It’s not delivery, it’s your tactics…
Posted By Jack Burke - July 12th, 2009
In a weird, fatty kid way, email deliverability is somewhat like the ice cream man, sometimes it’s there when you want it and sometimes it isn’t. Those emails that are sent are similar to the ice cream man driving by - you could simply let the ice cream man drive past you, or you could stop and get yourself a frozen goodie. Same with emails, you can choose to read some, or not to. If only we could guarantee email deliverability and inboxing. While this is unrealistic, there are some things to help out.
One thing I’ve learned is that a lot of email clients have inbox-sorting features where if you, the sender, are not listed in the receiver’s contacts, your messages won’t show up in their inboxes. What I would recommend is that you consider a dedicated add-to-sender-list campaign. This would come in handy when switching email providers, changing email addresses, etc. Another good practice for sender-list campaigns is that you could ask for inclusion at the start. Think of it as Diddy’s White Party list. Once youre in, youre in. You want to let the recipient know the value and benefits of whitelisting. Let them know that adding your address to the personal whitelist will keep your messages coming in. Let them know that your messages have value.
Also, you could also create a reply campaign. A lot of email clients will automatically add your sending address to the sender list if the subscriber sends you an email. So, it might be a good idea to make sure you make your reply address a place where subscribers can either leave comments, or ask questions, or enter to win.
These are just some tips to allow the free flowing email going between you and the subscriber, the way it should be as opposed to a one way street filled with crazy street vendors flipping signs at you (Hey LA)! Hope this helps with your delivery! Im going to get some ice cream from that sketchy van.
