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A simple way to demonstrate sender reputation is to think of it like a credit score. Just like the process of a car dealership checking your credit score before financing a vehicle, mailbox providers (i.e., Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) will review your sender reputation. Furthermore, similar to how credit bureaus rate you on your credit history, email service providers (ESPs) rate you based on your list acquisition and maintenance practices, the content you send, and your recipient engagement. This rating is your sender reputation. Having a good sender reputation will skyrocket both your delivery and deliverability rates. You may be asking yourself… what’s the difference? Delivery rate counts the number of emails successfully delivered, divided by the number of emails sent. Deliverability rate is the number of emails that successfully reach the inbox, divided by the number of emails sent. The goal is to have the highest deliverability rate possible, giving you higher probabilities of your contacts opening and reading your mail.

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Mailing list hygiene

The leading cause of a low Click to Open Rate (CTOR) is an unclean, outdated mailing list. Keeping your list clean and healthy will improve your sender reputation, and in return, increase your deliverability rate. Here’s how to make sure your mailing list is helping your reputation as a sender.

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Offer a double opt-in subscription

The number one rule of growing an organic contact list is using a double-opt-in form. Acquiring contacts through your own opt-in is vital to holding a good sender reputation. By confirming their agreement to join your mailing list, your contacts also signal to the ESPs that your emails are wanted. Learn how to use double-opt-ins

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Manage inactive or bounced contacts

To improve your sender reputation, we recommend unsubscribing contacts who aren’t responding or interacting with your emails after 180 days. ISPs take interaction, such as opens or clicks, as a positive sign, which improves the sender’s reputation. Because it is important for your content to reach your subscriber’s inbox, Kajabi helps you manage your bounced contacts and improve your email deliverability by automating the process of unsubscribing your bounced email recipients. Learn more about how auto unsubscribe helps maintain a healthy mailing list. Learn how to manage your contacts to nurture a healthy list

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Content

ESPs will flag emails with “spammy” content. Here is a list of rules to follow to improve your email deliverability.

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Personalize emails

Address the recipient by name and be sure the content reflects the recipient’s specific interests or usage patterns.

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Personalize an email sequence with a first name

  1. Open the Marketing tab from your Dashboard.
  2. Select Email Campaigns.
  3. Select an existing email sequence or create one.
  4. Navigate to the body of your email.
  5. Open your Text Block with the Email Visual Editor or click into your text editor with the classic editor.
  6. Click the Personalize drop-down menu in the toolbar.
  7. Select First Name.
  8. Click Save.

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Text-to-image ratio

In email marketing, using a combination of text and images will make your emails look professional, showcase your brand, and captivate your audience. Nonetheless, too many images and text links can trigger spam flags. To optimize deliverability, use both text and HTML, or text only. Unfortunately, because ESPs consider many factors when calling out spam, there is not a clear boundary for the text-to-image ratio except this: 100% image(s) + 0% text = low deliverability. However, Kajabi has got you covered with many email templates. Learn how to access and use the Email Broadcast templates

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Avoid promotional text

If you take a moment to look through the Spam/Junk folder in your email, you will notice some consistencies in the content and language of the email subject lines. Many headlines will be in all caps or contain lots of numbers or link shorteners. Using gimmicky promotional text such as “Buy Now!” or “Free!” are major spam flags. Try to avoid using all caps or excessive exclamation marks. Learn the best practices for your email subject lines

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Identify who is sending the email

Make sure each email has a valid reply-to address, as well as a valid physical postal address. Not only will this validate your authenticity, it will give you the ability to encourage your subscribers to engage. Engagement will help raise your reputation as a sender and additionally help nurture a relationship with your subscribers.

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Consistency

Consistency is an essential element of your sender reputation. If there are any unexpected changes to the way you’re sending mail, ESPs will potentially mark your messages as spam. Here are some tips for keeping your sending habits consistent.

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Quantity

While it’s normal for your list size to fluctuate, avoiding large spikes in sending volume is essential to maintaining your sender reputation. For example, if you’ve been regularly sending to 100 subscribers, jumping to 2,000 subscribers at once will trigger ESPs. As a rule, you can double your sending volume every week as long as you have good engagement.