What is a Deliverability Audit?
A
deliverability audit is a comprehensive evaluation of your email marketing practices to ensure that your emails reach your subscribers' inboxes. It involves analyzing various factors that affect the
email deliverability rate, including technical setup, content, and sender reputation. The goal is to identify and resolve issues that may be preventing your emails from being delivered successfully.
Improved Inbox Placement: Ensuring that your emails land in the inbox rather than the spam folder.
Enhanced Sender Reputation: Maintaining a positive reputation to avoid being blacklisted.
Higher Engagement: Increased open and click-through rates as a result of better deliverability.
Compliance: Ensuring adherence to
email compliance regulations such as GDPR and CAN-SPAM.
Technical Setup
Reviewing your
technical setup includes checking your DNS records, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configurations. These are essential for authenticating your emails and proving you are a legitimate sender.
Sender Reputation
Your
sender reputation is influenced by factors like bounce rates, spam complaints, and engagement metrics. Monitoring services like SenderScore can help you keep track of your reputation.
List Management
Effective
list management involves regularly cleaning your email list to remove inactive or invalid email addresses. This helps in maintaining high deliverability rates.
Email Content
Your
email content should be relevant, engaging, and free from spammy language. Personalized content tends to perform better and reduces the likelihood of emails being marked as spam.
Engagement Metrics
Monitoring
engagement metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates can provide insights into how your audience interacts with your emails. High engagement rates generally indicate good deliverability.
Step 1: Analyze Your Current Deliverability
Start by analyzing your current deliverability rates. Use tools like Google Postmaster Tools and Microsoft SNDS to get insights into how your emails are being delivered.
Step 2: Review Your Technical Setup
Check your DNS records, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC settings to ensure they are correctly configured. These authentication protocols are crucial for preventing your emails from being flagged as spam.
Step 3: Assess Your Sender Reputation
Use services like SenderScore or ReputationAuthority to evaluate your sender reputation. Look for any red flags that could be affecting your deliverability.
Step 4: Evaluate Your Email Content
Review the content of your emails to ensure they are engaging and free from spammy language. Tools like Litmus can help you test how your emails appear in different email clients.
Step 5: Monitor Engagement Metrics
Track engagement metrics to understand how your audience interacts with your emails. High engagement rates usually indicate good deliverability.
Conclusion
A deliverability audit is essential for ensuring that your emails reach your audience’s inboxes. By focusing on technical setup, sender reputation, list management, email content, and engagement metrics, you can significantly improve your email marketing performance. Regular audits will help you stay ahead of any potential issues and keep your email campaigns running smoothly.