Unlock High Inbox Rates: 8 Email Deliverability Best Practices

Are your emails ending up lost in spam folders? You’re not alone—nearly 20% of marketing emails never reach the inbox (Return Path). But mastering email deliverability best practices can change that.

In this guide, we’ll explore 8 steps to help increase your open rates and deliverability rates that ensure your messages land right where you want them—your recipient's inbox.

What is Email Deliverability?

Email deliverability is how likely your emails are to reach your recipient's inbox instead of the spam folder. For businesses, reaching the inbox is crucial—around 20% of emails fail to make it there! This can impact your success.

Good email deliverability depends on several factors: your sender reputation, the use of email filters, and making sure your emails match what your readers want.

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8 Email Deliverability Best Practices

1. Improve Your Sender Reputation

Your sender reputation is a score that shows how trustworthy your emails appear to recipients. Email service providers (like Gmail or Yahoo) use this score to decide whether your email should go to the inbox or spam folder.

Why It’s Important:

A high sender reputation helps emails get delivered, while a low score can send them straight to spam. Maintaining a good sender reputation ensures your messages reach your audience.

How to Improve It:

• Send emails to active subscribers only. Regularly clean your list to remove inactive subscribers, as they might ignore emails or mark them as spam.
• Use a double opt-in process, where new subscribers confirm they want to receive emails from you. This helps reduce spam complaints.
• Avoid spammy words and trigger words in your emails, such as “free” or “buy now,” which can harm your reputation.

2. Optimize IP Addresses for Deliverability

An IP address is a unique number assigned to your computer or server. Emails are sent through this address.

In an email marketing campaign, using a dedicated IP address can give you more control over your reputation.

Why It’s Important:

Sharing an IP address with others (shared IP) means your email reputation is affected by everyone using that address.

If one user sends spam, it impacts everyone's shared ip addresses. With a dedicated IP, only your actions affect your reputation.

How to Optimize It:

• Use a dedicated IP address if your email volume is high, such as over 100,000 emails per month. This helps build a strong reputation based on your actions alone.
• Start slow. Warm up your IP address by sending small batches of emails and gradually increasing over time. This tells email service providers that you’re a safe sender.
• Keep an eye on IP reputation through email deliverability tools. If your IP reputation falls, work on improving email quality to fix it.

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3. Enhance Your Email Authentication and Infrastructure

Email authentication is a way for email providers to check if emails are actually from you. Think of it like an ID card for emails.

Techniques like Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) prove you are a verified sender.

Why It’s Important:

Authentication protects your emails from being marked as spam or phishing. It’s essential to have a high delivery rate and reach the primary inbox instead of the spam folders.

How to Enhance It:

• Set up SPF and DKIM: These help email service providers confirm that the emails truly come from your domain.
• Use DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) to gain control over unauthorized emails sent from your domain, protecting your brand.
• Invest in solid email infrastructure (like reputable email marketing platforms) to support deliverability. Reliable infrastructure helps ensure your emails don’t end up in spam folders due to technical issues.

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4. Build High-Quality Email Lists for Deliverability

A high-quality email list includes subscribers who want to receive your emails. It’s made up of active, engaged recipients, not just anyone who signed up at some point.

Why It’s Important:

Email service providers look at engagement rates. If many recipients ignore or delete your emails, your sender reputation could drop. This means more emails will end up in the spam folder.

How to Build It:

• Use Double Opt-In: When people sign up, send a confirmation email. This way, only those genuinely interested stay on your list.
• Remove Inactive Subscribers: Regularly tidy up your list by removing those who haven’t interacted with your emails for six months or longer. This helps with inbox placement and shows email service providers that your list is active.
• Avoid Buying Email Lists: Purchased lists can contain spam traps or inactive subscribers, which damage your sender reputation. Instead, grow your list naturally through your website or social media.

5. Craft Email Content that Avoids Spam Traps

Spam traps are email addresses set up by email providers to catch spammers. If you send an email to a spam trap, it signals that your list may contain fake or outdated addresses.

Why It’s Important:

Hitting spam traps harms your deliverability rate and can lead to blacklisting by mailbox providers. Avoiding spam traps helps keep your sender score healthy and ensures your emails reach the recipient’s inbox.

How to Implement it:

• Avoid Spam Trigger Words: Certain words like "free," "discount," or "buy now" can alert spam filters. Use natural language to get your message across instead.
• Use a Clear Unsubscribe Link: Always include an unsubscribe link. If people want to stop receiving your emails, let them do so easily. This reduces the chance of spam complaints.
• Balance Text and Images: Emails that are heavy on images or links can look spammy to email service providers. Keep a good mix of text and images, and avoid excessive links or attachments.

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6. Utilize Internet Service Providers and Tools for Optimal Delivery

ISPs like Gmail or Yahoo decide whether your email lands in the inbox or spam folder. They evaluate sender reputation, list quality, and content to make this decision.

Why It’s Important:

Working with ISPs, rather than against them, helps emails get to the primary inbox. Using reliable email service providers (ESPs) and tools improves deliverability by aligning email clients with ISP standards.

How to Implement it:

• Choose a Reliable Email Service Provider (ESP): A good ESP will help manage deliverability issues, optimize inbox placement rates, and provide tools to monitor your campaigns.
• Monitor Key Metrics with Tools: Use email deliverability tools to check your sender reputation, track spam complaints, and measure inbox placement. This helps you spot issues before they impact your entire campaign.
• Warm Up New IP Addresses: If you have a dedicated IP, start by sending small volumes of emails. Gradually increase the amount to show ISPs that you’re a trustworthy sender.

7. Monitor Key Metrics

Key metrics are numbers that show how well your emails are performing. Some important metrics include your deliverability rate, inbox placement rate, and sender reputation.

Monitoring these metrics gives you a clear picture of how many of your emails make it to the recipient’s inbox instead of the spam folder.

Why It’s Important:

When you keep an eye on these numbers, you’ll know if there’s a problem with your email campaigns. By tracking your poor sender reputation score, you can protect your reputation with email service providers like Gmail and Yahoo. The higher your sender reputation, the more emails will get through.

How to Implement it:

• Use Email Deliverability Tools: Tools like Google Postmaster or email marketing platforms can show you metrics like sender score and spam complaints.
• Track Spam Complaints: High spam complaints lower your reputation. Make sure your content is valuable and that you have a clear unsubscribe link.
• Measure Open and Click Rates: These rates show how interested recipients are in your emails. Low engagement could hurt your deliverability, so try to keep your content interesting.

8. Test and Adapt Your Email Program

Testing means trying different versions of your emails to see which one performs better. Adapting means changing your strategy based on what you find.

Both are essential to keep your your email campaign and marketing efforts effective and improve your delivery rate.

Why It’s Important:

The needs of your audience can change, and what worked last month may not work today. Testing helps you find out what your audience likes best.

It also helps you avoid common spam triggers that can send emails to spam folders. Adapting your email program keeps your marketing campaigns fresh and aligned with best practices.

How to Implement it:

• A/B Test Subject Lines: Try different subject lines to see which ones get higher open rates. A/B testing also helps you avoid spammy words in your emails that could affect deliverability.
• Experiment with Send Times: Different audiences are active at different times. Try sending emails at various times of the day to see what works best.
• Regularly Update Your List: Remove inactive subscribers and people who haven’t opened your emails in a while. Keeping your list active supports a successful email marketing program and ensures better inbox placement.

Ensure Your Emails Reach the Recipient's Inbox Every Time

1. Personalize the Sender and Subject Line

Personalization means using specific details to make your emails feel unique to each recipient. You can do this by setting a friendly sender name, such as your first name, and writing subject lines that address the recipient directly.

How to do it:

Use Your Name in the Sender Field: Instead of a generic sender name like "info@example.com," use your name or your company’s name. For example, “Emma from Company X” is more engaging.

Write Catchy Subject Lines: Avoid spammy words like “FREE” or “LIMITED TIME.” Instead, try something personal like, “Here’s Something Just for You, [Recipient's Name].”

Segment Your Audience: Group your email subscribers by interests or preferences and customize subject lines for each group. Personalized subject lines can help increase open rates and engagement.

2. Check Your Sending Frequency

Sending frequency is how often you send emails to your subscribers. If you send too many, your recipients may feel overwhelmed with spam reports and ignore or even report them as spam. On the other hand, sending too few emails might cause your subscribers to forget about you.

How to do it:

Test and Adjust: Start with a set schedule, like once a week or biweekly. Watch your open rates and unsubscribe rates. If open rates drop or unsubscribe rates rise, consider reducing frequency.

Ask Your Subscribers: Include an option in your emails for recipients to choose how often they want to hear from you. This makes them feel in control and can reduce spam complaints.

Monitor Your Metrics: Track email performance data, like open rates and spam complaints, through email deliverability tools. This helps you understand how your whole email delivery program is working and whether you need to make changes.

3. Avoid Spammy Words and Formatting

Spammy words are terms that email filters associate with junk mail. Words like “Free,” “Buy now,” and “Cash prize” can raise red flags and cause emails to end up in the spam folder.

How to do it:

Use Clear, Direct Language: Instead of “Hurry, Limited Time Offer!” try a clear statement like, “Explore Our New Collection.”

Avoid Too Many Special Characters: Too many exclamation marks, dollar signs, or bold fonts can make emails look spammy. Stick to clean, simple text.

Choose Words Carefully: Avoid words that sound too “salesy.” Instead, use helpful or friendly language to keep your email sounding genuine.

4. Encourage Engagement

Engagement refers to actions like opening an email, clicking on a link, or replying. When your recipients interact with your emails, it tells Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Gmail that your emails are wanted.

How to do it:

Include Questions or Polls: Asking a question in your email can prompt a reply. For example, “What’s your favorite product from our new collection?” invites interaction.

Personalize Your Emails: Use your recipient’s name or interests in your email content. Personalized emails often get better responses.

Offer Useful Information or Deals: Share updates, tips, or special offers that make subscribers want to open and engage with your emails.

5. Ask Subscribers to Whitelist You

Whitelisting is when a subscriber adds your email address to their contact list or "safe sender" list. This tells their own email client or service provider (like Gmail or Yahoo) that they want to receive emails from you.

How to do it:

Ask in the Welcome Email: As soon as someone subscribes, send them a welcome email. Politely ask them to add your email address to their contact list.

Provide Simple Instructions: Include easy steps, like “Click on the email address and add it to your contacts.” The simpler, the better!

Remind Occasionally: A gentle reminder in your email footers can nudge subscribers to whitelist you, especially if they miss your first request.

6. Segment Your Audience for Relevance

Audience segmentation means dividing your email list into smaller groups based on certain characteristics. For example, you might segment by interests, age, location, or buying history.

How to do it:

Collect Relevant Data: When people subscribe, ask for details that can help you segment, like their preferences or location.

Group by Behavior: Use email deliverability tools to identify highly engaged subscribers, inactive subscribers, or people who respond to certain types of content.

Personalize for Each Segment: Tailor your emails to each group’s needs. For an email marketing service for example, send special offers to loyal customers and new product updates to frequent shoppers.

Use Alore’s Tools to Improve Email Deliverability Rates

1. Blaze Warmer for IP and Domain Trust Building

Alore’s Blaze Warmer dashboard allows you to automate IP warming and domain trust-building. You can adjust the daily volume of warm-up emails and monitor metrics like open and reply rates, which are essential for avoiding spam folders and improving deliverability.

2. Customizable Warm-Up Campaign Settings

With Alore, you can personalize aspects like email signatures and choose to run campaigns only on weekdays. This flexibility creates a more natural, human-like sending pattern that strengthens trust with ISPs.

3. Comprehensive Domain Health Monitoring

Alore ensures your domain is secure and properly configured. The platform checks for issues with DMARC, SPF, and DNS settings, providing alerts and recommendations that help you maintain a high deliverability rate.

4. Data-Driven Insights on Engagement

Alore’s analytics dashboard tracks key metrics, such as open and reply rates, across campaigns. These insights allow you to fine-tune strategies in real time, optimizing content and engagement, which enhances inbox placement.

5. Automated Drip Campaign Management

Alore’s Drip Campaigner enables other email marketers and you to manage campaigns with ease, customizing email sequences and personalizing messages. This targeted approach keeps emails relevant, reducing the risk of being marked as spam.

6. Advanced Security and Compliance Measures

Complying with data protection standards, Alore’s platform integrates with Google API Services and provides tools to ensure that all campaign activities align with best security practices, protecting both sender reputation and deliverability.

How to Avoid Your Emails from Landing in the Spam Folder

1. Use Double Opt-In Confirmation

Double opt-in confirmation is when a new subscriber has to confirm their subscription twice. First, they enter their email address to sign up, then they receive a confirmation email to verify. Only after they confirm, they are added to your list.

Why is it important:

Double opt-in is crucial because it keeps your email lists clean. It ensures that people who really want your emails sign up.

This prevents inactive subscribers or fake email addresses from getting into your list, which can hurt your sender's reputation.

How to Implement:

To set this up, you can use an email marketing tool or platform that supports double opt-in. For example:

• Step 1: Set up a welcome email that asks the new subscriber to confirm their email.
• Step 2: Include a clear, simple call to action, like “Click here to confirm.”
• Step 3: After they confirm, send a thank-you message. This keeps them engaged and feels welcoming.

Following this process helps you build a solid subscriber list, which means fewer spam complaints and better deliverability rates.

2. Warm Up New IP Addresses Gradually

When you use a new IP address to send emails, it doesn’t have a reputation yet. Warming up an IP means you send emails in small amounts first and slowly increase the volume. This helps email service providers see that your dedicated IP addresses used is trustworthy.

Why is it important:

If you start sending too many emails from a brand-new IP, it can look like spam behavior to service providers.

A sudden, high volume from an unknown IP can trigger spam filters and hurt your email deliverability rate. Gradual warm-up helps build a positive sender reputation, which improves your inbox placement rate.

How to Implement:

To warm up an IP address, follow these steps:

• Step 1: Begin by sending emails to your most active subscribers. These are people who usually open your emails, so they’re more likely to interact.
• Step 2: Increase the email volume slowly over a few weeks. For example, start with 100 emails per day, then gradually increase it by 100 emails each day.
• Step 3: Monitor the engagement metrics, like open rates and spam complaints. Adjust your sending volume based on these results.

By warming up mail server and your IP address slowly, you’re showing internet service providers that your emails are safe and valuable for recipients. This leads to better deliverability, meaning more of your emails end up in your recipients’ inboxes.

3. Keep Email Lists Clean and Updated

A “clean” email list includes only active and interested subscribers. These are people who have given permission to receive your emails and are likely to engage with them. “Inactive subscribers” are those who haven’t opened or interacted with your emails for a while.

Why is it important:

Inactive or outdated emails can lower your sender reputation. If you send emails to people who no longer want them, you could get marked as spam.

This also affects your email deliverability refers and rate, making it more likely your emails end up in spam folders.

How to implement:

• Remove inactive subscribers regularly: Look at your email reports to identify people who haven’t opened or clicked in a few months. Ask them if they’d still like to receive your emails. If they don’t respond, consider removing them.
• Run re-engagement campaigns: Send a special email to inactive subscribers with a message like, “We miss you! Are you still interested in hearing from us?” If they don’t engage, it’s best to remove them from your list.
• Use double opt-in: Double opt-in is when a new subscriber confirms their subscription twice. This ensures only genuine, interested subscribers are added to your list, which helps maintain high deliverability rates.

Keeping a clean email list helps keep your emails out of spam folders and maintains a good sender reputation.

4. Balance Text and Image Ratio

The text-to-image ratio is the balance of written content (text) versus images in your emails. Emails that have too many images and too little text can look suspicious to email service providers, like spam emails.

Why is it important:

Emails with a poor text-to-image ratio are more likely to end up in spam. Spam filters look for patterns, and too many images without enough text can trigger these filters. Balancing text and images is key to improving your inbox placement rate.

How to balance text and images:

• Use more text than images: Aim for about 60% text and 40% images in your email. This helps email service providers see that your email is informative, not spammy.
• Add descriptive text for images: Include short captions or “alt text” for each image. This makes your email accessible to people with image blockers and helps improve your email deliverability.
• Test different designs: Try sending emails with different layouts to see what works best. Some audiences respond better to text-heavy emails, while others prefer visuals. Track your open and click rates to understand your audience's preference.

Balancing your email’s text-to-image ratio can improve your deliverability rate and help keep your emails in the recipient's inbox rather than the spam folder.

5. Avoid Excessive Links and Attachments

Excessive links and large attachments in an email can make it look suspicious. Email service providers often treat emails with too many links or big attachments as potential spam. Keeping your email content simple can prevent this.

Why is it important:

Emails with too many links or attachments might trigger spam filters. This can affect your sender reputation, reducing your chances of reaching the primary inbox. Having a good email deliverability rate is essential for maintaining communication with your audience.

How to implement:

• Limit links to essential ones only: Include only the most important links, like a call-to-action link or a link to your website. Avoid adding too many links to social media or other pages.
• Use smaller attachments or links to files instead: Instead of attaching large files, consider linking to them on a secure server. This reduces the size of your email and looks more trustworthy to email service providers.
• Avoid spammy-looking URLs: Using shortened links or overly promotional URLs can also trigger spam filters. Stick to links that look clean and relevant to your content.

By keeping links and attachments to a minimum, you’re helping your emails appear more trustworthy, improving your deliverability rate, and improving the chances of reaching the recipient's inbox.

6. Add an Unsubscribe Link and Honor Requests

An unsubscribe link is a button or link in your email that lets recipients opt out of future emails. It’s usually found at the bottom of the email and is required by many regulations, like CAN-SPAM in the U.S.

Why is it important:

Providing an unsubscribe option keeps your email list healthy and your sender reputation intact. If people don’t want your emails but can’t opt out, they might mark your messages as spam, hurting your email deliverability. Honoring unsubscribe requests shows respect for your audience’s preferences.

How to implement:

• Add a clear unsubscribe link: Place a simple “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of every email. Make it easy to find, so people don’t have to hunt for it.
• Honor unsubscribe requests quickly: When someone unsubscribes, process their request right away. Many email service providers do this automatically, but make sure it’s set up correctly.
• Use polite language: Make the unsubscribe process friendly by thanking the recipient for their time with your emails. This maintains a positive image, even as they leave.

Adding an unsubscribe link and honoring requests helps keep your email deliverability high. It also builds trust, showing your audience that you respect their choices.

7. Personalize the Content

Personalizing email content means crafting each message to feel tailored to the individual recipient. This could be as simple as addressing them by their first name or referencing their recent purchases or interests.

Why is it important:

When emails feel personal, people are more likely to open and read them. Personalization can improve your sender reputation because it shows email service providers that recipients are engaging with your messages. This can increase your inbox placement rate and overall email deliverability.

How to Implement:

• Use the recipient’s name: Start the email with their first name. People respond better to messages that feel direct and personal.
• Segment your audience: Group your recipients based on similar interests or behaviors. For instance, if you’re sending marketing emails for a clothing store, you could send different emails to people interested in men’s or women’s fashion.
• Reference past interactions: If possible, mention previous purchases or activities. For example, “Since you loved our summer sale, we think you’ll enjoy these winter deals!”

By personalizing your emails, you’re making the content relevant to each recipient. This can improve your email deliverability rate and keep your emails in the primary inbox.

8. Regularly Monitor Blacklists

A blacklist is a list of email addresses or domains that are considered untrustworthy or spammy. If your IP address or domain appears on a blacklist, your emails are more likely to end up in spam folders instead of the recipient's inbox.

Why is it important:

Being blacklisted can significantly hurt your email deliverability. Many email service providers use blacklists to decide which emails to block.

Regularly checking these lists helps you stay aware of your sender reputation and take action if you’re listed.

How to Implement:

• Use a blacklist-checking tool: There are tools, like MXToolBox and Spamhaus, that let you check if your domain or IP address is on any major blacklists. Regular checks are a good habit.
• Take quick action if you’re listed: If you find yourself on a blacklist, first identify the reason. High spam complaints or outdated email lists are common causes. Fix the issues, such as by cleaning your email lists or addressing spam complaints.
• Request delisting: After resolving the issue, reach out to the blacklist provider and request removal. Some lists allow you to do this directly through their site.

Monitoring blacklists and resolving any issues quickly can protect your sender reputation. This keeps your emails landing where they’re supposed to—right in your recipient’s inbox.

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Conclusion

Mastering email deliverability best practices can make a huge difference in your email marketing success. By following simple steps—like keeping your lists clean, avoiding spam triggers, and regularly checking your sender reputation—you improve the chances of reaching your recipient's inbox. Remember, every detail matters. Consistently apply these practices to keep your emails out of the spam folder and in front of your audience.

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