Email Deliverability

iunf
Member

(almost) Top scores on email deliverability tests, but emails are not getting through

Hi,

I've been struggling with email deliverability since the beginning of starting my company.

I've added SPF records for the email servers I use, and a DKIM validation. However, I haven't yet added a DMARC-record. 

 

I'm not sending mass volumes. It's one-to-one emails that I'm suffering most from not getting through. 

 

What I've learned is that my emails are ending up in some "quarantine"/central spam filter. Usually, the emails never get to the recipients' inbox nor spam inbox. 

 

I'm now about to add a DMARC record in the hopes that it will solve my issue. But I'm desperate... What else should I do or look into?

 

Cheers,

Isak

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4 Replies 4
DeliveryByJess
HubSpot Product Team
HubSpot Product Team

(almost) Top scores on email deliverability tests, but emails are not getting through

Hi @iunf ,

 

Great questions.  An inbox provider isn't going to know if a recipient has opted into your brand, so that won't be a factor in your overall reputation.  Providers instead look at your past email send data to contacts using their services.  If we use Gmail as a provder example - Gmail is going to use the data they have associated with your domain to their recipients as a big factor in how they will filter your next message.  If recipients are consisently engaging with your mail in positive ways by opening, clicking, replying and forwarding, this is a signal that your messaages are wanted and your a a reputable sender that deserves placement in the primary inbox.  If recipients are instead not opening, moving messages to trash without openinfg, unsubscribing or marking mail as spam in gmail, these nagatiave engagements will tarnish your sender reputation with Gmail and train more of your next message to go straight to the spam folder. 

Some best practices for contacts gathered from conferences trade shows and webinars:

  • Don't use lists of contacts provided to everyone as part of webinar attendance or participation.  Only email contacts that have given your brand their email address and permission personally and directly.   As a reminder, direct opt is is required for all contacts used in the marketing email tool in HubSpot, and 3rd party lists (like one of all event attendees provided by an event organizer) can't be used for marketing email sends. 
  • For contacts that engaged with you directly at an event and personally provided their email address, send a personalized follow up/it was nice meeting you message.  Invite contacts to opt into your content offerings (like newsletters, webinars, or publications) and invite them to customize their email prefrences to suit their interests.  This helps you to get to know the contact better and allows them to choose what kinds of email content fot their needs best.  Also be sure to include the frequecy in which contacts can expect to receice email from you based on their subscription preferences.  
  • Don't overmessage new contacts.  This can both errode trust with the people you meet at events and degrade your overall sender reputation and chances of reaching the primary inbox. 
  • Do regularly suppress disengaged contacts.  You can use HubSpot's built in graymail suppression feature or create a custom supression list based on your needs.  Failing to suppress disengaged contacts is a common cause for sender reputation problems. 

I hope this helps!

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iunf
Member

(almost) Top scores on email deliverability tests, but emails are not getting through

Hi Jess,

Thank you so much for your elaborate responses! Very helpful. 

 

Cheers,

0 Upvotes
iunf
Member

(almost) Top scores on email deliverability tests, but emails are not getting through

Hi Jess,

I have collected a few email addresses at exhibitions and online webinars. They have basically said or marked that they are interested in receiving emails from us, but there's no digital trace of it for the inbox providers. Could this have negatively impacted our sender reputation?  Does the inbox providers use the information whether the receiver has opted in or not?

 

Thanks, I'll make sure we comply with the tips in the article you linked to.

 

Cheers,

0 Upvotes
DeliveryByJess
HubSpot Product Team
HubSpot Product Team

(almost) Top scores on email deliverability tests, but emails are not getting through

Hello @iunf ,

 

While authenticated mail is certainly one factor in how your mail is filtered by inbox providers, it isn' a guarantee to reaching the primary inbox.  Inbox providers use historical data from your brand domain's past sends to contacts using their services to determine your brand's email sending reputation.  Your domain's sending reputation is a heavily weighed factor in how your mail is filtered.  Inbox providers prefer senders who:

  • send mail only to contacts who have opted into the brand sending the message
  • send mail that results in high open, click, forward and reply rates
  • sends mail that results in low bounce, unsubscribe and spam complaint rates

 

If one to one message are not reaching the primary inboxes of your recipients, your email sending domain may have some problems with reputation that are resulting in spam placement for messages following delivery.  There are some helpful tips in this article that can be amended for 1:1 email sends.  The best advice I can give you is to ensure your contacts have given you their permission to be sent email and to not email contacts that have not done so or are consistenly not openeing your outreach.