deliverability of your emails · previously, deliverability consisted mainly in applying the basic...

Deliverability of your emails Everything you need to know in 34 tips

Deliverability The purpose of deliverability is to ensure that your emails arrive in their intended inboxes as opposed to be-ing marked as spam

Previously deliverability consisted mainly in applying the basic rules of emailing relating to content (text images html codehellip)

Today the main factors also taken into account are the quality of the email platform and the mailing list A high quality subscriber list that is updated frequently helps improve deliverability which is essential to the creation of a good email-sender reputation

Deliverability Everything you need to know in 34 tips

243 - copy2014 Mailjet SAS - All Rights Reserved - wwwmailjetcom

Preamble

In your opinion how many criteria influence deliverability 10 20 Actually there are even more In this checklist we have identified 34 factors that can impact the deliverability of your emailshellip

No complicated explanations just a quick and easy to understand guidehellipand if you would like to learn more check out our blog

httpswwwmailjetcomblog

Authenticate your emails

Use a public Whois

Pay attention to forward and reverse DNS lookup

Adopt a dedicated IP address

Donrsquot forget to ldquowarm uprdquo your IP address (in case of a dedicated IP address)

Should you separate transactional and marketing email

Use a domain name linked to an existing website

Take advantage of email throttling

Configure abuse and postmaster email addresses

Consider Return Path Certification

Consider using ldquoseedlistsrdquo

Monitor blacklists

TECHNICAL PLATFORM

Monitor spam complaints and use feedback loops

Adopt an obvious and immediate unsubscribe process

Manage your errors (bounces)

Do not buy or exchange email addresses

Use a double opt-in procedure

Send email campaigns regularly

Delete inactive addresses

DATA QUALITY

Create multipart emails (HTML + Text version)

Avoid image-only emails

Delete words frequently used by spammers

Make the sender clearly identifiable

Observe good HTML practices

View your email rendering

Test your content in different spam filters

Use pre-headers

Do not use links that contain an IP address

EMAIL CONTENT

Avoid ldquonoreplyrdquo addresses

Segment to increase reactivity

Obey the law

Be consistent with the promises made at the time of subscription

Provide a link to the privacy policy in your emails and on your website

Invite your subscribers to add you to their address book

OTHER BEST PRACTICES

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Table of contents



The technical part is the most complicated aspect of deliverability but donrsquot worry it also happens to be Mailjetrsquos specialty Donrsquot hesitate to ask for our help our teams are ready to respond to all your questions

bull Authenticate your emailsbull Use a public Whoisbull Pay attention to forward and reverse DNS lookupbull Adopt a dedicated IP addressbull Donrsquot forget to ldquowarm uprdquo your IP address (in case of a dedi-

cated IP address)bull Should you separate transactional and marketing emailbull Use a domain name linked to an existing websitebull Take advantage of email throttlingbull Configure abuse and postmaster email addressesbull Consider Return Path Certificationbull Consider using ldquoseedlistsrdquobull Monitor blacklists

TECHNICAL PLATFORM


The Mailjet perspective

If you already have a Mailjet account log onto our website and use our Assistant to configure your SPF and DKIM If not you can sign up here

1 Authenticate your emails

By authenticating your domain your recipients will not see the sent ldquoviardquo text (see image below) and your domain name reputa-tion will be improved

SPF This oldest authentication method adds the IP addresses allowed to send email via your domain name in your DNS record

DKIM Also based on the DNS record this authentication solu-tion is used to sign emails with a public or private key system

DMARC This new technology allows the sender to check whether emails have been properly authenticated by the ISP or webmail

Deliverability Everything you need to know in 34 tips - Technical Platform



This is one of the first things verified by our team in case of problems The need for a public WHOIS is fairly recent previously it only applied to large senders

2 Use a public Whois

The ldquowhoisrdquo lists the contact information related to a domain name They include information on the owner the technical con-tact and the host of your domain Disclosed information includes the full name email address postal address and telephone num-ber of each reference

Some providers allow the option of hiding this information or making the WHOIS Private This practice is used by spammers and should be avoided at all costs

Read more about it on the guide Deliverability of your emails




Our technical team can help you with these complicated configurations Donrsquot hesitate to contact us if you need assistance

To verify your identity ISPs and webmail frequently use DNS (Domain Name System)

That is why it is important to properly configure these settings in the control panel of your web host account (if your host allows it)

Reverse DNS lookup verification of a domain name associated with an IP address

Forward DNS lookup verification of an IP address associated with a domain name

3 Pay attention to forward and re-verse DNS lookup




Mailjetrsquos IP addresses are closely monitored by our deliverability team guaranteeing an excellent reputation You can benefit from a dedicated IP address which are available on our ldquoSilverrdquo package

The IP addresses used to identify the origin of emails routed through servers acquire a reputation (positive or negative) which is based on the quality of messages and interactions generated

Having a dedicated IP means that you donrsquot have to share the reputation of your IP with other users on your mailing platform However to acquire a good IP reputation takes time and regular sending volumes It is therefore important to conduct a warm up period and send at least a few thousand emails per day

Read more about it on the blog how to monitor the reputation of your IP address

4 Adopt a dedicated IP address




By default the warm up isnrsquot necessary because shared IP addresses on Mailjet already have a stable trusting relationship with ISPs If you opt for a dedicated IP our teams will support you throughout the warm up period In any case automatic limits are applied to new accounts to avoid any incidents

When you begin sending emails with a new IP address it has no reputation and is not immediately trusted by ISPs amp webmail providers

In order to build up this trust you must ldquowarm uprdquo your IP ad-dress by sending a consistent number of high quality emails every day for 3 to 4 weeks

5 Donrsquot forget to ldquowarm uprdquo your IP address (in case of a dedicated IP address)



It is important to use different email addresses for marketing and transactional emails By separating your various types of email it will also separate potential delivery issues when they arise

Recently intelligent inboxes at Gmail and Outlookcom for exam-ple have begun to automatically sort emails by category Promo-tions Notifications and Social In order to avoid your confirma-tion emails arriving in the Promotions category it is important to separate your transactional and marketing messages

Read more about it on the blog Power Up Your Transactional Emails

6 Should you separate transac-tional and marketing emails


With Mailjet itrsquos possible to separate different types of emails via sub-accounts and manage the priority of outgoing emails Do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your needs




You should use a sender address corresponding to a professional domain name that contains at the minimum a webpage describing your business a privacy policy page and full contact information

Verifying sender information is an essential element in the fight against spam

Spammers donrsquot create websites for their sender domain (ie free-viagrabiz) If your domain directs readers to an empty web-site page how will ISPs react They will automatically be suspi-cious of you

7 Use a domain name linked to an existing website




Mailjet adjusts the sending speed and the number of simultaneous con-nections in real time in order to optimize the deliverability of your emails You will also benefit from the experience of our deliverability team

This technique consists of adjusting the sending speed of emailscampaigns in order to respect the rules established by the main ISPs

The configuration of several different parameters will optimize your email deliverability- The number of emails sent per minute or hour- The number of connections per minute or hour- The number emails sent per connection

8 Take advantage of ldquoEmail throttlingrdquo




By default Maljet manages these returns for the most popular ISPs that meet industry standards But beware if our abusemailjetcom address is solicited our deliverability team will be alerted and your practices may be investigated or questions Finally note that these addresses are required for certain whitelisting procedures

These are email addresses to receive consumer complaints (abuse) and information on potential technical problems (post-master)

If these addresses are not configured for your domain name they can return an error to ISPs indicating that you donrsquot pay attention to these messages This is not good

9 Configure abuse and post-master email addresses




Our privileged partnership with Return Path allows for rapid contact and collaboration Contact us if you are interested

Return Path offers certification for your IP address (a white list) that allows you to speed up the delivery of your emails to inboxes (for a limited list of ISPs and webmails)

Certification can also permit images to be displayed by default your recipients will not have to click on the ldquodisplay imagesrdquo mes-sage

The benefits are many but this certification is only for large send-ers and can quickly become expensive

10 Consider Return Path certification




Our interface does not offer access to Mailjet seedlists or their results But in some cases our deliverability team may propose to carry out these tests for you on a dedicated IP during the warm up phase

By adding a sample of email addresses to your contact list it is possible to verify that your emails are delivered

Unless you go and check each of your contactsrsquo inboxes it is difficult to know if your email arrived at its destination This tech-nique involves creating a batch of ldquowitnessrdquo email addresses to check if your email was properly received

11 Consider using ldquoseedlistsrdquo




Our deliverability team carries out preventative monitoring of different blacklists We also have many contacts with ISPs and blacklists ser-vices which facilitates the unblocking process when it is necessary and justified

There are many blacklists used by ISPs and webmails to filter incoming messages

Often referred to as RBL or DNSBL these lists are mostly gov-erned by independent anti-spam services They usually block certain IP addresses or entire networks In addition to being widely used by ISPs the most serious blacklists are part of a consortium that actively communicates and shares information

Many services offer to verify whether your IP address and domain name are present on a blacklist For example Mxtoolboxcom or Blacklistalertorg

Read more about it on the blog 5 Ways To Avoid Landing On An ISP Blacklist

12 Monitor black lists




bull Monitor spam complaints and use feedback loopsbull Adopt an obvious and immediate unsubscribe processbull Manage your errors (bounces)bull Do not buy or exchange email addressesbull Use a double opt-in procedurebull Send email campaigns regularlybull Delete inactive addresses

Deliverability largely depends on engaging recipients Beyond content data quality is of the utmost importance

DATA QUALITY



Mailjet automatically generates feedback loops for larger ISPs Reports of spam are displayed in your account and available via our APIs The relevant contacts are automatically blocked

Certain ISPs and webmails allow you to receive an alert when your email is flagged as spam also known as a ldquofeedback looprdquo (FBL)

It is important to record these complaints and remove associ-ated contacts from your lists The mechanism involves indicating to ISPs that you want to be notified of spam messages reported against you in order to process them This approach is not pos-sible for all ISPs and is usually done via a form directly found on their websites

Read more about it on the blog SPAM the gift that no one wants

13 Monitor spam complaints and use feedback loops

Deliverability Everything you need to know in 34 tips - Data Quality



If you use our online interface the unsubscribe link and page are man-aged automatically Through SMTP relay you must manage this yourself or add the tag ldquo[[UNSUB_LINK_EN]]rdquo

An unsubscribe link is essential to avoid being classified as spam The link to the unsubscribe page must be functional instanta-neous and easy to find in the email

Do not ask users to confirm their desire to unsubscribe and reas-sure them that you will no longer contact them Otherwise they will confirm this themselves by flagging you as spam and block-ing your sender address

14 Offer a clear and instantaneous unsubscribe option




Mailjetrsquos deliverability optimization system processes these errors When they are temporary new attempts to send are made automatically Only after a certain number of unsuccessful attempts will the email result in an ldquoerrorrdquo status It is then automatically blocked for 90 days

It is very important to address the emails that result in errors by deleting the offending addresses from your lists Indeed ISPs penalize high error rates because they often reflect poor practices (old lists no double opt-in etc)

Permanently deleting addresses that bounce back with errors al-lows you to maintain a clean database free of inactive or nonex-istent contacts

Note that temporary errors ldquoSoft Bouncesrdquo (full mail box auto-matic away message) should not be cleaned immediately Only ldquoHard Bouncesrdquo or permanent errors should be addressed right away

Consult our documentation regarding email status

15 Manage your errors (bounces)




Buying or exchanging email addresses is against our anti-spam policy Our system and deliverability team have the ability to detect it If you participate in this practice you risk having your accound closed without notice and without a refund

Lists of email addresses that circulate on the Internet have usually been copied many many times They are of very poor quality and are riddled with spam traps (fake addresses)

Only use contact lists that you control Recipients must explicitly agree to be contacted (opt-in)

Avoid the so-called ldquotipsrdquo from friends colleagues and partners You should especially be wary of sites specializing in the sale or rental of email databases In addition to being discouraged by ISPs this practice often results in lost money along with the risk of blacklisting and this should be avoided at all costs

To read Mailjetrsquos anti-spam policy

16 Do not buy or exchange con-tact lists




If the double opt-in is not required from a legal standpoint it is neverthe-less required by ISPs At the very least quickly identify errors gener-ated by subscription confirmation emails and use them to update your contact lists

Double opt-in consists in validating the address via email in order to verify that it does in fact exist and is in working order This is a very effective way to increase the quality of addresses gathered

In addition to guaranteeing the existence of the address you will also be able to verify that your contact is indeed its owner This process consists of adding a confirmation link in the welcome email and to validate the address only once the link is clicked

Check out some of our plugins for your website where you can add a sign up widget

17 Use a double opt-in procedure




Solicit your contacts at least once a month If your list has not been used in the last 6 months contact our support team before any sending Oth-erwise errors will cause a blockage or worse blacklisting

Never leave your email addresses alone for months at a time Your contacts have memories almost as short as the lifespan of their email addresses (about 6 months)

Regularly send emails (example a newsletter) to remind them of you This approach is also beneficial for your brand

Without regular mailings some customers will forget they sub-scribed Their reaction will then be to report you as spam

18 Send campaigns regularly




Unsubscribe all inactive addresses (no clicks or opens) over the past six months

When a recipient does not respond to your emails for several months this can mean several things Either he does not use the email address in question anymore or perhaps he is no longer interested in your offer In either case this is detrimental to your reputation In the worst-case scenario these inactive addresses can become spam traps

The greater the number of inactive contacts the more your repu-tation rate suffers impactinghellipyour deliverability It is thus neces-sary to delete these addresses or create a special reengagement program

Read more about it on the blog How to avoid the pitfalls of inac-tive contacts

19 Unsubscribe inactive addresses




bull Create multipart emails (HTML + Text version)bull Avoid image-only emailsbull Delete words frequently used by spammersbull Make the sender clearly identifiablebull Observe good HTML practicesbull View your email renderingbull Test your content in different spam filtersbull Use pre-headers bull Do not use links that contain an IP address

Certain tips described below allow you to more easily bypass anti-spam filters Others serve to increase the quality of interactions generated by your emails thus improving your reputation and deliverability

EMAIL CONTENT



Our campaign design tool automatically generates a text version for you If you are sending by other means (API SMTP) do not forget to create a text version and be sure to check the content generated

Make sure your emails are composed of two parts one in HTML and one in text format

The text version of your emails remains indispensable Certain email clients do not yet display HTML on mobile devices and anti-spam filters compare the content of text and HTML versions to ensure that they are similar

20 Create multipart emails (HTML + text version)

Deliverability Everything you need to know in 34 tips - Email Content



Images should not exceed 25 of the surface of your emails In addi-tion they should not contain any text

Spammers have a habit of hiding the text of their emails in images to avoid spam filters As a result these filters have learned to be wary of images

Images should only be used as decoration and should never replace text

Read more about it on the blog Avoid image-only emails

21 Avoid image-only emails




Exercise caution Patiently reread your content and find clever turns of phrase to spark the interest and curiosity of your recipients without us-ing problematic words

Talking about little blue pills or a certain famous brand of Swiss watches in your emails is not a great idea as you undoubtedly know by now

But there are many other words that suggest spamphishing and their use should be limited

Examples of words that are less obvious than ldquoViagrardquo or ldquoRolexrdquo but should be avoided in excess ldquoFree rdquordquoCreditrdquo ldquoPharmacyrdquo ldquoSalerdquo ldquoPromotionrdquo ldquoClick hererdquo ldquoUrgentrdquo etc

Check out our post on Words That Will Trip The Spam Alarm

22 Delete words frequently used by spammers




We even recommend that you always mention your brand domain name in the subject line This practice is welcomed by recipients and anti-spam filters alike (because it shows them that you are not trying to hide anything)

It is crucial that your subscribers recognize your emails at first glance Otherwise the chance of your email being marked as spam is higher

The easiest way to identify yourself is to use the name of your brand or site in your sender name

23 Make sure the sender is clearly identifiable



It is sometimes time-consuming and daunting to code your HTML emails (using tables online CSS) However spam filters attach great importance to the quality of your code

Do not forget to close your tags write the HTML code in lower-case add alternative attributes of your images In short follow the rules


If you are not an expert in HTML use our WYSIWYG editor the code will be self-generated and automatically optimized

24 Respect good HTML practices




Donrsquot rely on fancy design or anything too complicated Emphasize content and follow the standards as old as they may be When in doubt use one of the many testing tools available on the market (Litmus Return Path)

To ensure a maximum level of interactions it is necessary that your designs are perfect As each email client has its bugs and display tips it is essential to test reports on several of them

Gmail does not support ltstylegt tags lt stylegt Outlook does not handle background images and CSS3 is still supported by very few There are many peculiarities

On the client side test on the most popular providers Apple Mail Thunderbird and Outlook On the webmail side do the same Outlookcom Gmail and YahooMail are a good starting point Also donrsquot forget mobile devices iPhone Android etc

25 Visualize your email rendering



The Mailjet perspective Tools like Litmus and Return Path let you test your emails in different spam filters In the Mailjet interface a SpamAssassin score is displayed in reports Feel free to send a campaign to test addresses to verify it

Each spam filter reacts differently to the content of your emails This is why it is important to be careful and test each of them

SpamAssassin is the best known and most widely used spam fil-ter and there are dozens of others out there For example VadeR-etro Cloudmark Barracuda Postini not to mention the various filters of email clients (Outlook Thunderbird) and webmails

26 Test your content in different anti-spam filters




Take the opportunity to use this space to include a tagline or a comple-mentary introduction to your topic Our online tools allow you to do this in 2 clicks

Some interfaces display the first few lines of the message just below the object This is a space to be utilized and used to your advantage

Too often the user see the familiar useless pre-headers ldquoSee the online versionrdquo ldquoclick here to seerdquo or ldquoif you do not seerdquo What a waste Even the recipients who do not open the email read these lines

Read more about it on the blog tips on optimizing your newslet-ters for mobile

27 Use pre-headers




We automatically offer tracking links to detect openings and clicks on the rmailjetcom domain But also know that it is possible to modify these links for the benefit of addresses corresponding to your domain name

Carefully avoid the links generated by advertising or URL shorten-ers Also do not use IP addresses as links

These mechanisms are often used by spammers to conceal land-ing pages Identification is one of the keys to deliverability it is essential that the links used in your emails reflect the identity of the landing page

28 Links Avoid IP addresses link shorteners




bull Avoid ldquonoreplyrdquo addressesbull Segment to increase reactivitybull Obey the lawbull Be consistent with the promises made at the time of sub-

scriptionbull Provide a link to the privacy policy in your emails and on your

websitebull Invite your subscribers to add you to their address book

Whether obvious or not these little tips are good to remember and could make all the difference for your deliverability


Herersquos a quick crash course on how to Segment and Personalise using Mailjet


A sender address should always be able to receive emails Take care of your contacts and do not cut off the conversation with a ldquonoreplyyourdomaincomrdquo address You would be much better off with ldquoyesreplyyourdomaincomrdquo

In case of questions comments or problems related to an email the reply button is naturally very often used because it is so ac-cessible

Isnrsquot it illogical to invest in social media and then cut the conver-sation via email short In terms of customer relations ldquonoreplyrdquo makes no sense

29 Avoid ldquonoreplyrdquo addresses


Why not use an address linked to your customer service or your Commu-nity Manager This will humanize the communication

Deliverability Everything you need to know in 34 tips - Other Best Practices



Consider using a CRM andor offer subscriptions tailored to your con-tacts See how you can Segment your data with Mailjet

All of your recipients have different needs and expectations

Classify your contacts by their affinities how they use your ser-vices or better offer personalized subscription options (subject frequencyhellip)

30 Segment in order to increase reactivity




If you respect your subscribers chances are that you are also obeying the law Mailjet requires opt-in and opt-out procedures Privacy and data security is a priority for our teams With servers in Europe Mailjet users are not affected by PRISM

Legislation on respect of privacy is different in almost every coun-try It is important to educate yourself

You also have responsibilities to protect the privacy of your us-ers Storage of their personal information should be secure and sometimes even authorized by the user himself Check the valid-ity of your registration process conditions of use and your legal disclaimer

31 Obey the law




If the rules change ask for permission again or offer an alternative to avoid irritating your contact

Obtaining the email address of your contact does not give you the right to do whatever you want Do not excessively contact your users you should respect their habits and the reason why they signed up in the first place or else they may use the spam button against you

If you promised one newsletter per month there is no question of changing the rules along the wayhellipwarn your users and give them the opportunity to change their preferences

32 Be consistent with the prom-ised you made at the time of sub-scription




In the header or footer of your email remind your contacts how you got their address and why you are contacting them

This is a crucial factor in gaining your subscribersrsquo trust but it is also important for ISPs and webmails in case of an unblocking request

Be as reassuring as possible about your practices and your respect for your subscribers Create a privacy policy web page on the subject that will also contains your contact information Providing a phone number is often a plus

33 Provide a link to your privacy policy




Use your welcome emails andor your subscription confirmation page to encourage your subscribers to add you to their address books

This will allow you to easily send emails to the recipientrsquos inbox This is a positive for anti-spam filters

In your communications it is rare to find a message from a friend parent or colleague in your unwanted mail This is simply be-cause one or several exchanges have already taken place and each party has the other in his list of contacts

34 Invite your subscribers to add you to their address books




Mailjet is an all-in-one solution to create send and report both marketing and transactional emails Our technology is cloud-based highly scalable with proprietary technology that optimizes email deliverability Mailjet can be accessed via an easy-to-use online drag-and-drop interface through APIs that allow developers to integrate its array of features within their applications or send through its sophisticated SMTP relay

Founded in 2010 Mailjet is now an international leader within the Email Service Provider space with more than 60 of revenues generated outside of its native France To date we have processed over 12 billion emails for nearly 200 thousand customers around the globe and our team has expanded within 5 countries in 3 continents You can pay us a visit at our local offices in Paris Berlin New York London Ho Chi Minh City and Toronto

At Mailjet we believe in honest deliverability and dedicate substantial amount of our resources to innovation as well as fighting the war against SPAM This is to provide a seamless service high deliverability and a next generation emailing platform with 99998 uptime for our customers We can do this because Mailjet is built from the ground up

Be sure to check our blog regularly for how-to guides posts on optimizing your emails the latest digital marketing strategies and occasionally just to hear about our awesome adventures

wwwmailjetcom

Sign up and send up to 6000 per month for free

ABOUT



Jonathan Loriaux is an email marketing consultant and the author of the blog wwwbadsendercom (in French) He assists Mailjet in developing content around the themes of deliverability transactional email and email marketing at large

Ready to try out Mailjet Herersquos how

Author



Preamble

In your opinion how many criteria influence deliverability 10 20 Actually there are even more In this checklist we have identified 34 factors that can impact the deliverability of your emailshellip

No complicated explanations just a quick and easy to understand guidehellipand if you would like to learn more check out our blog

httpswwwmailjetcomblog


Use a public Whois










Monitor blacklists

TECHNICAL PLATFORM








DATA QUALITY








Use pre-headers


EMAIL CONTENT



Obey the law





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20

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40

41

Table of contents






TECHNICAL PLATFORM



































































































DATA QUALITY






























































EMAIL CONTENT



























































27 Use pre-headers





































31 Obey the law





























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author


Use a public Whois










Monitor blacklists

TECHNICAL PLATFORM








DATA QUALITY








Use pre-headers


EMAIL CONTENT



Obey the law





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Table of contents






TECHNICAL PLATFORM



































































































DATA QUALITY






























































EMAIL CONTENT



























































27 Use pre-headers





































31 Obey the law





























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author






TECHNICAL PLATFORM



































































































DATA QUALITY






























































EMAIL CONTENT



























































27 Use pre-headers





































31 Obey the law





























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author



































































































DATA QUALITY






























































EMAIL CONTENT



























































27 Use pre-headers





































31 Obey the law





























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author






























































EMAIL CONTENT



























































27 Use pre-headers





































31 Obey the law





























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author



























































27 Use pre-headers





































31 Obey the law





























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author




































31 Obey the law





























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author




























wwwmailjetcom


ABOUT





Author





Author

deliverability of your emails · previously, deliverability consisted mainly in applying the basic...

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