Email marketing is a billion-dollar industry, but running successful email campaigns is getting more challenging. With data decaying faster than ever and email service providers enforcing stricter sending rules, your business may already be experiencing declining results. Here’s how you can quickly adapt to these critical industry updates.
Email marketing has come a long way since that historic day in May 1978, when Gary Thuerk sent the first email campaign. Although unsolicited, that mass email generated $12 million in sales. Nearly five decades later, email is still a revenue-generating powerhouse, with studies predicting it will be valued at $17.9 billion by 2027.
The promising ROI of email campaigns entices many businesses to build email marketing programs. For many, however, achieving success takes longer than they expect
Corina Leslie
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PR Manager at ZeroBounce.
Email marketing challenges your business could be facing
If you spend significant resources on email marketing, yet the results are disappointing, the reason could be that your company isn’t up-to-date with the latest email sending rules. In the past couple of years, the email industry has experienced critical updates that may have impacted your performance.
More emails are bouncing
Growing your business email database is smart, but while you add new contacts to it, older ones degrade every day. More than 25% of the average email list decays yearly, a higher percentage compared to previous patterns (22%). That means more of your emails may be bouncing and tarnishing your sender reputation with inbox providers – and thus, causing your subsequent campaigns to land in spam.
Spam filters are getting harder to bypass
For a marketing email to perform, it needs to reach its intended audience first, preferably in the inbox. However, even for legitimate senders like you, landing in the inbox—also known as email deliverability—is increasingly challenging. With spam and phishing attacks on the rise, spam filters are becoming more sophisticated, so it takes more effort to bypass them.
Consumer behaviors are changing
Gone are the days when a company could “spray and pray” an email “blast” to random contacts without getting penalized. Nowadays, email service providers punish you for that—and so would your audience—by reporting your email as spam. Many email users mark an email as spam even when they are subscribers. A spam complaint rate that exceeds 0.3% can also direct your future campaigns to the spam box.
How you can still get great email marketing results
So how can you deal effectively with these email marketing challenges?
Here are some steps you can begin taking today to expand your inbox reach, connect with real prospects, and get more out of the emails you send.
Follow the new email sending rules
In February 2024, Google and Yahoo announced they partnered to combat spoofing and spam by enforcing a set of rules for mass senders. Although not new, these rules are now a standard you must follow if you reach out to Gmail and Yahoo contacts. Shortly after, Microsoft stated it would adopt these rules as well, starting in the fall of 2024.
Email authentication. Google and Yahoo require email authentication to verify your identity as a sender. By authenticating your emails, you’re letting email service providers know that you – and not an impersonator – are the sender of those messages. If you’re not sure how to authenticate your emails, there are reliable platforms that can help you streamline the process.
One-click unsubscribe. Your audience should be able to leave your email list with just one click. To enable this option, you need to implement specific headers in your emails so that when a message pops into someone’s inbox, that person can unsubscribe without even clicking to open it. Equally important is that you honor all unsubscribes within two days, per Google and Yahoo’s requirements.
Low spam complaint rates. Spam complaints are an effective way for email service providers to differentiate between trustworthy senders and spammers. To maintain a good reputation with these providers and land your campaigns in the inbox, keep spam complaint rates under 0.3%. You can strive for even better results and keep reports under 0.1%, which has been the recommended threshold for years.
Verify your database like clockwork
To keep a good sender reputation, you must also maintain a low bounce rate—under the acceptable benchmark of 2%. With more than a quarter of your email list degrading every year, consider verifying your contacts at least quarterly. An email checker quickly isolates obsolete email addresses so you can remove them.
Steer away from purchasing lists
Purchasing a list of contacts for email marketing may seem tempting, but it’s a shortcut that will only hurt your business. Sending emails to people who never opted in to receive them can spike your spam complaint rate, hurting your chances of reaching the inbox. Instead of buying a list, continue to build your own database of customers who express consent to receive emails from you.
Stick to the content you promised
If subscribers sign up for your marketing newsletter, send them newsletters about marketing. If they opt in to get a discount, nurture them with more similar content. Sticking to the type of content you promised upon sign-up is how you keep your emails relevant. It’s also how you can increase engagement metrics, like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
Reassess your content strategy
Sticking to your niche is a great way to keep your subscribers’ trust and gain brand authority. But it’s not enough to make your emails compelling – meaning, enjoyable and clickable. If your metrics have been stale, despite following all sending rules, it may be time to reassess your content. For starters, look into ways you can further personalize your campaigns. Also, consider running some A/B tests to determine the right approach. Test one element at a time, analyze your metrics, and double down on the best-performing tactics.
Avoid long breaks or sudden volume increases
Consistency in your sending behavior is another cornerstone of effective email marketing. Following a regular schedule and avoiding huge spikes in the number of emails you send helps email service providers understand you run a legitimate email marketing program. This steady approach also builds trust with your audience and will help you avoid spam complaints.
Adapt your sending frequency to serve your audience
The primary reason people unsubscribe from an email list is that they receive too many emails from that sender. Numerous studies have backed this up over the years. For email marketing to work for your business, it needs to serve your audience first. While you may think sending several weekly (or daily) emails keeps your company top of mind, this approach may have the opposite effect. People will disengage and unsubscribe. As they grow irritated, some may even report you as spam.
If you notice this trend in your email marketing reports, try to decrease the number of emails you send. Monitor your engagement metrics closely and find a balance in your sending schedule. What works best for your subscribers is what’s best for you.
Recap: how to make your email marketing work
Before you go, let’s recap the most important steps and good habits you can adopt in your email marketing strategy:
Remove invalid and outdated contacts to keep your bounce rate under 2% and maintain high email deliverability rates.
Avoid buying email databases or adding people to your list without consent so that your spam complaint rate can stay under 0.3%.
Never “spray and pray,” but instead, reach out to subscribers who have expressed clear consent to receive emails from you.
Authenticate your emails if you reach out to Gmail and Yahoo users.
Enable one-click unsubscribes and set up an automated process where unsubscribers are removed from your list within two days.
Send your audience the type of content they expect from you to cultivate great engagement rates.
Avoid taking long breaks and send emails regularly. If your unsubscribe rate is high, consider reducing the number of emails you send, as email fatigue is the number one reason people opt out.
All these email sending best practices and rules can feel overwhelming or downright intimidating. However, they all boil down to common sense in your approach. Using shady tactics to get quick results is not worth the risk. Instead, build your email marketing program thoughtfully—you’ll get more satisfaction in the long run.
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