Ecommerce newsletters still represent an efficient tool for promoting your business products on the web and gaining customer loyalty.

As for 2019, email marketing brought in a profit of $42 out of each $1 of investments. While the companies themselves estimate its ability to keep client retention rate at about 80%

The essential power of ecommerce email campaigns depend on the deliverability of emails. And to be even more precise, it stands on how many of your messages eventually get into the Primary inbox of your recipients.

A recent report states that, on average, only 83% of emails successfully reach their recipient's inbox. There are several causes behind poor deliverability, which we'll explore below and share insights into dealing with them.

Factors that reduce the effectiveness of email marketing

The factors that usually cause poor email deliverability can be roughly divided into three segments:

  • Content-related
  • Tech-related
  • Customer-related

The problematic characteristics coming from the body of ecommerce message include:

Subject line errors

Users are not very happy when they click on the “Gift for every subscriber” line and are taken to the standard product catalog without a hint of a bonus or discount.

Thus, choose a subject line that represents email body content.

Always fill in the “From” field with your real brand name. It expands awareness and builds trust with the subscribers.

Poor email copy

For many readers, grammatical errors are a reason to ignore emails completely.

Don't skip proofreading. Use any of the available spell-check services and proofread the copy by yourself. Leave it for a while and then get back to the message – it'll allow you to grab small details that might be critical for a customer.

Spam triggers

It's challenging to create an ecommerce message without "selling words," right? But it's possible.

If there are lots of spam words in your email, email clients will think that you are sending spam and send it to the Spam folder.

Avoid the most common spam triggers:

Click here, Special offer, Low price, Bonus, Best price, Dear customer, Cash, Order now, 100% free, and more.

Media trap

Your email should not only consist of textless images. It can be too heavy, or the user will simply don’t see them in case of disabled images view function.

You should add an “Alt text” to describe it. It helps to read the letter if images are not reflected correctly. Or prepare a browser version of the letter.

Limit adding files. It is not recommended to attach files at all, especially in .exe, .zip, .swf formats.

Pay close attention to the links placed in the commercial message: if a third-party resource is in the blacklist of the mail service, it will inevitably destroy the domain's reputation, and the mailing will end up in spam.

You must include it.
The footer should contain the following information:

  • Company data (legal address, contacts, etc.)
  • Feedback links and social media
  • Unsubscribe option
  • Your company branding

Technical issues are harder to deal with, but they may be super critical for the deliverability. Among others, the major tech-related factors are:

Bad domain reputation

It happens when you refill the email lists all-together. Start mailing by warming up the prospects and customers.

If there were no campaigns on behalf of your domain yet, then the mail services may not recognize your intentions and consider them spam.

Do not start sending emails to the entire list at once. Choose a small group of addresses (200-300, but preferably no more than 1000 in the first days). Increase the batch gradually, say, every day.

If done correctly, you will get a good reputation and proper deliverability across the entire list.

A letter with your own domain name is a must-have for email blast. It should look like company@company.com and not company.company@gmail.com.

Free mailboxes are intended for the personal correspondence of users. Therefore, sending messages to hundreds of contacts will look suspicious to email providers.

Source: SafetyNet

If your mail has several matches with this example, it has the potential to hit the anti-spam radars.

Failed authentication

Typically, email service providers use authentication methods to determine if the sender is valid. Following authentication practices guarantee the deliverability of letters:

  • DKIM. Domain Keys Identified Mail is a domain name correspondence authentication method. DKIM checks if the domain of the outgoing mail belongs to the sender and secures from message modifications.
  • SPF. Sender Policy Framework is an email verification approach designed to block spam, spoofing, other email fraud by verifying the sender's IP address.
  • DMARC. Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance by the domain name helps the ESP to ensure that DKIM and SPF are used correctly. It's a highly recommended method currently.

Human factor is both unpredictable and influencing. Let's look how the deliverability of emails can be affected by this aspect

Low customer engagement

The audience may be uninterested in receiving emails.

Double Opt-In can reduce the number of complaints about spam messages. The use of a double confirmation approach leaves only users who are interested in the material sent by your company.

Source: Sendpulse

Inactive users

If users do not open any of your letters for a long time, it can mean two things: either they are not interested in your newsletters, or the mailbox is abandoned and can turn into a spam trap.

Use reactivation tactics to deal with this issue.

Outdated recipient database

When you buy a database, you get a non-target audience with no consent to the newsletter. Also, such databases often contain many irrelevant addresses: users start new mail when they realize that their address has become publicly available.

Off-target emails

Conduct surveys and segment your base. The more personalized content your subscribers receive, the better they'll respond to it: openings, clicks, and sales will grow.

You can divide subscribers by activity, gender and age, preferences, geography, life cycle, and other parameters. Remember that customer loyalty begins with small details.

Source: Kdnuggets

Low sending frequency

Regular contacts will not let users forget about you. And email providers keep track of the number of emails you send.

A long pause between newsletters can raise suspicion and reduce deliverability rates.

To sum up

As a result, email deliverability is influenced by three main parameters: email content, technical settings, and human-related issues.

To get into the inboxes of your customers, carefully work out email structure, check the content for spam triggers, regularly analyze statistics, track domain reputation, spend time on gathering and segmenting target audience. Stay honest and caring in your messaging – it will help you ecommerce emails as well.

This is a guest post by Dmytro Zaichenko, a Marketing Specialist at Mailtrap. Mailtrap helps test emails at the developmental stages. He has more than 5 years of experience in content making. Apart from writing, he's a passionate NBA fan.