Email Inbox Rate
As we are working on some email testing, we have noticed that our inbox rate seems to be fairly low in our test group (with several members only receiving emails to their spam folder). Does anyone have recommendations on additional ways to improve or review our inbox rate?
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sam
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Sam Finley, Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
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Comments
6 comments
Hi Sam,
There are many reasons for having lower than expected Inbox rates.
First, if companies are using aggressive spam filters and you have no prior email 'relationship' with that client, its going to send you to the spam filter no matter what.
Having said that, there are things that people do of not confronting an aggressive spam filter that can help.
1. If you can, send from a name and not the common, generic corporate email address. As an Act-On admin, I can send emails under my name or have one of my other admins do it. Better than the generic email address. Comes across as more personal both to the recipient and the spam blockers
2. Only use images if absolutely necessary. I have found much higher inbox and open rates when NOT using images at the top. Even not talking about Spam, people often view emails in a small window and the image makes it harder to see the message and immediately smacks of marketing.
3. Subject lines. Not only should you make them interesting to the recipient but certain words will automatically bring it to the attention of spam blockers. Some will check the email body as well. Words like Sale, Free, etc there are many sites that provide lists such as this one The Ultimate SPAM Trigger Words List: 474 Keywords to Avoid in 2018 not saying it is a good list, just didn't have time to source it well. But I hope you get the message.
4. Apparently using ALL CAPS can get spam filter attention. Same with using exclamation marks!!!!!! especially in subject lines
5. If you are going to put some images in, some spam filters work out the percentage of image to text (bit like the way Facebook does, I guess when creating an ad.) I just stay away from images as much as possible.
6. Including attachments, if it is someone you have no prior email relationship. Luckily, with Act-On, you don't have to include attachments, just a link to download, which should keep you out of trouble there.
There are probably more ideas but these are some obvious ones.
A good practice is to segment your lists as much as possible to make your emails as relevant as possible. Not only will that give you higher open rates, it should also improve your email reputation, which could affect delivery rates. If I recall correctly, Act-On reviews that when setting up. We always use the option to scrub the list for Opt-Outs. But we also use the Bounces & Opt-Out lists to move contacts over that bounce a lot, not only does it keep my list count down but hopefully ensures that we don't look like a spammer.
Anyway, I am sure there is more (and better) advice on the web out there but just thought the ideas here might point you in the right direction and show you there are things you can do to keep emails from going into spam as much as possible.
Cheers
Paul
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Paul McDevitt
Director, Marketing, Unity Connected Solutions
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2018 15:09
From: Sam Finley
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Good afternoon,
As we are working on some email testing, we have noticed that our inbox rate seems to be fairly low in our test group (with several members only receiving emails to their spam folder). Does anyone have recommendations on additional ways to improve or review our inbox rate?
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sam
------------------------------
Sam Finley, Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
------------------------------
We just sent our first email with Act-On and noticed a similar occurrence with our deliverability. Now that you are one month in, have you seen an increase in open rates and fewer emails going directly into Spam?
Thanks!
~Debra
------------------------------
Debra Menter
Chief Executive Group
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2018 15:09
From: Sam Finley
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Good afternoon,
As we are working on some email testing, we have noticed that our inbox rate seems to be fairly low in our test group (with several members only receiving emails to their spam folder). Does anyone have recommendations on additional ways to improve or review our inbox rate?
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sam
------------------------------
Sam Finley, Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
------------------------------
Edit: Forgot to ask: Have you checked the spam score under the review tab when sending the email?
Everything Paul said was a great place to start. I'd like to chime in on IP warming, Act-on's envelope for marketing sub domains and a couple of the steps for setting up a send domain so it works properly. Ip warming is the practice of ramping up the amount of emails sent when first using a new email service provider. Sending a ton of emails at once from a cold IP is more likely to trigger ISPs flagging your emails as spam. Once your IP is sufficiantly warmed up, ISPs are more likely to see it as a dedicated IP.
Also, when setting up Act-on, if you use a marketing subdomain (eg: marketing.yourcompany.com) make sure the envelope is correctly implemented. Also check that the from address for your emails has its envelope set up correctly. I believe even if the envelope appears to be set up correctly, only for a step in it not set correctly, the spam detection rates go up.
Some act-on literature resources:
https://www.act-on.com/blog/warming-new-email-sending-ip-address-important/
https://www.act-on.com/datasheet/email-reputation-management-warming-dedicated-ip/
https://university.act-on.com/Your_Account/Set_up_a_New_Account_in_2_Weeks/Setting_up_an_Envelope_From_Domain
https://university.act-on.com/Your_Account/Set_up_a_New_Account_in_2_Weeks/Setting_up_an_Email_From_Domain
------------------------------
Michelle Dean
Acromag
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-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2018 15:09
From: Sam Finley
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Good afternoon,
As we are working on some email testing, we have noticed that our inbox rate seems to be fairly low in our test group (with several members only receiving emails to their spam folder). Does anyone have recommendations on additional ways to improve or review our inbox rate?
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sam
------------------------------
Sam Finley, Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
------------------------------
------------------------------
Chad Collett
Director of Marketing, Ledgeview Partners
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-16-2019 07:48
From: Michelle Dean
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Hi Sam,
Edit: Forgot to ask: Have you checked the spam score under the review tab when sending the email?
Everything Paul said was a great place to start. I'd like to chime in on IP warming, Act-on's envelope for marketing sub domains and a couple of the steps for setting up a send domain so it works properly. Ip warming is the practice of ramping up the amount of emails sent when first using a new email service provider. Sending a ton of emails at once from a cold IP is more likely to trigger ISPs flagging your emails as spam. Once your IP is sufficiantly warmed up, ISPs are more likely to see it as a dedicated IP.
Also, when setting up Act-on, if you use a marketing subdomain (eg: marketing.yourcompany.com) make sure the envelope is correctly implemented. Also check that the from address for your emails has its envelope set up correctly. I believe even if the envelope appears to be set up correctly, only for a step in it not set correctly, the spam detection rates go up.
Some act-on literature resources:
https://www.act-on.com/blog/warming-new-email-sending-ip-address-important/
https://www.act-on.com/datasheet/email-reputation-management-warming-dedicated-ip/
https://university.act-on.com/Your_Account/Set_up_a_New_Account_in_2_Weeks/Setting_up_an_Envelope_From_Domain
https://university.act-on.com/Your_Account/Set_up_a_New_Account_in_2_Weeks/Setting_up_an_Email_From_Domain
------------------------------
Michelle Dean
Acromag
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2018 15:09
From: Sam Finley
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Good afternoon,
As we are working on some email testing, we have noticed that our inbox rate seems to be fairly low in our test group (with several members only receiving emails to their spam folder). Does anyone have recommendations on additional ways to improve or review our inbox rate?
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sam
------------------------------
Sam Finley, Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
------------------------------
Regarding safe sender lists and the .marketing sub domain, I don't have enough experience with Act-on to be able to give you a confident answer. The company email client thinking act-on emails were spam was an issue I encountered personally, so it's more anecdotal than evidence. In addition, this was within the first one or two months of using Act-on, so it could very well have been more than one factor.
The main thing being described here is inbox deliverability. This is not delivery rate, btw. Delivery rate is the total number of bounces divided by the total size of the list that you sent an email to. Inbox deliverability is how many emails end up inside the recipient's inbox and not in the junk/spam/promotions/etc folder. There are many factors that affect inbox deliverability, just a few are email service provider, the reputation your IP address has with major internet service providers, and others. I think that bounces can even affect inbox deliverability, because when an ISP sees the same IP sending out a lot of emails that repeatedly bounce, the reputation of that IP will go down.
It would be best to have someone from Act-on weight in on this personally, as they should know far better than I about issue.
Here are links to some Act-on literature I found regarding inbox deliverablity:
https://www.act-on.com/blog/trends-in-inbox-placement/ <-- good one
https://www.act-on.com/blog/email-deliverability-glossary/
https://www.act-on.com/blog/frequently-asked-questions-about-email-deliverability/
https://university.act-on.com/Product_Features/Outbound/Email_-_Create_and_Compose/Fixing_Test_Emails_That_Were_Not_Delivered
https://www.act-on.com/blog/optimize-content-for-email-deliverability/
------------------------------
Michelle Dean
Acromag
------------------------------
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-16-2019 09:31
From: Chad Collett
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
When you set up your marketing sub domain (eg: marketing.yourcompany.com) and you ask people to add you to their safe sender list, are you still covered if they at @yourcompany.com (and not the .marketing component?) - We also are struggling with inbox open rates and many people tell us our emails end up in marketing/spam folders even though we do run the spam report each time we do a send and it passes with flying colors.
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Chad Collett
Director of Marketing, Ledgeview Partners
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-16-2019 07:48
From: Michelle Dean
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Hi Sam,
Edit: Forgot to ask: Have you checked the spam score under the review tab when sending the email?
Everything Paul said was a great place to start. I'd like to chime in on IP warming, Act-on's envelope for marketing sub domains and a couple of the steps for setting up a send domain so it works properly. Ip warming is the practice of ramping up the amount of emails sent when first using a new email service provider. Sending a ton of emails at once from a cold IP is more likely to trigger ISPs flagging your emails as spam. Once your IP is sufficiantly warmed up, ISPs are more likely to see it as a dedicated IP.
Also, when setting up Act-on, if you use a marketing subdomain (eg: marketing.yourcompany.com) make sure the envelope is correctly implemented. Also check that the from address for your emails has its envelope set up correctly. I believe even if the envelope appears to be set up correctly, only for a step in it not set correctly, the spam detection rates go up.
Some act-on literature resources:
https://www.act-on.com/blog/warming-new-email-sending-ip-address-important/
https://www.act-on.com/datasheet/email-reputation-management-warming-dedicated-ip/
https://university.act-on.com/Your_Account/Set_up_a_New_Account_in_2_Weeks/Setting_up_an_Envelope_From_Domain
https://university.act-on.com/Your_Account/Set_up_a_New_Account_in_2_Weeks/Setting_up_an_Email_From_Domain
------------------------------
Michelle Dean
Acromag
Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2018 15:09
From: Sam Finley
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Good afternoon,
As we are working on some email testing, we have noticed that our inbox rate seems to be fairly low in our test group (with several members only receiving emails to their spam folder). Does anyone have recommendations on additional ways to improve or review our inbox rate?
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sam
------------------------------
Sam Finley, Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
------------------------------
Hi Debra,
Thanks so much for sharing a bit about your experience. We've been working to address some of the IP and creative hold-ups before we launched our first automated program. Once we're further in, I'll connect with this thread on any updates.
Thanks,
Sam
------------------------------
Sam Finley
Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-15-2019 13:40
From: Debra Menter
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Hi Sam,
We just sent our first email with Act-On and noticed a similar occurrence with our deliverability. Now that you are one month in, have you seen an increase in open rates and fewer emails going directly into Spam?
Thanks!
~Debra
------------------------------
Debra Menter
Chief Executive Group
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 12-03-2018 15:09
From: Sam Finley
Subject: Email Inbox Rate
Good afternoon,
As we are working on some email testing, we have noticed that our inbox rate seems to be fairly low in our test group (with several members only receiving emails to their spam folder). Does anyone have recommendations on additional ways to improve or review our inbox rate?
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Sam
------------------------------
Sam Finley, Marketing & Communications Manager
UNC Charlotte, Belk College of Business
------------------------------
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