Folderly 
How do you figure out why your emails aren't reaching their targets if you keep doing business as usual? If all your email contacts are verified and already recognize you as a sender, why do cold emails keep going to promotions or spam?
This is the challenge that No Rules PR brought to the Folderly team when we first met.
In this case study, we’ll discuss the email deliverability challenges the company faced, how exactly Folderly helped to change email deliverability from 15% to 96%, and the practical lessons that every business can learn and apply from this case study
Type of Company
No Rules PR is a full-service artist development agency that specializes in promoting new music to international media partners. Although this company is an uncommon type of B2B, the majority of the email deliverability lessons from this case study apply to any type of business (e.g., B2C, eCommerce, and so on).
How The Client Used Email Communication
The client was using cold email outreach to connect with musical bands and different international media to offer services and find new PR opportunities.
Email Deliverability Challenges The Client Faced
After years in business, the client noticed a significant drop in response rates. Emails stopped reaching their intended recipients and began landing in promotional or spam folders. The client was using the same practices he had always used, but for some reason, they were no longer producing results. It meant lost connections and revenue.
Issues Found & Solved with Folderly
“Once Folderly got involved, it was pretty easy to help me figure out what’s going on.”
Chad Cornies, CEO of No Rules PR.
| Problem | Folderly Solution |
| Unclear reasons for landing in spam | Folderly performed email deliverability testing for a client and discovered that the client's sent emails were primarily landing in promotional folders. The tool then assisted in determining the causes of poor email deliverability or spam triggers. |
| Incorrect DNS settings | The email domain used by the client had incorrect SPF & DMARC record settings. Folderly immediately detected the problematic moments and fixed them by providing the right records to ensure flawless email authentication. |
| Issues with content triggering spam |
After Folderly analyzed email templates used by the client, it detected several content issues, including spam words within a copy, not optimized length, overuse of images, incorrect link usage, bold fonts, and the overuse of HTML templates, which are never recommended for cold outreach. With Folderly tools and personalized best practices from Folderly Success Managers, the client changed the approach to email content which almost immediately approved the email deliverability. |
FYI: Although most cold emails end up in spam when there are issues with email deliverability, the client's emails were landing in a promo folder for two reasons:
- first, the client had already had some pre-contact with recipients (though not enough to call it warm emailing);
- and second, the client used HTML templates for cold emails, which ESPs automatically detect as promotional messages.
Key Achieved Results
“We’ve made a lot of progress so far, and I will continue using Folderly to make me reach my goals.”
Chad Cornies, CEO of No Rules PR.
| Before Folderly | After Folderly |
|
May 2023 15% Email Deliverability rate (on average) & 85% of emails landing in promo |
September 2023 96% Email Deliverability rate (on average) & 4% of emails landing in promo |
FYI: Although the client started seeing consistent results in 4 months, it is different for every specific email user. The period of email deliverability fixing depends on the sending history, sender reputation, type of account, and additional factors.
Lessons Every Business Can Learn
Here’re the lessons every business can learn from this case study:
- Before you start your email outreach, always make sure to check the correctness of your DNS settings (DMARC, SPF, DKIM, and BIMI). At Folderly, our team can help you handle flawless domain authentication.
- Even when you are already familiar with the recipients but are still emailing them for the first time, it’s still cold emailing and, therefore, requires the right approach, such as no use of HTML, no attachments or images, and so on.
- Having a profound email deliverability audit to see what’s triggering your emails is a must-have step to save time and effort and quickly fix the exact spam triggers. You can start your free trial to get your list of spam triggers, along with the best practices and dedicated personalized assistance.
- The power of compound interest: Even if it seems no difference on a given day or even months, the impact a comprehensive approach to email deliverability brings over the months can be enormous. As you keep applying the best practices recommended by Folderly, you see how your sender reputation gradually grows.
See how Folderly helped No Rules PR improve its sender reputation and address deliverability problems in an exclusive client interview:
