Whether you’re a sales agent or a big property developer, email remains to be one of the most significant digital marketing campaigns.

The world is online and most people on the Internet has an email address.

You can reach and keep in contact with all of your clients located anywhere, because most people owns at least one smartphone.

Email is a highly affordable platform, even free, that allows you to engage directly with individuals on a personal, yet professional level. People naturally feel a sense of importance when they receive email messages, compared to conventional forms of communication.

We shared how to make successful email campaigns, but it all comes down to whether your email is actually received by your prospects. This is where email deliverability comes in.

What is that, you may ask?

When sending out your email blasts, you want to make sure that your email lands on their inboxes and never, I repeat NEVER, on their spam folder. That’s a big no-no.

Email deliverability is the definition of how successful your marketing campaigns via email are.

This different from delivery, where you send an email successfully to the receiver, deliverability is all about which folder the email landed.

According to an online marketing magazine, there are four factors affecting email deliverability and they are:

• IP (Internet Protocol) Address – Like your home address, but for your devices connected to a network. This determines where your server is located, as given by your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
• Domain – This is where you live on the internet a.k.a your web address. They’re the easier-to-remember version of an IP address. The Prosperna website is under the domain of “www.prosperna.com”. You can register a domain for your real estate website through a hosting service.
• Recipient Behavior – ISPs evaluate recipient behavior through algorithms, so deliverability depends on the actions they take towards your email. Whether they open to read, mark as spam or just straight up delete the email.
• Content – In order to encourage positive recipient behavior such as opens and clicks, your subject lines and body content should be up to standard.

If you can secure all 4 aspects, you become one step closer to improving your open rates and avoid bounce rates.

Here’s the top 8 ways to improve Email Deliverability from your Email Marketing System:

1. CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY

In order to have a good email reputation, you need to practice having regular habits on your marketing campaigns.

The 4 keys to remain consistent are:

• Scheduling – you have to know when your prospects are most active on their gadgets and in our previous blog, the best schedule for generating open rates and click throughs are from 8PM to 12AM on weeknights; and in the morning during weekends.
• Frequency – After determining the schedule, decide how frequently to send them emails. It could be twice a week or once every other week, just be sure to plan well and stick to that schedule. At least that way, you’re recipients can anticipate when you’re likely to email them.
• Volume – How many emails are you going to send in every marketing campaign? We recommend sending one email at a time because you don’t want to seem spammy. This can also relate to how heavy your content is. On weekdays, it can be short like a 3-minute video; while on the weekends a nice read with visuals for their morning coffee.
• Design – Have a common layout and template for your content, so that every time you send out your emails, it is easier to identify you and what you represent based on appearance.

Be Consistent With Your Volume/Schedule and frequency (Email Scheduling, Volume and Frequency)

2. CLEAN LIST SEGMENTATION = NO SPAM AND BLACKLIST!

Getting blacklisted because of spam will be the end for your lead generation. No matter what happens, don’t end up in a blacklist. This is why organizing leads are VERY IMPORTANT!

With the help of a CRM software, you’d be able to diminish bounce rates through List Segmentation. Purge and filter your segments, so you can market towards your leads according to what they’re actually interested in.

Be sure to stay away from Spam Traps (email addresses that are actually used as a fraud management tool) and have a good spam score. Here’s a guide on how to keep your spam score low.

You should also monitor your Mailbox Provider’s feedback loops, to see the deliverability status of your email. Prosperna uses Google’s Gmail as its mailbox provider, here is how you can check feedback loops on your email blast campaigns.

3. AN AUTHENTICATED EMAIL DOMAIN IS TRUSTWORTHY AND REPUTABLE

We mentioned in the beginning of this article what domains are, and in order for you to gain the trust and good reputation you want, there are a few security standards you should meet (don’t worry, these are automatically done by your mailbox provider, you just need to check their status for verification):

• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) – works to verify the ownership of an email and prevent spoofing (falsified data to pretend to be someone else and gain illicit advantage).
• SPF (Sender Policy Framework) – works to verify the sender’s (your) IP and see whether it matches anything from popular IP blacklists. If you are found as a match, your email will be considered malicious and equate to instant spam.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) – used to prevent spam like messages that appear to come from your domain but are actually not. Messages that don’t pass SPF or DKIM provoke the DMARC policy.
• TLS (Transport Layer Security) Standard Encryption – a label found under the details of your email to prove its security to the recipients and mailbox providers.

4. MAINTAIN PROPER IP ALLOCATION

Your IP address is used to monitor your activity and determine your reputation based on volume sent, sending frequency, user interaction and email rating quality.

There are 2 types of IP addresses:

Shared – more than one company or brand can send emails using the same IP address
Dedicated – the company or brand owns a unique IP address that cannot be shared with other companies.

Prosperna uses a dedicated IP address, which is good for high volume senders (email blasting) to avoid being associated with or being flagged as spam. That’s why it can maintain a successful IP reputation from their ISP filter.

Other things to consider to maintain a successful IP reputation are the following:

• Not using personal email addresses for campaigns (e.g. nickname_123@gmail.com)
• Not using an outdated “No-Reply” Sender Address (e.g. no-reply@prosperna.com)
• Having a subdomain for email marketing (e.g. name@marketing.prosperna.com – “marketing” is the subdomain of “prosperna.com”, the primary domain)
• Having a dedicated email address for time-sensitive campaigns (e.g. prospernaevent@prosperna.com)

5. MONITOR EVERY ACTIVITY

Other than checking your information security through your mailbox provider, a CRM software can also help you check the status of your email activity. At the Prosperna app, it’s as simple as checking your phone whether your leads have opened and read your email.

Here’s a short list of things you should keep monitor of:

• You’re following your campaign calendar
• Content quality is up to standard
• Your IP reputation and spam score are good
• Your domain is secured and authenticated

6. NO “SPAMMY” SUBJECT LINES

You may have passed the security protocols, but your subject line is the first thing that your recipient sees. So if you send something clickbait and misleading (refer to this top 100 spam triggers), you can wave your reputation good-bye. You need to be engaging and relevant to your recipients, like these FREE TEMPLATES we prepared for you.

7. KEEP YOUR CONTENT RELEVANT

By now, you must be tired of hearing the same thing, but the CONTENT IS EVERYTHING! Your subscribers are segmented for a reason, such as sharing a common interest, location and age group. Send them what they want to read, when they want it and how much they want it. Remember to delete subscribers that are not engaging with you, to avoid ending up on their spam folders.

As for how your content looks like, take these notes from us on how to maintain quality and engagement:

• Create a branding by stating your name and company like “Dennis From Prosperna.”
• Be MOBILE-FRIENDLY – Everybody has a smartphone, this is non-negotiable.
• Instead of URL Shorteners, use Hyperlinks.
• Put Visuals (photos and videos) along with your text.

8. USE DOUBLE OPT-IN

Rather than a single opt-in, go for double! Opt-ins are used to encourage readers to subscribe and get involved with you as means of engagement. Whether it’s to RSVP for an event or to sign-up for a newsletter, always include them twice in your message. A good placement would be in-between and at the end of your email so that they can be reminded as to the next actions they may want to take.

With that said, it’s also important to take note that it should also be made clear and visible on how to opt-out. This is usually placed at the very bottom of an email, that way they can unsubscribe to your emails without restraints.

You wouldn’t want to end up being reported for constantly sending emails to someone who doesn’t want to receive them now, do you?

THE PERFECT EMAIL MARKETING SYSTEM

If you want to have successful marketing campaigns, it’s important to have the best platform that will meet the highest standards. Prosperna is the one and only CRM software that focuses on real estate professionals and companies in the Philippines. Book a FREE DEMO with us to know how to acquire the perfect email marketing system.