Ep. 197 - Save Yourself From Your Email Woes ft. Nick Cedarlund
Feb 24, 2025
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Nick Cedarlund, Head of Deliverability at NextGen Email, shares his expertise on mastering email marketing. He dives into the importance of tracking key metrics for better deliverability and offers strategies for segmenting email lists to boost engagement. Nick reveals how to reactivate inactive subscribers and the role of infrastructure in maximizing email potential. He also discusses the evolving landscape of email deliverability, addressing common misconceptions and ensuring effective navigation through Gmail's inbox categorization.
Consistent tracking of essential email metrics like open rates and click-through rates is vital for assessing and improving email deliverability.
Adapting email marketing strategies to recent changes in deliverability standards and algorithms is crucial for maintaining campaign effectiveness in a competitive landscape.
Segmentation of inactive email lists for targeted campaigns can serve as a secondary revenue stream while preserving domain and IP reputation.
Deep dives
Key Metrics for Email Performance Tracking
Tracking essential email performance metrics is crucial for understanding deliverability. Important metrics include open rates, unique open rates, click-through rates, delivered rates, bounce rates, complaint rates, and unsubscribe rates. Additionally, capturing domain and IP reputation metrics in a structured format, such as a spreadsheet, provides a well-rounded view of email performance. Maintaining this data over a three-month period allows marketers to spot trends and identify issues promptly.
The Evolution of Email Deliverability Challenges
The email marketing landscape has undergone significant changes over the past decade, particularly regarding deliverability. Early in the industry, it was easier to achieve success due to less sophisticated email filtering systems. However, recent updates, such as Apple's tracking changes and tighter DNS authentication requirements, have made it essential for marketers to adapt their approaches. As competition intensifies and algorithms evolve, marketers must hone their strategies to maintain email effectiveness.
Strategies for Engaging Inactive Subscribers
There is a growing trend towards monetizing inactive email lists, which can serve as a secondary revenue stream for businesses. To accomplish this, marketers should segment their lists effectively—focusing on those who have not engaged recently—while ensuring their domain and IP reputation remain strong. The practice involves sending targeted campaigns to inactive subscribers under a separate branding strategy to refresh their interest. Success relies on monitoring deliverability closely and adjusting tactics based on engagement data.
Understanding how Gmail's algorithms classify emails into primary or promotional categories is essential for optimizing open rates. Testing with different seed accounts can reveal how emails land within various tabs based on subscriber behavior—engaged or disengaged. Tools such as Glock Apps allow marketers to test their emails across different inboxes to obtain tab placement data. Regularly monitoring this information can help tailor strategies for improved inbox placement.
Preparation for Future Email Deliverability Changes
Staying updated with upcoming changes in email delivery standards is crucial for all marketers. Notably, stricter DNS alignment policies are expected in early 2025, which may lead to substantial deliverability challenges for those unprepared. Setting appropriate DMARC policies will become essential to avoid bounces and maintain engagement. Businesses should proactively configure their email infrastructure to accommodate these shifts and safeguard against potential revenue loss.
Nick Cedarlund joins the ClickBank Affiliated podcast to reveal the data you need to be tracking at all times in order to have successful email campaigns that convert. If you are suffering from any email marketing woes currently then this is the perfect podcast for you to watch so you can learn how to conquer the trials you are facing.