Deliverability Defined

Ever feel like you're decoding an ancient script when trying to comprehend email authentication? DMARC may seem like just another complex acronym in the world of email, but it's a guardian against the spoofers and spammers. 

Setting up DMARC is like locking your digital doors—it's not just necessary; it's your first line of defense. And since missed emails mean missed opportunities, understanding DMARC is a critical piece of the email deliverability puzzle. 

In this episode of Deliverability Defined, Alyssa and Melissa unpack the mysteries of DMARC records and how they protect your domain from email spoofers. They explore why big players like Gmail and Yahoo demand DMARC for mass senders and provide simple steps to set it up without the tech headache.

In this episode, we discuss:

• 01:50 - The basics of DMARC.
• 06:44 - The importance of DMARC and its impact on email security.
• 11:45 - Exploring the technicalities of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• 16:13 - Navigating the complexities of email authentication and deliverability.
• 20:43 - Setting up DMARC: the right way to protect your domain.
• 25:24 - Tips for getting the most out of DMARC reporting.

Key Takeaways

• DMARC isn’t just a fancy acronym; it's your armor against domain spoofing and should be part of your security strategy.
• Begin with a DMARC policy of “none” to collect data without impacting deliverability, and level up to” quarantine” or “reject” as you become more confident in your setup.
• Your domain's reputation is as valuable as a treasure chest in the world of email deliverability — protect it with proper DMARC implementation.
• Don’t let the technical jargon intimidate you. Use the right tools to demystify DMARC and help streamline the management of email authentication.

Quotes

“DMARC is a level of security for your emails. It helps authenticate your emails and protect your domain from being used by bad people. At a very basic level, it's a protection mechanism.” ~ Melissa Lambert

“If you are a good email sender, you have an asset that's really valuable to spammers. So, if you're wondering, ‘Am I actually affected by this? Why would someone do this?’ They want that healthy domain that you have. And if it's not protected by DMARC, then you are a target for it.” ~ Alyssa Dulin

Links

• ConvertKit
• ConvertKit Creator Network
• Subscribe to the weekly Deliverability Dispatch Newsletter!
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Google
• Yahoo
• Microsoft
• Gmail
• Demarsian
• Cloudflare

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

If managing your domain reputation sounds complicated, you’re not alone. Recent changes to Yahoo’s and Google’s authentication rules have forced all email senders to take a more active role in the path to the inbox. 

In this episode of Deliverability Defined, Alyssa and Melissa untangle some of the mysteries around domain reputation and why it’s so important. They highlight how trends in open rates, complaint rates, and bounce rates are not just metrics but invaluable insights that contribute to a healthy email list. They also discuss some highly practical best practices for ensuring your emails reach the inbox. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• 01:37 - How domain reputation is like a credit score.
• 08:30 - The importance of domain reputation in email deliverability.
• 14:35 - Monitoring domain reputation and how it’s calculated.
• 21:27 - The technical side of email deliverability and domain reputation.
• 24:55 - Navigating complaint rates and subscriber behavior.
• 27:02 - Maintaining a healthy email list.
• 31:55 - Why segmented audiences lead to higher engagement rates.
• 35:35 - What to do if you have a low sender reputation.

Key Takeaways

• Domain reputation is like your credit score — it's pivotal for the health of your email marketing and can impact your success when moving between email service providers.
• Monitor your metrics — stay ahead of the curve by keeping an eye on open rates, complaint rates, and bounce rates. And remember, a dip in open rates by ten points is a definite red flag!
• Subscriber engagement is paramount — keep your email list clean, segment your audience for targeted content, and employ double opt-ins to shield against list bombing.

Quotes

“One of the biggest influences of sender reputation is your audience and subscribers and subscriber behavior. Opening, clicking through your emails, spending time on the email, reading through it, all of these things have a really positive impact on your domain reputation.” ~ Melissa Lambert

“Your subscribers have the power over your reputation. For the most part, they're voting with their actions on whether your domain reputation goes up or down.” ~ Alyssa Dulin

Links

• Deliverability Defined S05E03: A Guide to Google Postmaster Tools
• Google Postmaster Tools
• ConvertKit
• ConvertKit Creator Network
• Subscribe to the weekly Deliverability Dispatch Newsletter!
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Google
• Yahoo
• Microsoft
• Gmail

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to improve your domain reputation, Google Postmaster Tools is here to help. In the wake of Google’s and Yahoo’s changes and authentication requirements, Google Postmaster Tools has become a crucial resource for email senders. In this episode of Deliverability Definied, Alyssa and Melissa take a deep dive into Google Postmaster Tools—what it is, how to get the most out of it, and why it’s so important for monitoring domain reputation and ensuring optimal email deliverability. 

While Google Postmaster Tools can provide a lot of great insight, the best deliverability strategies are still basic best practices. Things like maintaining a low spam complaint rate, prioritizing engagement, list hygiene, and ethical list-building practices. By following these guidelines senders can enhance their domain reputation, increase inbox placement, and ultimately, improve the effectiveness of their overall email marketing efforts.

In this episode, we discuss:

• 01:16 - Google Postmaster Tools overview
• 08:11 - Domain reputation explained
• 11:11 - Spam complaint rates
• 19:24 - Why it's more important than ever to clean your list
• 21:48 - Using automations for list health
• 23:18 - Understanding IP reputation

Key Takeaways

• Google Postmaster Tools can give you insights into your domain reputation, which plays a crucial role in your email deliverability. Aim for a high domain reputation to secure solid inbox placement. 
• Managing spam complaint rates is key to maintaining a positive sender reputation. Keep your complaint rate below 0.1% to avoid negative impacts on your domain reputation and email deliverability.
• Pay attention to your list health by cleaning your list, avoiding excessive emails to new subscribers, and ensuring engagement with your content.
• Implementing strategies like double opt-ins for new subscribers and automations to manage inactive subscribers can help improve your list health and reduce spam complaints.

Quotes

“It's important to keep your spam rate below 0.1%. This is the threshold where Gmail will start sending some messages to spam and potentially from there decrease your domain reputation. At 0.3% and above, spam filtering will start to happen, and the domain damage will also start to happen and be more impactful and harder to recover from.” ~ Melissa Lambert

“I encourage all people to have their eyes on the Google Post Master tools dashboard every day. Go analyze people who are complaining. What do they have in common? Are you sending them way too many emails?” ~ Alyssa Dulin

Links

• Google Postmaster Tools
• ConvertKit
• ConvertKit Creator Network
• Subscribe to the weekly Deliverability Dispatch Newsletter!
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Google
• Yahoo
• Microsoft
• Gmail

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

Welcome back to Season Five of Deliverability Defined! Do you ever feel like you're navigating the Bermuda Triangle when it comes to understanding the latest email marketing requirements? You're not alone. Staying ahead of these changes and requirements is crucial in maintaining email deliverability.

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss the recent changes from Yahoo and Google and how they impact email senders. They dive into the new authentication requirements, the one-click unsubscribe rule, and what it means for your domain reputation. Plus, they introduce a game-changing feature from ConvertKit to help you easily navigate these changes. As the email landscape continues to evolve, it's crucial to stay ahead of the curve to ensure your messages reach the inbox.

In this episode, we discuss:

• 02:15 - Yahoo’s and Google’s new sender requirements.
• 04:55 - The importance of domain reputation and authentication.
• 09:39 - Gmail’s delivery delays.
• 13:14 - Convertkit’s verified sending domain setup.
• 16:17 - Customer compliance with email requirements.
• 18:54 - Google Postmaster and best practices for domain reputation.

Key Takeaways

• Email senders are now required to authenticate messages using their own domain instead of their email provider's domain. This is a critical step in maintaining domain reputation and a key factor for deliverability.
• Using tools like Google Postmaster Tools to monitor your domain reputation in Gmail is essential in optimizing your email deliverability.
• Domain reputation management is key for keeping spam complaints low and ensuring high deliverability rates for your email campaigns.

Quotes

“The best thing you can do is go back to basics. Like cleaning your list and making sure you're sending to engaged subscribers. Those things were important before, but they're going to be even more important now that you are relying more heavily on your own domain reputation.” ~ Melissa Lambert

“Even if you have a great sender reputation after these changes, everyone needs to pay way more attention to their own domain reputation than you probably have in the past and make sure that spam complaints stay low and reputation stays high." ~ Alyssa Dulin

Links

• ConvertKit
• ConvertKit Creator Network
• Subscribe to the weekly Deliverability Dispatch Newsletter!
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Google
• Yahoo
• Squarespace
• GoDaddy
• Google Postmaster Tools

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

Gmail and Yahoo have announced new sender requirements taking affect in February of 2024. You can read more here: https://help.convertkit.com/en/articles/8538056-gmail-and-yahoo-s-new-requirements-for-2024-and-what-to-expect

The 3 main steps to take:
- Set up a verified sending domain in your email provider
- Set up a DMARC record if you haven't already
- Start monitoring your spam complaint rates within Google Postmaster Tools 

Email remains one of the oldest and most popular digital communication channels, yet content creators struggle to stand out in their audience’s email inboxes. The explosion of ChatGPT has prompted questions about AI’s role in the deliverability space. Should AI be integrated into email marketing strategies, and if so, in what capacity?  

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa talk with email marketing expert Naomi West about her relationship with AI. Naomi is a seasoned SaaS Lifecycle Marketer and creator of Email Characters, a Google Chrome extension designed to optimize email content. Naomi is not only an email enthusiast, but also an email expert, having earned the “Email Whiz Award” in 2021 at EiQ’s email marketing conference. 

Together, Alyssa, Melissa, and Naomi delve into the pros and cons of using ChatGPT for content creation, the future of AI, and Naomi’s advice for creators running their own businesses.

Key Takeaways

• [04:00] - Who is Naomi West?
• [10:33] - Naomi’s relationship with AI.
• [12:33] - The pros and cons of using ChatGPT for content creation.
• [24:53] - Where is AI headed?
• [32:49] - How AI could affect ESPs.
• [39:06] - Naomi’s tips for creators running a business.
• [41:45] - Where to find Naomi (@emailfromnaomi)

Quotes

[08:18] - “I tried to get into marketing in university for three years straight. And the business school of my university rejected me for three years straight. And I was like, ‘Well, I guess I'll do an arts degree and I will write a lot of papers. And then I graduated and I immediately did marketing. And here I am.” ~ @emailfromnaomi

[39:41] - “[Email] is this completely interconnected space. When you are sending email you have to be cognizant of what’s going on on your other channels as well as recognizing that email is not just you. The inbox is so overwhelmed these days with senders, everyone's doing email. So just be aware that you're not the only individual in the space, but you can still provide unique value.” ~ @emailfromnaomi

Links

• Naomi West | Twitter | @emailfromnaomi
• Naomi West | Website
• Naomi West | LinkedIn
• Parcel.io
• Slow emails volume 8
• Email Characters
• ChatGPT
• Grammarly
• Notion 
• Loom
• Spreadsheet Girl (@spreadsheetgirl) | TikTok
• Klaviyo
• Amnesty International
• Subscribe to the Marketing Design Dispatch
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Ask Alyssa & Melissa questions or suggest content for our next monthly newsletter!

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

As a creator, you are never going to feel “ready” to build something. The hardest part is getting started and accepting that creation is an iterative process, and the mistakes you make along the way will lead to stronger content over time. 

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa talk with Dylan Redekop, Growth Currency Newsletter Strategist and Product Marketer at SparkLoop, about his journey building his newsletter from scratch. What started as a multitopic newsletter niched down into a newsletter that helps creators and solopreneurs start, grow, and monetize their own newsletters. Dylan delves into the best ways to keep lists clean and audiences engaged, even if your newsletter is still in its nascent stage. There’s no need to wait until your audience reaches a certain threshold to seek monetization opportunities.

Together, they discuss Dylan’s process in choosing his niche, tips for growing and monetizing newsletter content, and the power of referral networks in gaining high-quality subscribers.

Key Takeaways

• [06:40] - An introduction to Dylan.
• [09:26] - How Dylan chose his newsletter niche.
• [12:15] - Dylan’s advice to anyone niching down.
• [15:36] - How to grow and monetize your newsletter.
• [25:04] - How referral networks expand your list.
• [32:25] - How to keep your list clean while using partner programs.
• [36:43] - Where to find Dylan and his newsletter (@growthcurrency)

Quotes

[12:35] - “The subscribes and the unsubscribes, it's all vanity metrics. What matters is that the people that are reading your newsletter and are subscribed to it are interested in it, and you don't just want people to hang on because the numbers look good.” ~ @growthcurrency

[20:13] - “You only need to have one person on your email list to sell them something, right? People get caught up in, ‘I need to have a certain amount of subscribers to make a sponsorship deal or to sell my ebook or my course or my service.’ But I don’t think you have to wait. Why wait until you have a certain threshold to start trying?” ~ @growthcurrency

[26:00] - “The reason why I love [partner programs] is because it's cost-controlled and it's quality-controlled. When you create a Facebook ad or an Instagram, as soon as somebody clicks, you're paying, regardless of if they unsubscribe or never open an email. You don't have that quality control filter.” ~ @growthcurrency

Links

• Dylan Redekop on LinkedIn
• Dylan Redekop (@growthcurrency) on Twitter
• Dylan Redekop (@growthcurrency) on Instagram
• Growth Currency
• SparkLoop
• The SparkLoop Partner Program
• The SparkLoop Partner Network
• ConvertKit Sponsor Network
• Substack
• Craft + Commerce Conference
• Creator Wizard
• Tinder
• Subscribe to the Marketing Design Dispatch
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Ask Alyssa & Melissa questions or suggest content for our next monthly newsletter!

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

Many people strive to become creators but often forget the discipline, hard work, and consistency required to build an audience. But while the task can seem daunting, it’s not impossible. The best way to learn how to grow a subscriber base is by learning from creators who have successfully done so.

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa talk with Charli Prangley, Creative Director at ConvertKit, about her experience as a YouTuber with more than 220K subscribers, and the author of the Marketing Design Dispatch newsletter with more than 15K subscribers. Charli discusses what led her to ConvertKit, why creators should take advantage of email when building their brand, and why simple designs often land best with audiences. 

They also discuss Charli’s digital product offerings, her different sources of income, and her advice for aspiring creators.

Key Takeaways

• [06:00] - An introduction to Charli and her creator journey.
• [07:35] - What brought Charli to ConvertKit. 
• [10:04] - Charli’s day-to-day at ConvertKit. 
• [13:07] - Why creators should use email.
• [18:30] - An overview of Charli’s digital products. 
• [20:18] - How Charli decided which products to create.
• [22:00] - What do Charli’s income streams look like?
• [25:53] - Charli’s design advice for creators.
• [34:26] - How Charli encourages email replies.
• [42:28] - Charli’s closing thoughts.
• [48:31] - Where to find Charli.

Quotes

[14:29] - “Email is powerful for directly reaching your audience.” ~ @charliprangley

[25:53] - “The main thing I suggest is to keep it simple. The more simple you make it, the more refined your design is going to feel.” ~ @charliprangley

[43:10] - “Don't make all of the decisions just based on business reasons, but include your own enjoyment in there as a factor too.” ~ @charliprangley

Links

• Charli Prangley on Twitter
• Charli Prangley - Creative Director - ConvertKit | LinkedIn
• Charli Marie
• CharliMarieTV - YouTube
• Subscribe to the Marketing Design Dispatch
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Ask Alyssa & Melissa questions or suggest content for our next monthly newsletter!

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

Email is a universal method of communication that brings together people of all different ages and backgrounds. While some people may check their emails more than others, it remains true that everyone needs an email address to survive in the digital world. 

Whether you use your email to stay up-to-date on current events, manage your reservations, or collect discount codes, email is a versatile tool to stay informed and connected.

Email is a more reliable form of communicating with your audience because its popularity is not as volatile as social media. As we’ve observed with apps like Vine or MySpace, no social media platform is invincible or irreplaceable. Email content is also more customizable than social media, which allows creators to connect with different audiences and curate content specific to their needs and interests.  

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss why email is crucial for your business. They cover how to customize content for your audience, how monetization for emails differs from social media, and how a good ESP can help you grow your list and find advertisers.

Key Takeaways

• [04:14] - Why does email work?
• [09:28] - Why it is important to “own your audience”.
• [14:36] - How to customize email outreach based on your audience’s preferences.
• [17:51] - How email monetization differs from social media.
• [21:45] - How a good ESP can help your business.

Quotes

[07:25] - ​​“Your subscribers have the control to interact with your email when it’s best for them.” ~ @mel_lambert_ 

[10:34] - “We don’t always know which direction [social media platforms] are going to go in, not just the success of a platform, but also how their algorithms work.” ~ @alyssa_dulin

[15:36] - “A lot of brands have become very successful because of targeted ads on Instagram. You could be making that money instead of Instagram.” ~ @alyssa_dulin

[16:36] - “You want to make sure that you’re treating people’s inboxes with as much care as possible.” ~ @mel_lambert_ 

Links

• ConvertKit Creator Network
• Subscribe to the weekly Deliverability Dispatch Newsletter!
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Postmaster Tools – Google
• Bitly

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing. 

The way our email inboxes operate has changed dramatically with the evolution of the internet and increased awareness and caution around email scams. Email security and privacy have become a top priority for users, resulting in enhanced protection measures and more stringent regulations.

With so many changes happening in the email deliverability world, several factors could be affecting your success metrics as an email marketer or a content creator. Email strategies need to be adapted according to the sender’s needs and their intended audience.

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa cover how various factors impact deliverability, including email privacy protection, automatic clicks, link shorteners, VSDs, and DMARCs.

Key Takeaways

• [03:50] - Are clicks impacted by Apple Mail Privacy Protection?
• [09:19] - What should I do if my clicks are inflated from non-human interactions?
• [11:36] - How do I reduce automatic clicks?
• [12:07] - Should I use link shorteners?
• [14:10] - Should I use a VSD (verified sending domain)? 
• [19:00] - Should I set up a DMARC?
• [24:51] - What is my deliverability reputation score?
• [26:47] - What can I learn from Gmail’s Postmaster Tools?

Quotes

[11:32] - “Here are a few recommendations we give to reduce automatic clicks. 1) Always use HTTPS links, not HTTP links. 2) Keep your sender reputation healthy. Make sure you're cleaning your list and listening to engaged subscribers. 3) Encourage replies to your emails. 4) Pay attention to the content of your message — make sure that it

doesn't look spammy, and that the links in your emails are not suspicious.” ~ @alyssa_dulin

[13:19] - ​​“As far as trying to reduce automatic clicks, using something like Bitly is not going to help you do that. In fact, it’s probably just going to increase your chance of having automatic clicks in your email because it’s not a trusted domain.” ~ @mel_lambert_ 

[29:45] - “These small pieces individually might not be overwhelming, but how they all work together in order to help people be the best sender possible gets tricky.  So if you feel like deliverability is overwhelming or you just don't know where to start, know you're not alone. It's very understandable.” ~ @mel_lambert_ 

Links

• ConvertKit Creator Network
• Subscribe to the weekly Deliverability Dispatch Newsletter!
• Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter!
• Postmaster Tools – Google
• Bitly

Connect with our hosts

• Alyssa Dulin
• Melissa Lambert

Stay in touch

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined Website

Try ConvertKit's deliverability in action

It's now free to use ConvertKit with an audience of 1,000 subscribers or less! Start building your audience and reaching their inboxes: convertkit.com/pricing.