spam in the future.
You can also ask these people to add your email address to their approved contact list. This will put you in the email server’s good books, sending the signal to never mark your emails as spam.
However, be polite when asking subscribers. Otherwise, you might come across as imposing. Tell them why this matters for you and consider providing an incentive.
3. Provide Clear Options To Unsubscribe
Almost all email compliance guidelines ask you to provide clear options to unsubscribe from your email list. Ignoring this step means ignoring these guidelines, which is never a good idea for deliverability.
You need to give subscribers an out. They shouldn’t feel trapped once they’ve provided you with their email address. They shouldn’t have to receive emails if they’re no longer interested in your content.
Even if subscribers don’t use this option, you must provide one. However, you need to make this process easy.
A single-step process would be the ideal situation. But if you need to add additional steps, don’t go further than three. Also, you should give clear instructions on how to use the unsubscribe option.
4. Avoid Spammy Words and Misleading Content
As mentioned earlier, your email’s reputation and content go hand-in-hand to improve deliverability. So, it’s time to discuss content tips now that we’ve discussed the backend.
When it comes to content, subject lines will be the first thing your recipients see. So, before doing anything else, work on your subject lines. Make sure they’re engaging and don’t mislead readers.
Another point would be to limit the use of exclamation marks. They make you look unprofessional. So, add only one if you really have to use them. Also, make sure your subject lines are relevant to the content.
On that note, also ensure your content doesn’t contain spammy words. It should contain complete and accurate sender information with value. This will lower your spam complaints against you.
5. Build Your Email Lists With Legal Methods and Maintain Them
Another aspect of email deliverability is the authenticity and cleanliness of your email list. You must gain proper consent before sending email messages. For that, you have to use legal methods to build your email lists.
When businesses buy lists, they don’t know whether the members are genuinely interested. They don’t even know how the seller built those lists. This can put you in legal trouble, and sending messages to irrelevant people won’t be useful.
Therefore, use methods like website pop-up forms, WiFi marketing, social media campaigns, and login forms to build email lists. When you send emails to genuinely interested people, you are more likely to get engagement from them.
This is one factor that determines your deliverability. If a person hasn’t read your emails for a long time, their server might start marketing future emails as spam.
Another point to remember is list maintenance. If people unsubscribe from your list, remove them as soon as possible. Moreover, segment your lists so you can personalize your emails.
Personalization makes your content more interesting, engaging, and relevant, which prompts users to act. This sends a good signal to the server, and it’s less likely to send your messages to the spam folder.
Now, you have an idea of the impact email tools have on your deliverability. If you don’t have a tool yet, use the email marketing deliverability comparison above to make your choice. They help you automate tasks and make your marketing better. Some also give you tips and guidance on increasing email deliverability.
If you need help with email marketing, try Beambox. It’s a WiFi marketing platform that helps you build a list of contacts and automate your campaigns.
With Beambox, you gather actionable data that help you understand what works and what doesn’t.
Additionally, with Beambox, you can get more reviews for your business and run other marketing campaigns from the same platform.
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