What to Check Before You Click "Send"

May 4, 2021

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So much of deliverability is fixing issues after you realize there’s a problem. But what about solving problems before they become a problem?

There are ways to predict your deliverability future and improve not only your business but your subscribers’ experience as well.

In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa outline tips for proactively preventing deliverability issues before your email even reaches a recipient. Some of these tips may sound counterintuitive and some may sound a bit obvious, but they work! So before you send your next email, listen up.

“You have to remember that everyone on your list has a whole life with so many things going on. They’re busy. And you have to kind of treat them that way and make sure that if you are going to take up space in their inbox, potentially causing notifications on their phone that distract them from other things going on, you better have a good reason for doing it.” ~ @alyssa_dulin

Main Takeaways

[03:26] How engaged is this group that I’m about to send to? If the list is more than 30% unengaged, adjust your strategy. Use filters to filter out unengaged subscribers.
[05:04] Is this email going to provide value to my subscribers? Don’t send an email just to send an email. Your marketing strategy and voice can make a big impact on deliverability. Remember, deliverability is more than a numbers game.
[10:48] Send yourself a test email! Just make sure that you send it to a different email address than the address you send from.
[16:38] Make sure your links are working correctly and pull the message headers to make sure authentication is passing. Also, aesthetics matter. The formatting should be readable, so avoid big chunks of text.
[22:52] Make sure the message isn’t clipped. When it’s clipped, the open tracking pixel will get clipped as well so it’s impossible to tell who’s actually opening your emails. Keep the message size below 100kb.
[24:58] Is it clear who the sender is? Will the recipient recognize the sender name and address?
[29:22] Make sure the subject line is incentivizing people to open. Don’t kill deliverability on arrival by giving away the email’s context.
[36:41] Make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe. People will resent you if you make it hard and may even mark your email as spam.
[45:19] Is the email authentic to your brand and voice? Use A/B testing and don’t let salesmanship ruin your voice.
[48:10] Make sure all of your links work.

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