Deliverability Defined

Everyone strives to reach the inbox of their subscribers. While many factors determine deliverability, it’s no secret that reputation is among the most important. So what can you do to fix a broken reputation? How can you know what your reputation is or if it needs improving? And what role does an ESP play in working email magic? 

Like most things with deliverability, the answers aren’t always straightforward, and often, there’s no easy fix. However, it’s important to focus on the things you can control.

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa explain a few actionable steps for taking control of your email reputation. From the technical aspects to long-term fixes, here are some tips for achieving a great sender reputation. 

Main Takeaways

• [04:35] Unfortunately, it’s difficult to tell what your sender reputation is. There’s no website with a score or phone number to call. However, reputation is powerful. An ESP can do everything right, but if your reputation is damaged, your emails won’t deliver. 
• [12:46] Your sender reputation is like your credit score. It measures trust and every mailbox provider has its own formula for determining reputation. 
• [16:05] Your reputation is largely determined by your subscribers. That’s why it’s so important to regularly clean your list of unengaged subscribers who are damaging your reputation. Open rates, clicks, replies, and a recipient marking your email as ‘not spam’ are all positive signals that improve your reputation.
• [26:10] Both your marketing strategy and the technical aspects of deliverability can make or break your reputation. The best course of action is to engage people who are actually seeing your emails and use marketing tactics that encourage people to open, click, and reply. 
• [36:27] To improve a damaged reputation, determine the root issue and remove subscribers who did not opt-in to receive your emails. 

Links

• Deliverability Defined 104: Protecting Yourself From Listbombing
• Deliverability Defined 216: What Makes A Good Subscriber? 
• Deliverability Defined 107: Meaningful Metrics: Going Beyond Open Rates
• Google Postmaster Tools
• reCAPTCHA
• Dogecoin 

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Every creator hopes for thousands of YouTube subscribers, Instagram followers, and Twitter likes. But if you’re approaching your email list with a similar “more is better” mentality, you may be missing the mark. 

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss why not all email subscribers are created equal and why smaller, high-value lists are healthier than a massive list filled with cold and unengaged subscribers. 

Let’s outline what makes a great subscriber, the common mistakes that attract “bad” subscribers, and why bigger isn’t always better. 

Main Takeaways

• [08:55] Disposable domains, role-based accounts, and spam traps are emails to weed from your list. These can often, if not always, be classified as “bad subscribers.”
• [20:00] Clean your email list! The longer you go without cleaning out cold subscribers, the harder it will be to clean out your list down the line and the longer your deliverability will suffer. 
• [29:30] Someone can subscribe to your emails as a highly engaged, high-value subscriber, but if you don’t deliver value, they can quickly become a cold subscriber. 
• [31:52] Rather than focusing on the number of subscribers you have, treat your subscribers like real people and focus on providing consistent value.

Links

• James Clear
• Deliverability Defined 0105: Avoiding Spam Traps The Right Way
• SparkLoop
• Nathan Barry’s Newsletter

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If you see a sudden and dramatic drop in your open rates, don’t panic. There could be an easily fixable solution behind those scary numbers. And even if it takes a bit more digging, your open rates aren’t the be-all and end-all metric for measuring success. 

Nevertheless, lower open rates could signify a larger issue, whether it’s your marketing strategy or something as simple as an HTML error. In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa outline the questions every email marketer should ask themselves if and when their open rates drop.

Once you’ve answered a few key questions, you can start figuring out what’s causing the problem and stop an email catastrophe in its tracks. Or, better yet, figure out which issues are actual catastrophes, and which aren’t.

Main Takeaways

• [08:10] Ask yourself, in what capacity are my emails dropping? Are they dropping 2% every day or 5% after one email? That increment of change can be the difference between a technical issue and a simple sender mistake. 
• [13:28] Have you recently switched ESPs? It’s important to gradually transition, otherwise, inbox providers won’t recognize your new domain and may send you to spam. 
• [16:28] What changes have you made otherwise? Even a simple change in your email template can cause open rates to drop if you’ve got an HTML error. 
• [22:09] Are you sending to cold subscribers? Most email providers have a threshold of how many times you can send emails to people who aren’t opening them.
• [30:37] Promotions tab? Don’t panic. While your open rate may drop if your emails are suddenly sent to promotions, when customers have a filing system for their emails, they’re more likely to engage with the emails in their promotions tab, rather than just opening the email to clear space.
• [34:20] Is your open tracking pixel being clipped? If your message is too large, someone’s open won’t be logged. Luckily, there’s an easy fix. 
• [36:31] Is your email not authenticated properly? Errors in authentication cause bounces and drastically lower open rates. 
• [38:09] Focus on positive signals to increase open rates. Positive signals will make more of an impact than trying to hack your open rates. 

Links

• Twitter
• Clubhouse
• Instagram
• Deliverability Defined 0107: Meaningful Metrics: Going Beyond Open Rates
• Deliverability Defined 0206: How to Switch ESPs Without Damaging Your Deliverability
• Deliverability Defined 0113: All About Gmail: The Promotions Tab, the Spam Folder, Postmaster Tools and More
• Deliverability Defined 0210: A Day in the Life of a Deliverability Specialist
• Deliverability Defined: 0106: Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• ConvertKit Migrations

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. 

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Are you intimidated by Twitter? Do you scroll and consume 24-7? Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Twitter can be invaluable for building an audience and boosting visibility. If you’re strategic and intentional, Twitter can help you reach massive creator milestones. 

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss actionable steps to growing a following on Twitter and expanding your email list. Don’t just look for a retweet. Engage with people who will become high-value subscribers and true fans. 

While it’s loud and sometimes controversial, you can’t knock Twitter for a lack of engagement. If Twitter is the right medium for you, you can use that engagement to your advantage and build your email list.

Main Takeaways

• [07:20] A successful tweet is clear and concise. It can be tricky capturing it all in 280 characters. 
• [08:27] Tweet consistently and provide the value that you’re known for. 
• [10:07] Create threads that take people on a journey, use valuable data, and tell a story.
• [18:45] Know your why. You don’t have to engage with every platform, and you don’t have to be on Twitter if you don’t have a reason to be tweeting. Twitter should make sense for your brand and your intention.
• [19:29] If you create a thread, use that last tweet to plug your email list or newsletter or whatever medium you want.
• [23:24] Not all subscribers provide the same amount of value to your email list. Twitter is a great place to attract high-quality subscribers. Because if they like your tweets, they will most likely subscribe, not for a coupon or Instagram contest, but to hear your voice and to hear your story.  

Links

• Twitter
• Clubhouse
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitch
• Deliverability Defined on Instagram
• Codie Sanchez’s newsletter
• Fake Famous
• Nathan Barry
• Barrett Brooks
• Soulja Boy on Twitter

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Sending one-time emails to your entire list may feel like a familiar and reliable default. And automating anything related to email might sound intimidating. However, automation opens the doors for incredible results and makes your life as a sender much easier.

It’s a cardinal rule of business that you should never treat every customer (or every subscriber) the same. The beauty of automation is that it allows you to differentiate your otherwise anonymous email list and send each subscriber the content that’s most likely to stick. Believe it or not, not sending someone irrelevant content goes a long way.

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa discuss automation, how it works, and how you can use it to level up your email marketing and bring the best possible value to your subscribers.

Main Takeaways

• [09:08] Automation allows you to target subscribers by geographic location, whether they’ve made a purchase, and even by specific interests. Targeting helps you cater content to subscribers for their convenience, ensuring they get the most value from your list and stay happily engaged. 
• [11:57] If you’re a smaller creator, automation helps level the playing field between you and the big brands and big businesses, while giving you the time to expand your business. 
• [14:20] Your welcome sequence is key to successful automation and meaningful subscriber engagement. 
• [16:46] Be careful how much you send. If you’re sending five emails per day to a subscriber (automated or not), they’ll quickly become unengaged. 
• [19:06] Automation is a great way to re-engage cold subscribers. 
• [22:05] Automation is also a great way to boost a product or event launch. 

Links

• ConvertKit Commerce
• How to Prune Cold Subscribers From Your List
• ConvertKit Support

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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. 

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So often we view emails as a one-way conversation. In reality, there are plenty of complicated mechanics that go on behind-the-scenes between both sender and the receiving server. But what really goes on when an email bounces? Is it the fault of the ESP? Should we clean our lists of every email address that bounces? 

Like everything with deliverability, finding the why behind your email bounce rarely leads to a simple and clear-cut resolution. 

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa explain the technical blueprint of a bounce, common reasons for the dreaded default, and a few best practices for stopping bounces before they begin. 

Main Takeaways

• [09:52] When it comes to bounces, there are hard bounces and soft bounces. Hard bounces are a bit more permanent. If you see a high number of bounces all at once, that’s a sign that something deeper is going on with your email deliverability.
• [11:53] Don’t delete your bounced subscribers because that makes it much harder to diagnose the problem. 
• [13:03] When you send to a list that results in high bounces often and you’re not addressing those bounces, it can cause deliverability issues. 
• [14:08] If you have a high bounce rate, look for why people are providing incorrect email addresses. Maybe you have an email collection system that’s frustratingly impossible to exit out of. Or collecting emails with pen and paper, for example, always causes human errors. 
• [23:17] If you add a DMARC record, make sure your email is passing! 

Links

• Deliverability Defined 106: Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
• Dmarcian

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Even veteran senders get nervous before pressing send. There’s always that worry in the back of our minds: What if I send this to the wrong group of people? What if I send a test email by mistake? What if there’s a broken link or typos or lingering placeholder text? 

So, if and when the dreaded email fail happens to you, what can you do?  We’ve all received an email fail and every pro sender has made a mistake or two. If you do mess up, don’t worry. You’re not alone and there are ways to recover. 

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa talk about when to panic, when to apologize, how to apologize, and how you can turn your email failure into an email opportunity. 

Main Takeaways

• [06:19] There are some fails you should always send a follow-up email to address and some you should simply leave alone. If your email is missing a key piece of information that allows your subscribers to take the desired action, send a follow-up correction. 
• [07:42] If your email accidentally went out to a group of cold subscribers, move on and focus on hitting your more engaged audience next time. 
• [11:18] If you’re going to send an apology follow-up email, make sure your email adds value to your subscribers, or at the very least, uses humor to address the error, so your subscribers don’t feel like they’re getting spammed twice. 
• [23:50] Aside from the algorithm, your marketing strategy matters when it comes to email deliverability. Be careful how you apologize because there are always humans on the other end. 
• [25:38] Listen to your audience when it comes to addressing email missteps and always apologize authentically. 
• [28:38] When you make a mistake, sending a funny email response that acknowledges your fail reminds your subscribers that you’re a relatable human. Your apology can deepen the relationship you have with your audience.

Links

• Vrbo
• Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis
• Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis
• Creator Sessions: Musical Performance with Drew and Ellie Holcomb
• ConvertKit Creator Sessions

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Do you really understand deliverability? Is a career in deliverability right for you? Deliverability is a niche topic and it’s sometimes hard for friends, family, and curious ears to understand.

But aside from innate curiosity, if you’re a sender, learning what a deliverability expert does can provide incredible insight into how deliverability actually works.

From educating to solving problems and balancing tech skills with empathy, Alyssa and Melissa walk through their daily lives as deliverability specialists and talk about everything that goes on behind the scenes of a deliverability job.

Main Takeaways

• [10:15] It can be hard to unplug from deliverability because it never stops. At all times, someone somewhere is sending an email. 
• [21:36] Deliverability is complex. There’s so much that happens after an email is sent, and deliverability specialists are key in making sure that the lengthy, complicated process from sender to recipient goes smoothly.
• [24:50] As a sender, you don’t necessarily need to know everything there is to know about deliverability. But many of us are introduced to deliverability only when something goes wrong. Learning the basics of deliverability can help you prevent problems before they arise.
• [25:40] Deliverability specialists have an educational role. We know senders are often a team of “one” doing everything themselves. So our job is to make senders’ lives easier by being the email experts for them.
• [28:06] Deliverability specialists need to have an analytical eye but they also can’t get too caught up in the numbers and trends. In other words, you can’t rely on the trends. You have to look at each situation with fresh eyes. You also need strong communication and empathy skills. 

Links

• Slack
• Monthly Deliverability Reports
• Basecamp
• M3AAWG

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So much of deliverability is fixing issues after you realize there’s a problem. But what about solving problems before they become a problem? 

There are ways to predict your deliverability future and improve not only your business but your subscribers’ experience as well.

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa outline tips for proactively preventing deliverability issues before your email even reaches a recipient. Some of these tips may sound counterintuitive and some may sound a bit obvious, but they work! So before you send your next email, listen up.

Main Takeaways

• [03:26] How engaged is this group that I’m about to send to? If the list is more than 30% unengaged, adjust your strategy. Use filters to filter out unengaged subscribers. 
• [05:04] Is this email going to provide value to my subscribers? Don’t send an email just to send an email. Your marketing strategy and voice can make a big impact on deliverability. Remember, deliverability is more than a numbers game. 
• [10:48] Send yourself a test email! Just make sure that you send it to a different email address than the address you send from. 
• [16:38] Make sure your links are working correctly and pull the message headers to make sure authentication is passing. Also, aesthetics matter. The formatting should be readable, so avoid big chunks of text. 
• [22:52] Make sure the message isn’t clipped. When it’s clipped, the open tracking pixel will get clipped as well so it’s impossible to tell who’s actually opening your emails. Keep the message size below 100kb. 
• [24:58] Is it clear who the sender is? Will the recipient recognize the sender name and address?
• [29:22] Make sure the subject line is incentivizing people to open. Don’t kill deliverability on arrival by giving away the email’s context. 
• [36:41] Make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe. People will resent you if you make it hard and may even mark your email as spam. 
• [45:19] Is the email authentic to your brand and voice? Use A/B testing and don’t let salesmanship ruin your voice. 
• [48:10] Make sure all of your links work. 

Links

• ConvertKit’s Creator Pro Plan
• Nathan Barry’s weekly newsletter
• The Ladders of Wealth Creation: A Step-By-Step Roadmap To Building Wealth
• ConvertKit’s February 2021 Deliverability Report
• The Nudge
• Deliverability Defined 208: Bypass The YouTube Algorithm with Email Marketing with Ben Schoeffler
• Gucci’s email newsletter
• Deliverability Defined 103: Content: How Much Does It Impact Deliverability? 
• Deliverability Defined 102: Sender Reputation: The Road to Inbox Placement 

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With hundreds of big creators monopolizing YouTube, starting a channel from scratch and beating YouTube’s notoriously tricky algorithm is no small feat. Take it from Ben Schoeffler, a content creator who’s learned a few tricks for bypassing the algorithm with email marketing. 

YouTube doesn't provide the names of your subscribers. So while it may sound counterintuitive, going off YouTube is often the only way to grow your channel and build a relationship with your otherwise mysterious audience. 

In this episode, Melissa and Ben discuss why creators should build an audience off-platform, how to grow that audience through email marketing, and how YouTubers can monetize their email list. So stay tuned and don’t let YouTube stop you from owning the audience you built.

Main Takeaways

• [09:39] Having an email list is key to bypassing the YouTube algorithm. And owning that audience also allows you to monetize outside of YouTube.
• [14:30] Don’t immediately focus on monetization. Focus on audience-building and consistency and learning the process of content creation. Start gathering email addresses before you even have a product. So by the time you launch or monetize anything, you already have an audience to sell to and you’ve probably asked them what they would be interested in purchasing.
• [26:36] Including videos isn’t great for email deliverability, but what’s really detrimental is when you include images that link to a domain that has a bad reputation with email providers. 
• [31:01] Don’t guess what your audience wants or is willing to pay for. Ask them! It’s so important to have a strong relationship with your subscribers and that two-way relationship can really only happen via email. 

Links

• Ben’s YouTube Channel
• Shut Up Brain, Podcast
• How to Stop a Panic or Anxiety Attack – Deep Breathing Techniques
• The Best Journaling Prompt if You Feel Lost
• Ali Abdaal
• Charli Marie

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. 

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