Email Verification - Free subscription

[BridgetNZ]

Hi there

What is the trick please to get your email verified on your account.  Free subscription.  When I do a test email to my gmail account it gets through, but using my work address it goes into junk.

I do not have a verify button next to my email address in the settings which seems to be what is needed, nor a 'website' selection under the settings which Google refers me too.

Many thanks for your help.

[webdew · Accepted solution]

Hi @BridgetNZ ,

There is no such concept of email verification on HubSpot. For marketing emails to land in the junk box, there might be many reasons for it. First of all, check, if you have connected your email sending domain. and set up authentication (SPF, DMARC) 

Sharing here the few articles that may help you improve your email deliverability:
HubSpot Community - The Email Deliverability Listicle - HubSpot Community 
The Ultimate List of 394 Email Spam Trigger Words to Avoid in 2021 (hubspot.com) and Newsletters spam test by mail-tester.com
Improve email deliverability (hubspot.com)
29 Email Deliverability Tips You Must Know in 2021 (hubspot.com)

Hope this helps!
If we were able to answer your query, kindly help the community by marking it as a solution.
Thanks and Regards.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @BridgetNZ,

This is a common problem, unfortunately. In the free version of HubSpot, it's not possible to connect your email domain (this would be HubSpot's terminology for verifying your email). You would have to upgrade to a Marketing Hub Starter subscription to connect your email sending domain and set up email authentification (SPF, DMARC). Both are considered best practice and should help with your email deliverability and would be the first steps towards better deliverability.

Besides this very technical step, there are other things I'd recommend to keep in mind.

In general, similar to SEO, you want to try to pass on as many positive signals about your content as possible. The eventual decision what to do with that content rests with the service provider. With that in mind, here is a list of things that I'd recommend reviewing:

Connect your email sending domain

Use a DMARC policy with HubSpot

Only email contacts who for whom you have a legal basis to communicate

Validate emails before sending to avoid hard bounces at all costs (e.g. Neverbounce, Zerobounce)

Remove unengaged contacts from list regularly for higher engagement rates

Avoid as many spam trigger words as possible

Test the spammyness of your email

Over time, email service providers should recognize you as a trustworthy sender. The issue could be that in the past, some recipients have already marked your emails as spam or that email service providers noticed high bounce rates from you.

I know, it's annoying that the only path to a solution includes a paid subscription but unfortunately, that's what it is.

Best regards!

[BridgetNZ]

Thanks Karsten, I actually moved over from MailChimp, and it has been an interesting exercise sending out my first email to over 800 people on my database.  I have only achieved a 20% open rate with Hubspot, verses over 55% with my free account with MailChimp, it doesn't make sense and is disappointing.  Any thoughts?  Thanks, Bridget

[DeliveryByJess]

Hello @BridgetNZ ,

One important difference when comparing open rates between MailChimp and HubSpot is that the MailChimp platform does not offer bot filtering features, but the HubSpot platform does.  Bot behavior happens when security or privacy software clicks on a link for security reasons or pre loads all images, including the open tracking pixel for secuirty or privacy reason.  In MailChimp, all loaded open tracking pixels and clicks will be reported in your engagement metrics.  In HubSpot, these non human engagements will be filtered out when the platform can identify that the opens or clicks did not come from a human recipeint.  Here's an exmaple of what that can look like when comparing the platforms side by side:

• Your brand sends 100 messages using MailChimp, which does not offer bot filtering technology.  50 contacts have their tracking pixel loaded, and MailChimp reports a 50% open rate.
• Your brand sends 100 messages using HubSpot, which does offer bot filtering technology by default. 50 contacts have their tracking pixel loaded, but we detect that 20 of these loads were due to a bot that auto loaded all of the images in the message including the tracking pixels.  The HubSpot platform filters out/does not report on the 20 bot opens, and HubSpot reports a 30% open rate.

Security software is common in the B2B space, and non human opens and clicks can enflate your engagement rates when they are not filtered out of your reporting.  With Apple's Privacy Protection Features, professinal and consumers have the choice to mask their legimate human opens if they opt into using the privacy features and use their email with a compatible Apple device. 

Open metrics have never been a completely reliable method to gauge true human engagament, and we expect to see more privacy focused features from other providers in the future that will continue to degrade the reliability of open tracking.   We suggest shifting your focus on metrics that are a more reliable indicator of success with deliverability.  These metrics include click and click-through rates, as well as monioring for signs of negative engagement such as bounces, unsubscribes and spam complaints. 

[webdew · Accepted solution]

Hi @BridgetNZ ,

There is no such concept of email verification on HubSpot. For marketing emails to land in the junk box, there might be many reasons for it. First of all, check, if you have connected your email sending domain. and set up authentication (SPF, DMARC) 

Sharing here the few articles that may help you improve your email deliverability:
HubSpot Community - The Email Deliverability Listicle - HubSpot Community 
The Ultimate List of 394 Email Spam Trigger Words to Avoid in 2021 (hubspot.com) and Newsletters spam test by mail-tester.com
Improve email deliverability (hubspot.com)
29 Email Deliverability Tips You Must Know in 2021 (hubspot.com)

Hope this helps!
If we were able to answer your query, kindly help the community by marking it as a solution.
Thanks and Regards.