No marketing campaign succeeds at the push of the “send” button—at least, not until it lands in the intended recipient's inbox (yes, even the most carefully crafted!).
With 50% of consumers buying from marketing emails once a month, you’re leaving money on the table if those emails are left unopened.
A 28% increase in ROI when you spam test your emails is proof of this. This is why companies with excellent email deliverability rack up high open rates, click-through rates, and ROI on their campaigns.
But the roadblocks on the path to email deliverability are real: a staggering 15.8% of legitimate marketing emails never reach the recipient's inbox. And given that every unopened email is a missed opportunity to connect with consumers, fail-proofing your email deliverability is an absolute must.
However, with more email deliverability tools than fish in the sea, making a pick for your use case can be daunting.
Confused much? Don’t fret: we’ve shared some useful pointers to help you find the best one. Check out the key criteria and 5-step guide to choosing your perfect email deliverability partner!
The Article Walkthrough:
- Email Deliverability Services: Definition & Functions
- Unexpected Benefits of “Hiring” Email Deliverability Service
- Where To Start? Follow These 6 Steps!
- Checklist with the 4 Most Important Email Deliverability Service Choice Criteria
- Bottom Line: How About a Comprehensive Approach to Email Deliverability?
Email Deliverability Services: Definition & Functions
Email deliverability service refers to a range of tools, technologies, and best practices designed to ensure that emails are successfully delivered to recipients' inboxes. Usually, they combine both manual and automatic approaches.
π― The goal of an email deliverability service is to enhance the chances of emails being delivered to the intended recipients and minimize the risk of emails being flagged as spam or bounced.
Just like air traffic controllers, email deliverability services work behind the scenes, but their role is critical for ensuring that emails reach their final destinations safely and successfully. They ensure a smooth journey.
A good email deliverability agency or tool will perform these key functions:
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Monitor and manage sender reputation (IP address and domain);
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Enhance email authentication and prevent spoofing;
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Validate and verify email list to reduce bounce rates (check email scrubbing software);
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Optimize email content to comply with best practices and data policies;
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Monitor inbox placement and identify potential issues that may hamper deliverability; and
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Provide detailed reports and analytics on open, click-through, and bounce rates.
Some existing tools that help reduce bounce rates and improve deliverability are diagnostic and lookup tools (MXToolBox, Return Path), email verifiers (ZeroBounce, Mailfloss), email scrubbing software tools (ZeroBounce, NeverBounce), and comprehensive email deliverability solutions (Folderly, GlockApps). We also recommend checking our detailed comparison articles such as Snovio alternative, Glockapps alternative, Warmy Alternative, Warmbox Alternative, Mailwarm Alternative, Lemwarm Alternative, Lemlist Alternative, and Instantly Alternative.
You can also check other tools reviews in our articles, namely Mailreach Alternative, Warmy Alternative, Warmbox Alternative, Mailwarm Alternative, Lemwarm Alternative, Lemlist Alternative, and Instantly Alternative.
Unexpected Benefits of “Hiring” Email Deliverability Service
If you still ask yourself, “Why should I consider investing in email deliverability services?” we’ve got you covered!
By harnessing the power of an email deliverability service, you can experience benefits beyond the obvious ones. From protecting your brand reputation to saving on legal costs and preserving the environment (yes, that’s right!), these unexpected advantages make investing in an email deliverability service a strategic choice for your business.
The unexpected benefits include:
- Saving on Legal Costs: Email deliverability services ensure your adherence to email compliance, such as GDPR or CAN-SPAM.
- Preserving Energy and Resources: Instead of spending energy troubleshooting deliverability issues or dealing with the technical aspects, you can focus on other crucial aspects of your business.
- Maintaining Brand Reputation: What would you think of a brand if its newsletter came to a spam folder instead of an inbox? By monitoring and managing your sender reputation, email deliverability services safeguard your brand's reputation.
- Gaining Business Insights: Email deliverability services provide valuable analytics and reports. These insights go beyond just email deliverability metrics and can help you gain a deeper understanding of your audience's behavior and preferences.
- Conserving the Environment: Email deliverability services play a role in reducing paper waste. Why? The logic behind this statement is simple. By ensuring that your emails reach the inbox and are read, they contribute to the digitalization of communication. This reduces the need for physical mailing and paper usage, ultimately helping to conserve the environment.
It’s amazing, isn’t it?
Where To Start? Follow These 6 Steps!
Let’s start with six vital steps to help you find the perfect email deliverability company for your outreach.
Step 1: Define your needs and goals
Everything starts with strong motivation. Before selecting an email deliverability company, it's important to first define your needs and goals. Try to clearly answer the following questions:
- What specific results do you want to achieve with your email campaigns in the short and long term? Are you aiming to increase open-and-click rates, improve conversion rates, or boost overall audience engagement?
- How are your current email marketing efforts performing? Analyze your existing results in terms of open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, complaints, and unsubscribes to identify areas for improvement.
- What kind of data insights do you currently have access to when reviewing key performance indicators? Assess your ability to measure and analyze metrics such as bounces, complaints, opens, clicks, and unsubscribes to gain a deeper understanding of your email campaign's effectiveness.
- How do you currently handle deliverability issues? Consider how you are notified of any deliverability problems, and whether you have a system in place to receive automated alerts when issues arise.
- Do you have a dedicated professional on your team who manages email deliverability or possesses knowledge and expertise in technical issues related to email deliverability? Assess your resources and whether you have this expertise in-house or if you require external support.
By answering these questions, you will have a clearer understanding of your needs and goals, guiding you in selecting the ideal email deliverability company.
Step 2: Decide about your budget
Before you commit to any subscription, ask yourself, “How much money am I ready to spend on email deliverability tools?” and “What is a potential ROI? Does it significantly surpass the invested money?”
While it's important to consider the costs involved, remember that email marketing continues to deliver high returns on investment (ROI).
FYI: For every $1 spent on email marketing, the average ROI is $36. And so, you can never go wrong with pumping in more resources in this area to drive impressive results for your business.
Step 3: Consider the essential (plus your own important) criteria
When choosing an email deliverability service, you want to consider several essential criteria that will determine the effectiveness of the service for your specific needs. The essential criteria we’ll discuss in the next paragraph include:
- Email deliverability expertise
- A comprehensive approach to email deliverability
- Dedicated support team
- Easy integration into existing workflow
By considering these factors and creating your checklist, you can clearly understand what functionalities are crucial to meeting your email deliverability needs.
Step 4: Contact a support team to get a quote & discuss goals
It’s time to give them a ping! Contact the support team of potential email deliverability service providers to discuss your requirements, share your goals, and get a consultation.
A reputable service provider will help you decide after breaking down the features and their suitability — it could be through a personalized quote to see if the purchase is cost-effective or a trial period to test a service before fully committing.
Tip: Even though some solutions may not feature trial periods, the personal touch via demo gives the chance of getting the trial period, especially if a team uses a loyal and dedicated approach to each customer.
When it comes to pricing, several factors will affect the price. Typically, paid tools offer a wider range of features and the ability to test a substantial volume of emails.
Pricing for these products can be based on the number of inboxes. Alternatively, other products charge a monthly or yearly fee based on the included features, ranging from $40/month to $400/month.
Step 5: Compare & choose the best deal rather than the cheapest price
While cost is an important factor, you want to prioritize value. Consider the overall package offered by the email deliverability service provider.
18% of companies achieve a juicy 7000% ROI from email marketing, so it makes sense to use a reputable service that can improve your email deliverability (even if sometimes it means you need to invest more).
Note that a reputable service may have a higher upfront cost but can yield greater returns on email deliverability & business growth in the long run.
Checklist with the 4 Key Email Deliverability Service Criteria to Consider
The criteria we’ll discuss below are usually the basics and should be available at every email deliverability solution you plan to invest in. However, note that this is not an exclusive list! Your business should experience unique issues and have unique criteria. Add them to this list, and you will be all set to choose your ideal email deliverability partner :)
Evidence of expertise in deliverability
First things first. You must ensure that whoever you hire knows their onions. Anyone can claim to be an expert. So, it’s up to you to separate the real master in the industry from the phonies.
First, how do you go about this? Check websites for testimonials. Look for issues similar to yours that they have handled successfully. Find out who their clients are. Are they real people and businesses?
At Folderly, for instance, we have numerous case studies of clients for whom we successfully fixed email deliverability. Our clientele, comprising industry leaders across various niches and countries, has seen up to a 100% increase in email deliverability.
Before you trust an email deliverability service, check for customer reviews on the strength of their reputation to solve deliverability issues on software review platforms like G2.
Dedicated support team
Like any other service, an email deliverability company is as useful as its customer support. When you run into a hitch, your choice of deliverability service should bail you out in a blink.
Before committing to a subscription for any tool, ask the following questions:
- Do they respond to your inquiries promptly?
- Are their responses courteous?
- Do they answer your questions to your satisfaction?
- Are other users satisfied with their support team?
The support team of your chosen solution should offer tailored advice based on their extensive experience in email best practices.
And it goes without saying that each plan should come with assistance in the form of onboarding support, including tech infrastructure setup, content problem detection, and suggestions.
A comprehensive approach to email deliverability
When checking for email deliverability, an inbox warmup is one of the necessary steps to put in place. It involves gradually increasing the volume of emails sent from a new or less active sender so that your domain gains the trust of ESPs.
Many tools use illegal warmups, artificially increasing email sending volumes and engagement metrics through unauthorized means (such as purchasing or renting email lists and engaging in spammy tactics).
Such practices can violate the Google API Services User Data Policy, resulting in severe consequences, such as being blacklisted or legally penalized.
Folderly’s approach is a legal email deliverability fix that slowly but surely primes your sender's reputation for success.
We took one of our clients from a 20% to 70% reply rate using a comprehensive email approach involving a manual and compliant approach to fixing email deliverability that sticks to best email practices.
Seamless integration into existing workflow
When choosing an email deliverability service, ease of use is important.
Sure, you want a tool with all the right chops, but it doesn’t have to be complex to navigate. You also want your tool to integrate with your existing email service providers and CRMs.
We prioritize this need in Folderly as well. From the simplistic dashboard to the ease of setup, you can integrate Folderly with all the popular email providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL) via API and SMTP, as well as custom providers and your favorite marketing tools.
Bottom Line: Comprehensive Approach to Email Deliverability Is a New Black
In today’s business world, a comprehensive approach to email deliverability has become the new standard (if your goal is a strong sender’s reputation and long-term success rather than a quick, temporary increase in deliverability and open rates).
And as far as professional services go, Folderly remains a one-stop solution for all your email deliverability needs—from email verification to testing and authentication.
What’s more? Our easy-to-navigate dashboard and seamless integration of all service providers cause your team zero hassle when integrating existing workflows with Folderly.
When your deliverability chips are down, your best bet is a deliverability service with a track record of high email deliverability rates. (Folderly waves hi!π)
Got any questions? Want to request a quote? Our support team is on standby to give you answers and valuable advice. Also, book a call to test the waters and check whether your business and Folderly are the best possible fit.