Series Blog Post 8 of 10: Overcoming Email Deliverability Challenges with Real-World Solutions
Common Email Deliverability Challenges
Understanding why emails fail to reach inboxes is the first step to resolving deliverability issues. Here are the most common challenges:
1. Poor Sender Reputation
- Why It Happens: Sending emails to invalid addresses, receiving spam complaints, or using outdated lists can harm your reputation. ISPs use this reputation to determine if your emails should be delivered, flagged, or blocked.
- Impact: A poor sender reputation can result in your emails being routed to spam folders or blocked entirely.
2. Low Engagement Rates
- Why It Happens: Emails that fail to engage recipients, either due to irrelevant content or poor targeting, can lead ISPs to deprioritize your messages.
- Impact: Low engagement rates signal to ISPs that your emails lack value, reducing inbox placement.
Why It Happens: This often results from sending emails to invalid or inactive addresses. Hard bounces (permanently undeliverable emails) are particularly damaging.
Impact: A high bounce rate reduces your credibility and increases the likelihood of being blacklisted.
3. Adhere to Email Regulations
Staying compliant with regional and global email laws protects your reputation and keeps your campaigns lawful.
- CAN-SPAM Act (US): Ensure your email includes your business address, an unsubscribe option, and truthful subject lines.
- GDPR (EU): Obtain explicit consent from EU residents and allow them to access, update, or delete their data.
Example: “By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy. You can unsubscribe or manage your preferences at any time.” - CASL (Canada): Obtain express consent before sending promotional emails to Canadian recipients.
4. Spam Complaints
Why It Happens: Complaints arise when recipients mark your emails as spam, often due to overly promotional content, poor targeting, or excessive frequency.
Impact: Spam complaints can quickly degrade your sender reputation and trigger aggressive filtering.
Real-World Case Studies
Case Study 1: Driving 99% Email Deliverability for E-commerce Retailer
Challenge:
E-commerce client relied heavily on email to engage customers, promote offers, and retain their user base. However, they faced several key challenges:
- Managing and maintaining the quality of their expanding email lists.
- Customized content to avoid spam triggers and enhance relevance.
- Establishing and protecting the reputation of their domains and IP addresses.
- Onboarding to a new Email Service Provider (ESP) and integrating it with their Customer Data Platform (CDP).
Solution:
Kenscio provided comprehensive solutions tailored:
- Cleaned and organized email lists to reduce bounce rates.
- Implemented best practices for email deliverability and sender reputation management.
- Conducted A/B testing to refine subject lines and content for better engagement.
- Monitored email performance in real-time, adjusting strategies as needed for continuous improvement.
Results:
- 99% Email Deliverability
- 33% Increase in Open Rates
- 0% Spam and Bounce Rates
- 150M+ Emails Sent with 92% Deliverability Across Campaigns
Case Study 2: Entertainment Client Reducing Spam Complaints and Stabilizing Domain Performance
- High User-Level Spam Complaint Rate: The active database revealed a spike in spam complaints, negatively impacting deliverability and engagement.
- Domain Scale-Up Fluctuations: During the domain scaling process, the team experienced content filtration issues and inconsistencies, disrupting campaign performance.
- Set a user-level email frequency cap, limiting each user to 3 emails per week.
- Integrated KenMail with CDP to enhance deliverability and inbox placement.
- Utilized KenClean to validate data and remove invalid entries, improving campaign performance.
- Conducted A/B testing and Litmus tests to monitor inbox placement and optimize content.
- Periodically identified and suppressed spam traps using our validity tool.
- Conducted interim tests, optimizing subject lines and templates based on performance data.
- Adjusted the active-to-inactive campaign ratio to stabilize domain performance.
- Spam Complaint Rate Reduced Significantly through controlled email frequency and database suppression.
- 30%+ Average Open Rate across openers, non-openers, and non-receivers, even at higher volumes.
- 0.50% Average Click-Through Rate (CTR) reflecting improved engagement.
- Unsubscription Rate Below 1%, indicating better content relevance and user satisfaction.
- Higher Mailing Throughput to ISPs like Gmail and Yahoo, with faster campaign completion times.
- Stabilized Domain Performance by deploying campaigns in batches and continuous optimization.
Conclusion
Email deliverability challenges are unavoidable, but they’re not insurmountable. By understanding common pitfalls and implementing targeted strategies, you can improve your sender reputation, boost engagement, and ensure your messages reach the right audience. Real-world success stories show that even small adjustments can yield significant results.
Kenscio’s Expertise:
Whether you need help with email authentication, list validation, or engagement strategies, Kenscio is here to guide you. Contact us today for tailored solutions that keep your emails out of spam folders and in front of your audience.
Looking Back and Looking Ahead
I highly recommend reading the Master Blog: Mastering Email Deliverability and Performance: A Comprehensive Guide to gain expert insights and proven strategies for enhancing email deliverability and optimizing campaign performance. Stay tuned for Part 9, where we’ll explore The Future of Email: Emerging Trends and Technologies.
