It doesn’t matter how pretty or sophisticated your emails are if they aren’t getting to the inbox.
Email communication is more important than ever and getting to the inbox is crucial to your success.
And getting to the inbox depends on the sender reputation of your bulk email service provider (ESP).
Not all ESPs are the same.
In simple terms, deliverability means the likelihood of your emails reaching your subscribers’ inboxes. It’s one of the reasons you choose to work with an ESP. We focus on achieving the highest deliverability rate and sender reputation possible to ensure the emails of our clients all reach their desired destinations.
What is a sender reputation?
A sender reputation is how individual internet service providers (ISPs) rate ESPs in terms of how safe they are as senders. A sender reputation lets Gmail, Apple mail, Yahoo and all the other ISP email services know that your ESP is trusted, and that it’s A-OK to allow your emails to reach the inbox. It’s a complex process that requires diligence and constant monitoring.
We can’t speak for every ESP on the market, but at FeedBlitz, protecting our deliverability and sender reputation is our leading principle. Without it, the emails you send are as useful as smoke signals in a thunderstorm.
How do ESPs get emails to the inbox?
Excellent deliverabillity requires a complex and continuous process to maintain. An ESP’s sender reputation is protected through a system of automated processes, monitoring, and manual review including:
- Strict checks for all imports. Every email address added to our system is checked against known spam traps, blacklists, and honey pots. Questionable email addresses are flagged by our system and stop the import.
*Fun fact: Our system also runs a plagiarism-style check on imported lists, this flags any sets of email addresses imported into more than one account. Purchased lists don’t meet our standards.
- 24-hour monitoring of all mailing lists. Every mailing list is checked for spam complaints, bounce rates, and excessive unsubscribes. If the list fails to meet the minimum standard, it is automatically suspended. This ensures the health of mailing lists across all clients of an ESP.
…because an ESP is only as healthy and reputable as its weakest list!
- Continuous adjustments for individual ISPs. ISPs are always tweaking their spam filters usually with very little notice. Accommodating for these changes requires constant adjustment of internal email servers to meet these requirements..
- Preventing questionable emails from being sent. Before a single mailing campaign is scheduled or sent, FeedBlitz runs a series of checks to enure the content doesn’t contain features that might be flagged as spam. This includes checking for common words, phrases, and content styling (multiple, unnecessary page breaks, for example), which could cause the email to be caught by an ISP’s spam filter.
Flagging one potentially bad email and preventing it from being sent protects the reputation of all emails.
- Automatically removing bounced emails. Sender reputation is bolstered by an ESP frequently sending mail healthy mailing lists, creating a strong track record with ISPs. To maintain this reputation email addresses that bounce or return as undeliverable are automatically removed from your mailing list.
You wouldn’t keep knocking on a door if you knew no one was home, would you?
Be the hero of your email marketing.
When email is the primary method of communication between you and your audience, it only makes sense for your ESP to ensure your emails are reaching the inbox. What do all the bells and whistles matter if your emails can’t be found?
If you’re struggling to consistently reach the inbox for some recipients, or your your ESP’s open rates are disappointing you, reach out. We’re confident we’ll be able to make a positive difference in your email marketing.
Learn more about our free trial and reach out to us on our Support Page to contact us via email, chat, or even over the phone. Live support is available Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern.