Best Email Deliverability Tips for 2025

Summary

In this video, we explore 10 pro tips to boost email deliverability and ensure your emails land in the inbox. Key strategies include using subdomains for better email reputation, implementing DMARC for email authentication, matching URLs and domains to avoid spam filters, and maintaining list hygiene by only sending to engaged users. Other tips include avoiding no-reply emails, sending smaller accessible emails, and gradually increasing email volume to prevent deliverability issues. Following these practices can significantly improve your email reputation and deliverability, ensuring your messages reach their intended recipients.

Takeaways

• 😀 Use a subdomain for email sending to protect your main domain's reputation and separate email types.
• 😀 Set up DMARC authentication to protect against email spoofing and ensure mailbox providers trust your emails.
• 😀 Ensure that URLs and images in your emails match the sending domain to avoid triggering spam filters.
• 😀 Avoid using link and open tracking in transactional emails, as it can harm deliverability.
• 😀 Keep your emails under 102KB in size, and always include a plain text version for better accessibility.
• 😀 Avoid using lookalike domains to prevent confusion and ensure your emails appear legitimate.
• 😀 Be careful with testing; hard-bouncing emails can damage your reputation. Use a proper testing email account instead.
• 😀 Maintain a clean email list by removing unsubscribers and recipients who haven’t engaged with your content.
• 😀 Avoid using no-reply email addresses, as they reduce trust and communication opportunities with recipients.
• 😀 Gradually increase your email sending volume (warm up your domain) to avoid damaging your sender reputation.

Q & A

Why is the domain you send emails from important for deliverability?

The domain significantly impacts deliverability as it affects how mailbox providers view the legitimacy of your emails. Sending from a subdomain, instead of your root domain, helps protect the reputation of your primary domain and can limit damage to reputation in case of issues.

How does using subdomains for different email types help deliverability?

Using subdomains allows you to separate your email types (e.g., marketing emails and transactional emails), which helps manage their individual reputations. If there's an issue with a marketing subdomain, it won’t impact your transactional emails, maintaining better overall deliverability.

What is DMARC, and why is it important for email deliverability?

DMARC is an email authentication protocol that ensures emails are authorized by the domain owner. It protects against spoofing and builds trust with mailbox providers, who can verify that emails are legitimate and come from the right sources.

Why should you avoid mismatched URLs in the body of your emails?

Mismatched URLs between the email content and the sending domain can trigger spam filters, as this is a tactic often used by spammers. Keeping URLs consistent ensures credibility and improves the likelihood that your emails will land in the inbox.

What issues arise from using link and open tracking in transactional emails?

Link and open tracking can negatively affect transactional emails like notifications and magic links, as these are not typically intended for marketing purposes. Their use can damage deliverability, especially if the tracking methods are not compatible with email best practices for transactional messages.

How does email size impact deliverability, and what practices should be followed?

Email size can impact deliverability because email services like Gmail have size limits (102KB). Large emails with heavy content or many images may get clipped, causing parts of your message to be inaccessible. Keeping emails compact and using plain text versions is a good practice for better deliverability.

Why should you avoid using cousin or lookalike domains for your email campaigns?

Using cousin or lookalike domains can confuse recipients and email providers, often resembling spam. It's safer to use distinct subdomains for different types of emails, avoiding brand confusion and enhancing trust with your audience.

What is the risk of testing email deliverability by sending to fake email addresses?

Intentionally sending emails to fake addresses can cause hard bounces, which hurt your sender reputation and affect deliverability. Instead, use a testing email address provided by your email service or create a separate testing account.

What is list hygiene, and why is it crucial for maintaining good deliverability?

List hygiene refers to maintaining a clean email list by only sending to engaged subscribers. This involves removing unsubscribers, non-engagers, and those who mark your emails as spam. A clean list reduces the likelihood of bounces and improves deliverability.

Why should you avoid using no-reply email addresses in your campaigns?

No-reply email addresses signal one-way communication, which diminishes trust with email providers. These addresses can prevent recipients from reporting spam or engaging with your content, negatively affecting deliverability.

What does it mean to warm up a domain, and why is it important?

Warming up a domain involves gradually increasing your sending volume over time, allowing your domain's reputation to build with email providers. Sudden spikes in email volume can lead to bounces and reputation damage, making it harder to recover deliverability in the future.